Factory brass will not chamber after firing

[Coyotefurharvester]

I have a Savage 110 with varmint weight barrel. Most of the factory ammo I have shot through it; the cleaned, deprimed brass will not chamber until sized. I do not have a neck sizing die, only a non bushing fl rcbs sizing die. I measured 10 and sized 0.0015 under the longest case(Hornady headspace comparator) all fit. This is the first time I have had once fired brass Not chamber in the same rifle. Is this a neck expansion issue?

 

[Richard Coody]

Is it hornady brass? It is soft. Sounds like 1 firing fully fireformed the brass. You can use a marker or Prussian blue on your case to see what is contacting but my bet is the shoulder.

 

[243winxb]

When Brass that was just fired in your rifle will not go back into the chamber, check ...
1. Oval chamber.
2.Bolt face is not square to the chamber. May not apply to a floating bolt head?
3. Its also a sign of high pressure.

 

[jpx2rk]

Can you compare any unfired factory ammo to the fired cases for headspace measurements? You may not be (dare I say ) moving the shoulder back enough???

 

[Sundown]

Is this fired brass that has been resized with your dies only, not resized and loaded with powder and new bullet?
If so how did you get it out of the chamber? If you have resized the brass with your dies and reloaded with powder and new bullet, perhaps your not seat the bullet deep enough.

 

[K22]

Don't believe it's due to Hornady brass - I've reloaded my 12 times (full sized w/ a .002" shoulder bump) no issues chambering or extracting.

If it extracted without issue I don't understand why it wouldn't re-chamber unless the bolt and chamber are significantly out of round which can be identified if the fired case is bulged on one side.

If you measured the head space of a fired case then set the shoulder back .001 to .002" it should chamber w/o difficulty. If you are getting excessive expansion then the head space of the rifle could be too large. This can be readily identified by comparing before and after case measurements.

 

[Richard Coody]

He clearly said a piece of fired and unsized brass would not chamber but after sizing with a .0015 shoulder bump it chambered with no problem.

Now what does that tell you?

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

100 factory rounds Hornady(60) and Win white box(40) only shot in this Savage 110. So this was first attempt to reload brass shot in this rifle. Deprimed(universal depriming die), washed and dried not tumbled. Tried several of both brands, bolt would rotate less than 1/2 and stop firm this was prior to setting up my sizing die. 5 each(brand)through headspace comparator, full-length sized .001-.002 less than max of the 10 measured. All ten of these chambered with no excess bolt effort, I did not strip the bolt since I was not trying live rounds. Should I borrow a neck sizing die and see if the neck is the bind or not be concerned if I can size all and they shoot as well as the factory rounds? The reason I suspect neck issues, I sized under the max length of the 10 and all fit, some I saw no comparator length change after sizing. I was not camming over on the press.

 

[243winxb]

The spring behind the bolt head is fully compressed on firing. A full pressure factory round may fully expand to the chamber, head to datum.
If the bolt head spring is not easly compressed by hand, could it be a problem, when chambering fired brass? A wild guess.

Check for a out of round chamber. Put an index mark on the case head. Fire and see if the fired case will go back in.
Then turn case 45, 90, 180 degrees. Does it still chamber?

Spring-

 

[Bill K]

I have a Savage 110 with varmint weight barrel. Most of the factory ammo I have shot through it; the cleaned, deprimed brass will not chamber until sized. I do not have a neck sizing die, only a non bushing fl rcbs sizing die. I measured 10 and sized 0.0015 under the longest case(Hornady headspace comparator) all fit. This is the first time I have had once fired brass Not chamber in the same rifle. Is this a neck expansion issue?

So you are cleaning the brass and depriming it, after you shot it in your rifle, right ? What die and how are you depriming? That could be what is causing your issue, changing the shoulder/neck enough in depiming so it will not close in the chamber, until you full length size it with your sizing die.

 

[Someoldguy]

So you are cleaning the brass and depriming it, after you shot it in your rifle, right ? What die and how are you depriming? That could be what is causing your issue, changing the shoulder/neck enough in depiming so it will not close in the chamber, until you full length size it with your sizing die.

I would also be interested in hearing if fired cases with nothing done to them will chamber in any orientation, or if they must be indexed to the same position as they were fired in.

 

[snert]

So as i understand this Coyote, you fired the cases, cleaned and universal deprimed them, and then they would not chamber. you FL sized them, but not with the die set to REALLY FL size, moving the shoulder a mite and they all chambered?

If i am correct in what you are saying, the fired cases after cleaning and universal depriming are not fitting.

I have never heard of such a thing. universal depriming effects nothing, and cleaning shouldn't do anything but make the brass really "dry".

I have no diagnosis....waiting h=to hear from other guys. Am I correct in my reading?

 

[mikeeg02]

What case is it ?

I'm a little surprised to read this with factory ammo, but it's not unheard of.

My 6 br-improved cases will never re-chamber without bumping the shoulder back. Doesn't matter what powder I put in it, and even with the load backed off in the 2920 range.

My 260ai cases will always re-chamber after firing without issue. But the 260 is using slower/low pressure powders. Even when shooting 140 grain bullets at 3000 fps(which is not where I left it) it's still not making much pressure with the powders I'm using.

I would expect the case you're using has a faster burning powder and makes pressure quickly which makes the brass form to the chamber.

I can assure you, if you watched me run my 6br-improved at Williamsport, you'd see how fast and effortlessly the bolt runs. There's not even the slightest bolt lift, but they will not re-chamber.

 

[timeout]

I won't venture a guess. I would like to see more numbers like loaded and fired neck diameter, unfired, fired, and resized brass diameter at the .200 area. If those numbers alone don't provide enough clues, then do a chamber cast. Chamber casts may be a bit inconvenient to perform but they aren't impossible. Sometimes these problems can drive you crazy much in the same way that your PC and smart phone do when they quit functioning. OTOH, one can view them as a learning experience opportunity. Good luck on the search for the answer!!

 

[corning]

...the cleaned, deprimed brass will not chamber until sized...

Personally, I would not expect unsized brass to chamber.

 

[divingin]

If you fire a round, lift the bolt, extract the spent case maybe a half inch or so and close the bolt without fully extracting the case, does it chamber?

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

I have never encountered this before. I have a RCBS universal recapping die -all 100 of the factory loaded (fired through this gun only last summer July pd shoot)brass decapped,washed, dryed. Would not chamber in same rifle without sizing. I think it some thing with the neck, but bolt stops at 1/2 rotation to closed. The brass neck should be in the chamber neck at that point? The sizing did not bump back to the shortest comparator lengths of brass that did Not chamber, so it seems that on some only the necks were sized. I sized Without the expander, they all chambered so I mandrel and load, all chambered after loading. I will smoke mark some brass and see if I get a swipe anywhere. I normally check brass using a Wilson case gauge(all the brass fit the gauge properly), but this was a new rifle so I checked fit before sizing. I had found a great price on some factory ammo so I used the gun and ammo as a backup to my 204r,223,17r so no chance of a mixing.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

Divingin I have another full box of the Win white box factory ammo, when I hit the range to try the 10 reloads I will try the partial extraction/rechamber on the factory and handloads. My membership range is closed by flooding currently and I have a rifle soon to be finished at the smith so shooting hopefully can restart soon.

 

[Tictac]

I have a similar problem from time to time, a once fired 6BR Lapua case will not re-chamber in the same rifle without FL sizing and bumping. The chamber is round, headspace correct, length correct etc. I wonder if these cases that will not re-chamber were slightly longer base to shoulder to start with initially before being fired and they are that bit longer as a result after firing than the rest in the batch meaning they are to long base to shoulder, basically fully formed straight off like others have suggested. Hopefully it's not a pressure issue.

 

[GrocMax]

The spring behind the bolt head is fully compressed on firing.
Spring- View attachment 1103561

Bolt lugs in the receiver keep the bolt head from moving backwards when fired. Nothing to do with the bolt baffle or bolt baffle spring.

I don't see any other purpose to the baffle spring other than keeping the baffle (which is free to rotate on the bolt head shank) aligned with the bolt head upon bolt removal from the receiver.