I need someone to please educate me and increase my reloading knowledge.

What measurements do you need to make to confirm if your resized brass will fit in your rifles chamber without getting jammed and requiring major surgery by a gunsmith to remove? I have always just placed a sized and ready to prime piece of brass in my rifle and sloooooowly and carefully camed the bolt over and if I sensed any resistance I know to stop and remove the round by hand and bump the shoulder back 0.002-0.003".

Well last year I bought 3 absolutely beautiful JM stamped Marlin lever action 336c's in 35 Remington for my sons and on occasion myself to use for deer hunting.

I was using the same method to check my reloads in the Marlins as I do for my bolt guns and it occurred to me a lever action rifle design has not near the same force to extract a case as does a bolt gun, so I'm understandably fearful of getting a shell jammed in the chamber that due to a lever actions lack of extraction force I won't be able to extract.

I have the SAMMI spec sheets for all my rifles and I also have a Hornady comparator gauges for all my rifles to measure the length of my brass from the face of the brass to the shoulder, and I always measure every case for LOA each time I reload.

So are there any other measurements besides from the face of the case with the primer removed to the shoulder and the total length of the case itself I need to measure to insure I don't get a round stuck in the chamber? With all my bolt guns I try to keep my brass sized so the shoulder is only 0.002-0.003" short the maximum length for that rifles chamber, but I am uncertain how I can or if a I should attempt to accomplish this with my lever guns. I should bare in mind these are 200ish yard maximum short range hunting rifles and not intended to be shot to the much farther distances like my 300wsm and 338wm are.

Thanks,
Art.

Short answer; none.
Why? Because among all the thousands of chambers, brass, ammo, dies, gauges, etc, they all are supposed to fall into the SAAMI Specifications for chambers and ammo. There is no spec for dies and gauges. We are very lucky to be able to do as well as we do with interchangeability because there is a relatively large tolerance allowed; like up to .018 tolerance in some ammo and chambers.
So, really, there is only one gauge you need to be concerned with; your chamber. And since you have only one set of dies, so, all you can do is what everyone else does; size until the brass fits the chamber however you like it; some like a slight feel when chambering. Some like a free fit especially when hunting.
Even if you had a dimension, say of the OD of the brass; unless you want to pay $400 for a set of dies made exactly to your chamber, that number means nothing. And your sizing die will make the shoulder to base dimension to your liking, just by adjusting the die up and down.
For your low pressure, relatively, lever actions, size the brass to fit freely. Don't try to make it too tight, you already know that lever actions don't like that.

Art, IMO, yu're over thinking this thing. Especially with a lever gun, if you begin to close the action on a resized case, you will feel considerable resistance long before you get into stuck case territory.

Thank you for the info dpcd. I have a set of Redding competition shell holders that should allow me to control my "bump" of the shoulder pretty closely.

I learned LONG ago Redding competition shell holders are one of the best investments a reloader who strives for the utmost accuracy/consistentcy can make, I have them for all my bottle neck calibers I reload for.

Since you also have bolt rifles you may find the Hornady case length / OAL measuring tool to be useful

https://www.google.com/url?sa=...aF5lB5Fg04uTIEa399Tw

I have been using it for about 8 years or so and it has made sizing much easier. No more crush fits, stuck cases, uneven ammo etc.

Take a fired case from each rifle and send to Lee dies and have a custom dies made for each rifle . Or take the longest fired case and have a die for that rifle . All the others should fit that one .

Always keep a brass range rod in your gun cases.
Mighty handy even if not for your own needs. You'll run across others at a busy range that have stuck cases now and then.

George

The real solution is to completely full length resize all of your hunting loads.
So everyone here will scream "yikes you will shorten your brass life"
But you won't care about losing a couple of reloading opportunities on cases and the pennies you saved the very first time you or your sons foul up a hunt with a stuck round that you can't close the bolt on and can't extract in your lever gun and have to walk back to the truck to hammer it out.
When hunting the environment can play hell on "tight" tolerances. The perfect fit may be perfect until your ammo gets exposed to hot, cold, dust, snow, ice and little corrosion on your perfectly polished brass case and it is suddenly stuck in your chamber.

Just my opinion, other experts may not agree.

Frankly, I have no idea why people go to such lengths for hunting rifles.

Full length size them and be sure they will work..

Brass life is a function of the chamber dimensions and the dimensions of the reloading dies.

I have loaded brass for my 375/404 over 15 times, and they are all full length sized each time.

The dies were cut to the same size as the chambering reamer

agree with the last 2 posts.
full length size the stuff like a factory round and run with it.
you not going to get 1/2' groups.
and 1 more load ain't worth the trouble.
get the 8 loads out of them and buy some more cases.
or just do like I do with my 30-30's and buy 2,000 cases for the rifle and die before they wear out.

All these have been fired several times, and over a number of years.

All full length resized.

I've had some trouble with 45/70 bullets sticking in the rifling despite being crimped into the front of the cannelure when the cases were less than max length. (I should have sussed out the clearance before loading but in old age we sometimes forget the things that we know.)

The lever gave some resistance on closing but not on opening and the bullets came out with the case.

This situation has to be fixed but finding out did not jam the rifle.

IMO, for hunting, with lever actions and I do shoot and hunt with a lot of lever actions. I do too things..I full lenth resize all my loads, and I normally shoot two grs. below book max..The lever guns were never ment for bench rest and most will only shoot around 2 inches with the right bullets and powder charge. Most of what Ive read say they shoot 3 or 4 inches, but I have not found that the case...

I also know that full length resizeing on low pressure calibers has little effect on case life, and is the best insurance for positive feeding, a most important part of hunting.

Bolt action rifle are somewhat of a different can of worms, often quite the opposite, but even with bolt guns I like new or full length resized cases, especially for DG...

The only sure thing with a rifle, is how it shoots and the only way to know is shoot your handloads and factory ammo, that is the bottom line.

Crimping, especially just a tad of over crimping will interfere with feeding in two ways, one, mostly occurred, is too much crimp sets the shoulder back, more so in a tight chamber and you can't always detect it by looking at the case for the telltale shiny brass ring around the shoulder, the other is because one or two cases, maybe a dozen fit fine but it only takes one to mess up things big time...always run your important loads thru your gun before you go hunt or compete..

I highly recommend a taper crimp die if available.

The only problem I see since you bought 3 identical Marlin rifles in the same caliber is mixing the fired cases.

If the cases are not kept separate and if there is any difference in the chambers it might cause chambering problems.

The good news is the 35 Remington is a lower pressure cartridge than the 30-30 Win. Meaning even if the brass does become mixed you may not have a problem.

Also the SAAMI chamber dimensions are "guidelines" and not written in stone. Meaning a pump or lever action rifle could have larger chamber dimensions than a bolt action.

NOTE, if you pause at the top of the ram stroke for 4 or 5 seconds when FL sizing, this greatly reduces brass spring back. Meaning case diameter and shoulder location will be more uniform. And less problems with mixed brass fired in different chambers.

NICE GROUP, BOSS!!!

Use a taper crimper or Lee FCD...FORGET where the crimping grove is and measure WHERE the bullet actually engages the rifling, THEN seat 10-30 thou shorter...ALL my LEVER-GUN chambers/barrels are long throated for some reason and I can seat out ~2.78" for certain bullets...BUT...If you haven't had your rifle 'smithed for the longer COAL it doesn't matter, you CAN'T LOAD or extract much over 2.58-60" anyway...

Crimping grooves are rolled in to fit a common, well used caliber's COAL and PROBABLY ISN'T designed for the 30-30 or a lever gun unless specified for that specific cartridge....stay the HECK away from crimping grooves you haven't measured.

CHECK YOUR INDIVIDUAL RIFLES FOR FUNCTIONING WITH THE AMMO YOU ARE GOING TO USE IN IT EACH SEPARATE RIFLE so screw-ups don't happen.

I built a switch barrel 336 - 444 M, 458 American and 356 Win - and I have reloaded a single 444 M case 40 times with a top load of RL-7 and Beartooth's 265 WFNGC 40 times and it's still good enough for a few more and I've done similar tests to 223 and 308 bolt guns and a 450 Marlin BLR AND the switch barrel 336, originally a 30-30, with all of them going 25 to 60 firings using one single case for each caliber's testing.

Checkout Beartooths article base and other LEVER-GUNS FORUMS for many articles on leverguns and how to keep then happy.

MOST of the reasons that brass gets killed are through OVER PRESSURE loads and chambers/sizers that are mis-fit and cause too much brass squeezing in the size/fire/resize cycle, and a whole bunch of Pete and re-Pete on the net and in mag articles continuing the Urban myth.

Even belted mags, depending on all the factors, can go a long way. I'm working with my 375 H&H and various bullet types and weights comparing the scope setting using TWO cases and marking the base every shot...there are over 15 marks around the circumference of the case and NO room for more so I started another row...loads were NOT maxed out and the highest pressure was about 3/4 throttle 48-54 KPSI and 270 Woodleigh Midway seconds and some 250-300 gr cast lead CG.s. So far the TOTAL amount of trimming is ~0.010" so I'm starting to eyeball the case interior for head separation after each firing.


Match your sizer to the rifle's chamber so the brass is only squished enough to chamber easily...set the shoulder back ~0.002-0.003" or so...set the seater to keep the bullet away from the lands and taper/Lee FCD crimp....You ALSO don't need a full tube of rounds...all that does in make the rifle heavy and upset the center of balance and if you need MORE than 3 ROUNDS you NEED TO PRACTICE your trigger/breath control, sighting and holding....we ALL could use some of that practice probably. , plus you can use pointy bullets for the one up the spout and first in the tube and not worry about the other worry of bullet tips lighting off the ones in the tube...I won't go into that as that CAN be a dangerous subject for those who don't think straight.

Good Hunting