Thread: tight closing the bolt

Originally Posted by chunkyboi

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.

I found quite a few problems making brass out of 270/30-06 to fit my 280 rem
one even blew the plastic bolt shroud off my tikkas bolt
now I just buy the proper headstamped stuff

almost put me off handloading

Originally Posted by 6x47

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.

This is definitely a problem often overlooked.
If you cant get a small base die, then giving the web of the case a rub with fine emery paper will overcome the problem

what is the new rifle????
I had a BLR that nearly drove me nuts with same issue you desribing....I would load 40 rounds all the same and 15 would chamber fine,15 tightly and 10 not at all....by taking guts out of an older FLS 30/06 die it seemed to work the bottom of case more and then most would chamber OK... have heard of the small base die thing which shouldve fixed issue. powdered graphite in lid of jar with some birdshot in it,dip necks in before sizing and it will be much MUCH smoother...also take the expanding button out,poke stem in power drill and LIGHTLY sandpaper/steelwool polish the edges..... strangely enough the hornady new dimension dies for the .308 are the only ones Ive ever had issues with...loading for the Zastava had zero issues due to stronger camming of action.

So now you have a bunch of doubtful rounds and plenty of solutions for how to avoid this happening again. I dont have any more.
I do have a suggestion for your loaded rounds though as I have found myself in this situation too.
- Remove the firing pin from the bolt, then run all the loaded rounds through the rifle using a soft hammer or a rag round a piece of wood to tap the bolt open for the real tight ones. Run them all through the rifle again and set aside any that are still pricks to chamber, the rest will be good to go.
This is suggested on my assumption that they are close and not miles out of size, based on the fact you have measured them up

Thanks everyone for sharing ur experience and knowledge with me, and with the help of a treasured friend @dannyb problem has been sorted. Setting up of die properly was the cause, one i had overlooked. Once again cheers guys, be safe smile often, and luv the ones ur with ............

Originally Posted by buell984

Thanks everyone for sharing ur experience and knowledge with me, and with the help of a treasured friend @dannyb problem has been sorted. Setting up of die properly was the cause, one i had overlooked. Once again cheers guys, be safe smile often, and luv the ones ur with ............

Most welcome my brother always good to catch up

Bit of forum bromance

Originally Posted by buell984

Thanks everyone for sharing ur experience and knowledge with me, and with the help of a treasured friend @dannyb problem has been sorted. Setting up of die properly was the cause, one i had overlooked. Once again cheers guys, be safe smile often, and luv the ones ur with ............

Like a lot of these thread where many have contributed a solution has been found, and that's great. But from a learning opportunity point of view it would be nice to know a few more details.
Setting up of die correctly - was this a neck die or a FLS die?

Originally Posted by zimmer

Like a lot of these thread where many have contributed a solution has been found, and that's great. But from a learning opportunity point of view it would be nice to know a few more details.
Setting up of die correctly - was this a neck die or a FLS die?

"FLS" full length sizing die

The error Shane made was thst his FLS die wasn't set up correctly so it wasn't sizing the case all the way to the bottom, therefore leaving his once fired cases partially sized and hard to chamber.

His die was set up so that it was still 3mm from contacting the shell holder on his press at full extension, you may get away with this in some rifles but effectively you are partial sizing at best resizing the neck and some of the body.
To set up a FLS die according to the manufacturer you need to have the shell holder touching the base of the die at full extension then screw the die in another 1/8th to 1/4 turn further to ensure proper full length sizing as the ram cams over.
This allows for play in the press and the die setup.
There is a good easy to understand vidoe on youtube, I'll attach the link in a minute it's probably easier to understand than my rambling


https://youtube.com/watch?v=pltCJTTv7Mo&feature=share

Thanks @dannyb Yeah the original posting stated resized the necks. From that many would assume a Neck die only was being used and not a backed off or incorrectly adjusted FLS die. Hence a lot of the advice was to change from a Neck sizing die to a FLSing die and if need be a Small Base die.
All good.

Originally Posted by zimmer

Like a lot of these thread where many have contributed a solution has been found, and that's great. But from a learning opportunity point of view it would be nice to know a few more details.
Setting up of die correctly - was this a neck die or a FLS die?

FLS die, and i didnt have it set properly, @dannyb supplied a link on youtube that showed correct setting procedure, i tried it and it worked. I certainly appreciated everyone contributing to forum, and the many ideas shared.

20 thou a lot in reloading.Gun smith told me once,you only need a thu of dirt in the bolt face to make it hard to close.

Originally Posted by chunkyboi

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.

rereading this I did think at the time it was because not annealing and an inconsistency in stiffness of the brass
lube helps tho

Originally Posted by Bill999

I found quite a few problems making brass out of 270/30-06 to fit my 280 rem
one even blew the plastic bolt shroud off my tikkas bolt
now I just buy the proper headstamped stuff

almost put me off handloading

Greetings @Bill999,
Making .280 Rem brass out of .270 or .30-06 cases is not as simple as making 7mm-08 cases out of .308 cases. The .280 Rem is over 1mm (0.050") longer to the shoulder than .270 or .30-06. If the later cases are just FL sized in a .280 die this will produce a case with grossly excessive head space. The correct method is to neck the .270 or .30-06 up to .35 calibre and then size with the .280 die just enough to chamber to fire form the remainder of the shoulder to its correct position. I am not surprised you had problems. It is not even worth considering if you can buy .280 cases.
Regards Grandpamac.

Originally Posted by grandpamac

Greetings @Bill999,
Making .280 Rem brass out of .270 or .30-06 cases is not as simple as making 7mm-08 cases out of .308 cases. The .280 Rem is over 1mm (0.050") longer to the shoulder than .270 or .30-06. If the later cases are just FL sized in a .280 die this will produce a case with grossly excessive head space. The correct method is to neck the .270 or .30-06 up to .35 calibre and then size with the .280 die just enough to chamber to fire form the remainder of the shoulder to its correct position. I am not surprised you had problems. It is not even worth considering if you can buy .280 cases.
Regards Grandpamac.

I found that out the hard way mate but its great to have it confirmed
I was necking up to 30 cal after that then back down to 7mm but it wasnt enough


only about 3 out of 30 blew primers but the first was mild and the third was frightening

Highly unrecommended that's for sure