Just of late I am having trouble inserting some of my fired 308 brass into the lee shell holder on my press. I can force the shell in then I have to force the shell out again. I am using very tame loads I would think, I have run the verniers over the offending brass and found maybe a 1 thou difference in the shell base thickness. Any one else having the same trouble?? The other brass, all PPU, fall into and out of the holder but I am noticing a couple every now and again.
308 Brass not fitting into shell holder
- Thread starter Russ Jex
- Start date
Just a guess but you could have a burr on the rim or your tame loads aren’t as tame as you think or there’s something else that’s causing higher pressures that are expanding the case head
How tight/loose are the primer pockets on the cases that won’t fit?
How tight/loose are the primer pockets on the cases that won’t fit?
That was for Bart B mate not for 243winxb
I am using the same brass I purchased a while ago, all shot only in my rifle. Why buy an RCBS holder? none of the other brands any good?
Mate I would not dream of picking up fired brass from the range, you would not find any any way except for .22 maybe. We aren't allowed machine guns or semi auto firearms down this neck of the woods except for when I was in the military
. The load I run is tame 42gn 2208 not likely to cause bulging.
I simply asked if anyone else had the same happen to them just to see if I was the only one, no worries, thanks anyway, have a nice evening.
I am using the same brass I purchased a while ago, all shot only in my rifle. Why buy an RCBS holder? none of the other brands any good?
Mate I would not dream of picking up fired brass from the range, you would not find any any way except for .22 maybe. We aren't allowed machine guns or semi auto firearms down this neck of the woods except for when I was in the military
. The load I run is tame 42gn 2208 not likely to cause bulging.I simply asked if anyone else had the same happen to them just to see if I was the only one, no worries, thanks anyway, have a nice evening.
Hi Nature Boy, yep I think you are on the money with a burr, as I said the loads are very tame. Ran the verniers over the brass base and all good there only the actual shell base seems to vary a little bit, might try running a fine machine file around and see if that helps, either that or buy some new brass I guess.
Roeder
Silver $$ Contributor
Lapua brass tends to run large. Norma tends to be soft in some examples. I'm not familiar with PPU. Your problem is not unusual and may be solved with a different brand of shell holder or even a little work on your shell holder with a Dremel tool. The interference is likely in the groove. The holder tapers to a fairly thin edge and may just need a little relief.
I have him on "ignore" .
RCBS shell holders fit like a hand me down shirt; they only fit where they touch. For a different reason: Herter shell holders 'FIT!'
A builder of bench rest type rifles called seeking help. He was building rifles with a wildcat type chamber meaning there were not enough cases available so he had to start forming. He was told trough the Internet all he had to form cases for his wildcat was run them through a full length sizer die. If that worked he would not have called me and if he had not called for help he would have run out of cases before he learned how to form cases.
The first thing he needed was the 'other; #4 shell holder. That means nothing to anyone else but to me I knew he was using some cases that had been hammered with heavy loads; so I added a gasket cutting 'small' ball peen hammer and between us we have 5 lathes for fitting extractor grooves to shell holders.
After the hammer I had to determine if forming the cases was possible so I dug out my forming dies and my no name lube. I was surprised with the sequence necessary to form the cases. I do not know how many cases he destroyed before he called but he was left with 440 cases in sets of 20, the cases were 300 Weatherby, 300 Win Mag, all types of H&H. We had no problem forming 400 of the cases but 40 cases were too large in diameter in front of the belt, cases head diameter and extractor groove. I suggested we use a collet to reduce the diameter if the case ahead of the belt and a lathe to reduce the diameter of the extractor groove but I cautioned him if the case head was crushed and increased in diameter the case had to be stretched between the case head and case body; so he choose not to use the cases that that had been fired with heavy loads.
Again, I have trouble making Imperial look good when forming cases.
F. Guffey
Are you reloaders back to making this stuff up? I do not have a rifle that has case head support, all of my rifle have case head protrusion. All of my shell holders have a deck height of .125" and then there is the radius but when you are making this stuff up you can tell them anything.
F. Guffey
I suggest you purchase a feeler gage, machinist or automotive to use when measuring clearance between the case head and deck of the shell holder. I change the length of the case from the shoulder of the case to the case head for short and long chambers. How short? .010", how long? To infinity or a more practical .016".
And once you have the feeler gage I would suggest you compare; when it comes to loose my Lee shell holders win. When it comes to Herter shell holders? They fit; that is good for a different reason.
F. Guffey
And I continues to recommend the reloader reverse the case and stick the case head into the die first. I am not an assumer, I do not assume the die is perfect. I have RCBS dies that are smaller in diameter than a small base die and they keep ever case that is stuffed into them.
That is brilliant but if the case fit the shell holder in the big inning something had to happen between loading the case and the bullet leaving the barrel.
F. Guffey
No, I'm not.You're kidding me right
Some dimension on the case head is larger than that of the shell holder.
Blacken the entire case head with a marker, slide it into the shell holder. Case oversize places will have the black ink rubbed off.
dmoran
Donovan Moran
Last edited:
Yes, I have: I was testing 4 receiver I purchased that were sold with a warning/caution. They claimed the receivers were suspect so I built a wildcat barrel and used one barrel and one bolt to test all 4 receivers. It was suggested I was into some risky stuff. The cases I fired came out perfect; I called Hodgdon to find out what was meant by 'risky stuff'.
F. Guffey
You are kidding? MY shell holders have a deck height of .125", when I raise the ram the die contacts the top of the shell holder if I am returning a case to minimum length, if I choose to size a case to fit a go-gage length chamber I have to know the difference between minimum length and go gage length and then there is no go-gage length and field reject length. I can only guess that is the reason it is difficult being me. I am the only one that can do all 4 lengths with a field reject length gage.
Other reloader have too many excuses for not being able to 'do it'.
F. Guffey
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