I recently reloaded some 7x63 Brenneke loads in a rifle that's new to me. I used the former owner's brass and neck sized it at his instruction actually with him helping me. Used some 140 gr Nosler BT at an OAL of 3.28" again at his instruction as he had loaded it before. The brass case length is 2.51". The guy is a retired gunsmith and seems very competent. We go out to shoot it and most of the ammo will not allow the bolt to close. Some of it does close but not easily. We fire it and the brass shows no signs of pressure at the primer or elsewhere. We used 54 gr of IMR 4350 if that matters. The bullet on loads we tried to chamber or did chamber showed not signs of contacting the lans or other deformities. So I think it was the case neck stopping us.

The brass is older Hirtenberger stuff he had. I have not ordered some new Hornady brass to use.

Suggestions about what is going on?

I had the same thing with my .338 WM and had to trim the case length but these seem to be in the correct range.

Sorry for the typos.

I meant a 7x64 and I have ordered some Hornady brass. And I meant lands not lans.

Is your seater die screwed down too far, so that it is bulging the cases at the shoulder? It is very easy to make this mistake... I did it last week , and I have been handloading for 30 years.

Blacken a too big case with a magic marker and carefully feed it by hand and then close the bolt, then extract and see where the hang up is happening. It could be the case neck, but it could be the shoulder or somewhere else so rather than guess blacken a case and look at the marks.

Knock your bullets and powder out and do a full lengt resize of the brass. (Take of the cecaper of your tool)

quote:

Originally posted by Doubless:
Is your seater die screwed down too far, so that it is bulging the cases at the shoulder? It is very easy to make this mistake... I did it last week , and I have been handloading for 30 years.

I remember having some trouble like that once and it may have been to do with attempting to crimp bullets that had no cannelure. When it was discovered, I could see the shoulder of the belted case plainly bulged.

Believe it or nuts, I removed the decapping pin and ran the rounds (or at least the empty case) through the resizing die again, after which chambering was no problem. God knows whether doing this safe but it worked for me.

This may or may not be relevant to your situation - take it for what it's worth:

I just replaced my 30 year-old Rockchucker for a RC IV Supreme. Not that my old 'Chucker did anything wrong, but it's going to the best of homes

What I did find, is that the dies which were set up for the old Rockchucker, needed HUGE adjustment to do the same work on the new press.

Could your issue be as simple as setting your 'new' dies up for your press?

quote:

Originally posted by midwesthunter:
..... The bullet on loads we tried to chamber or did chamber showed not signs of contacting the lans or other deformities. So I think it was the case neck stopping us.

.....

Suggestions about what is going on?

If you are "neck sizing" with a FL die, bet your moving the case shoulder forward in this process.

How many times has this brass been fired?

did it just need a trimming?

After you fired some of the "hard to close" cartridges, would the brass reenter the chamber easily? If so, you're distorting the brass in some manner. As posted, blacken a case and see what the problem is. I'm gonna guess that it's either bulged shoulders or the shoulders have been pulled forward. Did you lube the insides of the necks when resizing?

I also think you are moving the shoulder forward. When you use a FL die to neck size, as the die pushes in on the enlarger area ahead of the web, the shoulder is forced forward. This increases the distance from the head, to the shoulder, I. e., you have decreased the case’s head space.
Try taking one of these cartridges down to the bare case, resize with the die screwed down tight on the shell holder. Check case length at this point, and trim if needed. Now check to see if the bolt closes on the case normally. If all is well, reload the case and check the finished round.

I also agree that you may be pushing the shoulder forward with the FL die.

This is what happens..... When you set up for FL sizing, the case is squeezed in and the shoulder is set back. So the brass is displaced and flows into the neck area. Some excess brass is trimmed off but the neck does get thicker. Bench rest shooter do uniform the nec thickness after a while.

If you try to neck size (or partial FL size as some call it), the body is squeezed in but the the brass flows forward and pushes the shoulder out. Since the die is set back, there is no contact with the shoulder (UNLESS you have carefully measured and set it right). Now the case will not chamber easily as the shoulder has moved forward. If it is 4 thour or so forward, the cam action of the bolt will crush the case into the chamber. At some point the sholder is too far forward to be crushed by the cam action of the bolt.

The solution is to use the Hornady tool http://www.6mmbr.com/catalog/item/1433308/977259.htm

I had similar problems and this tool solved it.

Thank you all for your helpful replies.

I have since receieved my new brass and some loaded ammo from Hornady. The new brass is the same length as the problem brass 2.51" which is the correct dimensions for the 7x64 according to my sources. So it does not need to be trimmed. The neck on both new and problem brass are about the same OD and ID. So I don't think that is the problem.

The big thing I noticed is their is a distinctive discolored band around the base of the neck where it meets the shoulder that looks bulged and also an odd bulge ring shape further up the neck just below the top of the case. Of course it is more pronounced on some cases than others. But I think you guys are right I bulged the brass somehow with the neck sizer.

I an not using a full length sizer to neck size. The die is and RCBS neck sizer die. I ran the brass all the way up into the die until the shell holder on the ram touched the bottom of the die. Is this correct? I have never neck sized before but the books seemed to say that is right and the former owner of the gun / brass was with me and said it was right.

Also, these dies are now being used in my old Lyman turret press and the former owner had a Rockchucker. So maybe he had it in my press wrong give the difference between the presses.

I will do the blackening trick and see if that tells the tale. I have not done that yet.

The brass that came with the rifle and die is pretty old Hirtenberg stuff so I think I will park it and probably pitch it. I just don't want to resize the new stuff wrong and ruin it. This brass is not easy to come by.

Thanks again!

take some measurements on those shoulder rings and see if the shoulders have been bulged out. If so, you resizing die is set up wrong.

I have ‘U’ type Herters presses, I have a Herters two ram press, I have a Herters 6 position turret press and two different Super 3 models, I have Rock Chuckers, Dillons Texan, Lyman and Pacific, and a press that looks like a spider doing push-ups when the handle is moved, I was told by the seller it was a machine that turned lemons into juice. I explained to him there were too many parts missing and if it worked as he described the bowl would be upside down, or, his juicer had to be mounted to the celling to have a chance to work, anyhow I collect junque if it is affordable/cheap. Forgot: I also have a C&H cast iron shot gun reloading press made when C&H was in California.

I size/form cases for short chambers, minimum length chambers, go-gage length chambers, no go-gage length chambers and chambers that are called field reject length. I form/size cases from .012 thousands sorter than minimum length to infinity in thousandths. From a short chamber of .012 thousandths shorter than minimum length to a chamber that is field reject length is 26 different chamber lengths, the only press listed above that will not form cases for short chambers are the Herters with Herters shell holders.

What this means there is no such thing as a case I size that will not chamber, I know the length of the chamber, I know the ability of the press, die and shell holder to size a case.

I do not know what press you are using, the 7mmx64 Brenneka dies are available from eBay,

http://www.ebay.com/sch/sis.ht..._itemId=140672138654

You say you are using a neck sizer die only and are not using a full length sizer die, I have neck sizer dies, I do not use them, nothing says I have to use them, there are times when sizing a case for a chamber I do not have dies for, when using a neck sizer die it should be impossible to screw the down to the point it hits the shoulder, it is possible to set a bullet with a seater die that has crimp capability, I do not crimp bottle neck cases, too many things can go wrong, I am the fan of bullet hold, crimping can reduce bullet hold, I can measure bullet hold, I can not convert neck tension to psi, pounds or any other factor that I cam measure. I want my case neck to hold the bullet. Adjust the seater die off the neck of the case to prevent crimping, again, too many things can go wrong, you could be squatting the case when you are seating the bullet, the seating die does not have case body, shoulder or neck support.

http://www.tactical-store.com/ts-3r-gt-34001.html

F. Guffey

Old brass, previously reloaded? If so, might want to anneal it and then try resizing it. Its brass might be just too hard to properly resize. Just did this to some of my 6.5x55 brass that I could not close bolt on after resizing.....solved my problem.

quote:

7x63 Brenneke

I have a strain gage, I have deflection gages, in the early 60s Herters demonstrated the use of such (sort of) gages. If a reloader attempts sizing a case and the press, die and shell holder fail meaning if the case whips the press the reloader should be able to determine ‘buy how much’. Again, with no modification to the press, die and shell holder I size cases for short chambers, when a case whips one of my presses, I get a bigger press and or I increase the ability of the press to size a case.

I am not the fan of press abuse, I have discipline, the problem with 7x63 Brenneke is finding a case that could be formed to 7x63 Brenneke, there are none.

I determine the length from the bolt face to the shoulder of the chamber three different ways without a head space gage, meaning I determine the length of the chamber first then size, knowing the length of the chamber and being able to measure the length of the case from the head of the case to its shoulder allows me to adjust my die to and or off the shell holder.

Modifications to the press, grind the die, not necessary, grind the shell holder, not necessary, purchase Redding competition shell holders, not necessary, Skips shims, again, not necessary.

F. Guffey

You might be looking at two different things here on your brass. The distinct band near the base of the neck is quite normal with partially neck sized brass done in a neck size die or in a backed out FL die. This does not usually prevent chambering as the band is just the transition from a full length sized neck to one as it came from the chamber after firing. Even a different chamber will not usually be out that much that a case cannot be chambered.

The other observation of a bulge ring up near the join of the shoulder to the case is usually caused through not setting the bullet seating die correctly and the neck is being crimped to a bullet with no crimp cannelure or being crimped too hard. There is a very fine line between crimping and bulging the shoulder. Even a slight bulge at the shoulder is enough to prevent chambering a cartridge in most rifles.

Check both dies but especially the bullet seating one. If you are not crimping back off the die body a good turn or more and adjust bullet seating depth on the seating plunger.

This is the reason I will not load a batch of ammo without having the firearm right there to check a sample of the sized cases then the finished ammo. I once loaded a batch of 300RUM for a friend. We checked it in my rifle and they chambered fine. When we went to shoot it in his rifle about half the rounds wouldn't chamber because I had bulged the shoulder by over crimping. Both rifles were SS Rem 700.
Live and learn

quote:

Originally posted by Blacktailer:
This is the reason I will not load a batch of ammo without having the firearm right there to check a sample of the sized cases then the finished ammo. I once loaded a batch of 300RUM for a friend. We checked it in my rifle and they chambered fine. When we went to shoot it in his rifle about half the rounds wouldn't chamber because I had bulged the shoulder by over crimping. Both rifles were SS Rem 700.
Live and learn

Saw a very good example of this only recently when my nephew's friend, a very prolific and successful hunter, turned up on our tahr hunt with his 300WSM and one batch of his ammo handloaded by his friend would not chamber. He was aware of the issue but could not understand why the ammo would not chamber when the other reloads (with a differant bullet) would. He had spare ammo that did chamber so his hunt was not ruined.

It was instantly obvious to me on inspecting his faulty ammo that there was a small bulge at the shoulder caused by crimping the Hornady SST projectiles too heavy.

I should have mention in midwesthunter's case his problem could be because the old Hirtenberger brass could have lengthened necks causing the seating die to pinch on the neck mouth and push the shoulder back. Again though it is getting the bullet seating die set correctly. If I'm not crimping I always wind the die back by a good turn or two just to avoid any problems at this stage of loading.