Scatching my head here, working with a 300 win mag. Once fired hornady brass fired in this rifle and closes as you would expect just snug, Full length resise and the same brass closes very difficult? I have another small base die set and full length size with it and the rifle closes easier but still more difficult than the fired non formed brass. Any idea what is happening with the brass on reforming? He rifle is a custom shop rem 700 might the chamber just be really tight?

The LAST thing you wanna do,is to FL size,less a series of VERY good reasons. Congratulations?!?

Headspace the shoulder and do NOT relocate it,until mandated.

Hint.............

A 300 WM spaces off the belt, so I am guessing that the brass is soft and when your resizing it that the expander ball is pulling the shoulder forward and causing it to be tight in the chamber.
Easy way to check is take a case gage (if you don't have one, take a 40 cal. pistol case and put it over the 300 case where the two case head stamps are opposing each other) and measure it. Now resize and repeat. If the measurement is longer then you have your answer.
You can also remove your expander and resize a piece of brass and see what happens.

Ummmmm...O/F brass from said rifle,headspaces the shoulder. Playing butt tickle ain't the answer,but backing the Sizer away from case holder ASSUREDLY is. Color the neck and shoulder juncture. Set die to catch most of the neck,less touching the shoulder and you are there,every fhuqking time.

If/when you GOTTA touch a shoulder,do so as little as possible,to retain headspace.

Hint.............

Expander balls often take the rap for pulling shoulders forward, but most often it's the die sizing the body of the case that's squeezing the brass forward. It's easy to demonstrate by sizing without the ball as you mentioned.

Have you checked the overall length after sizing?

I resize down to the neck/shoulder junction only on all 30 cal bottle neck casings used in bolt action rifles using a 32ACP die and a Lyman "M" die. I've yet to have any chambering problems but if I were to I'd just use Stick's procedure.

I'm never not AMAZED,at how a simplistic Sizing die stumps everybody. Congratulations?!?

Bless your hearts.

Hint................

Depending on bottlenecked case geometry, the shoulder will tend to move forward as the case nears full insertion into the die. If you cannot force the case far enough into the die, then you may end up with it being difficult to close the bolt on it.

Oh my...now a Texan is going to TRY. Congratulations?!?

I'm fhuqking crying,I'm laughing soooooooooooooo fhuqking hard!!!

Here's to the Perpetual HILARITY of you Dumb Fhuqks,doing your BEST and "boldly" taking STUPIDITY to places it's never been before!

Bless your heart for trying.

Hint.

LAUGHING!...................

In fairness however and coming full circle,Hornady does make THE schittiest/softest brass there is.

Hint...................

It's easily verifiable, Stick. But...errrrrr, wait a minute---I learned this while living in Utah and it has turned out to be true in Idaho and Texas too. Could be that it all works different in Alaska.

In 100's and 100's of barrels,I've yet to have a die stump me. Congratulations?!?

Finite CONTROL of headspace,is the focus and everyone is CLUELESS there. Funny schit!

Bless your hearts.

Hint.

Laughing!.................

Yep, it's a headspace thing. And it has everything to do with setting up a FL die (if you insist on using one) or a body die. Fact is, shoulders will flow forward when using either type and the case must be inserted far enough to bump the shoulder back a bit.

Try setting up a FL die where the shell holder is shy of 5 or 10 thousandths shy of the bottom of the die. Measure head to shoulder on a fired case and chamber it in the rifle to get a feel for bolt closure, then run it up into the die set up as described and measure again, AND check it in the rifle's chamber for the feel of bolt closure. It's perfectly predictable.

The same thing should happen with a body die.

Who's stumped?

You!

LAUGHING!

Wow +P+++.

Hint................

I can demonstrate this phenomenon with the 8x57 cases I make from .30-'06. The case as formed without an expander ball will gage, but with the ball they are long.

Stupor,

Try lubricant. Congratulations?!?

Hint.

LAUGHING!.................

Yep.

Use a Redding bushing or Lee collet die.

http://larrywillis.com/

This die will get the bulge off the belt and should fix the problem.