600gr Woodleigh Protected points are so large ahead of the crimp groove that they will not chamber. They are .505" for about .170" ahead of the groove. Woodleigh solids, Hornady and Barnes are all .500 - .504 from the groove forward and taper quickly. The PP's will work if seated about 3/16"-1/4" deeper than the groove. Anyone else run into this?

No, they chamber fine in my CZ 550 seated to the cannelure.
How short is your throat?
You could lengthen your throat.

Cheers.

My chamber must have a short throat, but the PP is larger in diameter.

quote:

Originally posted by Dan416:
600gr Woodleigh Protected points are so large ahead of the crimp groove that they will not chamber. They are .505" for about .170" ahead of the groove. Woodleigh solids, Hornady and Barnes are all .500 - .504 from the groove forward and taper quickly. The PP's will work if seated about 3/16"-1/4" deeper than the groove. Anyone else run into this?

I have had this problem. When I ordered my .505 Gibbs rifle from Ryan Breeding, I asked him to regulate the rifle with Norma 600 grain FMJ ammo. Norma uses Woodleigh bullets, but they were cannelured to comply with minimum SAAMI specs. As a result, Ryan cut the chamber accordingly. When I reloaded my first set of cartridges, they would not chamber. I noticed that the bullets that I bought from Woodleigh had the cannelure lower on the bullet than the one on the Norma factory load, thus leaving a greater amount of the bullet exposed. I called Geoff Mac Donald, and he said that I was the first guy that had such a problem. He was surprised that the chamber had been cut so tight in a DGR. He told me that he would replace all the bullets that I had purchased with either a Norma type set of bullets with the cannelure moved up, or a new design of bullets that had the cannelure in the same place, but with a more tapered profile that would fit into the chamber. I have not had a problem since. Cheers. Chip.

I would first try to re-cannelure the bullets as that's super easy. I don't own a 505 gibbs, so will that cause issues with reduced case volume?

I second the solution of buying a cannelure tool from Corbin or other suppliers. A very useful tool for anyone who reloads! Simple and fast and solves these type of problems.-Rob

quote:

Originally posted by Robgunbuilder:
I second the solution of buying a cannelure tool from Corbin or other suppliers. A very useful tool for anyone who reloads! Simple and fast and solves these type of problems.-Rob

Mac and Rob: thanks for that advice....I will buy one of those tools. Because I opted for the bullets of a more tapered profile, the higher cannelure did not become an issue. I think the Norma factory ammo with the 600 grain bullets does not have a very high MV. This could be on account of the reduced case volume with the bullets having the higher cannelure. Cheers. Chip.

Is there an easy way to cannelure? I only have 100 bullets and don't need to invest in a tool. I just won't buy any more of the bullets. I got a good deal on them.

quote:

Originally posted by Dan416:
Is there an easy way to cannelure? I only have 100 bullets and don't need to invest in a tool. I just won't buy any more of the bullets. I got a good deal on them.

Dan416,
I measured my bullets, the cannelure is .615" to the centre from base, bullet OAL is 1.297" and the OD just in front of the cannelure is .504", it tapers away pretty quick to .503" and continues getting smaller to the PP.
Do your bullets measure the same as this?
If you do not want to use these bullets, I would be happy to buy them from you. Just don't know if you can send them to Australia or not.

Cheers.

The bullets I have are different. From base to center of cannelure is .550" and OD .150" ahead of cannelure is .505. OAL is 1.292" I wonder if these are old production after what CHIPB said.

Now I understand your problem.
I have several boxes here, all those checked so far do not deviate from the above measurements.
Maybe I could contact Geoff at Woodleigh and ask him, I will do this anyway just out of curiosity.
If I can help getting bullets for you, just let me know.

Update:
Spoke with Woodleigh bullets, if you could provide the year on production and batch number, found on the bottom of box eg. my bullets list as SEP 2013 Batch 989 (in red).
Gave them details of both your dimensions and mine.
I expect an answer early next week.

Cheers.

Thank you. I am out of town until tomorrow and will get you the batch number when
I get home.

I have some boxes labeled "- - APR 2002" and some with "..59 - - APR 2004"

I know there was a design change, and the newer production version has a cannelure that is further forward. However, I had no trouble with either version. I would check the seating/crimping adjustment. If you either over crimp, or seat a little too deeply you will bulge the neck a bit, which will cause chambering difficulties. If you seat with no crimp, it should not be a problem to chamber, and if it is then I would suggest that your chamber dimensions are a bit too tight for a DG rifle.

quote:

Originally posted by Dan416:
I have some boxes labeled "- - APR 2002" and some with "..59 - - APR 2004"

I will pass on those production dates and hopefully get a solution to the problem ASAP.
Geoff is away until Tuesday.

Cheers.

Geoff got back to me this morning.
The production lots you have are the old style bullet, the change was made in 2010 to meet CIP regs when Norma started loading these bullets in factory ammo, the FMJ are also different again.
Geoff recommends seating them deeper to suit your rifle, there should really be no difference whether they're crimped or not, but if you do get set back, he suggested doing a crimp with modified pliers, such as was done back in the Kynoch days.
New production are the same as mine and Norma factory, maybe you could just switch to newer production if you're going on a hunt.

Cheers.

Thank you for checking. I'm only hunting water jugs and maybe a riverbottom whitetail. Neither qualifies as dangerous game. I have seated this bullet deeper and crimped where the taper starts. 2170 fps with 110 gr of RL15 and filler. Violent reaction and bullet expansion on water buckets.

Great. Glad to help.
I hope you have some fun exploding water jugs, never done it myself.
Give those whitetail some hell from me too.

Cheers.