I have reloaded for years and have never had this problem before.

I just purchased the Redding Deluxe die set for 338 Win Mag new. And I purchased some bullets and brass from an AR member. His once fired brass was full length resized and it will still not fit in my gun. The new brass works fine, new cases fired in my gun are tight after FL sizing. I have the dies set up to make contact with the shellholder this should give max resize. My shellholder is a #6 which is correct.

I believe the dies are the problem, I would like ideas before I send these back to Redding.

Thanks,

Wayne

You need to set your die,to contact the shell holder with an empty brass in the press,probably need to "cam over" your press a bit at the top of stroke.I take out the firing pin on Rem.'s,and screw the die in a bit at a time,trying the sized brass each time till i get a pretty easy bolt closing.

It's possible that he had a loose chamber and now your dies have made a ridge just ahead of the belt. No dies size all the way to the belt and when they stop there they can make a ridge just ahead of it. Measure just ahead of the belt and if you are .513 or bigger that could be your problem and it will feel just like you haven't got enough headspace. You may also mark the area ahead of the belt....attempt to chamber....and then look for scratches there. If so there is only one way to save the brass and that is with a special "collet magnum die".
Let us know if that is your problem.

First find out where the contact is by smoking or inking the case.

Reading between the lines on what Redding and others may be doing now on new FL dies for belted bottlenecked cartridges I think they get the picture that the belted design can create head separations, as it will, and have split the differance on returning the fired case all the way back to a nominal headspace to the shoulder. Just my take.

If the contact is at the shoulder then either grind down a shell holder til the case chambers, call Redding or buy some Redding special shell holders that are different heights.

Don't call Redding about anything if you want to enjoy the rest of your day. The path of least resistance is to polish that shell holder down on some emery paper and keep trying it.

I had the same problem on a set of .340 Weatherby dies. I ended up turning off about .015 on the end of the die in my lathe. That seemed to fix my problem.

Montana,

Redding (PH: 607-753-3331, FAX: 607-756-8445)

email: techline@redding-reloading.com

I spoke with Mr Patrick T Ryan, Redding's Operations Manager at the SHOT show regarding a problem I have with a .243 AI FL bushing sizer. His response was to send the die with 5 fired cases from your rifle and they would correct it. I have no doubt this would be the best method as it will then be fitted to your rifle. May this be of assistance to you.

I think that wtb has the right answer. One other thing is your cases may be to long. Any way I had to do the caming over thing when making some 7mm rocket jout of 225 winchester cases. They would not chamber until I used the caming over trick.
If all else fails call Redding they are good people.
my 2 cents
Larry

Not sure what you mean by camming over the shellholder contacts the bottom of the die now. I belive the die is made improperly because I also load a 7mm STW that uses the same shellholder with no problems. I feel the die is too long.
I have access to a machine shop how much do you feel should be turned off. I do not have time to send this to Redding for repair. I leave for Namibia on June 7th and need to shoot a lot before then. Thought about just purchasing another FL die.

Thanks for all the ideas

Montana
to set you press (1)put the lever all the way to the down aka ram up.(2)screw your die all the way down until it is in contact with the shell holder (tight)(3)lift the lever up a little and screw the die down about 1/8 of a turn(4)then push the lever back down until it touches the die then go a little over (thus called caming over. If this doesn't help or cure your problem you could have excessive headspace in your chamber. You can check this with a fired piece of brass by checking the length of the case. You might try and find another set of dies and see if they will work.
Hope I've made this clear as mud
Larry

Montana,

Sounds similar to a problem I had with a custom #1 ( I still have & use it all the time.)

About 10 yrs ago I had a Ruger #1 rebarreled. It's unbelieveable accurate. I would shoot some shells, & then some of them would not chamber.

I sent the Redding dies & five new brass, & 5 shot brass to Redding, they check & said they could find nothing wrong.

Sent it back to the gunsmith ( I had paid him a lot of money for the custom work) explaining the problem. He said he checked the dies, chamber, shells, & every thing was ok.

I have been loading for 47 yrs.

I then bought a Redding "bump die", some times the shells would feed, some times not.
I decided I had to many other things to do in life, then to be worried about it, so I "lived with it". I would load shells that would "fall in the chamber", others I checked before loading would not chamber, so I put them in a box.

I would shoot 20 or 30 rounds thru it, some would "fall back in" as soon as I ejected them, some would not.

One day ( I'm a slow thinker) I took one of the cases thah would not load, resized it in a full length, then the neck die, then the bump die-still would not chamber. All at once a light came on in my dumb head. I then put it in the case trimmer, & trimmed it about .008 less than what my reloading manuals say is min., resized it again****it fell in the chamber.

Took the ones out of the box that would not chamber, & retrimmer them all to the new OAL. They all dropped in.

My only explaination is when the gunsmith cut the chamber, the neck is "shorter" than standard. & even though I was trimming to the min. specified in the reloading manuals, it was not "short" enough for my chamber. I don't know if that makes sense.

My problem is now solved. It may not solve yours, but it's worth a try.

If you have any spare shell holders and a grinder in the garage just take about .015" off the shellholder top-----much easier than cutting the die down. (at least it was for me on my 300 rum situation).

OK thanks for all the input

will trim the cases a little short and try that, actually trimmed one case today and tried it but did not go below min.

next will be to go buy another shellholder and grind it down some.

What I actually think is wrong is, my chamber is tighter than the guy I bought the brass from and the die is too long.

Another question when you only use the neck die doesn't it bump the shoulder down slightly. I load for a 280 Rem and have all the Redding comp die stuff plus a RCBS case mic set. By using the case mic I can tell if the brass will chamber or not, if not, it is always the shoulder needs bumping a few .001's. This is what this feels like but since it had a belt was unsure. Anyway I have a neck die for the 338 and tried using it with the same results would not chamber.

Larry I will try your recomendation also but have a question on the headspace. If my chamber is to long wouldn't the brass stretch to fill it and the be overly worked by the die getting it back down to spec. My problem is I don't beleive the die is pushing it back down enough. Please tell me if my thinking is right or wrong, just trying to figure this out. Don't need any problems just want to shoot.

By the way the gun seems to shoot real nice, the first group was a nice small cluster almost touching, the gun shoots better than me, not used to the recoil.

Wayne

Montana
Redding makes a set (5) of +/- shell holders that will let you push the shoulder just a little. The shoulder might be the problem.
Good Luck
Larry

Looking at this problem this morning, the die has a recess to accept the belt this appears to be the problem. No matter what I do the case can not be pushed into the die any further. If I do, it will crush the belt and stick the case.

I am calling Redding and packing these up.

Wayne

That probably the best thing to do. I'm sure they have a pretty quick turn around

Larry

Well kiss my ass, the cam over thing worked. Still don't like the idea of having to do this, plus I had to go about 1/2 round down to make this work. I am going to do my load development and go hunting but before I leave I am going to send the dies back to Redding for adjustment.

Wayne

Montana
The first time I tried it I did't believe it either but it may only take .001 to do the trick. Good luck on your hunt in June.

Larry

quote:

Well kiss my ass, the cam over thing worked. Still don't like the idea of having to do this, plus I had to go about 1/2 round down to make this work

Yep, most stop at the ram when adjusting their sizer. If one reads the instructions for RCBS FL sizers, and I`m quit sure Redding also, they say to lower the ram and add a quarter turn more. SAAMI has set a tolerance in the allowed headspace for cartridges of +/- ~0.005" and mags with the belt have the shoulder area all over the map INRE to lenght. I`ve a couple of dies that won`t touch the shoulder if they aren`t screwed past the "touch" point in 7-08 & 270.

Two thoughts: Try running a case without the expander button and see if it will chamber. I have had cases where the expander would stretch the shoulder just enough to cause hard chambering with a flrs case. Solution was to lube inside of neck with mica. Other thought would be to get a shoulder bumping die from Redding, they work great.
C.G.B.