any of you had a problem with a sizing die not sizing the case down small enough and would not chamber properly in your rifle?

yes but usualy its the shell holder is too thick preventing complete resizing.

Tell us how you have your FL die adjusted???

I had a problem with a 30-378 Weatherby. The problem was the gunsmith changed the headspacing on the gun and any “non-factory†load would not chamber. If you have RCBS dies your in luck. Just fire 5 factory loads and send them your dies with the 5 cases and they will fix it for you.

Is the problem with a Weatherby cal/rifle?

quote:

Originally posted by elmo729:
any of you had a problem with a sizing die not sizing the case down small enough and would not chamber properly in your rifle?

This can happen due to several causes.

1. Improperly adjusted sizing die.
2. An action that has little to no camming force when closing the action. Typical of autoloaders, slide action and lever action rifles.
3. A rifle with a minimum headspace chamber
4. Wrong shell holder depth for the die (not likely these days)

I have had the first 3 problems.
1. Some presses such as the older C presses were a little springy and with a little less than optimum case lube they would leave a case that was not sized enough now and then. The fix is to screw the die down a little bit more until the rounds will chamber every time. Don't over do it with some of the cheap presses or you might break the press frame.
2. A BLR in .358 Win drags a little when closing the action on a loaded round. This rifle is going to require a small base sizer to completely correct this problem. I also load for other lever guns, pumps and autoloaders but none have required a small base die.
3. I have this with one rifle. I have checked the headspace and it is tight on a go gauge. Sized cases are tight from 3 different sets of quality dies. The problem can be cured on a tight chambered rifle by sizing the case withdrawing it from the die about 1/2" rotating it 180 degrees and sizing it again. Or you can shave the shell holder. However you should never use that shell holder for a different rifle after modification.

I've never had a die that wouldn't resize a cartridge case to fit in a standard factory bolt rifle. I'm not saying it can't happen but in every case I've run acrost, it's been owner/operater that has set up the die incorrectly. Nor have I ever had to grind anything down to correct the problem.
What die? What cartridge? How have you set up the die?

I can think of one in particular, my Lee Die in 7.5 Swiss. Now when I can I purchase Wilson type cartridge headspace gages and set up my dies using those gages. Generally I just size the case to gage minimum. However in the case of the 7.5 Swiss, the gages were not on the market. So I used my Sinclair case comparators. I found comparing fired cases and sized cases that the sizing die was not pushing the shoulder back. As the Swiss rifles are straight pull, they don’t have a lot of camming power and in time the cases would have work hardened to the point that I would have had difficult chambering.

The solution: I ground material off the bottom of the die. This reduces the distance between the shoulder and the base of the cartridge.

I know I have done this on another bottle neck cartridge, probably another military surplus caliber, but I cannot recall which die and which caliber.

If the die is not reducing the cartridge headspace within specs, I have no reluctance to grinding the die and getting the sizing reduction I want.

But I also measure the headspace of my rifles, and the headspace of the fired cases. If someone is not gaging these things, then they really don’t know what is going on inside that chamber, and they should leave their dies alone.

quote:

Originally posted by stillbeeman:
I've never had a die that wouldn't resize a cartridge case to fit in a standard factory bolt rifle. I'm not saying it can't happen but in every case I've run acrost, it's been owner/operater that has set up the die incorrectly. Nor have I ever had to grind anything down to correct the problem.
What die? What cartridge? How have you set up the die?

It is fairly well known that Lee's sizing die for the 7.65 Mauser is about .010 too long and gives shooters fits because it will not resize the brass enough to chamber.
In the case of the 6.5X55 Mauser round the American standards do not match the Swedes standards. US headspace guages are not the same length as Swedish ordinance guages.

I am loading a 270wsm for a winchester model 70.I have tried sizing both 1/8 and 1/4 turn into the press. I compared my resized brass to some unfired factory brass and found the resized brass six thousands to large below the case shoulder. I sent the die back today with 5 fired cases

How large were fired cases?
The sizing of the case body squeezes the sides of the brass in and that forces the shoulder forward.
Often you have to keep adjusting the die down to force the shoulder back to its correct location.

If the die can push the shoulders forward, the die isn't set up correctly to F/L resize the die and FWIW, if it is commonly known that Lee dies were incorrectly sized for 7.65 Mauser, one would think they would change them considering how long the cartridge has been around and how long Lee dies have been in use. I use Lyman dies for my 7.65 so can't say for sure but one would think if the info is so common, I would have heard of it before now. Loading for the 7.65 and all..... Makes no difference if you turn your die down an "extra" 1/8th or 1/4 turn, when you bring your ram to the top with a case in the shell holder, IF there is ANY space between the shell holder and the die, you are not F/L resizing your case and you need to turn your die further in. And you need to bring your lever ALL the way down.
I'm not saying that the possibility of a mis-match between die and chamber can't exist, just like rarely are two rifle chambers the exact same size. But the smart money will be on dies that are not set up correctly.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by stillbeeman:
If the die can push the shoulders forward, the die isn't set up correctly to F/L resize the die and FWIW, if it is commonly known that Lee dies were incorrectly sized for 7.65 Mauser, one would think they would change them considering how long the cartridge has been around and how long Lee dies have been in use. I use Lyman dies for my 7.65 so can't say for sure but one would think if the info is so common, I would have heard of it before now. Loading for the 7.65 and all..... Makes no difference if you turn your die down an "extra" 1/8th or 1/4 turn, when you bring your ram to the top with a case in the shell holder, IF there is ANY space between the shell holder and the die, you are not F/L resizing your case and you need to turn your die further in. And you need to bring your lever ALL the way down.
I'm not saying that the possibility of a mis-match between die and chamber can't exist, just like rarely are two rifle chambers the exact same size. But the smart money will be on dies that are not set up correctly.

Common problem with 7.65 Mauser

I have the same problem with Lee dies in this caliber. This caliber seems to have been poorly standardized because I also have a trim die that is .030 too short and it is a different brand. I have a photo copy of a chamber drawing that supposedly originated at Winchester that has a hand written note in the margin that says 91 chambers are .010 longer than 1909 chambers.
You can google around the internet and find the various comments about the Lee 7.65 dies being too long. It has been going on about 5 years.

I am not surprised your Lyman dies work since they tend to reduce case dimensions more than most I have used.

I may have to eat a bit of crow on this.
In a different forum, a fellow with the a similar problem called the factory and they said send it back or take it to a machine shop and have the die ground down. It was one of the new shortie cartridges but it was a first for me.
Colour me red.

quote:

Originally posted by stillbeeman:
I may have to eat a bit of crow on this.
In a different forum, a fellow with the a similar problem called the factory and they said send it back or take it to a machine shop and have the die ground down. It was one of the new shortie cartridges but it was a first for me.
Colour me red.

No crow is required. It is not a common problem but own enough "stuff" and you will run into something strange every once in a while.