Help with 243

[opossum]

I have Hornady dies and I am full length resizing my brass.I had no trouble with these dies when reloading for my Encore.I am now trying to load some for a Savage model 11.The bolt is very hard to close.With a factory load it is easy.I have tried adjusting the sizing dies in and out to the point that the deprimer will not push the primer all the way out.It seems like the shoulder angle is wrong.I think I see marks on the shoulder after I close the bolt and then take the case out.Any suggestion would be very useful. Thanks

[Kurt L]

You should not need to back the die out as thats going the wrong way.
turn it in till it touches the shell holder or a bit tighter the shell holder will contact the die and the press ram will cam over thats as far as you can go.
if they don't fit , they are shot from another gun and the base is enlarged and you will need a small base die.or are they from this gun?

[Grumulkin]

Is your brass of the proper length?

[mjbgalt]

the problem is the encore. it allows more stretch than a bolt action, due to the action not being as "tight" on the rear of the cartridge, when the extractor grips the rim.

you either need a small-base die, which squeezes down that exact area, or you can work on the die you already have and keep sizing one piece of brass so you don't wear out the whole batch...and play with it until something works.

i know i had to screw mine wayyy down before it would fit in the tight chamber of my howa.

honestly, it might be best to just deal with the tight bolt for a while and fire-form those cartridges to the savage chamber.

-Matt

[billy_56081]

I agree that the Encore is allowing the brass to stretch and you are not resizing enough. Make sure the shell holder contacts the bottom of the die so your shells are fully re sized. After they are fired in the Savage you should be able to get away with just neck sizing them for the savage. That last little push is where your sizing takes place. I had to go through that learning curve myself. Good luck and I hope you have as much fun rolling your own ammo as I do. I take alot of pride when my kids shoot something with the ammo I loaded for them.

[Steve P]

Two guns = Two die sets, or readjusting each time you load.

Steve

[huntswithdogs]

What they said is good advice. The best thing to do is get different brands of brass for each or at least seperate it in different boxes and mark the boxes for which gun its for. My youngun had this same problem with his buddy's Encore and his bolt gun.


HWD

[opossum]

I checked the length of the case and it is within the tolerances in the manuals.It will not hurt anything to fire those cases with the bolt being hard to close.To neck size do I need a different die or can I use the ones I have.Thanks for all the input.

[billy_56081]

Two guns = Two die sets, or readjusting each time you load.

Steve

I'm not sure if I agree with you there Steve, when you full lenght size brass, it should fit any standard chamber in that caliber. Now if you are neck sizing brass, then I can see a difference in die ajustment and brass not fitting one rifle or another.  If you have a rifle with a chamber that is on the tight size I would recomend you get some RCBS small base dies, but being factory ammo fits I highly doubt that this is the problem. Either you are not full length sizing your brass or you have a bad die.

[stimpylu32]

I checked the length of the case and it is within the tolerances in the manuals.It will not hurt anything to fire those cases with the bolt being hard to close.To neck size do I need a different die or can I use the ones I have.Thanks for all the input.

If its just a bit stiff to close you will be fine , having to stand on the bolt handle is another matter .  Once you have fired these cases in your bolt gun they will be fireformed to that chamber so no more problems . 

As for the neck sizing , that can be done 2 ways

1 - you can get a Neck Only sizing die or

2 - you can just back your FL sizer out till your only part sizing , were the neck and the upper 1/3 or so of the case body is being sized but the shoulder is not being bumped back .

I do it both ways depending on the rifle and round , they both have a place were they work well .

stimpy

[opossum]

I lowered the ram down some and screwed the die in about a 1/2 turn.I then resized a case and tried it again in the gun.The bolt closed with no problem like it did with factory ammo.I must not have screwed the die in enough.I am going to load some and try them .Thanks for all of the help. 
     Daryl