Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles resizing question

i resized some .7mm wby brass for my .257wby and now some of them [about 10 out of 50] when chambered the bolt closes fairly hard i tried setting the die deeper and doing another pass thru but it didnt seem to change anything. question is if i load and fire these will things go bad or what should i do ????

Possible that the neck is too thick. Have you tried coloring the case with a sharpie and chambering it? That may give you an idea of where the binding is taking place.Rick.

Are they chambering hard when loaded or empty ?

If the former you might have a too thick neck issue
If the latter, have you checked the sized OAL case vs specs for new 257 WBMs ?

Most if not all FL sizing dies for belted cases do not size all the way down to the belt (there is somebody who makes a special die just for that). If the 7mms were fired in a chamber bigger than the 257s you may have a "fat" area ahead of the belt.

Firing them should prove no problem except maybe, difficult extraction.

You said you set the die deeper. Is the shell holder doing an overcenter "bump" off the die ? (not in Lee presses!) If not try that.

Belted cases should be sized so that they headspace on the shoulder (rather than the belt) so slight resistance when closing the bolt is correct.

Belted cases were invented so that the case body could be smaller and the shoulder set back to allow fail safe chambering in rifles (British) in nasty places where dirt, rust and cordite powder was the norm. Nobody reloaded so case expansion and stretching was not an issue.
Getting the 300 H&H chambered before the Lion got to you mattered a lot more!

the cases are empty and yes its bumping over center off the shellholder,the bolt goes front the whole way real slick like it should but when i rotate the bolt closed it goes about half way then it starts getting tight , none of them are so tight that i have to strain to close the bolt but i would say that it close almost twice as hard as factory ammo , also i didnt try coloring the case yet to see if it rubs off where its binding

Coloring the cases is a good next step.

Factory ammo should have zero resistance.

Have you really cleaned the chamber INCLUDING the belt recess ?
As in pull the barreled action, remove the bolt and blast out the chamber with gun blaster, followup with long stick Q Tips in the belt recess and more blaster. Also check the bolt face for crud.

Good shootin!

Are these fired cases or new cases? Do you have any cases fired in the 257 you can measure and compare dimensions?

yeah i compared to some .257wby brass that was fired in my gun and the shoulders on those that chamber hard are squashed down just a bit. can i fire these anyway without blowin anything up?

YES but why ? Why are you bothering to use incorrectly headstamped brass in your rifle? If some dunce shot your ammo in a 7mm WM, the bullet would just rattle down the bore but lets say you used 30-06 brass to make 338/06s and someone shoved it in a 30-06? KA-BOOM!

Man I have/had the same problem with my M-70/300 Weatherby combo. We sent the dies back to RCBS. They said nothing is wrong with them, so did nothing with them. They said I wasn't screwing the die down far enough. DON'T screw it down to far like I did, =broken press. They replaced it by the way.

I ended trying Hornandy dies, they seem to work better.

I had talked to a smith awhile back. He asked when does it get tight. I said just when I try to close the bolt. Now this happens to 5 different rifles, a M-70, 2 SUB MOA's, a Sauer, and a Vangaurd. The M-70 being the tightest.

The smith told me what he thought is happening. He said the brass is developing a "ring" right in front of the belt. So when you turn the bolt handle down it won't chamber. He said try some different dies to begin with. I did a it helps, but does not cure the problem. I still have some brass that won't chamber.

Now one guy I the fire gave a link to some company that uses a bushing or something. I can't remember the company, just that they were 89 dollars or so.

to answer the question why,because of money savings,i bought one batch of .257wby brass and its so overpriced its [bleep] retarded,i decided to go with resized 7mm rem mag brass but i found these 50pcs. of 7mm wby brass that was once fired for less than 20 bucks so jumped all over it. no worries about it getting chambered in the wrong rifle cuz i dont own anything else that it would even fit into and i shoot all my brass till it splits .

Well, then I guess I'd buy an extra shell holder, grind a few 1000th off the top so the case would go in farther. (Then it would headspace on the belt). Keep grinding until a sized case will chamber easily.

That's what I had to to get new Qual-Cartridge company 244 H&H Magnum cases to fit in my 244 H&H.

Here's the guy who has the die that sizes all the way to the belt.

http://www.larrywillis.com/

Brass can be oversized and cause a bulge usually are the base of the shoulder. I have loaded for a lot of different belted mags, Win, Rem, WBY and H&H. Never had to set the sizer to touch or overcam on the shell holder. Great way to learn about case head seperation. Just a guess but I think your problem is in the neck/shoulder area.Rick.

The Willis die works, I have one. Don't really need it enough to justify the price, though. On your necked down cases, I would measure and compare diameter just ahead of the belt to cases that will chamber easy. It only takes 1 or 2 thousandths too big to create this problem. Shoulder diameter is a source of trouble sometimes, but the full length sizing should have squeezed the shoulders down enough. If the cases are too big at the belt, regular dies won't fix it, only the Willis die will do it. In my experience, anyway. But the die costs $100, so buying 257 brass might work better for you. Good luck!!!

If it turns out to be a neck thickness issue, loading and firing could lead to some serious excitement. Make every effort to identify the issue before firing a round.

That's the die I was thinking of--sounds like the case isn't being sized all the way down to the belt. Allegedly, Willis's die will take care of that.



Casey