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

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

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?

Last edited by McInnis; 07/03/20.
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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.

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

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

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?

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?


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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.

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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.

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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?

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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.

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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!

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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.

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

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

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?


Check neck thickness.


These are my opinions, feel free to disagree.
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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.

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since it is a bolt action try just neck sizing


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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.

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Originally Posted by herschel34
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...



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Originally Posted by McInnis
This is my first ever brand new custom

The gunsmith that built this for me said...


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”.

Last edited by joelkdouglas; 07/04/20.
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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.

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Originally Posted by Whttail_in_MT
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.

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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.

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


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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.

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