I just bought 500 rounds of 22-250 once fired brass and after going through the first 100 round bag, I was only able to close the bolt, just the brass with no bullet on about half of them. I tried adjusting my full length sizer and that didnt work. And when I say cant close the bolt, I mean I wouldnt even try going on the downward strok. To the eye everything looks the same, but something is wrong. The gun is a Savage 12. Does anyone have any advice???

You may need to adjust the die down further. Screw the die into the press 1/8th of a turn until the brass chambers.

I had that problem once and I don't like adjusting my dies after they are set up so I spend a little extras cash for new brass to make life a little easier.
The problem lies in not knowing what it was fired in so it is a gamble.
Good Luck to You.

quote:

Originally posted by InMemOfDaveO:
I just bought 500 rounds of 22-250 once fired brass and after going through the first 100 round bag, I was only able to close the bolt, just the brass with no bullet on about half of them. I tried adjusting my full length sizer and that didnt work. And when I say cant close the bolt, I mean I wouldnt even try going on the downward strok. To the eye everything looks the same, but something is wrong. The gun is a Savage 12. Does anyone have any advice???

The headspace on once fired brass will be all over the place. No telling how many rifles all that brass came from. They ALL may have different headspace dimensions. You need to set the shoulder back on all the cases so that they just chamber, just as Steve has suggested. Oh yeah, and I'm with Dwight on the new brass.

I have tried turning in the die, but it still wont allow me to chamber the brass. What would the brass look like if they were used in a Improved chamber?? I did find one piece that was noticably fatter and had a sharper shoulder, but only one looked like that.

Hope you can get a refund otherwise it sounds as though you lost a few bucks.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by InMemOfDaveO:
I have tried turning in the die, but it still wont allow me to chamber the brass. QUOTE]

How did you originally set up your FL die and how far have you turned it down since you started messing with this brass?

I started out with the ram all the way up, lowered the die until it hit the ram and then gave it another 1/8th all the way to a 1/4 turndown. I think my problem is with my Lee press. A freind of mine uses the "heavy duty" Lee press and was able to size the brass to fit my chamber. The lee press I use is the one that came with the anniversary kit, not as "heavy duty". I think its time to upgrade presses so I will have one for sale if anyone is interested. If anyone has any other ideas please let me know. Thanks for all your help.

Try a good ole RCBS rockchucker for life.

Did you,......
Check the case length?
Is your expander pulling the shoulder a touch?
May be you need a small based die?

Sorting this out can be like solving a good mystery. As was already pointed out. Sometimes you save by spending a little more. Brass is often a good example of this.

muck

You may need to just use a small base die.

I had similar problem back in Dec with supposely once fired Win 22-250 brass and it drove me crazy, I doubled & tripled checked everything and never really found any real solutions except go out and by new brass and now going on 4th loading with new brass without any problems.

good luck

quote:

Originally posted by InMemOfDaveO:
I think my problem is with my Lee press. A freind of mine uses the "heavy duty" Lee press and was able to size the brass to fit my chamber.

If your friend used a different press and the dies were set up the same way, either his press is positioning the dies slightly differently and is therfore sizing the brass a bit more, or your press has so much flex in it, that it doesn't size the brass as much with the same dies. If you just screw the die in a bit more you can probably get enough sizing to chamber, but I'm always for new/better tools.

I'd second the vote on the Rockchucer, hard to beat all around press.

I have found the problem. I was just being a wimp when I was FL sizing. I started to hammer down with the press. I only needed an additional 1/16th of an inch, or less, and thats all I needed. The friend I spoke about broke his first Lee press, but I dont think he was lubing the case. Thanks for all the replys. I won't shy away from "unknown" brass, I will just make sure my equipment is set up right.

Sometimes you run into brass that has been fired in an extremely short chamber. A normal length fl die wont cut it. One way to fix that is to grind about 1/32ins. off the bottom of your die. But then you have to be careful that you don't leave the die set too deep once all your cases are sized correctly. A better way is to buy an extra shell holder and grind some off the top of it. This also allows you to set the shoulders back more and you still have a standard lenght die. I've done this for a friends extremely short chambered Win. 22/250.

quote:

Originally posted by Dwight:
Hope you can get a refund otherwise it sounds as though you lost a few bucks.

I agree but it isn't so much the brass as the die. That die should be able the size down a case to fit his chamber. roger

quote:

Originally posted by InMemOfDaveO:
What would the brass look like if they were used in a Improved chamber?? I did find one piece that was noticably fatter and had a sharper shoulder, but only one looked like that.

This help?

You may have hit the nail on the head with the Lee press as the problem. Their lower priced presses flex a lot. When setting up the die in the press for full length resizing, I place a sheet of paper between the shell holder and the bottom of the die. The paper should be held tightly.
Now with a lubed case lower the handle all the way(resize a case). With the case still up in the die, visually check to see if you can see ANY light inbetween the die and shell holder. If you can, your press is flexing and you are not full length resizing.
Another thing. I would not recomend using a press that you have to put "the hammer down" to resize. The stronger presses make resizing smooth and seem almost effortless. The "inexpensive" presses are good for other reloading chores. Bullet seating, depriming, neck sizing...etc. . Keep yours it will be handy.

muck

Tailgunner, the case on the right looks just like the one I found and I have 400 more rounds to look through, so I'm sure I will more. I will need the 500 rounds for my twice a month PD outings, but I will buy a better press to size them all and keep my current press like Muck said, the light work. Thanks guys

By the way tailgunner, how do you go about getting a 22-250AI.

You have your barrel set back and the chamber recut with a 22-250AI reamer. To get the brass you simply fire standard 22-250Rem ammo in your "Ackley Improved" chamber.

I don't own a 22-250, but I do collect ammo. Those 2 rounds were donated to my by "Stepchild" and IIRC the chambers were cut by "Jim White" (both of these gentlemen are posters on this site). The question "what is a AI?" comes up often enough that I felt it worthwhile to have a side by side visual for them to see.