Thread: 223 tight chambering?

Originally Posted by woods223

“You kind of have to run them into the lee whackamole dies again in order prime them and seat the bullet using the lee classic loader sets. It wont really change the shape of the brass much as the neck should already be down to size using the FL die.”


@Juisy. Probably 20+ years since I used my Lee Classic Dies but I’m pretty sure you tap case out of die and sit case on priming tool with die loosely You kind of have to run them into the lee whackamole dies again in order prime them and seat the bullet using the lee classic loader sets. It wont really change the shape of the brass much as the neck should already be down to size using the FL die.sitting on top of case to act as powder funnel then use as guide for seating bullet with priming anvil tool. Only going by memory but I’ve done hundreds of 223 & 308 with those things. I would still suspect FL die wasn’t adjusted right or cases are over length.

Shit, I don’t know what happened there but somehow what I typed and what I quoted has merged into a nonsensical post upon posting. I will try and redo what I wanted to say shortly.

Originally Posted by RUMPY

Good spotting @blip. All the resized cases have this on them when I checked closer. I've also coloured the end of one of the reloads and it hasn't got any marks around the neck after being chambered.

Attachment 261101

One thing noted is a decent rub mark about 8mm up from the base of the case. Maybe the other markings are a bit of a red herring and the tightness is the diameter further back.

Attachment 261103

It does look as though the shoulder has made contact with the chamber though. This can happen if the case mouth hits the end of the chamber neck which will bulge the shoulder or it just was not sized properly. Don't ask me how I know this.
GPM.

Originally Posted by grandpamac

It does look as though the shoulder has made contact with the chamber though. This can happen if the case mouth hits the end of the chamber neck which will bulge the shoulder or it just was not sized properly. Don't ask me how I know this.
GPM.

Yes possibly GPM,
All the brass chambered in Micky Ducks rifle and I could get them in mine with a hard push on the bolt handle. After Micky adjusted the die down half a flyshit they chambered in my rifle just fine.
I have a Weatherby vanguard, not sure if they are known to be tighter than other chambers. I thought standards were made so things were made the same.

Here's what I wanted to say in post #25
Quote "You kind of have to run them into the lee whackamole dies again in order prime them and seat the bullet using the lee classic loader sets. It wont really change the shape of the brass much as the neck should already be down to size using the FL die." Unquote.

@Juicy.Probably 20+ years since I used my Lee Classic Dies but I'm pretty sure you tap case out of die and sit case on top of priming tool with die loosely sitting on top of case to prime and to act as powder funnel then use as a guide for seating bullet with priming anvil tool. Only going by memory but I've done hundreds of 223 & 308 with those things. I would suspect FL die wasn't adjusted right ot cases are over-length. Sorry about the original nonsensical post.

Originally Posted by RUMPY

Yes possibly GPM,
All the brass chambered in Micky Ducks rifle and I could get them in mine with a hard push on the bolt handle. After Micky adjusted the die down half a flyshit they chambered in my rifle just fine.
I have a Weatherby vanguard, not sure if they are known to be tighter than other chambers. I thought standards were made so things were made the same.

That's why you should Full Length resize any brass you use of unknown origin so they are within SAAMI Cartridge specs. and then probably try chambering in the intended rifle before carrying on with reloading process. Not all reamers of the same caliber are the same, even from the same manufacturer. They are all made to fall within manufacturing tolerance specs., so variation can and does occur with chambers. Just my 2c.

Yeah the issue was I did the full length resized thing but inadvertently didn't quite get it right down hard enough.

We've probably all done it at some stage if we're completely honest with ourselves Micky Duck.

I've deliberately done it for twenty five years...partial length resized.just don't work with a tighter chamber lol

Greetings,
Fiddling with the .223 and others I have found that chamber tolerances are much tighter on recently manufactured rifles.
GPM.

Originally Posted by Tahr

I wouldn't muck around. One step at a time and no risks. Seek expert help. Take your rifle and cases to a reputable gun smith to check it out.

I said this because early in the thread as a remedy someone had suggested getting the rifle re-chambered - which was a drastic response to the un-diagnosed problem. At that stage it hadn't been revealed that MDuck was involved either.

Inadequate resizing was the obvious first took at for the problem.
I never thought it would be a short chamber or over length case. People might be shocked, but I have a case trimmer and have never used it. And after a few zillion reloads in dozens of rifles have never had a case over length problem (that I know of, anyway).
Pretty damned easy for me though being clever after the facts.

We all try to set our FL die to work the brass as little as possible eg. neck only or just shoulder bump. All well and good for that one rifle chamber but the moment you do cases for some other rifle it’s back to the drawing board eg. basic factory setting.

Thought it was a pretty drastic step for first port of call