I have purchased some Beartooth bullets and am trying them in my 375 ruger in a Ruger alaskan.

the first time I loaded my gun I had a hard time closing the bolt. I looked at the bullet and it appears that the bullet is to large (diameter) to fit in the chamber the diameter is .377. I can see marks on the bullet where it is being squeezed in the chamber.

Is this normal?

It is extremely hard to cam the bolt over.

What am I doing Wrong?

Jacketed bullet diameter for the 375 Ruger, I believe, is .375". Adding .002" is probably the cause, especially if the chamber is on the tight side.

SB
how many jacketed bullets have you put through your rifle
are these bullets nose riding bullets or are they full diameter bullets.....I don't know how many jacketed bullets you have fired through your 375 Ruger, but after a few hundred rounds your throat will "lossen up " a bit from wear and tear... and you will be able to seat your cast bullets....thou im still sceptical as to the cause.....I don't think its the 377 diam bullets......but again you might have a really tight chamber/throat

Daniel

Squeezed in the chamber ? Or the lands just after/past the throat ?
Major/big difference

Thank you for you replies.

First I have not fired many rounds through this gun. probably 30. I am the second owner but i doubt many were fired by the previous owner.

I don't think I am hitting the lands because the marks on the bullets are smooth. also I have loaded them to "normal" OAL, I could not even close the bolt. then adjusted to shorter and shorter. the bullet is so far the in the case i am afraid the gas check will fall of in the case.

I am far from an expert and I am looking for a way to shoot the larger calibers cheaper and at low recoil. but what is happening just does not seem right.

Maybe i need to shoot it more and then try again. I think it is the chamber. I will take some pics.

I really want this to work. I have a 416 that I have bullets for also that I want to try

Thanks again for your input so far. looking forward to hearing more.

IF the bullet is not hitting the lands, It might be your resizing.
After resizing AND b/4 seating a bullet, try chambering a case. If the bolt is hard to close, your case needs more resizing. If the resized (bulletless) case chambers easily, then it might be the bullet (or throat)..

I thought about the cases first. I can chamber an empty case. I am not deforming the shoulder when seating the bullet, that was my first thought, I have done that before.

That is when noticed the "smoothing" of the bullet as I forcefully chambered a round,

Have you tried coloring the bullet and case neck with a magic marker then chambering? You'll be able to see where all the rubbing is happening that way.

You can see in the above pic that the bullet is rubbing. Now this bullet is seated way in the case. I am far from the lands, I assume.

I want to load them longer, I just seems like the bullet is too large for this chamber.

I am goin to load up some regular jacketed bullets and shoot them and see what happens.

Thanks again for all of your ideas, I appreciate it a great deal.

I am hoping sort this out so I can use this gun for a pig hunt in Nov

Happen to know somebody with a .375" sizing die?

SB
what weight bullet are they
is the rub around the circumfrence of the bullet
or only on one part

as craigster said try sizing it, or with shooting a few hundred jacketed bullets some wear and tear will happen , inturn that should take care of the issue you have

250 gr.

I seem to remember that the rub was not all the way around the circumference of the bullet. I don't have the bullet any more, I shot a beer can at about 20yrds, oh what fun.

I am putting the cast bullets aside for a while I will shoot jacketed bullets for the time being and try later.

I just loaded up some bear tooth cast bullets for my 416 rem. Was a little nervous, worked like a million! Shot 4 times at a knot in an old post, made holes close to where I was aiming, off sticks in a stiff wind. I was moving from the wind not worried about the bullet.

anyway, YEAH!

I will be taking this gun to TX pig hunting and deer hunting at home this fall.

375 gr.bullet in .417 dia BTW

SB

if the rub is not around the entire circumference, that's telling you another story....if the 377 bullet was to large the rub mark should be around the entire circumference of the proj
Im loading for my 375 Ruger....with 300 gn cast bullets put 4 shots into half an inch at 100 yards 25 gns of H110 MV 1500 FPS

the 416 Ruger im putting about 5 shots into 1.5 inches at 100 yards 30 GNS of H110 MV 1500 FPS

There are a couple things you can check. On a fired case before you resize measure the case neck. This will measure very close to the Inside diameter of your chamber neck.
Now with one of your cast bullets seated measure the case neck in the same place as before. This measurement should not be any larger than the measurement on a fired case. If it is then the bullet is a bit too large. Size the bullet to get the loaded case neck at or slightly below the fired case size.
Take a cast bullet and see how it fits in the muzzle of your rifle. This will tell you if it fits the bore of the rifle.
Try sizing a case about 1/16 inch of the neck. This will let you just start the bullet in the case. Now carefully chamber this case. As the bullet touches the rifling it will stop moving forward and the case will slide up the bullet till it fully chambers. Now carefully remove this cartridge. This will tell you the max length that bullet can be seated out.
I do this with every cartridge and bullet I load. I can then adjust the seating die to seat them at that length or at any amount back from the rifling.
Another thing Do you bell the case mouth before you seat the bullet?
It possible that your shaving lead off the bullet as you seat it. This can tilt the bullet in the case. That could explain why it scrapes on the edge at the end of the chamber where it changes from the neck area to the lead.
Leo