cases too tight

[Benjerman08]

A while back i had my 22-250 rem 700 rebarreled as the factory barrel was finally shot out. I had my usual gunsmith who has always done great work to do it. New Kreiger was going to be nice. Upon receiving it back, I found that no shell would allow the bolt to close. Factory nor reload. I sent it back and he said he fixed the problem. The chamber will allow most new brass to fit in, but even some of them have a definate resistance on closure. The once fired brass definately will not fit as I can't even start to close the bolt on it. I use redding comp s type dies and have tried to bump/body size to the point that I can't hardly get the press handle back up. Definately a problem. The smith said he used his go/no go gauges. Any ideas? I'm a little scared of it at this point. I'm definately not new to shooting or reloading, but this one has me concerned about possible danger.

 

[K22]

I'd take the rifle back to the gunsmith with some fired cases and some resized cases.

First have him check the head space with the go / no go gages in front of you just to make sure that the headspace of the rifle is correct and to rule that issue out postively. If the head spacing in the rifle is correct then the problem may be due to your sizing method.

Second, have him check the fired case for headspace and the resized case for correct sizing. This can be accomplished with a Wilson Case Gage. If he doesn't have one you can purchase one at Midway or Sinclair. This gage will tell you if your oversizing or undersizing your cases. Over sizing will cause the case to stretch too much causing excessive headspace; under sizing will cause difficulty in chambering.

The 22 250 has a tapered case and tends to stretch especially with hot loads leading to difficult chambering if not resized properly.

I assume that over cartridge length was check and within spec and the rifle's chamber was cut to within specs. You may want the smith to check the latter also. Also, take the firing pin assembly out of the bolt which will give you a much more sensitive feel on chambering and is much safer if you're using loaded rounds to check chambering in the house.

 

[Irv Benzion]

I had the same exact problem. Undoubltedly the cause is an undersized reamer. The solution for me was to purchase a RCBS .22-250 small base die. This was some time ago and this year had the two rifles re-barreled with a new short necked reamer I purchased. No problems with the new barrels and went back to standard dies.

Irv Benzion

 

[Benjerman08]

Irv,
What is the difference between the rcbs small base die and the redding body/bump die? Thanks.

 

[Mickey D]

Have your smith take a short piece of 22 barrel and run the same reamer to make a copy of your chamber. Now you can test your rounds with out having to run them thru your rifle. A resized case should be easy to insert into your new gague. And this is the easyest way to find the lands when working up a load. Just run your seater die out then try seating depth untill the cartridge is flush and spins easy in the gague. You are now just off the lands. Of course this will not work on cases with a ton of free bore like the Wby, but most others will.

 

[Benjerman08]

I think I got it narrowed down to shoulder and bump problems. The new brass needs bumped .001 before it will chamber freely. The old brass needs bumped about .006-.008 and that is just too much to do.

 

[Benjerman08]

How normal is it to need to size new brass for a new chamber?

 

[Irv Benzion]

I may be incorrect but as I understand it the bump dies move the shoulder back. Small base dies reduce the diameter of the brass at the base or web.

Irv Benzion

 

[Irv Benzion]

I found the problem in my case was not that the case was too long but it was too big around. You can check cartridge case head space with a Wilson gage. I use a Dillion and to insure proper cartridge case headspace I purchased a Wilson gage for every caliber I load.

Irv

 

[Scott Harris]

Try to get your hands on a Go and No-Go gauge and test for yourself. Either it's in spec or its not. I have my own personal GO and NO-GAUGE for each chamber I have. When sending a barrel in, I send my reamer and tell him to make sure my gauges work properly. Then, there can be no debate about whether the chamber was done correctly. You'd be surprised how many times I've had it done incorrectly and which smiths did it.