Thread: tight closing the bolt

Gidday guys an gals
so ive been reloading for a few years, never stop learning either, but ive just started loading for a new .308. I am using once used cases (Hornady, and Winchester) and have de primed them, and resized the necks, installed new primers, poured powder, then seated projectile on first one. All measurements are identical to factory ammo, case length, overall length, projectile seated to correct depth etc. I tried it in rifle to make sure it fitted into mag, and went to load to check seating depth etc, but the bolt was really tight closing, in fact too tight really. I put ink on neck to check for scraping on breech etc but nothing.........and nothing on projectile either........ I tried another factory round and it worked well. Spent ages going over measurements with vernier calipers and apart from a slight variation on the bottom of the neck 1/2 a millimetre, everything is the same. Tried another couple of cases, so as to use both brands, but same problem. So the question goes begging.......... anyone else found this problem before? I load successfully for .270WSM. .300WSM. .223WSSM, .7mm-08, .243, so not totally green-horn lol
Cheers in advance guys
Shane.

Cant offer much advice but was the brass originally fired in the chamber of the rifle your loading for ?
I did have this issue once a while back in my 270wsm and it was fixed by winding my full length sizer die down incrementally until the brass chambered.
I'm not a fan of neck sizing over full length sizing but that's a personal thing, have you tried full length sizing a case to see in that solves your issue ?

You will need full length resize those cases next time round, if you have just been neck sizing them.
If you can close the bolt on them they will be fine too shoot, in fact a tight fit will make your brass last longer, but next time you reload them full length size them.


Edit - Dannyb - SNAP!

Yep, stop just neck sizing. FL them everytime, its the only way you can keep case dimensions consistent each and every time.

If that case has been fired in a different chamber that will be the problem. Not every chamber is the same. You say only 1/2 a millimeter, thats 20 thou, and with reloading 20 thou is huge.

Without more information, the most likely reason is the cases were fired first in another rifle, that has a slightly larger chamber than the new rifle. If so, they should be full length sized as others have said. Neck sizing is for cases that have already been fired in a rifle and you are reloading to use in the same rifle.

could be too long case lenght and needing a trim

could be the decapping ball pulling the shoulder forward a bit on the up stroke (too much friction and needs a bit of lube)

could be that the shoulder isnt getting the tap back when its in the die

could be a dirty chamber or one on the tighter end of the spectrum

I do like to pre check all my handloads to make sure they fit

Yip, FL size them and try the resized case in the chamber before you load it. Believe it or not, not all dies, FL or NS are created equally. So a RCBS die might resize to just a minimal dimension different to say a Hornady die. But that difference in dimension could be important if you have a "tight" or fussy chamber. The same applies to brass - nearly every manufacturer of brass will have slightly different tolerances eg Lapua vs Winchester.

Originally Posted by dannyb

Cant offer much advice but was the brass originally fired in the chamber of the rifle your loading for ?
I did have this issue once a while back in my 270wsm and it was fixed by winding my full length sizer die down incrementally until the brass chambered.
I'm not a fan of neck sizing over full length sizing but that's a personal thing, have you tried full length sizing a case to see in that solves your issue ?

Hi Danny, the Winchester were fired through mine....... and yes all were trimmed to correct length pre fitting new primers, but ill try winding down the sizer/ de capper much luv bro, catch ya round the traps

Originally Posted by Bill999

could be too long case lenght and needing a trim

could be the decapping ball pulling the shoulder forward a bit on the up stroke (too much friction and needs a bit of lube)

could be that the shoulder isnt getting the tap back when its in the die

could be a dirty chamber or one on the tighter end of the spectrum

I do like to pre check all my handloads to make sure they fit

Cheers for that, ill check the ball situation as it was firm bringing it back up........and the rest ill be checking too

Another thought just try and chamber an unprimed empty but sized case I have had some cases where the primer wasn't seated deep enough so if you try a sized but unprimed it can eliminate a few things.
If it's still tight it's your sizing

Sent from my CPH2145 using Tapatalk

Unclear if the once fired cases were fired in the new rifle/chamber. I'm guessing not. Need to FLS. Check trim to length. Try before loading (should do that as part of FLSing process at any rate. May even need to use a small base die.

The ink on neck test (permanent marker) is only useful if 2 or 3 full length stripes are marked on the case. I'm guessing it will identify tightness down the body which FLSing should rectify. This is assuming the OP has measured the shoulder datum point and compared against a factory round. OP doesnt say if that measurement carried out. Also depends upon what the chamber is like in the rifle they were once fired in. Again, I'm assuming the cases weren't fired in the new rifle initially. The chamber they came from may have been at the upper limit of SAAMI specs whilst the new rifle may be at the bottom.

I long ago ceased neck sizing.

Originally Posted by buell984

Cheers for that, ill check the ball situation as it was firm bringing it back up........and the rest ill be checking too

most are solved by winding the FL die down a little more

lubing the expander ball or inside the case necks should help that firm lift.
I forget that old dies dont need it and new dies kind of need a degrease and lube to remove the stuff keeping it from rusting in transport/sports shops
most of the time they are fine tho


I use a cue tip

The issue is almost certainly the bottom of the case (head/ web area) has expanded to fully reach the chamber dimensions. If FL sizing doesn't fix the problem without shifting the shoulder too much ( say 5 thou max), you need to use a small base die before running the cases through their std resizing.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...gzKO4U3W_zUhVi

Originally Posted by Bill999

could be too long case lenght and needing a trim

could be the decapping ball pulling the shoulder forward a bit on the up stroke (too much friction and needs a bit of lube)

could be that the shoulder isnt getting the tap back when its in the die

could be a dirty chamber or one on the tighter end of the spectrum

I do like to pre check all my handloads to make sure they fit

Interesting thoughts of yours re: the concept of the decapping ball pulling the shoulder on the up-stroke, I was having this problem with 1/10 rounds with .270WSM using Lee dies, and thought I must just have a tight chamber. I was then puzzled when this almost disappeared after a) annealing regularly and b) lubing necks with powdered graphite pre-sizing.

Looking back at it with fresh eyes after your statement it sounds like it was a combination of under-lubing and super hard / springy Winchester brass. Interesting.