Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles HELP!

I just worked up a load for a remington model 7 7-08. It was a starting load of 40 gr of rl15 and a 120 gr hornady v-max. I accidently trimed to brass to 2.020 (wich is too short I know it was a accident.)When using any realistc seating depth from 2.800 down to 2.650 the cartridge is hard to push into the chamber once it is extracted the bullet has had a small amount scraped of the base just in front of the case neck. The gun chambers factory ammo without problem.Is the problem the bullet ogive. any one have any ideas? by the way there was no crimp.

After you have sized your brass will it chamber smoothly? This is before a bullet is seated.

I've loaded shorter without a problem I would think you need to resize the brass. Ogave could be the problem but I would think it would be more of a sizing problem. Brass is only .015 under Max Length.

Knew I had it somewhere...sujested trim length is 2.015 so I say you are good to go there. Neck sizing should work if it was fired out of your rifle and it's a bolt action. With my 308 I use a redding body sizer and then neck size.

It chambers the resized brass fine with no resistance at all, just like a factory round. The rounds were neck sized if that makes any difference.

I didn't try the Vmax but I did load the Nosler 120 Ballistic Tips and I was running it out to 2.940 in my rifle. I still think it's something in the sizing of the brass. When you say neck sizing, is it fired brass out of your rifle? Are you loading from the mag or single shot? The scrape sound like you are loading from the mag. If you aren't seeing any marks up on the bullet I don't think you are getting to lands, the ogave is pretty far back on the lighter weight bullets. Which once again says sizing to me.

are you pushing the bullet into the lands? Just screw your seating die down until its easy to seat. Note that sometimes a primer will be high and this can result in chambering friction, provided of course you are sizing the brass correctly. if brass is correct, primers are not high, then perhaps you are shoving the bullets into the lands? the length to the tip of the bullet is not really an accurate indicator, get one of those hornady comparators and measure the distance to the ogive.

The brass was fired out of my rifle, and I think your right about the sizing. Because it chambers factory loadings at 2.790 inches but even if I push my reloads back to 2.650 it is still very tight and leaving marks on the bullet.I am confused about why it is chambering the sized brass fine.The marks on the bullet is just a thin scrape.

At 2.650 the bullet should be no where close to the lands, and that should rule out the ogive problem, I assume.The primers are flush soo I dont think thats the problem, so Im sure its something wrong in the sizing stage.

Is this the first time you've tried to load for this rifle? Little brother had a problem not long ago with a Forster Bump bushing die with his WSM that was putting an offset in the neck. Check the diameter of the bullet. I know this sound silly but we had a friend on another forum that got some bullets that came in the wrong box and they were 7mm I think and the box had 308 bullets in them.

These are the first reloads ive fired in this rifle. The bullets are .284 so thats not the problem. I just reset the sizing die and resized a peice of brass and seated a bullet and still had the same problem, this time it dosent take near as much pressure to chamber and extract the round but there are is still a scratch on the bullet.It must be something with the resizing stage and im setting the die up by screwing it down untill it contacts the shell holder with the ram all the way up and then screwing it down another 1/4 turn.There is slight resistance when lowering the ram after sizing is this a problem?

After going back and measuring all the bullets where the brass is shave off, I consistantly get a reading of .284.5 so that might be the problem. If the resized brass chambers fine then that would mean there is not a problem with the sizing correct?

Can't say but I used 2 different sets of calipers and checked some Nosler 120, Hornady 139 & 169, Berger 168, Barnes 140, Combined Tec Silver tips 150, and Serra 160 7mm bullets and they are suppose to be 284 and everyone of them checked 282. Check a new factory loaded round just below the crimp and one of your reloads in the same place and see how close the measurements are. If the resized case is loading with no problems the bullet is all that is left unless there is a patch laying in the bore....don't laugh on that one either I'm the idiot that, that little problem happened to except I couldn't close the bolt thank goodness. Rifle goes to the range with the bolt out now and I check bore before inserting bolt. Was one of the most embarrassing moments of my long life.

This reads like you're following the generic full length sizing instructions that come in the die box. Even if you're not having chambering difficulties these generic directions usually aren't the best for fitting brass to your chamber.

A scratch on the bullet will have nothing to do with case sizing. You are assuming that the small scratch on the bullet is causing hard chambering...possibly, but more likely the shoulder would be inclined to do that.

If a resized empty case will chamber ok but a loaded round will not, perhaps there is some fouling in your chamber/throat area. Clean the chamber and that area with solvent and a bronze brush and see if the problem goes away.

TC

The scratch on the bullet is probably coming from rubbing on the ejection port when you pull the ctg. out. Sounds like you have a problem with your neck sizing procedure.

factory ammo chambers fine so its not a copper build up or anything like that. As hard as it is to chamber the round I would think that, this is cause by the bullet being scratched while being chambered, but then again it is also hard to eject the cartridge.I will try another bullet next week when they arrive and see if this changes things. If there was a problem with the sizing then I wouldnt be able to chamber brass without a bullet right. If this helps any when closing the bolt it only has resistance about the last 1/4 inch and pushing the bolt down is difficult when ejecting the case the bolt comes up 3/4 easy and then gets difficult to finish its rotation and is difficult to cycle bolt backwords. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to set up a necksizing die differently then the books publish?

Is the seating die set deep in the press? The neck sizer only touches the neck and should have no effect on the rest of the case. If you have trouble with only a sized and loaded round it has to be in the bullet seating somewhere.
I suspect the seating die is deep in the press and crimping the case heavily when you seat. This bulging the brass just behind the crimp.

I backed the seating die off 1 full turn after 1st contact with the case, I may back it off more tommarow and see what happens, right now I am applying no crimp. there is no evident buldge in the case and the case seems fine I belive the problem is in the bullet myself.Will it hurt if I back the seating die off more than 1 turn?
thanks for all the replies guys

Not as long as you have enough adjustment to seat the bullet where you want it, I would think. Have you checked the loaded case against a factory yet to see if you are getting a great deal of difference in the size of the neck. You could be over expanding the neck and have a tight chamber to boot.

I think you have a burr in the chamber that only shows up with resized brass.Factory ammunition is very liberal in it's new state and does not show. powdr