Thread: tight closing the bolt

Greetings All,
I think the first thing to do in dealing with sizing problems is to understand what the problem is. Nine times out of ten a tight case is due to the case not having been sized enough. Rather than fumbling around in the dark purchasing a set of the Hornady comparators will quickly tell you if you have set the shoulder back far enough. These clamp onto the lower jaw of your callipers and measure from the case base to a datum point on the shoulder. The set is not expensive and no handloader should be without them. You should aim to set the shoulder back 0.05 to 0.1mm (0.002 to 0.004 ") from the position of the shoulder in cases fired in your rifle. If the cases still do not chamber with ease then you need to go looking for the tight spot, probably the case dia just ahead of the solid head. This is most common in rifles with little camming action and as mentioned above a small base die may be needed. I no longer use neck sizing dies other than for low pressure loads. There are better ways now. Decent quality sizing lube is important as well.
In short if factory ammo chambers with ease and our handloads do not then we need to lift our game. Grinding bits of our kit is not the answer.
Regards Grandpamac.