...it's escaping me at the moment.

my #2 son loaded some very accurate rounds in his savage m110 .280. he noticed with some that the bolt had a hard time closing, but when it did, they fired normally. at first, i thought it might be ebcause the cases may not have been trimmed, but he said that he did trim them.

any other ideas?

Perhaps the bullets aren't fully seated, and are being pushed further into the case upon closing the bolt.
Bill

Different brass brand? Caliper slipped / needs checked? Chamferred?

Did he neck size or full length resize the cases? How many times had the cases been fired? I suspect he needs to full length resize to push the shoulder of the case back a bit so it's not a "crush fit" in the chamber.

Cleaning the chamber and bolt lug recesses wouldn't hurt either.

thanks for the replies so far. the bulelts fit easy in the chamber, but they may have been seated a little shallow. it was once-fired bras from factory ammunition (federal or remington, i forget which) and he had neck-sized it. i am sure he chamfered them because he always has before.

i'll run these suggestions by him and see if we can get it figured out.

*1 to Stealth comments on pushing shoulder back. A good habit is after sizing try and chamber in rifle, especially if going on a hunting trip. If only to the range it's only aggravating, but if out hunting, well I mean bird watching . . . Waidmannsheil, Dom.

also lube the inside of thr necks the expander button is pulling on the neck as it is removed.

Some folks set their FL die a little off of the shell holder to prevent the shoulder from being touched during resizing as in partial FL resizing. When the walls of the die begin squeezing the side walls of the case in the slope of the shoulder is not supported and it bulges forward. If the die is not set deep enough to push the shoulder back the shoulder will remain in the forward location which caused the interference when you try to close the bolt, even if the case was previously fired in that same rifle.

quote:

Originally posted by Dom:
*1 to Stealth comments on pushing shoulder back. A good habit is after sizing try and chamber in rifle, especially if going on a hunting trip. If only to the range it's only aggravating, but if out hunting, well I mean bird watching . . . Waidmannsheil, Dom.

Not only chamber your rounds but be sure they fit and feed from the mag, not just the top round but a full mag. I had a friend who had spent months perfecting his load in his pet rifle. When he got in the field he found only the first round would feed the rest jammed in the mag. When he was loading his rifle at the bench he started with the round in the mag and thought it meant all his would feed from the mag.
Bill

That is a typical symptom of partial sizing with a Full length die. If you back up a FLD, the case taper is partly sized & the shoulder is actually squeezed forward. This is what causes the chambering resistance.

It took me a while to figure out the issues involved. I solved the problem ultimately by using a Hornady's Lock and Load Headspace Gauge which gave me the ability to neck size with shoulder fit to within 0.002" crush fit on a consistent basis. I also bought the lugs for OAL ammo measurement at the ogive using the same too on my calipers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-UrMTyJ1_E this YouTube clip shows how to use it.

Cases are slightly long in the shoulder. A very slight adjustment downward in the die will correct this.

these are neck-sized with either the lee collet die or (possibly) the lee loader. i could be wrong but there shouldn't be any shoulder issues using once-fired (in the same rifle) brass that was previously factory ammo that is trimmed and chamfered?

he did use the lee factory crimp die and i am starting to wonder if the issue might lie there.

quote:

i could be wrong but there shouldn't be any shoulder issues using once-fired (in the same rifle) brass that was previously factory ammo that is trimmed and chamfered?

only true if the brass was fired in the same rifle, & even then sometimes neck sizing only will give a few chambering problems. especially if they are hot loads. full length size a couple rounds and see if the problem doesn't go away

quote:

Cases are slightly long in the shoulder. A very slight adjustment downward in the die will correct this.

+1

This is a common problem. If you try what wasbeeman suggests and the brass is still hard to chamber, then try setting up the FL sizing die exactly per the instructions of the FL die manufacturer. Try some of the sized brass in the rifle to see if it chambers easily.

If it doesn't, and you can't set the sizing die downward anymore because the base of the die is hitting the shell holder (and it should be when a FL sizing die is set up per instructions), then hone off a slight amount of the shell holder surface (that contacts the die) and try again. If the cases still won't chamber easily, hone off a little more of the shell holder.

Note: Use this honing technique only as a last resort and be careful not to hone off too much of the shell holder as the portion that pulls the brass out of the die will break off. Also, don't use this "honed off" shell holder to reload other ammo because you might push the shoulders back too much, then.

The problem may be in setting the crimp die. If you "over crimp" or try to crimp when the case mouth is not centered in a cannelure, the shoulder can be forced out creating a tight fit or even preventing chambering.

quote:

Originally posted by butchloc:

quote:

i could be wrong but there shouldn't be any shoulder issues using once-fired (in the same rifle) brass that was previously factory ammo that is trimmed and chamfered?

only true if the brass was fired in the same rifle, & even then sometimes neck sizing only will give a few chambering problems. especially if they are hot loads. full length size a couple rounds and see if the problem doesn't go away

Did you look at the Youtube clip I posted? If the dies was set back, it will squeeze the case taper & move the shoulder forward even if it is a once fired case. I have done it and had the same problems.

You could have a problem with crimping if you are using the seating die to crimp & have turned it down too far. This will actually buckle the case which causes chambering problems. Lee seating dies are actually designed to be used for crimping as well - just dont screw the die down too far.