308 Brass Won't Chamber

[kynardsj]

I opted for Remington brass in my Model 700 in 308. Not because I think it's any better but it's what I had the most of. This rifle will shoot one hole groups at 100 yards with my reloads but I've run into a situation. 28 of my reloads that have been full length resized and trimmed to length with a RCBS trim die absolutely won't chamber in my rifle. They chamber fine in my 308 Encore but I can't close the bolt on the 700. Could the chamber in the rifle be a tad short or what ? Never have run into this situation. 

[stimpylu32]

ky

Take a black " Sharpe " marker and color up the case at the shoulder , also do the bullet and web area of the round , load it into your chamber Carefully and then remove it , check and see were the marker is rubbed off .

That will give you / us a better idea as to were the problem is .

stimpy

[kynardsj]

Just tried your idea. It was scrubbing the shoulder. I cam back and looked at my resizing die and saw that it could screw down approx another 1/2 turn. I reset it and am now going to pull a bullet and resize again to see what happens.

[stimpylu32]

Before you get too carried away , take on of the rounds and your FL die , remove the de-capping stem and try rinning it up into the die -- just remember to lube the case , don't want to stick a live round in the die .

That should allow you to bump the shoulder back and not have to pull the rounds apart .

stimpy

[kynardsj]

Tried your ideas and although the rounds will chamber now they're still very tight. I own too many brass to put up with a handfull that don't want to act right with a certain gun. I'll move these over to the Encore pile and shoot them in a gun that chambers them well. Thanks for all the advice.

[McDerry]

Before you get too carried away , take on of the rounds and your FL die , remove the de-capping stem and try rinning it up into the die -- just remember to lube the case , don't want to stick a live round in the die .

That should allow you to bump the shoulder back and not have to pull the rounds apart .

stimpy

Pull the bullets.  The neck is sized under then re expanded by the decapping stem on extractions.  Brass thickness varies and if sized with the bullet in it will crush the base of the bullet and potential off center.  

[max1138]

will a factory round chamber in the remington?
pretty safe bet your dies arent adjusted down to the shellholder.
I do the same thing for my rifles, back the dies out a bit till the sized round fits the chamber perfectly to adjust out any factory headspace issues, of which there tend to be plenty in a  break action single shot with bottleneck cartridges that headspace on the shoulder be it encores/handi's/whatever. (I have one of each and understand the frustration of people who dont reload  when you get a snap with factory ammo)

the case trim length isn't whats important here, at least I dont think.
 its the distance from the boltface to the mystic "point on the shoulder" thats got you bound up.
 unless a factory round wont fit in which case the chamber too tight. but thats so rare these days that I would almost but not completely rule it out.  they tend to be cut to maximum length to make sure any cartridge loaded to spec will function
 a check with a factory loaded round(which tend to be loaded to minimum length chamber spec to insure functioning in any chamber ) or a go/no-go gauge will tell the tale
edit, never mind, while I was thinking someone else was typing, glad you got it sorted

[stimpylu32]

Before you get too carried away , take on of the rounds and your FL die , remove the de-capping stem and try rinning it up into the die -- just remember to lube the case , don't want to stick a live round in the die .

That should allow you to bump the shoulder back and not have to pull the rounds apart .

stimpy

Pull the bullets.  The neck is sized under then re expanded by the decapping stem on extractions.  Brass thickness varies and if sized with the bullet in it will crush the base of the bullet and potential off center.  

That was not ment as a fix to the problem , more just to make sure what the problem was . 

stimpy

[kynardsj]

Thanks guys. I can't remember the last time I shot a factory round in one of my rifles. Out of the 120 or so that I've recently loaded for the 700, 28 of them want to act foolish. They act just fine with the Encore so I'll shoot them in it. I did find out that I needed to adjust my full length sizer down a touch. All my brass will be useful, just kinda picky as to which gun. If that turns out to be my biggest worry I'm in good shape. Thanks again.

[wncchester]

IF you could get your cases into the FL die another half turn that would set the shoulder back about 32 thou.  Since the total min-max headspace tolerance is about 6 thou you would be far passed proper limits!   Try turning it down another 16th turn and see if that doesn't fix things quite well.

[kynardsj]

After adjusting it's touching the shell holder now when the handle is about an inch away from full stroke. I'm getting all I can get from it. All the rest of my reloads have been fine. It's just those 28 little goobers that won't act right. I'll show em, I'll shoot em in the Encore or better yet my buddy's FNFAL. It'll shoot anything.

[Lloyd Smale]

some rifles just have tight chambers and remingtons are known for it. Ive got a 6mm classic and a 7mag bdl that i about have to use small base dies to get reloads to chamber. the problem is especially prevelent if i use brass that was fired in another gun. My 300 win mag rem is almost as bad but with alot of cam over they will chamber.

[stimpylu32]

Theres just something different about those peices of brass , maybe it was while they were being made , or maybe its from sizing , who knows ,

Once their fired and FL sized again , it may go away or they may need tossed in the scrap bucket , only time will tell . 

stimpy

[Tom W.]

I had the same problem w/my Savage. I neck sized a bunch and Took them to the range. All went well. I neck sized the same bunch that I had fired and loaded them back up, but half of them wouldn't chamber. I had to F/L size them and all was well. Who knows what gremlins were at play. I didn't bring home any range brass that day...

[McDerry]

Just had a though.  Are you crimping the bullets and if so by what means??