Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Savage 110 chamber

Have a 110C in 270. Rifle works OK but having an issue with reloads. I can chamber a fired case easily. But after running cases through the 270 hornady resizing die, even full length resizing, some chamber with difficulty. I check case length so that's not an issue.
I'm thinking there's something wonky with the hornady sizing die. Did some neck sizing tonight and those cases chamber fairly well.

Your fired cases aren’t fire formed, if they were they wouldn’t chamber easily. Brass behavior is inconsistent so you might want to consider annealing. You should get a head space comparator to see where you’re base of case head to the shoulder dimension is at. A Hornady comparator gauge is a good choice. The best way to tell if the case is sized correctly is to strip your bolt of the extractor, ejector and firing pin assembly. Your rifle’s assembly is held by a torqued allen screw. The best way to break it loose is step on an Allen wrench with the bolt handle locked on the floor. Or if you have an air impact lock the handle in a vice. But before you strip the bolt fire form with a near max load with the bullet touching the lands. Once you FF.. l use Redding competition shell holder kit. Works like a charm. Each holder is stepped .002 to gradually set the shoulder back until the bolt handle moves freely. No interference from the case manipulation of the bullet to center the throat is best for accuracy.

Could it be after sizing the case is stretched and you aren’t bumping the shoulder back enough ?
After sizing does the case chamber but the bolt won’t close?

The shoulder is stretched forward not being sized properly and your FL die can be adjusted but can be a PIA to do. When forming after annealed it stays formed with little spring back. If brass is too hard it won’t spring back to the correct dimension.

Let's slow walk this and get your issue fixed.

As a full length die squeezes the case body down in diameter it causes the shoulder to move forward until the shoulder contacts the shoulder part of the die and then gets pushed backwards. Every FL die works this way.

A die that isn't adjusted enough won't push the shoulder back far enough and the case is hard to chamber or won't chamber at all.

The neck sizer die is only squeezing down the neck portion of the case and isn't changing anything on the case body dimensionally. When you say those neck sized cases chamber fairly well it's because the case body is still "as-fired" and unchanged by the die.

The first thing to do is decide who's giving sensible advice so your thread doesn't go down a rabbit hole.

The second thing to do is adjust your FL die to properly size your cases to fit your chamber.

How many times fired is your brass and were they fired only in your chamber? Those are fairly important things to know and to communicate when seeking help.

When you check case length are you measuring case head to case mouth I'm assuming?

Do you have a comparator set-up with a dial caliper that will measure from the case head to a place on the shoulder? If not there are other legitimate ways to get your die adjusted correctly.

Did you read the directions that came with the Hornady die?

You're not trying to set the FL die and neck die up the same are you?

Have you used the Hornady FL die for this chamber before?

If you have used the FL die for this chamber before are you using the same shell holder as before?

Has all brass that you're FL sizing been fired one time in same chamber or different chamber?

Spot on response..

Pretty much exactly what I said.

You and 10gaugemag asked the right questions for sure.

Good post.

I'll add to the shoulder possibly moved forward responses. In my experience, Hornady FL dies tend to be the ones that are tightest in the body section. That is both in diameter and the amount of taper they size back into the case. As a result, cases do lengthen more with these dies, both overall and head to shoulder before the die is set into the press far enough to reverse the shoulder movement and set it back for smooth chambering.

Listen to this

That's good info to have. We know all FL dies do that as nature of the beast, but I myself didn't know Hornady is somewhat excessive. I've used Redding, RCBS, one set of Forster, one set of Lyman, and a few Lee all my life. Never used a Hornady. Could possibly be the OPs issue right there if he's unaware of it. It doesn't take much "shoulder forward" to make for hard or impossible chambering. Thanks for that insight.

Assuming you measure brass length after sizing?

If so have you tried a trimmed to minimal length piece??

When raising ram after sizing is excessive force used?

If excessive have you cleaned the inside of necks before sizing?


Chambered a piece of FL sized brass without bullet? If so how does it chamber minus bullet??

The cases I am resizing have been fired in the rifle. I have some winchester brand nickel cases that were fired 3 days ago. They will chamber, before any resizing, pretty easy. The loads fired in them were 160 gr. bullets that were fired with hunting size loads. 50 gr. of stabil6.5 and a couple other powders.
I have 3 shell holders for 270, 30-06, etc. size cases. Last nite I did some resizing. Anywhere from having the die turned all the way down, contacting the shell holder, to a couple turns up, produces resized cases that are varying degrees of difficult to chamber. I do tighten the lock ring so the die does not have any movement in the press. The difficulty in chambering is not consistent at any die setting. Some cases will chamber acceptably, some are more difficult than others.
I am using the lanolin/alcohol mix for lube. I lube the outside lower half of each case and a Qtip to lube the case mouth. I have another Hornady die, 30 herrett, and both of those dies are noticeably harder to extract the case over the expander bulb.
Could it be that the expander bulb tension is so tight the case is deforming slightly as it is pulled over the bulb?
I'm thinking the logical first step would be to get a different resizing die?

It's good to gave consensus and agreement.

When you set the die to contact the shellholders and have a case in the die with the ram all the way up, can you see a gap between the die base and the top of the shellholder? The press toggles can have varying amounts of spring that need to be offset by screwing the die in a little further.

Personally, lose the nickel brass.

Tried it 2x and I am not a fan.

I always contact shellholder then go another 1/4 turn or so in. Never turn back out for FL sizing. Shell holder must contact die at minimum for me.

I also lube the full case length.

Not to be a smart ass but directions go a long ways.

Yes. I have seen this with the original Hornady New Dimension dies in the past. Unsure if they're any different nowadays. Try removing the decap stem & size a case or two. If they chamber easily, you have the answer. Possibly polishing the expander lump will help. Maybe a call to Hornady will help before buying new dies.

Are you lubing inside the case neck before sizing? There are any number of lubes that will work here. I've been using Imperial dry neck lube for years with good results.

Afterthought... An empty 9mm pistol case turned open side down can act as a rudimentary headspace comparator. You wont get near SAAMI spec, but will have a # to compare with sizing die changes.