I've been reloading .270 win for the past 10 or so years and shooting them out of a single rifle. I had always neck sized only, since they were all going in the same rifle. Now I have bought an Encore barrel in .270 and started full length sizing my cases to use in two different guns. Since I've started full length sizing, the rounds are hard to chamber. What is causing this? BTW, all the brass has been trimming after sizing and I am using Lee dies.
Thanks for any input.

I am not familiar with how the Lee dies are adjusted for FLR, but if you are not over-camming the press you probably are not getting as far down as the die needs to go. Run the ram to the top of the stroke, screw the die down until it contacts the shellholder, then back the ram down and turn the die another quarter to 1/2 turn. Set the lock ring and size a few cases. See if this helps. If so, great; if not, there is something else amiss...

9 times out of 10 you just need to turn your sizing die down just a tad tighter to knock the shoulder back on the casing. I would start with about 1/20th turn. That should lower your headspace about .003".
I would strongly recomend you get the stoney point (now owned by hornady) headspace bushing kit to measure how much your case is growing between the chambers of your two rifles and when resizing. It will help you set up your dies to make perfect ammo for both guns.

You may need to small base size your brass.

Two slightly different chambers dimensions for the same cartridge. What is more than likely happening is the headspace is slight different for each chamber. Also, one chamber may have different diameters. One could be on the tight side of the SAAMI spec and the other to the large side.

Your best solution is to assigned cases for each rifle and not interchange them. Yes it is more of a organizational challenge, but it will better suit each rifle and allow for maximizing each rifles accuracy potential.

Are the rounds hard to chamber in one rifle or in both? If they're only hard to chamber in one of them, small base dies might solve the problem.

If you're trying to crimp the bullets, you can, if too vigorous, get a little wrinkle at the shoulder of the case that will make chambering difficult. The best seating depth of bullets can also vary between rifles. If the bullets hit the lands in one of the rifles, that will make chambering difficult.

As a poster noted above, if the press is adjusted so that the shellholder contacts the base of the die when resizing, it should set the shoulder back far enough that the cartridges should chamber easily in both rifles if none of the above apply.

Kraky hit it on the head...

you need to tighten you die down about a 1/8 to 1/4 of a turn, until it cams...

it is not chambering because the shoulder is not pushed back far enough...

or you can do like I do on some cartridges...

I full length size the die, without the expander ball in the die, and then after I tumble it to clean the lub off, I neck size it in the Lee neck sizing die... this makes the neck more concentric...

I don't do it all the time, but for certain rifles I have found it makes a BIG! difference in both ease of seating the bullet and accuracy..

quote:

Originally posted by MSwickard:
Two slightly different chambers dimensions for the same cartridge. What is more than likely happening is the headspace is slight different for each chamber. Also, one chamber may have different diameters. One could be on the tight side of the SAAMI spec and the other to the large side.

Your best solution is to assigned cases for each rifle and not interchange them. Yes it is more of a organizational challenge, but it will better suit each rifle and allow for maximizing each rifles accuracy potential.

I agree. One of the basic rules of reloading, dont interchange brass between guns. You may also find the the T/C contender type firearms need a different die setting when full length resizing. A die adjustment may be all thats needed here.

Nine times out of 10,people forget to trim there brass for lenght.This is a primary cause for your problem. vangunsmith

I want to thank everybody for their suggestions. I'm going to try running some brass thru tonight with the die turned in a little more. I do trim all the cases after sizing them. The rounds are hard to chamber in both the encore and the savage. When I seat my bullets I don't think I'm hitting them too hard with the crimp. I made that mistake several years ago loading some .30-30's for my contender, it was actually deforming the shoulder when I would try to crimp the bullets.

I'm 99% sure that I'll just end up splitting all my brass in half and letting each rifle have it's own assigned brass. That way I can go back to neck sizing and keep a load/process that I have worked for a while to develop in the Savage.