243 win. Fire forming and sizing

[Gibbons85]

I am trying to bump the shoulder on once fired 243 Lapua brass. After many attempts I found with the die adjusted out as far as possible, once fired brass still chambers smoothly. Is this because the brass has not yet formed completely to the rifle, is this common, and lastly could this cause any issues.

 

[Gibbons85]

P.S. the rifle is a savage axis model 243 Thanks in advance for any helpful insight

 

[SSL]

My .243 brass (Nosler) usually takes 3 or so firings before chambering is stiff. Then I slowly readjust the sizing die until the brass chambers easily and lock the die down in that position.

 

[Gibbons85]

Thanks I am fairly new, and this cartridge has definitely has been a little different. What also threw me was how much the case swells, and still chambers. My Lee case trimmer required two holders one for new brass, and one for fired brass because of this. What can I expect for case life without any annealing being done?

 

[SSL]

Thanks I am fairly new, and this cartridge has definitely has been a little different. What also threw me was how much the case swells, and still chambers. My Lee case trimmer required two holders one for new brass, and one for fired brass because of this. What can I expect for case life without any annealing being done?

Sorry, I anneal after each three loadings and have some on their 8th cycle. In the distant past (2000 or so), however, I seem to remember maybe 5-6 loadings before some would start splitting necks. A lot will depend on your particular chamber too. If the neck is allowed to expand excessively, the resizing will stress the brass more. And always keep an eye out for case-head failures. I used to run a bent paperclip inside the case and feel for any faults. Now, I check them with a Teslong from time to time.
I am really puzzled as to why you should need two different shell holders. I've never encountered that.

 

[BoydAllen]

Once fired brass is almost never tight at the shoulder. If you are FL sizing, set your die so that the shoulder to head dimension is the same as that of the fired brass. It should chamber just fine, and there will be no issues.

If you want to play with a tight case, to find out what the measurement of a slightly tight case is, just deprime one of your once fired cases and put a single thickness of Scotch tape(.002 thickness) on its head, trimming it so that the only remaining tape is on the flat of the head, nothing over the primer pocket or sticking past the bevel around the edge of the head.

Try it in your rifle, but do not force anything. You will likely not be able to close the bolt. Measure the taped case, write that down, and back off your die a sixteenth of a turn, and start adjusting, sizing. measuring, and trying in the rifle, wiping off the lube for each trial in the rifle, and reapplying it for each sizing. This should let you find out just where the point of slight feel is, and from there you can bump another thousandth for target work, or two for hunting applications.

You need to remember a couple of things about adjusting your die. One full turn will advance the die .071, so when you are trying to work in thousandths you want to turn it so little that you are not sure that you did. If you read about anyone suggesting making adjustments of a quarter or eighth of a turn you should understand going forward that they have scant to no experience with accurate measuring tools, and minimal math skills. Let us know of your results. There are some other details, but this should get you off to a good start.

 

[Gibbons85]

Sorry, I anneal after each three loadings and have some on their 8th cycle. In the distant past (2000 or so), however, I seem to remember maybe 5-6 loadings before some would start splitting necks. A lot will depend on your particular chamber too. If the neck is allowed to expand excessively, the resizing will stress the brass more. And always keep an eye out for case-head failures. I used to run a bent paperclip inside the case and feel for any faults. Now, I check them with a Teslong from time to time.
I am really puzzled as to why you should need two different shell holders. I've never encountered that.

Sorry I typed Lee trimmer, what I meant was Wilson case trimmer. I was puzzled also, but low and behold after bumping the shoulder I found with the "new case" holder the neck wouldn't protrude past the holder to allow for trimming. Apparently the fired brass holder is designed for neck sized brass only, and must have a slightly larger diameter.

 

[Gibbons85]

Once fired brass is almost never tight at the shoulder. If you are FL sizing, set your die so that the shoulder to head dimension is the same as that of the fired brass. It should chamber just fine, and there will be no issues.

If you want to play with a tight case, to find out what the measurement of a slightly tight case is, just deprime one of your once fired cases and put a single thickness of Scotch tape(.002 thickness) on its head, trimming it so that the only remaining tape is on the flat of the head, nothing over the primer pocket or sticking past the bevel around the edge of the head.

Try it in your rifle, but do not force anything. You will likely not be able to close the bolt. Measure the taped case, write that down, and back off your die a sixteenth of a turn, and start adjusting, sizing. measuring, and trying in the rifle, wiping off the lube for each trial in the rifle, and reapplying it for each sizing. This should let you find out just where the point of slight feel is, and from there you can bump another thousandth for target work, or two for hunting applications.

You need to remember a couple of things about adjusting your die. One full turn will advance the die .071, so when you are trying to work in thousandths you want to turn it so little that you are not sure that you did. If you read about anyone suggesting making adjustments of a quarter or eighth of a turn you should understand going forward that they have scant to no experience with accurate measuring tools, and minimal math skills. Let us know of your results. There are some other details, but this should get you off to a good start.

Thanks I will definitely give the tape method a shot. My method has been using feeler gauges in between the case holder and die when setting them up. I start with roughly .03 thickness and remove .002 worth of gauges untill the case chambers smoothly. Works well and takes the guess work out of the equation