300 WM Belt Problems??

[B2crawler]

Have only 100 pieces of brass for my 300 WM and I don't know how many times they have been reloaded.   I'd say 5 times.  Must say that they have never had a full house load put in them other than when they were first loaded at the factory.  Boy are they hard to chamber these days.  I took a black marker to one after full length sizing.  After chambering the round several times I removed it for inspection.  Only place the black marker was removed was at the case head where the caliber is stamped.  Is this because of the belt?
 
Thanks

[skb2706]

Nope...has nothing to do with the belt. IT has to do with the distance from the head (where the caliber is stamped) to the shoulder. You need to bump back the shoulder just a bit. The marker is rubbing off from you trying to force the round into the chamber. Boltface contacting the case.

[teddy12b]

That's the kind of issue that has me worried about getting a 300WM.  I've never dealt with belted cartridges yet.  I just keep plugging away with my 30-06.  I'm interested in how this works out though.

[thxmrgarand]

I shoot a .300 Weatherby quite a lot for a hunting gun, and I also shoot and reload .257 Weatherby.  The best gadget I have for reloading those belted rounds is an adjustable case gauge from L.E. Wilson in Cashmere, WA.  For full length resizing you set the adjustment about half-way between a new case and a case that has been fired in your chamber.  They don't cost very much.

[Luckyducker]

B2crawler, you have an interesting problem.  You can try to adjust the sizing die down more and see if this makes a case chamber easier but I don't think this is the problem.  If this were my rifle and cases I would cut one of them off behind the shoulder and see if the stub would chamber easily.  This would tell if the case is swelling ahead of the web and would also allow a peak at the inside of the case which I think will show early stage case separation.  If you do this and you find the case starting to stress crack all of these brass need to be thrown in the scrap can.  BTW, do your cases need to be trimmed every time before you reload them?  If so you may need to get a neck sizer die because this will help keep your brass from being overworked.  I may be off track here but please keep us updated as this interests me greatly.

[Coyote Hunter]

Some comments.

1.  Its a good idea to keep track of how many times each case has been reloaded.  Full-house loads can cause case-head separation after just 4-5 reloads.

2. It may be that the brass was neck-sized only and that full-length resizing is all it needs.

3. After 5 firings, full-power or not, the cases may need trimming.  Probably not related to the problem at hand but possible.

[Coyote Hunter]

teddy12b –

Don’t worry about the belts, they are not that big a deal.  The first rifle I reloaded for was a 7mm RM but I also reload .300WM.  I full-length resize my brass and have never had a problem with a belt.

[B2crawler]

Cases are full length resized. Bottom of die makes contact with shell holder full down stroke.  Have more than one rifle in 300 WM so its easier to FL resize.   Cases are trimmed using trim die.  This brass was used twice at full powered loads.  Now it just gets starting load data and used for plinking.  That's why I'm not exactly sure how many times they have been reloaded.
I'm going to cut a case like was suggested and see if that will chamber, but I have my doubts.  Probably time for some new brass.

Also I have a savage 10fp 308 and brass that I don't keep track of how many times it's been loaded.  Been loaded a lot more than 5 times I know that!  I do just neck size and bump the shoulder on that ammo. 

I don't like having a belt on my Mag

[Tom W.]

Check out the die offered by www.larrywillis.com
My son has one and it works great! I've used it on my 7mm rem mag brass and it chambers like new.

[B2crawler]

Ok I don't think it's a belt problem anymore.  As Luckyduck suggested I cut down a case about in half.  It chambered in both guns without a hitch.  WHAT???  Now were back to sqare one.  Now if I use marker on the case and chamber it in the gun shouldn't the marker be rubbed off at the shoulder and the head?  Geesh don't want to do anything crazy like shaving down the shell holder.  Could this be a die problem?  These are the older style RCBS dies with round nuts. 

For those who care to know.  Winchester 70 classic could feed this cut down brass from the magazine and eject.  Remington couldn't even come close.  Had to finger it almost all the way into the chamber

What's next Luckyduck?

[Savage]

Wonder if the case necks need to be turned?
Savage

[beemanbeme]

Does the bottom of the die contact the shell holder when there is a case in the press?  You screw the die down until it touches the shell holder and then retract the ram and turn the die down another 1/4 turn and lock it down.  You want a strong "cam over" effect when you cycle the press without a case in it.
You're wanting to set the shoulders back just a bit.

[Luckyducker]

No, I don't think neck turning will help.  Do as the Beeman suggests and tighten the die down for more shoulder set-back and try your brass for chambering.  The sizer must not be setting the shoulder back enough to clear the chamber.  I have a 300WSM that I load for with Redding F/L dies and I had to grind the bottom of the sizer die a little to get the die down enough to chamber the brass.  This was new unprimed and unfired Winchester brass that wouldn't chamber but that did the trick and no problems after the grind job.

[B2crawler]

ALL RIGHT!!!  Brass chambers with ease now.  Tightened down the die till it touched the shell holder.  Then after lowering the ram gave it quarter twist.  Now when the ram is ran up the shell holder hits the die just before full stroke.  Little pressure and it kinda pops  into full stroke.  Seems like that has to be a lot of stress for these components.  Could this cause damage?

Thanks guys

[beemanbeme]

Hope not 'cause its how I've been doing it for a looooong time. 

[JerryKo]

Sorry, came in late to this, but I have a friend who had the same problem with 308 cases.  He started noticing some extra pressure require to close the bolt.  Found out he had two different shell holders and the one he had been using was a touch shorter and turned out he was only neck sizing. Later he switched to the other shell holder and finally full length sized and all was good.  I told him that is why he was getting such good groups ( neck sizing).  He never believed in neck sizing till then.

Glad You got it figured out.  Just thought I'd share that you are not alone.

JerryKo

[beemanbeme]

As a FYI, I'd have dressed off the top of my shell holder rather than ground off the lips of my die. Seems that it would be better to bugger up a $5.00 shell holder than a $20.00 die.  IMO.