Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats New custom rifle won't chamber some cartridges

This is my first ever brand new custom rifle. Chambered in 7mm-08, Bartlein barrel, AG Composite stock, Timney trigger.



After two trips to the range I'm pretty happy so far. It shot the first load I tried into a 0.6875" group at 100 yards. But there is an issue.

I was using new, unfired Winchester brass. On two rounds, I could not get the bolt closed. After I got home I pulled the bullets and measured the case length. Both of them were a few thousands under max. I went ahead and trimmed them to the trim-to length and tried to chamber just the brass. Same thing. I put different bullets in them and same result. Then I adjusted the sizing die so it's less than 1/8 turn from touching the shell holder. But they still won't chamber.

The gunsmith that built this for me said he used a match grade reamer, so is it possible my chamber has such tight tolerances that it's going to have this problem with some brass? I have some Lapua brass I'm going to load up and try. What else can I do?

Take a sharpie and color the shoulder and neck area and then try to chamber Multiple times... then look at the case to see where it’s binding up, but remember the contact point might look like a line scratch. You can also “smoke” them with a candle, but usually a sharpie will work... flames and loaded Bullets aren’t the best combination to play with.

It’s more often the shoulder binding than the length of the neck

Match reamers are a bit tighter in the shoulder and neck area, but are the same brass OAL, so I doubt it’s the length of your brass causing it.

You can use a micrometer on the shoulder area of those rounds and compare them to others as well. But the scratch marks in the ink will be the fastest way to see where it’s binding.

Why/how did you decide "1/8 turn" from the shell holder is the appropriate die adjustment? Why not FL size it and then go the other direction with your adjustment? Use a comparator to see how much set back you need when re-sizing. Have you tried adjusting your die to fl size? If so, did the brass chamber?

The instructions from RCBS say to back off a quarter to half a turn and that’s what I did initially. So I tried screwing it down. When you say to FL size would that be screwing it all the way down so it’s touching the shell holder?

I’ve reloaded for a bunch of factory rifles in my life and never run into this. In fact I’ve had a couple rebarreled and it’s never happened in them either.

What I was describing was when you push the shoulder back and it expands the shoulder to wide for the chamber... a match chamber may only have 3-4 thousands clearance on the shoulder area from thicker brass like newer Hornady & Lapua brass.

If the shoulder width in the die is bigger than the match chamber it can happen, I used to have that problem with my 204 Rugers in my Tikka’s.

Oh heck, as soon as typed that I realized something was wrong. You’re supposed to screw the die down a quarter to half a turn after it touches the shell holder. So I just ran downstairs and did that, ran the case through it, but same result.

Spot shooter, you say you used to have that problem with your Tikkas. How did you solve it?

I stopped pushing the shoulder back too far...

Take a fired round, put in the press raise the ram, and screw the die down onto it and see where it hits the shoulder. Then compare that where you are now by removing the shell raising the ram and screwing the die down to touch the shell holder...

some pieces of brass just seem to bulge the shoulder and they won’t chamber in my old Tikka.

So you're full length resizing and your die is touching the shellholder and it still won't size it enough to chamber, I've ran into this once with a custom 270Wby. Other than getting different dies, what I did is take a shellholder in visegrips and use your benchgrinder to take a little off the top of it. This way you can size it just a little bit more and hopefully that'll do the trick. Do a little at a time and see if its enough. You can always take a little off the bottom of your sizing die, but shellholders are a lot cheaper!

Might could be a fairly tight necked chamber. If you haven't done it already, take the expander ball out of the sizing die, run the offending brass through it, and see if it chambers.

Check neck thickness.

I believe I had that problem once. Turned out to be the extractor. Fought the resizing die for awhile. As a test I put a different bolt in it it chambered fine. Changed the extractor all was well. Hope this helps.

since it is a bolt action try just neck sizing

I’ve had this problem before. I was lowering the resizing die too much and causing the case to bulge. Try rechambering an empty case you’ve already fired to make sure it still chambers and then resize the case that is known to fit. If it doesn’t chamber, obviously need to adjust your sizing die.

Had the same issue one time doing load development for a friend's .30-378. When I seated bullets "by feel", all was well. When my buddy took over seating bullets, he used the "farmer tight" method, and the cases would bulge slightly at the shoulder. Backed off the seating die 1/2 turn and all was fine...

If the rifle won’t chamber rounds one of the first things I would do would be to call the gunsmith that built it.

And sounds like it will chamber some rounds because it will fire. I would measure those rounds and use that as a starting point. Do you have a headspace gauge, like the inexpensive Hornady one? Where did you get the ammunition you used?

This question sounds more like “How do I set up a RCBS FL die”.

Do you have any unfired cases that you haven't ran through the die? All you need to do with unfired brass is round out the mouths as they're already FL-sized.

Mostly, but not always the case.

Headspace gauges are your friend. It’s possible that the smith who chambered it didn’t sufficiently allow for the “crush” of tightening the barrel (which seems to be around .003” on most rifles). I’ve done it and had to deepen the chamber a hair. On hunting rifles, I’ve gravitated toward a slightly more generous headspace since reliability is paramount.

A gauge would rule this out as the source of your problem. Remove the ejector and firing pin assembly, clean the chamber and see if the bolt will drop with the “go” gauge inserted.

I would throw those two away and not worry about it.

Do you have a 45 acp sizer die? If so, try this: Take the decapping unit out and run your 7mm06 cases through it. Might solve the problem.

Thank you all for the good advice. I did have my sizing die set up wrong for sure. I didn't read the RCBS directions because I've done it so many times but it's been a few years since I set up a set of dies for a new cartridge.

As for as my gunsmith, I know what he will say, 'I told you not to use cheap brass and you need to get a set of match grade dies" because I've heard him say that before. He's a serious accuracy freak. I went to the range this morning and fired 16 rounds (got one 3 shot 1/8" group at 100 yds, so no problem there). I did use Lapua brass and none of them failed to chamber.

Since the guy who built this rifle is here in town, if it ever happens with Lapua brass I'll head straight to his shop and get him to show me what's wrong.

Thank you all again.

Yep, just like I said. Die not adjusted properly. Funny to read through all the other comments though.. You may want to hit up mathman on setting up your sizer die for minimal run-out, if you are truly wanting to produce some top notch ammo. Yes, even with your run of the mill RCBS dies you can buy from wally world, you can make some good straight ammo that shoots excellent. No need for the other fluff...

I’d like to hear this as well. Perhaps we should start a new thread in the reloading section???

Mathman had a thread on it. I'm sure he wouldn't mind pointing you in the right direction.

Longshot but make sure your primers are seated properly. I had some (when using the now-retired Lee Prime hand unit) that were slightly above flush, and my M70 264 WM's bolt wouldn't close. I didn't think it was enough to cause a failure to go into battery but it did.

Accuracy, for accuracy's sake isn't the best route for a hunting rifle, but I'm sure many will disagree.

Yep, I also had one rifle that wouldn't chamber a particular brand of brass, it was just a hair greater in diameter or rim thickness, can't recall which, but one of those was the why.

Try a different brand of brass! Forget about the Winchester brass.

you are hopeless

Yeah accuracy sucks in a good hunting rifle:


I always try to load the chittiest least accurate ammo I can when considering hunting. Who needs to make one shot kills. Its way over rated..

McInnis,

Often if your seating (NOT sizing) dies is down to far you can expand the shoulder or even crush it so it won’t chamber.

The sizing die will push it back, the seater however will jack it up...

So re-size those and make sure the seating die isn’t touching the shoulder and then see if they chamber.

The only time anything like this happened to me was with my .257 AI. I almost went lu lu trying to figure it out. Then quite by accident it hit me. It wasn't the cases. Some bullets I tried to seat too far out. The throat on that improved reamer must have been pretty short. I know this isn't your problem because you said it did it without a bullet in it. Mine was hitting the lands with some bullets when I tried to seat them farther out. I had never used a comparator to measure so I was going at it blindly. But what got me was how short my chamber is. Recently I ask my gun smith if he could lengthen the throat. He said he'd never heard of anyone doing that but he guessed he could. This amazed me because when he built another gun for me he asked me if I wanted a longer throat. I told him yes and my .250 Savage has a nice long throat that I can seat bullets way out and get another 100 FPS with.

Don't feel like the Lone Ranger. If I don't change things or fool with my reloading equipment I get rusty.. I have to go online and read instructions to get back up to speed. But that's the beauty of the internet. Your answeres are never more than a search away.

You're not overly bright, are you?

Function trumps accuracy in a hunting rifle. I give 2 flips what you can do sitting on your fat ass at a bench. I'll take a rifle that shoots 1 1/2" groups and feeds everything without a bobble over a 1/2" rifle that I have to wonder 'Gee, is it going to work this time'.


Funny how idiots can always go from A to Z without seeing what is between. Telling commentary

My 1/2 inch guns function fine. Maybe you just can't shoot or reload.

I think what he means is there's more important things than a couple tenths of an inch for most hunters. Bulllet performance trumps bench rest accuracy. If you can hit a pie plate at 300 yards you're probably good. Don't get me wrong, I strive for better accuracy than that but practically speaking a pie plate at 300 yards is probably good enough for most hunting situations.

I agree with that. You'd also be surprised at how many guys couldn't hit a pie plate at 300 yards on the first shot, or even the second and third. There are many that say they can, but many can't prove it..

You are a fu cking idiot. You can't shoot for chidt and it is very telling in your posts..

This ^^^^^^^

My 30-06 will do this until I get the sizing die just right. I set aside all cases that wont chamber. I then set my sizing die to where they just chamber. I screw the die down a scosh (tech term), resize a couple, try them, adjust accordingly. A scosh can be a tiny turn on the die......

As a matter of practice, I always chamber all my hunting rounds after I size them. More than once I thought I had my die set perfect only to find 1-2 that were really tight or just wouldn't chamber. I'd like to know that tidbit before I have an animal in front of me. Chambering shells tends to spook game

Just for clarity —- when you research things....

1). A full size sizing die supports the shoulder so you can’t bulge the shoulder with it, you can push it back.. and possibly bulge The body down further in the web area but this isn’t typically a bind point.
2). A Neck sizing die doesn’t support the shoulder so you can bulge the shoulder / body area
3). A seating die doesn’t support the shoulder either... so you can bulge the shoulder with it.

the only die maker who has written information on this that I have found is Lee because people get aggressive with thier crimp dies On thier seater dies, and some of them end up Bulging the shoulder.


Bwinters - that’s a lot of work on your brass for a hunting rifle - if the chamber is actually short you could ask your smith to lap your lugs and extend you headspace a bit. Typically a smith aims for 1-2.5 thousands of clearance after the go gauge (no-go’s are 4-6 thousands larger, field gauges are almost 10... ). So if you are right at or under 1 thousands headspace clearance, it might be worth it for a field gun.
BUT.. check the seater bulge things I mentioned first... it’s typically where people have a problem...

Always back off the seating die first (do not just twist it down until it hits the shoulder and then go to town...)

Ss - thanks for the thoughts. It does have a chamber near min specs but is within spec. I was skeptical at first but checked it myself.

I probably could have explained a bit better........ I do take pains to not over-size brass.

I dont think I'm overworking the brass doing what I'm doing. I'm on 8-9-10 firings with that particular lot of 100. I anneal every 2-3 firings and keep on trucking. The gun is really accurate as it's set up with my loads and current practices. I'm not inclined to touch or change anything. The mojo is working as is.........

I would agree with the above. Headspace should also be checked after chambering, this will allow for the elastic stretching of the threads which can account for .002-.003 tightening up.

Winchester brass runs on the smallish side to begin with.

European brass runs larger in the Web, and usually use a CIP designed reamer vs SAAMI to avoid problems.

BW,

I run mine fairly tight too, and have accidentally bumped my shoulders with the seating die... but I love one hole wonder so I don’t touch them either ..

Rock on

And sometimes it doesn’t matter if you are setting up the die correctly, if there’s a problem in the rifle. Good to hear you have yours sorted.

A story of my own, I once had a fine gunsmith do the metal work on a rifle and sent it out for stock work and bluing. Somewhere along the way the barrel got taken off and not screwed in the right distance. I tried to chamber rounds and no joy. I tried pretty much everything I could think of die wise to form the cases smaller. Finally I called the metalwork gunsmith and sent the rifle back. Probably took him 15 minutes to fix it because the index marks he had made weren’t lined up.

And I would prefer if all FL dies were ‘screw in until firm contact with shellholder’ was the required setup!

Sounds like your good to go. Me I would keep tinkering. First I would get a Lee Collet Die and second I would hone or have RCBS hone the FL sizer to your chamber. I might even take the seater die to the gun smith and have him re-ream it with the chamber reamer he used on your rifle. You are already getting good accuracy so debatable how much more these steps would give you, but they are likely to provide some improvement, possibly a lot.

What is meant by honing the FL die to the chamber?

You can not ream a sizing die with a chamber reamer.
OP- I would just keep shooting and loading Lapua brass and not worry about it. Setup your FL die to bump the shoulder about .002 and go shoot!