Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Question for the 250-3000 reloaders

Ran into an issue. I have FL RCBS dies. Adjusted them to just neck size my factory fired brass. The subsequent cartridges work but some are difficult to get into battery. Must pull the lever up strongly the last quarter inch or so.

Is this common? Is it necessary to FL after each firing on these older rifles?

Have the same issue with a TC Encore but usually takes a couple firings for it to appear. This issue is with once fired factory ammo.

Hopping to extend brass life as much as possible.

Just wondering if other experience like trouble?

Maybe try full length sizing and see if the issue goes away? Really won't have a terrible effect on brass life, unless of course you're running hot loads.

Will do. Nothing hot. Well under spec.

I really like the LEE collet neck dies. Brass lasts along time. Not available for the 250-3000 so I went old school hoping for similar results. Brass properly stamped seems to be getting harder to find reasonably.

I guess too much brass is flowing to the shoulder and not able to spring back.

Just wondered if I was missing something or if others have a better process. May have to learn how to anneal brass. Read about it but never tried the process.

Thanks Gary

I tried neck sizing without bumping the shoulder and had the same problem. Adjust your die to bump the shoulder back slightly and all will go well.

Just to ask a silly question...

You're neck sizing brass for the gun it was shot in, right? Not trying to use brass fired in one gun in another after neck sizing?

Yes, reloading factory Rem shot in same rifle.

Loaded some just now. Adjusted to bump shoulder back some. Not as much as books describe. More like what BIgStick here has discussed.

Dummy rounds cycle fine using the adjustment. We’ll see how the actual loads do later this week.

Only time I’ve run into the issue was with an TC Encore. Only occurred after 3-4 reloads. Puzzling to me what’s going on. Thinking I’m on the right track though. Good to know I’m not alone.

Thanks for the replies.

lightfoot is right on. i had the same results when i tried just neck sizint the 250. set to just kiss the shoulder and the problem went away. even in my 3030 g i have to do it.

Ring3, what is your handload? Just curious. I always full-length size for my Savage 99s regardless of the load.

Load is IMR 4895, 35.5g. Sierra 87g SP #1610. COAL 2.480”.

Shoots really well. With a receiver sight I’m getting groups consistently under 2” @ 100 yards. Some closer to 1”. Plan to stick with this load. I doubt I can do any better given my ability and the receiver sight.

Typically I neck size only. Some rifles require FL after 3-4 firings and I note this need. Others will go much longer. In most cases I have the LEE Collet die. Also use a couple Redding NS dies. For the 250-3000 I just have a RCBS set. To neck size I just set the FL die higher. Not optimal but it works ok.

Upon loading Rem brass shot once (factory loads) the rounds feed and the lever almost closes. The last 3/8“ the lever hangs up and takes more effort to close.

Looks like I’ll have to bump the shoulders back on these after each firing. Was hoping to lengthen the brass life by just neck sizing.

Loaded another batch. Set the FL die to just bump the shoulder. Seems to have cured issue. Heading to the range later today to try them.

Don’t ever force the 99 action (or any action for that matter) into battery because of heavy cartridge headspace . High pressures will be the resultant .

I prefer to use the Redding body die first , then a full length die . I find that the body die affords a little more sizing before the bottom of the die touches the top of the shell plate and sizing stops . This all is dependent and driven on the chamber dimensions ( tight or loose ) .

As stated earlier in the post : keep certain specified loads in certain specified rifles (keep from swapping cartridges with in different rifles , hence different chambers) . My M14 American Classic in 250 savage has a much tighter chamber than any of my M99’s in 250 .

Huh??

Thanks for all the thoughts and suggestions. Really appreciate the help. Looks like FL resizing has solved the issue. Shot 15 today without the problem.

Didn’t get any 2” groups, wasn’t my day I guess. Discovered the elevation lock on the side of the sight likes to work itself loose. Makes everything wobble on top. Frustrating until it was discovered. After some tweaking things settled back onto target. I had enough though and quit at 15 rounds. Ready for deer season!

Was a Savage day at the range. Sighted in the 1959 110 30.06. Cleaned it up well last night. Too clean I guess, after 8 rounds of a proven load it settled back in to expectations. Leaving it alone now. Great rifle. Been a go to and a backup for years now.

Savage 340 .222 was more challenging and frustrating. Discovered it does not like Sierra 50g sp fb bullets over any charge of 322. Three inch groups as I worked up. Two tight, two 2” away then another low and outside. This morning I loaded some Speer 50g sp fb over BL-C(2) on a whim. Just bored and waiting for the sun. Glad I did. Much to my surprise loads at 25g and 25.5g shot great. Well under an inch at 100 yards. Found what I’ll be working with later for sure. Got 75 bullets left to play with then will be on the hunt for more. Hopefully I can get some 4198 someday to try, tough finding anything right now.
Got good supply of shotgun and pistol components, set for plinking rimfire, slacked on the rifle stuff.

👍👍👍

Insufficient or excessively tight head spacing can be a dangerous condition . It can prevent the gun from going into battery leading to a failure to fire or damage the case caused by attempting to force the breech closed , not to mention the dangerous condition if there is a high primer . Forcing the breech closed can jam the case neck too far forward causing the case mouth to excessively crimp over the bullet too tightly which delays the release of the bullet and leads to excessively high chamber pressures if case length is longer than industry standard .

Bulkie, thanks for the input. Really appreciate. My issue wasn’t extreme and didn’t give me pause that my loads were not safe.

Firing from a bench the factory loads feed and functioned with little effort. My reloads also seeming fed fine but occasionally the lever hung up a 1/4 or 3/8” of a inch from seating against the butt stock. I was at a disadvantage at the bench not giving the sharp lever cocking I would otherwise in a field situation. Pulling the lever up the round seated and shot fine. Was never an extreme situation. I was questioning if this was common. Had an idea as to why it was occurring, was just looking for any tips tricks to avoid the issue And save working the brass too much. The 250-3000 isn’t getting easier to find. Also wondered if others experienced the same problem.

Seems I’ve got it worked out. Thanks again for your thoughts.

I full length size all my hunting brass, costs me some Case life, but don’t want to get hung up when hunting. I check every hunting round to make sure it chambers easily. I have several calibers in multiple rifles, no way I could keep brass separated for 5 seven mags, so I full length size everything. No wait, 6 seven mags.

Question for ya 'ring3'-are you crimping your reloads at all? In my early days of bottleneck reloading I was having the same problem you described. I found that a few cases that were a few thousands longer than the rest caused a almost unnoticeable bulge at the mouth when putting a slight crimp on the bullet. Pulled the bullets of the 8-10 rounds that chambered hard, retrimmed the cases, added powder, seated bullets, and all worked as they should. Talked to a fellow shooter/reloader once and he advised of the same situation. I once also loaded some .357 mag rounds with 125 grain HP's that I didn't bother trimming as I should, just checked them hurriedly with a caliper as I was going shooting with some friends. Upon seating and crimping a slight bulge was formed close to the rim and some wouldn't chamber fully. Evenly trimmed cases and consistent crimp if you do so are important for proper cycling. Trimming is the thing I hate and loathe about reloading, but necessary at times.

Thanks for the advise. I check/trim everything bottle neck. Don’t crimp, just use neck tension. Case lengths kept within a few thousands.

Straight wall pistol I check occasionally but rarely trim. The exception is when loading wad cutters for a M52. Seems to help when I use it in Bullseye matches.

Trimming isn’t my favorite thing to do either. Got an RCBS Trim Pro for Christmas 10 or so years ago. It speeds things up. Also occasionally use the LEE system. It works well especially if you just need to do a few quickly.