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

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...)