Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Bolt lift tight on a resized case?

Hey gang,

My rigs bolt is fairly stiff to lift on a case that's been fired in the rig and resized.

What would be causing it to be stiff on the lifting?

(the case does chamber ok)

Thx
Dober

One thing that can cause this is a little bit of oil or sizing lubricant left in the chamber or on the case. Make sure your chamber is clear of oil or bore cleaner and make sure you have cleaned the sized case throughly.

I have noticed this several times on a freshly cleaned bore, when I inadvertably left a little bit of bore cleaner or oil in the chamber.

Pressures above max can also cause this, and without showing any of the classical indications of too high pressure, such as blown or flattened primers or expanded case heads.

Check your load data.

I am assuming you are using a bolt action rifle.

This brings up a question I've had...

How do you guys generally clean the chamber?

Tipton Shooter's Swabs

Drape a large shotgun patch over it and insert into chamber.Acetone can be used on the patch if desired.

Sometimes the resizing die does not match the chamber and you die is not resizing the case down enough..You can fix this by filing off the top of the case holder so the case will go a tad deeper into the die..Some file the bottom of the die but I don't do this because the case holder is a lot cheaper to replace than the die if you screw it up..

Are you getting polished brass on the shoulder when you take the case out of the gun? that would be a clue..inspect the case for abrasions of one degree or another.

Are you saying that when you fire the case that the extraction is difficult, if so, your a grain or two high on your powder charge..

Another check is the cocking notch, it may be soft and need to be hardened and polished..I have had this happend on Mausers and Mod 70s on ocassion.

delete-

"How do you guys generally clean the chamber?"

If I clean the barrel at the range and plan on shooting some more, I use cotton shotgun swab dampened with rubbing alcohol.

If I clean after finishing shooting, I leave a coating of oil in the chamber to prevent rust. Then, before I go to the range again, I clean the chamber with the swab.

I guess we're all throwing out ideas or experiences here so I'll add mine. I have a 280AI rebarreled by Hart that is a tight chamber. My Redding Body Die does not size the pressure ring area or case body small enough (hardly at all) and after 4 firings the bolt is harder to work.

Haven't got around to fixing it yet. I suppose the fix would be to send a case to Redding and have them make me one that has smaller internal dimensions.

My "guess" would be that maybe you're setting the shoulder back just enough and the body taper on the case and the chamber are so well matched that you're experiencing a "Morse taper" effect: easy in, but stuck coming out.

Chamber cleaning?Before I shoot I spray some brake cleaner down the barrel[at the range].Let dry,then shoot.

Not very complex, if it's hard to close a bolt on a resized case, the case is too large. If that's true, then it isn't resized correctly. Most often that's due to the shoulder being pushed forward a tad during sizing and that can easily be fixed by running it back though the die. If it's still hard to chamber, turn the die down another eight turn, size and try the chamber fit again.

It it still won't go, grind a couple-three thousants off the bottom of the die. Why "fix" the shell holder when the problem's in the die? If you grind off a tad to much so what, you can always screw it out enough to compensate. A "modified" shell holder will cause problems forever!

Being able and knowing how to adjust your dies is part of what handloading is all about. ??

Boomtube....how can a modified shell holder cause trouble forever? The top of the shellholder has no function during resizing. I have several ground shellholders and still make perfectly good brass....and don't have to keep grinding down dies. Besides....if you look at the original post the casing chambers ok so I don't think it's necessary to size the brass down more.

Is this an empty, unloaded case??? Try sticking a bullet in & see if it still happens...

"Boomtube....how can a modified shell holder cause trouble forever?"

(First, NO OFFENSE INTENDED!)

It seems many folk use the method for "adjusting" an FL sizer that's in most die instructions, ie, "screw the die down until it touches the shell holder..", etc. Personally, I think that's a poor way to set up a sizer but it happens. Since many shell holders also get used for other cartridges with the same head, tweaking it would follow that shell holder as it goes to another. What ever method the OP uses to set up his sizer, my suggestion is to trim the bottom of the die since that is the likely reason for his slighly under-resized cases. ??

If the OP had a case diameter problem it likely would not chamber readily. Thus, difficulty closing the bolt suggests the cartridge is too long. So, it seems likely that what ever method of adjusting his sizer the OP uses he needs to set the case a tiny bit further into the sizer. Just fix the die,IMHO.

I sure don't understand how putting a bullet in a too long case could reduce bolt closing effort. ??

Got most of the specifics from Mark on the phone last night... only thing he couldn't answer at that point is if the case head "smears" when the bolt is closed over the brass.

What I know:

Virgin brass chambers and extracts fine.

Fired and resized brass chambers with a slightly hard bolt close and even opens hard with a bit of hangup as well.

Sizer die is adjusted down past the usual 1/4 turn to set the shoulders back.

What I think:

Either the shoulder isn't being set back enough... Mark thinks it is.

Or:

The dies are flat worn out. I think the culprit is a set of worn out dies, likely not sizing back to SAAMI minimum like Virgin Brass.

Mark's had the dies since 1977 and has likely loaded 10's of thousand rounds with the set.

That, likely coupled with a slightly tight chamber cut to SAAMI minimum spec's, makes the most sense.

Hopefully Mark will get a new set of dies and try those... if it's not that, at least that's a pretty cheap way to eliminate one possibility!

Don't forget trimming. Had it happen to me.

Absolutely! I had forgot about that and just assumed the cases are trimmed... shouldn't assume anything. Maybe Mark will chime in on that score...

Trimming is good, I'm a nutcase about having them trimmed. Anbd of course I'm a nut case about many other things as well...grin

Brad finally shamed me into digging down for $21 and trying some new dies.

Viola, it appears to be working. More work will come but I sized up a few last night and they're much better. Will do more work to know for sure. Couldn't quite get my head around the idea that I'd worn out the original set.

Thx Mac for tipping me over!

Dober

Using a file to remove metal from a die or shell holder just doesn't seem right,here's a method that you can use to check and see if your die is sizing the shoulder down enough,take a flat feeler guage and start at .002 and slide it between the case head and shell holder and size a case and try it in your chamber there is usally quite abit of space between the case and shell holder that can be shimmed up even with a die down tight on the shell holder you will be able to control the sizing with different size guages,then you can have someone with a lathe turn the correct amount off the bottom of the die!

One thing for sure, ain't nobody going to trim a die or shell holder with a file! They are so case hardened a file will skip over without making a mark. Cutting them is a job for a grinder or a carbide cutter in a lathe.

Die could be a bit worn if it's had maybe a quarter million cases run though it. Otherwise all it needs is another small fraction of a turn down. Turning our dies 1/8th of a turn will change the shoulder .0089285" (I usually just call it 9 thou). So, it's likely that an additional 1/16th turn (4.4642 thou) down will fix those tight cases without going too far.