I'm relatively new to reloading and ran into this. I resized some 7mag brass (full length). When I tried to chamber them into the gun they would not chamber. The brass goes in only so far. When removing them they have a scratch ring about 3/16" above the belt. When trying another batch of brass they chambered ok. New brass also ok. Please help.Thanks

1. Make sure the dies are adjusted per manufacturers instruction.

2. Check case length with caliper -- s/b 2.50" or less.

3. Check overall length from case base to tip of bullets s/b 3.29" or less (2 & 3 are data for 7mm rem mag).

4. Measure OUTSIDE if case mouth, both just below the bullet. If it is not .315 you may have a maladjusted or defective seating die.

5. If none of this helps, you might want to check with die manufacturer. The good ones will work with you.


In general, try to make sure to be as accurate as possible.

If you have a reloading manual or two setting around, read the front section very carefully. There are several good books out there, Hornady, Lyman, Hodgdon, Barnes. All will help you figure out the problem you are having.

what rifle are you loading for? Some semi-automatics have pretty tight chambers and require a small base sizing die. If you have calipers, measure the area just in front of the belt on a piece of brass that does not chamber, and compare it to the same area of one that does.

From the description of the "ring" that may be the part that is causing the problem.

Well I went back and checked some measurements according to nosler manual. Listed are thier measurements first, mine second. Overall length 2.500,mine 2.500. Neck .312, mine .310. Bottom of shoulder .491, mine .485. Diameter above the belt .532, mine .510. One thing I remembered is that the brass that wont fit was shot from my ruger. I'm now trying to fit these in a rem 700 bdl.All my meas. are at or below nosler's specs. I just don't understand why they won't fit. Dies seem to be adjusted fine. Thanks for all your help.

You could have a looser headspace (boltface - shoulder) dimension on the Ruger's chamber than on the BDL. (It's about the only dimension you haven't checked). Try smoking your case shoulder with a candle (or just use Engineer's Blue) before resizing. After resizing, you will clearly see whether or not your die has contacted the shoulder to set it back. My guess is that you'll see no contact. If not, screw the die in slightly, until you have clear contact with the shoulder. (This might be 1/4 turn, or less). From there, you will just have to 'tweak' it to fit your BDL chamber. If all else fails, you may have to consider the small base dies.

I remember a recent post on here where the poster had reloaded 7mm (?) ammo for a friend with three different rifles of the same caliber. Same thing as in your case, brass fired from one gun did not like going into another's chamber. His recommendation was that the brass should be kept separated for each rifle. In the past I had loaded 30-06 ammo that was previously fired in a Weatherby Vanguard but after reloaded was shot in a friend's 1917 Enfield, no problems. I think I had cranked the sizer die down to where I was full length resizing, as far as possible. But in the future I think will keep brass for each rifle separated.