Was loading some .470 fodder yesterday and found that the rim on some cases is too thick to allow the action to fully lock up. With the cases in question there can be a few thousands clearance between the breach face and barrels. The top lever will not completly close the third fastener. The rifle is a William Douglas boxlock, very tight on the face and little ware.

Anyone else have this problem? How best to resolve it, trim the front of the rim a couple of thousands?

An interesting tidbit: the BeLL cases are marked "Rigby".

Thanks in advance for the help.

Brett

Brett,

I have an "as new" Searcy that is square and tight as well.

Have seen this problem with this brass ... but it was not caused by rim thickness.

Was loading cast projectiles. There was flashing left in the new dies that was damaging the projectiles very slightly. This resulted in their hitting the start of the rifling just a little.

Whe I got that fixed, there was no further problem.

Good luck.

Mike, thanks for the reply. I don't think the problem is with bullet deformation as it happens with cases without a bullet. I thought at first that it may have been caused by primers not seating well but had the same problem with the primers removed.

Anybody who know? Dagga, Rob, MacD, 450 No. 2???

Brett-Is there a thickness difference of the rim between the cases that chamber and lock and those that don't? If so, what is it? Do you have access to a depth micrometer or calipers?

John

Brett
I have had that problem with my 450/400 3 1/4", as it has a new hinge pin and is very tight also. I had been using HDS brass, and when I went to order some more, Huntingtons was out, but they did have some Bertram. [I have had excellent caselife with Bertram in my 450 No2, I may be the only person on Earth who has, but some of my cases have been fired @ 20 times], so I ordered some Bertram 450/400 3 1/4" cases to try them out. Like your problem the rifle would not close.
The correct solution is to remove material from the FRONT of the rim [front being the bullet end]
I do not have a lathe so I did that to some of the cases with a hand file with a safe edge. Takes way to long and is hard to keep the rim even. Only a small anount needed to be removed. Next I used a file on the back of the case to remove most of the unnecessary rim thickness, then polished the case on an Arkansas knife sharpening stone. Worked but takes too long. So the final solution was to use a small belt sander, with a fine belt, that my wife has for her craft projects, making sure you keep the case head square at all times.
I used a dial caliper to take measurements as I removed the rim/base material. This worked good. I then used a Sinclair Primer Pocket reamer/uniformer in a power screwdriver to make sure the primer pockets were deep enough. I use this tool to clean all my primer pockets after shooting as well.
When Huntingtons got some more HDS casses in stock I ordered some of them. A few of them about 20 to 25 or so out of 60 had slightly too thick of a rim. I just hit them with a file and the Arkansas stone and they work fine.
The Bertram cases have been fired several times with no problems, the newer HDS only twice.
That is how I solved my problem and it worked for me. Remember I was only removing a small amount of material, not thinning a thick rimmed case of one type to make a case for a different cartridge.
Measure some cases that do fit, and the cases that don't fit and let us know the difference.

Fritz and 450 No. 2,

Thanks for the replies. I did measure the rim thicknesses with a dial caliper yesterday. I am working from memory, but I believe the difference to be on the order of 0.004-5 in. There was also as much as .002-3 variation in the rim thickness on individual cases.

I ordered a primer pocket reamer today and am thinking about how to best hold the cases in a lathe. I have access to both a full size lathe and a lavine watch makers lathe. Holding the cases in the headstock of the lathe without dammaging them may be a trick. Removing only a few thousands of material may be difficult as well.

Removing materail from the breach end of the case would be a bit easier. I will give that some thought.

Thanks again;
Brett

Brett-If you have access to a lathe you've got it made. I would turn a mandrel in the chuck that just slips into the case and bottoms on the inside. Be sure to square up the face of the mandrel. You can then slip the cases over the mandrel and use a live center in the tailstock to apply a small amount of pressure to the chamfer on the primmer pocket. Take a square nose tool that is sharp and plunge cut the case side of the rim to the desired depth. Don't run the spindle too fast and be sure not to apply too much pressure to the center, just enough to keep the case from spinning.
Good luck-John

John, thanks for the advice. It seems simple when you know what you'r doing. I hadn't thought of the live center...

Brett

I had a similar problem with some BELL 470 brass. I have a Ruger #1 conversion. I ordered 60 from Midway, and they would not chamber, even after running through the FL die. I thought it was the diameter just above the rim that was too large. Anyhow, I just sent it back and exchanged it for Norma brass. I have never had a problem with Norma 470 brass.