Help please reloading,

[Tubs]

I'm trying to learn reloading in 223 i know my Col is 2.280 but i'm not wanting to go near this as the Hornady book only recommends 2.260 max col. So after sorting through some brass, FL resizing and trimming down to 1.754 chamfering ,deburring. I thought i would make a few dummy attempts and load some bullets Without primers or powder at different lengths and see how they fit and cycle with the bolt closing and extracting,these are the sizes i tried. 2.260, 2.250, 2.232, 2.220, 2.218. My problem i have with all these sizes is they all go into the chamber but as soon as start to close the bolt handle it gets stiff and on a couple of the case rims were the make is stamped it looks like the brass is scraping on the bolt face as a brass colour is present, But as soon as i put a factory size round which is 2.223 in its all smooth and easy again. What am i missing as i'm not going to even attempt to put any primers or powder in my cases until i'm happy and know its safe.All the brass i'm using is only once fired by myself.

[triggersqueezer]

are you neck sizing only?sounds like you need to bump shoulder back.

[MrCetrizine]

What bullets are you using and where are you measuring?

 

It's not really good to just guess your seating depth.

Get an OAL gauge like the Hornady one and a comparitor for your callipers.

You'll then be able to measure the correct distance from your bolt face to the lands. Then you'll be able to seat the bullets just off the lands and then start to work up a load and tweak your charge and seating depth.

 

Is there anyone near you who reloads who could be a mentor? Trial and error doesn't fit well with explosives.

[Tubs]

are you neck sizing only?sounds like you need to bump shoulder back.

No i'm full length resizing with RCBS dies.

[Tubs]

What bullets are you using and where are you measuring?

 

It's not really good to just guess your seating depth.

Get an OAL gauge like the Hornady one and a comparitor for your callipers.

You'll then be able to measure the correct distance from your bolt face to the lands. Then you'll be able to seat the bullets just off the lands and then start to work up a load and tweak your charge and seating depth.

 

Is there anyone near you who reloads who could be a mentor? Trial and error doesn't fit well with explosives.

I have got the oal gauge and measured its 2.280 but i'm not going to try this as its past the 2.260 hornady reccomend ,I'm trying to use hornady V-Max 50grn bullets as they work well from the Norma rounds i buy and use in my gun.I have also tried the ogive measurement and changed lower than the Norma factory round and still the same result.

[MrCetrizine]

Have you set your die up correctly?

Measure your case dimensions to the SAAMI specs to make sure they are resized correctly.

[Tubs]

Have you set your die up correctly?

Measure your case dimensions to the SAAMI specs to make sure they are resized correctly.

Ok i will check again tomorrow evening and i cleaned out both my dies earlier before i started, I followed the set up instructions which came with the RCBS dies, Thanks for your help.

[Vermincinerator]

It sounds to me like you are using once fired brass from another source, in other words fired in another rifle which has a chamber slightly longer then yours.

This is very common when using this type of brass and F/L sixing often does not cure the problem.

 

Ian.

[Vermincinerator]

Full length resizing does not always bump the shoulder back, something i found out recently when F/L sizing cases for my 257 AI recently.

The cases were getting a bit tight with hard bolt closure so i F/L sized them but to my surprise they were even tighter and bolt closure was harder!

The case was getting heavily sized in the web area above the extraction groove actually stretching the case to a couple of thousandths over the unsized case headspace length.

Its quite possible you have a similar problem.

Four thousandths of an inch removed off the bottom of the die cured it.

 

Ian.