Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Reloading help

This is my 303 load:
Powder- IMR 4895 33 grs
Primer- WLR
Bullet- Ballistic 30/30 cal. (.308)
Case trimmed to 2.015
Total length 2.520
I have reloaded in the past for many different rifles and pistols. This is the first time I've loaded for my 3O3 Savage. I'm experiencing some problems that I hope you can help me solve. Is this 303 case to be "crimped or uncrimped" around the bullet? I have been able to,easily, pull this bullet out of the case on the final procedure and the bullet has even stuck in the dies inner seater plug. I have re-read my RCBS pamphlet over and over.
Using the above components, is this considered a "compressed" load? ( there just seems to be a lot of powder in the case when I'm ready to insert the bullet). I can't decide if my problem is in the initial stage of full length resizing/decapping or the final stage of bullet seating. This could possibly be a "phone discussion" to help me understand my problems, so feel free to call me. 406-542-9242. Thanks and I sure appreciate you help.
WhipseY

You should be able to use 30-30 load data. If you want 303 Savage data, I and others can provide some. First off, which bullet are you using? You didn't say. Second, you shouldn't have to crimp bullets for a 99.

Something is off in the resizing process. The bullet should never be that loose in the case. Double check the expander on your resizing die. Maybe it's for the .303 British?

I use 33 grains of 4895 with 150 grain .30-30 bullets and have never noticed that it acted like a compressed charge.

Bullet is Ballistic Silvertip

My green RCBS case says FL die set 303 SAV

Something is not adding up. If the neck is sized correctly and the neck thickness is correct, you should not have the loose neck tension you are experiencing. Are you using new brass? Ditto what Lightfoot said.

Yeah, sounding like it's a .311 expander and not working with a .308 bullet.

The SAAMI spec for the 303 Savage IS for a .311 bullet, so...

Well, my brand new set of .308 dies had a .243 expander so they do make mistakes. Put a micrometer or caliper on it to be sure.

I have taken apart my resizing die and taken out the expander ball. On my calipers it reads .395. The brass is new

Yep. I made two trips to RCBS years ago with a set 303 dies before they realized they had installed an expander ball made for the 303 British.

I believe the standard expander ball diameter for a .308 bullet is .307. If you have a typo and meant .305, I would think you should have adequate neck tension unless 1) you have a bad batch of brass with thin necks, or 2) you loaded the new brass and did not run it through the sizer, perhaps it needs to be run through the sizer.

I would swap out the expander ball from a set of 06 dies (or any other 308 die you may have) and see what happens. It would be a cheap experiment that may help isolate the problem.

The sizing die could be wrong. Might run a case through without the expander and see what inside neck measurement is. The first set of RCBS dies I bought 50 plus years ago had that problem. No errors since.

Thanks everyone for your information. Tomorrow I will call RCBS on their customer service line and explain what's going on and see what their reply is. I think I'll just box up the set of DIES and send it to them for their review. On a better note, I just got my 3O3 back from the gunsmith yesterday. It was damaged in shipment and he did a great job of repair. I can hardly wait to go to the range,but now, I probably will be sent back a few weeks until I get this reloading thing figured out. But it sure is fun to sit in my den and HOLD this 1899. Merry Christmas and happy new year to all of you. I'll let you know how things develop.
Whipsey

ding, Ding DING! .395" expander ball is not right

Indeed. that expander's for a .303 British.

if the .395 isn't a typo that is the problem. if it is .305 then i would check your bullets. i have had mis-packed bullets before.

JeffG and Gnoahhh, op typed .395 as the dia of the expander. No way .395 would be for a 303 Brit. That .395 has to be a typo, a bad measurement, or a reallly big expander ... I would think a .308 bullet would drop right into the case and rest on top the powder if the expander is .395.

.395 would be about right for .303 Brit and its .311-.312 bullet. When selecting an expander ball for my odd ball cast bullets I try for one that's .001-.002" smaller than bullet diameter, ie: .309 for .310. (Depending on throat diameter in the various old .30 caliber rifles I own my bullets range from .308 to .312 for any given rifle. Cast bullets require minimal neck tension to prevent the case neck itself from re-sizing carefully selected diameters of the relatively soft lead bullets. As long as the bullet can't be pressed farther into the case with thumb pressure it's good to go.) Where do I get these expanders? RCBS and Lyman both make special separate expander dies for cast bullet shooting, said dies' expander plugs also put tiny bells on the case mouths to ease insertion of soft lead bullets and separate expander balls can be had for them in an almost infinite range of diameters. Not, by the way, to be used in lieu of a regular sizing die- they represent a separate operation.

OP- if I were in your shoes I would cease and desist trying to resolve your issue via RCBS customer service. I would just go to your favorite online reloading purveyor and order up a regular old expander for .30-06, .308, .30-30, etc. for what amounts to pocket change. Reloading companies are as guilty of throwing red tape and dumb customer service reps at us as any other corporations are.

One trick I learned from John Barsness is to de-cap a case first, separate from the sizing die, and run the expander ball waaaaay up in the die body so that the neck is still supported inside the neck portion of the die as the expander ball starts to make contact with the inside of the neck, as the case is being withdrawn. Keep the die stem a little loose too so it's free floating. This goes a long way toward providing you with straight brass which in turn yields improved accuracy. Better than a rigid expander ball screeching back up through a case neck when it's totally unsupported in any way.

What am I missing? .395” is 0.085” wider than .310”.