Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Having to shoulder bump common ???

I would also add that a headspace gauge is a very useful tool.

Whether you're bumping zero or .002, you need to have your FL die set low enough so that it doesn't squeeze the sides of the case and move the shoulder forward...which will cause the aforementioned chambering issue.

Thanks for the info. I brought shell holder up to touch die. Then gave the die a 1/3 twist down, ran case through, it chambered. Then turn dieback about half of last adjustment. Chambered great. Loaded some rounds this way and took rifle outside and chamber rounds, perfect ! I am leaving alone, locked down die.

I find that the chamber of the rifle I'm sizing for is even more useful . . .

Perfect!

Yes, the sized brass still has to fit in the chamber, a headspace gauge lets me know where I'm at for future reference. Also, I've never had brass NOT chamber when the shoulder is bumped 2-3 thou, it saves on brass, and the brass fits the chamber better promoting accuracy, if it's only sized a little bit.

That's true. Once in a while you come across one wildly out of spec. I have a 222 that has a very tight chamber. Not sure how they got it out of the factory, but it is an excercise in wrist strength closing the bolt on factory rounds with it. I imagine that's why it barely looked used when I bought it for a song a couple years ago.

I don't have my notes on hand for the measurement, but shoulder setback is several thousandths short of a dimensional sketch. New cases come up a tad short for trim until they've been fired a couple times, since I'm loading it pretty mild.

*added*

A chamber cast can be very useful too, when you have some weirdness going on. I've got a 303 Savage that has good headspace and is accurate, but has the mostly grossly overdiameter chamber I've ever seen from the shoulder forward to the mouth. A chamber and throat cast explained why it is great with jackets and monos, but won't do much other than keyhole and lead the bore with cast bullets.

Good post and explanation. However, I don't think it will push the shoulder back that much. Maybe .010" in extreme cases. If it did, RCBS and other places would be fighting lawsuits for blowing peoples guns up. I've had some chambers, like on a couple 300WSM's, where I've had to set the die right down on the shell holder and turn it in a little more to get the proverbial "cam over", we always hear about. Otherwise I'd have ammo that did not fit in the chamber. Most chambers are pretty close and should be within SAAMI spec. If they were out or too big, that creates problems (excessive headspace) that could also be detrimental. I'm with you on partial full length sizing (PFL) too. You get exceptional accuracy (as you've shown in many of your posts) and your brass lasts longer than if you were to full length size your brass. No need to neck size anything, unless you are full on shooting competitively and expecting 10 shot groups in the .3's. Something I don't think a lot of guys really get.

Not nearly, he should fine tune his die setting so there is very minimal resistance when he chambers the round in his rifle. Then he will know he is perfect. Its real easy to adjust the die for that. Leave the die set further out, run the brass through the die, check to that chamber. If it does not chamber, run the die down just a bit further. This is what beretzs and I were talking about earlier about PFL sizing your brass. You wouldn't need those neck dies, if you learned this technique..

As long as the case was shot in the gun I just use a neck sizing die. I been doing this for years on numerous guns and have never experienced any chambering issues.

As far as thinking you're just neck sizing with a standard die it's not possible...by backing a full lenght sizing die out what you end up with is a partially sized case with a partially sized neck..

These days the serious competition guys are full length sizing.

I’m just a hunter who likes accurate rifles. My standards are certainly not what a serious competition guy would want. I’ve grown fond of Lee collet dies, occasionally using a Redding body die when warranted by chambering being a bit harder than usual. Almost never need the body die.

That's why I mentioned a headspace gauge. Also springback varies enough that for me I bump the shoulder back so all the shells chamber. Some will have a bit of resistance, others won't, but I know how much they are actually bumped with the gauge.

I used to exclusively PFLR my hunting ammo. Then I started using Redding Nk and Redding body dies. Now I mostly use LCD's and the body dies. I can sand the mandrels to get enough tension to hold the bullet in the case while in the mag, but "tune" the Nk tension. Sometimes changing Nk tension helps, sometimes it makes no diff with hunting rounds. Plus there is no lubing with the LCD's and it's easy and quick to size brass. The LCD's really are the easy button.