oversized brass to big for the rifle

[3006bluffhunter]

I traded for some 30-06 brass and thought i got a good deal! I took it to the reloading room and started full length sizing it!  Boy did it size hard! Thought maybe not enough lube on the case! that wasn't it! Some I could only size 3/4 the way down the cases or 1/4 inch from the shell holder! Being new to reloading it almost made me think of selling all my equipment! So the next day I called a friend and asked if I could bring some brass over for him to look at! Took the rifle with me also! He dug out his equipment and resized a couple! Then we tryed to chamber the resized brass which we neck trimmed and chamfered also ! Bolt would not go into battery at all! On Some the bolt would close real hard! My friend came to the conclusion that the brass was not once fired but work harded stretched  many times fired brass! He Also thought after it came out of the die it would spring back to its fired state some! Other than the recycling pale is there anything its good for?  Maybe my misfortune will help people new to reloading ,because like I said I almost quit reloading before i got a good start! Dale

[AtlLaw]

What was the headstamp on the brass?

[3006bluffhunter]

winchester 30-06 sprg the head stamp reads

[OR-E-Gun Bill]

My guess, the brass came from a 30-06 Machine Gun. (with their typically oversized chambers)


Bill

EDIT* Clarification
In mentioning the MG, I was thinking along the lines of a person that would be shooting a Semi-Auto MG such as the one in this GunsAmerica ad: http://www.gunsamerica.com/988368744/Guns/Rifles/Browning-Rifles/Semi-Auto/Semi-Auto-Machine-Gun/BROWNING_M_1919_A4_SEMI_MACHINE_GUN_30_06.htm and not so much of a reloader.
Seems there are many out there, with deeper pockets than mine, that leave brass laying on the ground and I just invisioned one of those folks "playing military" with his MG and not reloading the spent rounds and maybe he/she or someone else picking them up and putting them in a box to sell to his good buddy that reloads.

[Arier Blut]

I have ran into this on 308 brass. What I ended up doing was using axle grease to resize. I cleaned with vinegar by putting in a milk jug and shaking. Tried to chamber empty cases and encountered same problem you have. The problem was the die doesn't size the base. So I milled the shell holder down and dropped the sizer down to it. Put back in rifle and it worked fine. Went ahead and loaded one. Shot and reloaded. It chambered perfect. So I went about the general routine of loading 5 with different amounts to find an accuracy load.
BTW to mill the shell holder I secured on drill press and chucked a stone.

[bilmac]

What kind of case lube are you using. Some brass can be harder to size than others because it was fired in a larger chamber. When that happens  I use the very best case lube, the greasy kids stuff. STP oil additive for the car works good.

 You are right to be cautious of this stuff, because if you stick it in your die, you have big problems. As common as 06 brass is I think I would can it rather than risk sticking it in your die.

[LaOtto222]

You can buy a small base die which will size it back down to factory new size and you can anneal the neck/shoulder. That should work unless the base itself has stretched. If the base has stretched, the primers will not go in correctly, they will almost fall out. If the primers went in/go in like they should then the head more than likely will be OK, if they are loose the brass is not going to work - scrap it. Anneal first, then run them into a small base resizing die. Use good sizing lube. If you ask 10 reloaders what to use, you will more than likely get at least 5 different answers. I still like to use RCBS Case Lube 2, but like I said you will get many different answers. What this tells me, is there are many suitable lubes to use. Every thing should be OK after that. You should be able to neck size only as long as your loads are not too hot. Annealing is easy to do, but can be tricky. I use a Hornady kit. It comes with different sized spinners and heat sensitive paste. You find the right sized spinner and get your brass ready by putting a daub of the paste on the shoulder. When the paste melts, it is heated enough and you drop it in water. Once I get set up, it does not take long to do a large batch. I have gotten to the point of not having to use the paste, I can tell by the color of the brass when it is heated up enough. The kit comes with instructions. I bought a cordless screw driver special for doing this, but you can use a cordless drill or even a corded drill, but you have to set it to run 180-200 rpm. Good Luck and Good Shooting

[AtlLaw]

+1 what LaOtto said.   

I'm curious as to what caused the brass to be so oversized in the first place though.     If it were fired in a MG one would think it would be GI Brass not commercial.  But the military hasn't used a 30 cal MG in a long time.  So it may have been a civilian MG shoot but that would mean someone is reloading a LOT of commercial brass to feed his hobby.

Maybe it was fired in a rifle with an oversized chamber, but I never had that much problem sizing brass fired in my M1's.  Now I did notice that sizing was much harder then normal when I was playing with that 1k rounds of 7.62 LC brass and I was pretty sure it had been fired in machine guns.   

But, like LaOtto said, after they were fired one time I never had anymore problems.

[Savage]

+2 LaOtto
Small base sizing die!

Savage

[skb2706]

I have a set of Lyman small base dies for a 30-06 that I bought by mistake. If you decide that is the problem pm me and we'll work out a deal. Personal I think the brass was just fired in a gun with a slightly bigger chamber than the one you are attempting to load for.

Are you full length sizing the brass all the way to the shell holder ?

[cwlongshot]

I agree with the advice so far.

  Another thing to consider. How is the cleanliness of said brass? dirty brass will be harder to size, ESP is that brass is over-sized as we have concluded that it is.

 Proper lube is very important too!!
  My pop bought a 1909 Mauser last week. Today he went down in my loading room to load up some ammo. But had to make some cases first. He came back up with a beautiful piece of brass with a long neck and a HUGE "hickey" on its shoulder. With a puzzled look asked whats going on here, I cannot form this brass? His problem was multi fold, too much of the wrong lube, not enough lube, dirty dies and improper use of equipment.
now I like Dillon spray lube, but find that Imperial sizing wax and good old RCBS/LYMAN pad lubes better suited for reforming brass. #1, Keep the lube off the shoulder. #2, lube the INSIDE of the necks. #3, frequently clean the inside of the die, looking for lube build up. After this he formed about 60pcs in short order. Only loosing a couple to too much lube.

 My point is, not all lubes are created equal. My #1 choice is imperial sizing wax, but good old RCBS/LYMAN pad lubes are great as well. Using one of these, on cleaned brass will greatly reduce the friction felt when resizing.

CW