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Sometimes there's a little resistance when closing the bolt on my re-loads??

Hey all...sometimes i encounter a little resistance when closing my bolt on some of my re-loads...like between 5-10 out of 50...I smoked the shoulder originally when i started and have the die set so i'm just making contact all the way around the shoulder when i size....If i wasn't knocking the shoulder back enough wouldn't it be a little tough to close the bolt consistintley on all the shells?
 
Boattail: A lot depends on the number of times each case, in the group you're working with ( a box of 20, 40, etc.) have been loaded. As they age, they will work harden, and could give slight differences in headspace lengths after sizing, by several thousandths, and that's enough to give you a different "feel" as you close the bolt on a loaded round. Have all the cases in your example of 50 been loaded the same number of times? I always keep my brass together in 20 or 50 count boxes, starting when they were new. Each box ident label that shows powder,charge,bullet,primer, etc. also shows number of times that box of brass has been reloaded. If you do not already have one, get the Hornady chamber o.a.l. gauge and measure your as-fired headspace length, record that dimension, and adjust your sizing die so your as sized case has the same headspace length. This will give you just a little resistance when closing the bolt, (the way I have all mine set-up), indicating that you are locking that round up tight in the chamber, front to rear. Be sure to keep your bolt locking lugs clean and lightly lubed, since if you run them dry, they will gall faster. After 4 or 5 loadings you may notice an increase in bolt closing resistance, and that's when you "bump" the shoulders back, maybe .002", or whatever is required to return to the old "feel". ;)
 
What Frank says, plus, the brass might need to be body sized? What type of dies are you using"? Full length? Neck only dies?
I neck size but after maybe 5 to 10 firings, the brass needs to be run through a body die to bring it back to a smaller size that a "neck" only sizer won't do.
You need to get an "accurate" measurement of your "fired" brass and compare it to your sized brass. You won't know exactily what you've got till you get accurate numbers. ;)
 
You have received some excellent advice. I would add, get one of the caliper attachments that is designed to measure shoulder bump. Hornady sells one that was developed by Stoney Point, and Sinclair makes a high quality copy. Because of differences in work hardening or non-uniform annealing, the same die setting can produce different amounts of bump. If it is not caused by differences in how many times the cases have been fired, the likely culprit is differences in the original annealing. If you gauge your sized cases and sort them, you can resize the ones that would have been tight, with the die turned in a small fraction of a turn more. Remember, a full turn on the die lowers it .071" so changing its setting a couple of thousandths requires only a thirty fifth of a turn, so little it is easy to overshoot the mark. I should also mention that annealing your cases will make them bump much more uniformly, but I hesitate to recommend this, because of the care needed to do it correctly, plus there are plenty of old and incorrect annealing instructions around.
 
Ok...I'm partial full-length sizing...using rcbs standard full length dies...all brass is the same from the same lot of 50 new kept in plastic box made for 50 as all other brass i hand load...cases are on the 2nd firing so 3rd sizing.
 
You can still resize with the "full length" dies but rather than run your die down so you get "cam over" on the press,back it off about 1/16th. of a turn. You still need to be able to measure how much you bump the shoulder back. If you're getting a stiff bolt, you're probably not pushing the shoulder back enough. Again, you need to know "how much" to move the shoulder. Get the proper gauges so you're not guessing. That will save you a lot of work and make your brass last a lot longer too.
 
Boattail,
I agree with the others, buy the Hornady (Sinclair, etc) shoulder headspace gauge.
Measure your brass length at the shoulder with it, then turn your die down to set the shoulder back .001-.002".
If this setting does not cause the base of the die to firmly contact the shell holder, it may result in the slightly longer/harder to resize casings to spring the press more than the easy to resize casings, causing some casings to be a touch longer, resulting in firm bolt closure.
If this is whats happening, you have 2 choices:
1. Run the die down a touch further so those hard to resize cases get resized to fit in your chamber. The easy cases will get the shoulder pushed back a little more.
2. Buy a Redding Competition shell holder set (they have different dimensions from top of holder to where the base of the case sits).
http://www.redding-reloading.com/pages/compshellhldrs.html
Turn the die in to get firm pressure on the die as the ram cams over--this flexes the press. Now choose the shell holder from the set that pushes the shoulder back your desired amount. The goal is the shell holder/ram flexes the press more than the actual sizing operation, giving more resizing consistency. I got this idea from the original owner of K&M tools.
 

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