I was shooting my newly finished 338 RUM. 8 factory loads not a prob. First reload and case sticks, not tough to lift the bolt but some ristance from the case on bolt face. No cratering on primer, no shiny spots on base except the partial ring from the ejector rotation in the bolt. Case head dia. is same as new factory while fired factory case head is .0025 bigger. The was the first time I ever reloaded for rifles, plenty of shotgun though. It was the min listed load. 250 gr gameking, 81.6 gr N560, Remington new brass, CCI mag rifle primers. Brass what FL sized with die touching case holder and then turned in a 1/4 turn. The ram springs slightly off the bottom of the die. Any ideas on what else to look for? I can post a pic of stuck case and fired factory case.

skog

Question; Was it also a bit hard to close the bolt when chambering the round?

I didnt remember it being any tighter to close on the the reload, but I was nervous with this being my first reload. I was thinking do I do everything right. I just went and mixed up a factory round and the second round I loaded, loaded them both into the gun and on opening and closing them I cant tell the difference on closing pressure.

skog

so no trouble with the primary extraction, but when you tried to pull the bolt back straight towards you there was some resistance?, obviously you got the case out by just pulling the bolt back towards you?

have you tried to cycle any cases through since then? chamber nice and clean no bits of brass or anything else in there? cases clean?

Id fire a factory round and see if it does it again, if it doesnt do it, pull the handload down down a grain or 2 and see if that helps.

if your game just try another reload and see what happens, i probably would.


not all dies are set up the same, id just set them up like the dies instructions say, you dont need to be pushing the shoulder in too far. pushed in thou from the fired cases dimensions is all youll need since the case has probably alreaddy sprung back that much

Have you got access to another set of dies to try?
Last year I brought a 243 neck sizing die. It had a .25 expander button in the sealed box. Since then I have been wary of reloading dies.

cases cycle fine factory and reloads. chamber is clean, they were no marks on the brass as is something was holding it in. The neck of the spent was dirty but not out of the ordinary dirty.

I cant shoot any more right now, as it is in michigan and I am now in Colorado.
skog

It has been my experience that the two most common factors in having stuck cases is (1) a dirty chamber and (2) too much pressure.

I couldn't find any information on the 338 RUM in Vidivouri powders so I can't guess if your charge is too weak or to strong. Too weak of a charge can be dangerous too - causing a flashover and high pressure.

If your bullet is seated to the lands this will usually cause a pressure spike and should be done with caution.

you mentioned that you touched the shellholder to the die and then tightened it 1/4 turn, I am assuming that you mean that you made sure that the die is comming in contact with the shell holder to ensure that there is a full lenght resize done on all the cartidges.

Is the rifle a factory rifle, or a custom? Many customs will be set for a "tight neck" requiring neck turning.

It is a custom done by me as my final project for gunsmithing school. Reamer is a PTG. It is ground to sammi. The dies were set up for FL sizing as per RCBS. COL 3.600" Reloading data is straight from the new sierra manual.