Thread: someone wiser than .....

I have some as far as i know once fired 308 brass not fired from my new rifle ive hopefully set up the new dies correctly and resized and deprimed the cases .
now b4 i went any further i wanted to check that it fitted into my rifle , I cant close the bolt on these shells ,what would be the cause and can it be fixed .....brand new cases fit perfectly

Full length sized and trimmed?

gj, do you have factory 308 round? does that chamber ?

full length size, and check again. it could just be a case of headspace difference between your rifle and the one that fired the cases...

once you've fireformed them in your rife, neck size and check again.

if a factory / saami spec round does not chamber, take it to a smith to check it out.

i have full lenght sized em with hornady dies
dont have any factory ammo for it

Originally Posted by ebf

gj, do you have factory 308 round? does that chamber ?

full length size, and check again. it could just be a case of headspace difference between your rifle and the one that fired the cases...

once you've fireformed them in your rife, neck size and check again.

if a factory / saami spec round does not chamber, take it to a smith to check it out.

Wind your die down an 1/8th turn if you can till they chamber. If you have the die as far as it can go I would just get new brass unless ya want muck around with cartridge holders and stuff.
It will just be a headspace issue or the cases were overloaded possibly.
How well does a primer seat?


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im pickin that they have been overloaded ... im just about to go try your suggestions

Originally Posted by R93

Wind your die down an 1/8th turn if you can till they chamber. If you have the die as far as it can go I would just get new brass unless ya want muck around with cartridge holders and stuff.
It will just be a headspace issue or the cases were overloaded possibly.
How well does a primer seat?


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I found a Tikka i reload for is quite short in the chamber

Do what r93 said but you may have to go a little further down with the die than just touching the holder to account for press stretch .

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FL size. Done deal.
If his FL die wont size this brass to his chamber it won't size any.

Also anealing will help move the shoulder if you can't get it with the method above

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What make of brass?

there were 3 types of brass mostly winchester couple of federal & S&B think ill just biff them
I loaded a few rounds of the new fed brass and fired them off just so i test the T3
so now i can get to setting up some real tack drivers and site it in

I finally got them to load
Just needed to wind down the die just that fraction bit more
Thx oh wiser ones:banghead:

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Hi all, I have a Lee turret press, and screw the FL and NK dies down until they touch the shell holder, when the ram is up fully, and then a smidge more to get a real solid camming action with the handle. Is this normal? Should it not be touching the shell holder, I don't know how you could screw it down 1/8 turn at a time otherwise??
Thanks for any advise in advance :-)

Cheers,

Len

Originally Posted by onslaught5012

Hi all, I have a Lee turret press, and screw the FL and NK dies down until they touch the shell holder, when the ram is up fully, and then a smidge more to get a real solid camming action with the handle. Is this normal? Should it not be touching the shell holder, I don't know how you could screw it down 1/8 turn at a time otherwise??
Thanks for any advise in advance :-)

Cheers,Len

It really depends on the head space of your rifle, just setting for the maximum sizing is not recommended as it could result in your ammo having excess head space stretching the web/body junction each firing resulting in case head separation.

Start with a case that has some resistance to closing the bolt in your rifle,wind up half a turn from the shell holder size and wind down 1/8th of a turn until the bolt just closes easily or just the slightest tension.

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

It really depends on the head space of your rifle, just setting for the maximum sizing is not recommended as it could result in your ammo having excess head space stretching the web/body junction each firing resulting in case head separation.

Start with a case that has some resistance to closing the bolt in your rifle,wind up half a turn from the shell holder size and wind down 1/8th of a turn until the bolt just closes easily or just the slightest tension.

Thanks, I shall give it a go.

I read or saw on youtube somewhere about contacting the shell holder, especially for Lee turret press to remove the slop out of it. I've been wondering about Redding or Forster bushing bump / body dies for headspace, or my regular Redding FL die with a competition shell holder set to adjust headspace?? New die purchase would also be an excuse to get a sleeved competition micrometer bullet seating die too!! Bit much for a Lee classic turret press though?? I saw a cool old-timer video with the guy removing the firing pin and spring from his bolt (Rem700), so that with no shell chambered the bolt just fell down into place (no resistance at all present from firing pin / spring). He would chamber the empty shell and it would be quite stiff to move the bolt. He would bump the shoulder down 0.001" at a time with just a 'body die' until the bolt could be closed with just his pinky fingertip. He locked the die at this setting. This he stated was optimal headspace. He used no gauges etc and said could be done for any rifle, and warned that optimal results may be outside published limits. He then reinserted the firing pin / spring into the bolt, checked empy shell again and carried on prepping the rest of his brass. I think he was doing this every so often, with just neck sizing in the meantime. I would try it, but don't have a body die for .204cal.

I certainly had a couple cases getting tight to close the bolt on, the last time I was at the range. I measured them in the headspace gauge and they were within 1-2 thou of my other cases (after firing, no knowledge of their headspace before firing)... I got a bit confused, and threw them in the tumbler with all the others. They may have been fired in my mates rifle before, but I'm usually good at keeping them apart... My headspace readings with Hornady gauge (after fired in my rifle) was about 1.557-1.558... SAAMI states 204ruger 1.5613 min to 1.5713 max... so my cases are not within safety margins??

I think I need to overhaul all my brass with new stuff.
I have split cases now appearing every range day, random lots / mixed batches of fired factory Hornady brass and some bought second hand brass, non-uniform primer pockets (think I over did some of them with a cordless drill and pocket cleaner, not the uniformer with the stop ), so think I will buy up some new factory ammo, and blast away from the beginning again. It's been a first year of learning. I still don't know how far to go - weighing brass into batches etc? Outside neck turning on a Tikka varmint not required aye, only custom barrels/ chambers?

Sorry for all the questions / guesses. But many thanks to all who read this and point out anything I need to do / not do

Cheers,

Len