22-250 difficult to chamber after full length sizing

[montana_native]

I bought a custom 22-250 about a year ago. It shoots excellent but full length sized brass chambers hard. Even some new brass chambers hard. I had headspace checked and it's on the tight side but within spec according to the smith who checked it.

I am using a cheap RCBS two die set that I've had forever and was wondering if it is not sizing it enough to fit in a tight chamber. It's worked fine for every other 22-250 I've used it for. Would it be advisable to try a different die set? Any other areas to consider?

Thank you.

 

[FryeGuy]

try backing the die out a little, as if you were going to neck size it, and see if that helps. I had a die once that seemed to bump the shoulder some, but it opened up diameter of shoulder as it set it back. they would be tight. I guess the die was a p.o.s. you may have to get a small base die to size them. The first Icon I bought in .308 was tight, even with new brass. I ended up running the die all the way to shell holder, then lowered the ram and screwed the die down even further, and cammed the heck out of new brass. from then on they were fine. so again, get a small base die. your guess could be correct in that it is the die itself, that is a little oversized.

 

[itchyTF]

Or, you might need to bump the shoulder back a little. An easy way is with Redding's Competition Shellholder set. http://www.redding-reloading.com/online-catalog/35-competition-shellholder-sets

 

[HillbillySniper]

X2 on bumping shoulder. I had the same problem with my 6x47L on only some of the rounds after bumping the shoulder took care of the problem instantly.

Hillbilly

 

[fullersson]

It sounds to me that the others guys are correct, you either need to bump the headspace back or get a small body die. They're a couple of ways of telling which you need to do. Chamber a fired case and then eject it. After you raised your bolt handle if you had trouble pulling the bolt back you need the small body die, because the base of you brass is swelling due to pressure. You can confirm this by measuring the base of the case. Now chamber a piece of brass and eject it. If it chambered tight but didn't have any problem ejecting then you probably need to bump the head space back a little. RCBS makes a good product and I would doubt that the problem is your dies, but it could be (no one's perfect). I would check or have someone check to make sure you have your dies set up correctly. I'm not knocking your gunsmith but if new brass chambers that tightly you may need additional chamber work.

 

[BoydAllen]

Do you have a gauge to measure shoulder bump? How are you adjusting your die?

 

[jraney]

not to hijack a thread but i have almost the same problem with once fired brass from a different gun, the bolt is hard to close alot of the time so what i do is i will size a peice then chamber it and if it is not to hard then i move to the next peice
if it does not want to let me close the bolt i pull it out and resize it agian, needless to say i can make a short job of reloading take all day. A fella i know told me never force the bolt closed so if it does not go fairly easy i redo that peice.
just thought i would mention that, oh my brass was once fired in an encore and now i am shooting it out of a savage10 predator. if i shoot this brass shouldn't that fix my problem, like fireforming?


j

 

[DanCarey]

A couple of old fashion tricks. First remove the decapping rod and re size the case and try it in the chamber, second use a feeler gauge (.005")or whatever will fit under the head of the case between the case and the shell holder. you should have the die hitting the shell holder tightly.

 

[montana_native]

I've made sure the shell holder is making contact with the base of the die. I may experiment some more of I may just pick up a new die. I've had great luck with Redding.

Thanks for all of the info so far.

 

[jonbearman]

Actually it may be the shell plate.I have had brass that did this and discovered the extractor cut in the brass was slightly different causing the case to sit up off the shell plate.Another problem is all shell plates are held to different tolerances.That being said ,try a different one or just lap the face that touches the die bottom.I dont mean to infer you lap alot off ,but just till you resize and they fit your gun.Also a note,if the brass is hard it will spring in the die and spring right back causing the shoulder not to bump enough.I would anneal as you last resort and see if that cures your problem.I anneal all my cases now just to get uniform bump and neck tension.

 

[Joe O]

If your not getting enough shoulder bump,screw the die in untill it takes a cam action.If you need more sizing,take your shell holder and work it down over a flat sharpening stone.Measure before and after.Only need .001 or .002.

 

[Larryh128]

Are you sizing the new brass that is tight or is it right out of the package? If it's out of that package, I would make sure that the chamber wasn't cut to use turned brass. New un-used brass should chamber. If it's being FL sized first, I'll 2nd taking out the expander ball & trying one. If you have too much drag on the case neck, it'll stretch it & the shoulder.

 

[montec]

Larryh128 is right. I used to have a RCBS full length die and the expander ball is probably pulling on the neck as you extract the case from the die. I use Redding type S full length dies and just bump the shoulder back .002. The Redding dies use various size bushings to control the amount of sizing of the neck and does not need the expander ball. I personally use a bushing that gives a .002 grip on a finished round.

 

[K22]

I had the same problem with a new Winchester Model 70 coyote light.

New Winchester Brass was difficult to chamber. I suspected the brass since some would chamber easily and others wouldn't. I changed to Remington Brass and the problem disappeared.

In my experience, it's not a good idea to used cases fired in a different 22-250 rifle especially if a custom rifle and even if full sizing. The case in tapered and tends to stretch a lot especially with hot loads and even full sizing doesn't always work well if you switch rifles.