AlinWa- I guess I’m lost on not sizing the base when you run a reamer in short. I get it when you run it deep, the case never goes into the die. If I were to run one in short, I would also grind the base off of my sizing die to match.
Ggmac-I doubt I’ll sell the barrel, but if for some reason I decided to, if I ran a reamer short, I’d just finish the chamber before I sold it, and if I ran it deep, I could just cut the barrel back and re-thread. Or just run a different reamer in all together.
OK..... I need to define "base."
And "not sizing the base."
Most folks start using "small-base dies" or trying tighter dies when the gun starts to click or bind......... that binding, "the click," is the result of expansion of the CASEHEAD and it's appurtinant thicker brass expanding below the junction of the thin casewall brass and the thicker brass tapering to the virtual brass disc of the true casehead. ie, the area often referred to as "the web". Basically, the thin casewall brass is easily sized down for clearance and it also shows a nice propensity for "springing back" or letting go it's grip after firing, whereas the thicker brass in the tapered portion and the disc of the casehead DOES NOT spring back like the case walls. Nor is it easily sized back.
But sometimes one can "size the base more" by using a different die. Not a lot more but sometimes enough to correct the problem. I say "sometimes."
Depending on the design of your action (recessed ALA Rem700, flat like Savage, or tapered like a coned bolt Panda, or other) and depending on machined clearances, the actual "end of the chamber" will be somewhere in that thicker brass. And running the reamer in short generally means you're going to make your cases by hacking some brass off the front of the case, shoving the shoulder back on your cases and modifying your sizing method to accommodate (as you mentioned above, "grinding off the base of the die")
So, again, the "click" or sticking cases occurs when that thicker portion of the case which is inside the rifle chamber and begins to stick or bind. Most often the sticking, binding, "click" begins to occur after a few firings and it's BECAUSE the heavy casehead portion gets hammered (peened? expanded?) to larger diameter and starts to bind in the end of the chamber. If it's only the very topmost portion of the "web" that's binding, often a "small base die" will fix it. But it will not fix it if the design of your rifle sets the case deep enough into the chamber that you get into that brass you CAN'T size.....
Now since this thick casehead brass _can't_ be resized (certainly not easily) the only logical answers are to use
smaller diameter cases (harder, new, different brand) or
make the chamber bigger, increase chamber diameter.
The problem which occurs when you run a reamer in short is that the resultant chamber is SKINNIER at the back, it starts out smaller than a stock or "SAAMI spec" chamber because it's reamed smaller...... because the reamer is tapered.
Running a reamer in short, grinding off the die to match is just making a situation which is nearly guaranteed to start clicking very early in the life cycle of the brass.
Yes, it "works" it just doesn't work well IME
BTDT