Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Difficulty closing bolt on reloads, why?

That doesn't tell you where the shoulder of the brass is compared to the inside of the chamber. 3 thousands is a large number when trying to stuff a case in a chamber.

navlav8r suggested this
You can solve it by removing the expanding rod and incrementally turning the FL sizing die down a quarter turn or so, sizing a case and then trying to chamber it. Continue doing that until the case will chamber with very slight pressure. Then try another case or two to check your work. That will move the brass as little as possible. For that trial case(s) you’ll then have to run the expander down into the neck to load it.

If you reload a lot get a Hornady Comparator and then you don't have to guess. They are not that expensive. You will need a good set of electronic calipers to measure your case lengths. Once you get the length figured out with the comparator you can use it to set your full length resizer to get a minimum of resizing.

kwg

Brass was fired in the same chamber....only .270 I have. All Hornday factory ammo, some head stamps say Hornady, some Frontier...had trouble with both headstamps.

Your language is pretty offensive there, sir, and presumes a person is violating the primary rules of gun safety. If someone is not capable of insuring the muzzle is pointed in a safe direction while chambering a round, they have no business owning a firearm, much less handloading. For those who are capable of insuring the muzzle is pointed in a safe direction when chambering a round, then chambering that round is safe, period.
Even though 90% of my rifles have a middle safety position that locks the firing pin while working the action, I still make certain the muzzle is pointed safely before I ever chamber a round, in any circumstance, and with any weapon.
I wouldn't dream of hunting with loads I hadn't run through the chamber.

Respectfully,
Rex

Candle smoke or sharpie on fired case will tell you all you need to know.

Smoke or sharpie fired case run through action to see where its large, resize case to just bump shoulder using candle smoke or sharpie to set up sizing die.

On a fired case?

On occasion I do this as well. No danger to anyone including myself when done properly.

From time to time I get a hard chambering handload at the range. Since COLs are the same as those that chamber easily, the problem the shoulder did not get pushed back during reloading - likely due to short stroking the press. (I only FL size.)

You Might Also Check And Make Sure Your Primers Are Seated Fully.. Seen It Happen Before..

I'm certain you have drank a trunk load of liberal loads. Where do you idiots come from?

If you have a ground floor level, couldn't you just point the rifle toward the floor when you chamber the loads?

I've always only used FLS dies that I've adjusted so the case is a firm fit in the rifle (slight resistance when closing the bolt), so it's only sizing enough and not actually a complete FLS. I did this also with my M14 when I was alowed to have one. Obviously it doesn't want to be left too tight in a semi- auto, but I got it right. Case life has been good and they have ultimately died of neck cracks, or been pilfered by someone else.

I don't anneal any of my case necks because it seems like a pain in the backside, and case life has been good anyway. The only cases of mine that are subject to extra work hardening due to crimping are my 500NE but they still last really well. I never crimp anything else, even the 375H&H and 458WM - the projectiles stay put but then again the rifles are heavy so recoil seems to be below anything that might pull the projectiles out or pound them in (in the magazine), I know there is an arguement for crimping for uniformity but I've never really experienced it. I have a Lee crimp die (collet stylle) for the 458 that I had experimented with but found it uneccessary.

[I unscrew the firing pin/bolt shroud from my bolt guns when I try the cases when setting up the FLS die and always use a fresh fired case when trying rather than using the same case while making die adjustments in case that has an affect - start tight and then adjust down the die in small steps with a fresh case each time. The fired cases I start with have to be a tight fit of course and they generally are.]

Are these measurements using the Hornady gauge, if so, not a lot of help to us here.

If they are actual COL, cartridge overall length, (base to tip of bullet) then something is wrong.

It has been asked a couple times here, but I have not seen your answer.

How are you neck sizing?
Neck die, brand?
FL die backed out, brand and how it was set up?

Great thread!
I’ve had this happen with my 270 and was wondering if it was the expander ball stretching the case back out, when retracting out. It feels likes it’s hard to pull out.
Or as other said . Squeezing the case too much and Pushing the shoulder out.

A lot easier to check the fit on a resized case than a loaded one, gets quite interesting having a loaded round stuck in the chamber with the bolt unable to extract the loaded round.