Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire 270/300 custom wildcat

Ok gents I need some help. I went and bought some 300 win mag brass for this gun. The case is based on it. I have the dies the gunsmith provided. I sized one case and it will not fit. I have one bullet left from the gun that came with it. The neck of that case looks like it tapers down faster than the newer case which looks more flat. What in the world is my problem. The newer case will not let the bolt close.Please any info will help.

Sp

Call Brownells, buy some Cerrosafe, take a chamber cast of the barrel and a cast of the die (Decapper/expander removed) to see what you really have. Case necks do not taper, case bodies do.
You have so many variables with a wildcat, that no one can answer your questions w/o all the facts at hand.

Good Luck !

I meant to say the body of the case not the neck. Do I need to purchase diffrent brass from a diffrent manufacter?

Guessing I'd be contacting the smith first and formost.

Dber

REALLY

Ok-so what am I missing?

Dober

Nothing,...you made the PERFECT point, Se�or.

e.g. "WTF is up with the "Gunsmith" and the dies ?"

read "REALLY" as in ,....well ,...REALLY

Si ?

GTC

Capice

Dober

Smith is no longer with us....

W

Measure the case at the shoulder jct first. And the length from the base to that point to verify anything...

W

You're completely LOST,....go see a competent PROFESSIONAL, and get this sorted out.

On line "Handloading Advice" is at best FREE.

Those are your eyes, and limbs, behind that thing, the only ones you get, this time around.

GTC

could you have a 6.5x 300 H&H case or a 6.5 x300 weatherby case

call the gunsmith and ask for the neck dimension of his reamer. I will bet that your's is a tight neck chambering and you haven't turned down the necks on the brass.
I've got a 7/300wsm and after sizing 300wsm brass down, each of the necks measures roughly .015 which is .003 too much in order to fit in the chamber. every piece of brass gets the neck hand turned down to .012

The gunsmaith is dead !

Has no one read Dunlap ?

Chamber/die casts are gunsmithing 101 and have been from the days when they were done with sulphur.

Could be as simple as turning the sizing die down to get the spring out of the press.
Fred

....or 'Shaving' the Shell Holder a bit,.....maybe

Dennis and I cast a chamber for Enrique while we were all gathered up here,....took all of 10 minutes, and told him what he needed to know about a nice old 99.

I think trying ton do this sorta' thing on line can be counterproductive, that's why the recommendation to see a SMITH.

GTC

And perhaps a call to RCBS technical expertise.

Yeah a guy at RCBS is gonna know a lot about a rifle he's never seen, dies his company may not have made and talking to some guy whose (apparent) knowledge of handloading oddballs is rather thin.

CFO and I have said it enough times to end this conversation.

Pictures are always helpful. Does the loaded round fit in the chamber? If so, I think a little time with the calipers and adjusting the sizing die would be the ticket. I would imagine the case length needs trimming after resizing, and perhaps neck turning as already mentioned. Getting the shoulder pushed back enough to chamber and fireforming should righten out the wrong.

Or you can cast the chamber...

There are gunsmiths, and there are gunsmiths - some will diagnose this quick and others ???. Some very good thoughts are presented above.

If you want to sleuth the problem yourself without getting the material and doing a casting, measure the case on which the bolt WILL close (all relevant dimensions) and note those dimensions. Then meausure the case that WILL NOT fit, and note all of those same dimensions. Compare the two sets of measurements (all dimensions), and maybe compare those to a good dimensional drawing of the case.

Maybe think one (or more) of these possibilities.

1. Case too long = trim neck end of case end to correct length

2. Neck diameter too large = shave OS diameter with case neck turner


3. Diameter of case too large for the chamber - at any point = shave the height of shell holder a bit to enable further reach of case into die
OR
obtain a small base die - made for tight chambers and for good feeding on many autoloaders

4. Case shoulder a bit too far from case base = see #3 above

Barring a misshapen chamber, the above covers most of the normal problem issues. In such instances, I have placed parallel marks along the case length with a felt tip ink pen and then closed the bolt on the case as far as possible - then looked for the place(s) where friction erased the ink - that would be a tight place.

After that, it's a good casting and/or a GOOD gunsmith.