22-250 reloading problem hard chambering.

[DEACONLLB]

I am having a problem with my 22-250 reloads chambering to hard in my Ruger m77. I full length resized the brass, checked the overall case length was ok primed and installed powder and bullet to the correct length loaded in rifle and had problem closeing the bolt. Got out mike and checked a new factory round and every place I checked they are the same. Checked at base checked shoulder checked middle of round checked the neck as well as overall length and get the same readings. bolt closes with no preasure on factory round but have to put some extra preasure on reload so what am I overlooking the Dies are RCBS and mike to same size as base of factory load.
 
Deaconllb

[DANNY-L]

Was the brass fired in your rifle before? If not maybe ya just need to turn your die down just a tad bit.

[DeckH]

Seems to me that you have to readjust your FL sizing die.    There are plenty of directions on the internet.

[stimpylu32]

Take one of the rounds that are hard to chamber and color the bullet & shoulder areas with a sharpe marker , once it dries , chamber the round and them remove it , check to see if there are any rub marks were the case is making contact in the chamber or the bullet is contacting the lands of the rifling .
 
My best guess here is that you will find that the shoulder is making contact , just a couple thou. can make the difference and not be seen with standard mics .
 
stimpy

[DEACONLLB]

The sizing die is all the way down till it just touches the shell holder and I do know how to set it so I almost never let the die touch the shell holder but when I had the problem I set it to just touch, the ammo was not fired in this gun but as all mikes out the same as factory dont think that is a problem but now the shoulder being a little too long could be a factor I also seated the bullet a little deeper at first thinking this could be the problem, but made no difference so will chech the shoulder this weekend thanks for the tips so far.
 
 
Deaconllb

[JPShelton]

I put a post up here titled "Improper Sizing Die Adjustment"..   My dad had the exact same issue with a .250 Savage Ruger M-77 RL.  His handloads and reloads wouldn't chamber in the gun.  I have that same rifle AND the same dies he swore to be defective in my possession now and I have no trouble making reloads or handloads from new, unprimed brass that chamber in the rifle as they should.
 
The diminsion that might be causing you grief is the body / shoulder junction.  I think the taper of the .250 Savage / .22-250 makes the cases less tolerant of "growth" in this area.  That was the problem my dad had.  It was visible after forcing the bolt closed and ejecting cases he resized in the form of severe burnishing at the body / shoulder junction.  The cause was having his sizing die adjusted too deep by more than a full turn.  I can duplicate the problem my dad had by simply screwing the sizing die he used a turn and a half or so deeper in my press.
 
If you try to push the shoulder too far back on a .250 Savage case, it causes that body / shoulder junction area to enlarge and I think that's due to the amount of body taper that case has.  I do know that with a .250, die adustment doesn't seem to leave as much room for "fudge factor" as I seem to have with .30-30, .30-'06, .308, and even my son's .303 Brit.
If I don't have the die in enough, I don't get adequate neck tension.  Turn it in too much, and the body / shoulder junction swells.  And since the chamber has the same taper, a little swelling in that area that wouldn't have much effect on a straighter-sided case like an -'06 does with the .250.   I suspect it does with a .22-250 as well, since it has the same body taper.
 
If the brass was fired in a max diminsion chamber and your rifle is a min diminsion chamber, your sizing die, even if properly adjusted, might not make ammo out of that which will chamber in your gun.  Rare, but it happens. 
 
If it were me, I'd get some new, unfired and unprimed brass and set my full lenght sizer following the instructions on Sierra Bullets website that used to (and may still have) in their loading manuals.  I'd also lube the case necks to make sure that the expander ball isn't pulling the shoulder slightly out of shape on the downstroke of the ram's travel.
 
JP
 
 

[DEACONLLB]

I have cheched everything and the problem is the expander ball is pulling the shoulder just enough to make it not chamber have cleaned die lubed die and expander an seems to take little or no effert to pull the expander out and this is with winchester brass fired in gun but it will not chamber once resized and I have tried not full length and still have same problem.
 
Deaconllb

[Old Syko]

Deacon you've stated you know how to set up your size die, but if you are doing exactly what you've written here that may not be the case.  Running the die down to touch the shell holder isn't likely to work.  Run the die down until it touches, lower the ram and run the die down another 1/8 of a turn or a bit more and lock it in place.  You will feel a very firm rock over as the ram goes all the way to the top.  This removes all the stretch in the press itself and allows you to actually full length size your cases.  Without this step you are not actually full length sizing.  Especially if you have a min length or tight cut chamber. 


You must lube the case necks well before sizing with the 22-250 or the ball will stretch the the shoulder slightly rendering them either hard or impossible to chamber and without the proper tools you can't measure this dimension.  The sharp shoulder of the 22-250 makes a weak point that allows almost discernible dimension flaws.

[DEACONLLB]

A great  big thanks to  you Old Syko for helping me out here with this reloading problem. I followed your advice and set the die down a little more and lubed and reran the brass that would not chamber in the gun and after redoing 4 of them and checking them out they chamber just like they should. This is a great sight everyone giving their input and sooner or later someone comes up with the answer, so a big thanks to all who responded so as one of the members has said next problem please keep them comeing.
 
Thanks Deaconlld

[Old Syko]

Deacon I'm glad it works for you and I'm happy to have helped.  I too have learned so much from so many here. It's hard to comprehend that after 45 years of loading experience I still have so much to learn.  I've just learned to deal with it and keep coming here to learn more.