Question about new .243 brass and tight bolt closing

[Lefty Trigger]

Did you check for high primers?

Yes, both before and after shooting. I'm betting it's just the new brass being a little large, will find out when the new measuring tools arrive.....

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Always FL size every new piece of brass to fit your chamber

 

[Texas10]

The 87 V-Max shot really well in my 243 Savage 11. Son took a nice mature Buck at 220 yds with a shot to the heart. Two steps and down. Had some of the sausage just this morning for B-fast. That bullet's got some legs!

 

[243winxb]

the tools to measure

Make a homemade comparator. Check your fired brass or your loaded ammo. Compare. The 40 SW case has to be square on both ends. The end touching the shoulder is beveled with a chamfering tool. The stick is to keep the caliber up off the primer & to keep the brass in alignment. Dont measure on the primer. When you get repeatable measurement within .001" you will know you make it correctly. Put an index mark on the modified brass, place it in the same position for each measurement. Took about 1 hr to make & didnt have to wait for one to be shipped. Still using it today.

 

[Texas10]

Since we're talking about inexpensive tooling to measure, I'll pass along this tip for measuring your distance to lands very accurately.
Take one of your slightly snug fitting cases, neck or FL size it without bumping the shoulder back, and drill and tap the flash hole 6-32. Screw on a section of 3 piece cleaning rod and slide it up in the chamber to make sure it fits well with no drag as you withdraw it.

Then seat a bullet long. Slide it back into the chamber and give it firm push, then withdraw. If it sticks, go back to your seating die and seat it a bit deeper. Keep doing this until you get no stick or just the slightest stickiness upon withdrawal. That is your distance to lands. Keep and label it as a calibration round.
As your barrels throat erodes, you will use this to document the new distance to lands from time to time. You do need to make sure your barrel and especially the throat area is carbon free for this measurement.

In case Santa brings you a Hornaday OAL tool set, you can FL size the Hornaday modified case and use it the same way. Very accurate way to use it.

 

[expiper]

is it a savage rifle,,,the bbl may be headspaced wrong,,???....roger

 

[spife7980]

Since we're talking about inexpensive tooling to measure, I'll pass along this tip for measuring your distance to lands very accurately.
Take one of your slightly snug fitting cases, neck or FL size it without bumping the shoulder back, and drill and tap the flash hole 6-32. Screw on a section of 3 piece cleaning rod and slide it up in the chamber to make sure it fits well with no drag as you withdraw it.

Then seat a bullet long. Slide it back into the chamber and give it firm push, then withdraw. If it sticks, go back to your seating die and seat it a bit deeper. Keep doing this until you get no stick or just the slightest stickiness upon withdrawal. That is your distance to lands. Keep and label it as a calibration round.
As your barrels throat erodes, you will use this to document the new distance to lands from time to time. You do need to make sure your barrel and especially the throat area is carbon free for this measurement.

In case Santa brings you a Hornaday OAL tool set, you can FL size the Hornaday modified case and use it the same way. Very accurate way to use it.

Ill do you one better

 

[Texas10]

I suspect that works great on a BAT action or other custom made. Not at all on Savage action/barrel. There's a big difference between factory and custom made in that regard. YMMV.

 

[spife7980]

I suspect that works great on a BAT action or other custom made. Not at all on Savage action/barrel. There's a big difference between factory and custom made in that regard. YMMV.

Works great on a factory 700, custom not required. However I dont know about the savage set up and its weird wobbly lugs so that is a good caveat. Doesnt look like its possible to install one without the firing pin from my brief search? Could you just insert it and twist by hand without the handle screwed onto the firing pin?

 

[Lefty Trigger]

I received my Hornady headspace comparator kit today and went crazy with measuring all my brass. Here's what I found out... some of the new brass that would not let the bolt close measured at 1.625 and above. I went through the new stuff until I found a 1.625, 1.624 and some fired brass at 1.623 and 1.622 and here's what worked. The 1.625 will not let the bolt close and 1.624 will but it's slightly snug. The fired brass at 1.623 and 1.622 will close easily. I backed off my Lee FL die from what Lee said to set it at and kept screwing it down a tiny bit at a time till it now resizes all my long brass at 1.622. I lubed all my over length brass and run it through the die set up this way and every piece comes out exactly at 1.622 and it all chambers easily in my gun. Did I do this right??
BTW I measured all my new unfired Winchester brass and it is all over the board in length, anywhere from 1.618 to 1.627! I have a hundred pieces of new in the bag Remington brass so I decided to check it. I measured about 20 pieces from one bag and every one was 1.623. That is really close to what I need.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

fl size every single piece of new brass to fit your chamber no matter the mfr

 

[Richard Coody]

I received my Hornady headspace comparator kit today and went crazy with measuring all my brass. Here's what I found out... some of the new brass that would not let the bolt close measured at 1.625 and above. I went through the new stuff until I found a 1.625, 1.624 and some fired brass at 1.623 and 1.622 and here's what worked. The 1.625 will not let the bolt close and 1.624 will but it's slightly snug. The fired brass at 1.623 and 1.622 will close easily. I backed off my Lee FL die from what Lee said to set it at and kept screwing it down a tiny bit at a time till it now resizes all my long brass at 1.622. I lubed all my over length brass and run it through the die set up this way and every piece comes out exactly at 1.622 and it all chambers easily in my gun. Did I do this right??
BTW I measured all my new unfired Winchester brass and it is all over the board in length, anywhere from 1.618 to 1.627! I have a hundred pieces of new in the bag Remington brass so I decided to check it. I measured about 20 pieces from one bag and every one was 1.623. That is really close to what I need.

keep measuring your fired brass. it usually takes about 3 firings to be fully fireformed. that shoulder dimension may change. you don't want to be bumping that shoulder back more than .002. personally i use .001.

another thing to watch for is after several firings your brass will work harden. at that point the shoulder bump won't hold. several solutions for this. anneal, double size and hold the press down for several seconds, die shims or readjust your sizing die chasing the bump.

 

[Jerry Head]

I purchased 100 pieces of new Winchester brass for my .243 and after loading some up and going to the range I had 3 rounds that I could not close the bolt on and several that the bolt was tight to close. Should I resize new brass, would that have prevented this? All I did to prep it was deburr the primer flash hole and the case mouth.