I have a very nice savage 99EG CIRCA 1946.
Its lots of fun and shoots real well.
But I am having a little trouble getting my handloads to chamber.
They slid up nice, but I need to really squeeze prety hard on the lever to get them to chamber all the way.
It is hard to close on the resized brass too.
I have been resizing them full length, with my RCBS die. I think its a small base die, but am not positive.
I tried using a lee factory crimp die, (the one for the .308 works fine) no help.
Begining to think I might have pushed the shoulder back a bit causeing a swelling somplace eles, but the rounds look fine.
Any Ideas ?
Thanks ...tj3006

Assuming you are trimming your brass to the correct length, and your bullets are not contacting the rifleing, and your promers are seated to the correct depth, it is robably either too much length from the base to the shoulder or the base is not sized down enough.

Look closely at your rounds after you chamber them and see if you can spot any new shiny areas on the case.

Also check you cases in the rifle after resizing and trimming/chamfering, before priming and seating a bullet.

That should let you know if the probelm is sizing or being caused later on in the reloading process

And, make sure when you are full length sizing that your sizing the case to the point where you have to push the press handle so you get a "cam over". The case needs to be sized where the shell holder meets the bottom of the die. There can be a bit of slop in your press when under a load.

quote:

Originally posted by Thomas Jones:
Begining to think I might have pushed the shoulder back a bit causeing a swelling somplace eles, but the rounds look fine.
Any Ideas ?
Thanks ...tj3006

TJ, I see this all the time with handloaders. Look closely at the shoulder/body junction of the case for the slightest sign of swelling. It can either be quite obvious, or, so slight as to require calipers for detection. If you have to, mic the junction before introducing the case into the seating die and again after the seating operation. The problem is caused by an incorrectly adjusted seating die.

All of the above are good advice.

However, I've owned 99's that have the same sort of "feel" when loading factory rounds as well.

Have you tried a box of factory ammo?
You might notice the same thing.

If so, a gunsmith who is familar with the 99 can smooth it up.

Garrett

The 99 is not an action to be "hotrodded" with stout handloads, though I'm certainly not implying that is the case here. If the sho'nuff full length resizing suggested does not fix things, you may need a small base resizing die.

First size case til the ram touches the sizing die abd all slack is out of the toggle. Leaave it at TDC for a few seconds.

IF the shiney spots on the cases are not readily visibleafter chambering , coat the entire case with a felt tip marker and try again. This may reveal rubs that were not apparent before.

I have a set of rcbs small base sizing dies and they are clearly marked on the top of the die "sb fl". Are the fired cases showing any signs of the neck getting tight on you? You should be able to drop a 30 cal bullet into the neck of a fired case. If not the neck may be fouled. Probably been alot of bullets in the chamber over the past 60+ years. Good luck. Paul.....