I have removed the firing pin from my bolt to set my headspace now that I have my .204 dies. I have virgin unloaded Nosler brass, fired Hornady (that I had custom loaded when I bought the gun), and unfired Hornady. My bolt closes with some tension when the pin is installed on an empty chamber. With the pin removed on an empty chamber it closes simply via gravity. Using my virgin Nosler brass as a zero point on my headspace gauge I found the fired Hornady brass to measure +.008 compared to the Nosler. I tried chambering the fired Hornady case first and it closed with a very slight tension. My unfired Hornady case also closed with very slight tension as well as my virgin Nosler brass. I did not measure the unfired Hornady brass as it was from the same box as my fired case and I figured it would just measure somewhere between zero and -.008 anyway.
My question is, where do i go from here? I had expected my fired brass to close tightly versus with very slight tension. I had expected my virgin Nosler brass to either have very slight tension or close the bolt on its own via gravity. I have seen several videos showing proper headspace and they all seemed to close w/out tension once the fired case is sized properly. All 3 of the cases I described above closed almost identically with very slight bolt tension.
I know my chamber is tight and I have a .230 no turn neck. My rifle is a GreTan built by Greg Tannel. I don't think my neck is causing tension but maybe my tight chamber? Should I just size down my virgin Nosler .001-.002 and see if my bolt falls closed? Like I said it is closing now but with very slight tension. I wouldn't consider it tight at all but for the videos I have seen where the bolt just falls closed once they properly size a fired case.
My question is, where do i go from here? I had expected my fired brass to close tightly versus with very slight tension. I had expected my virgin Nosler brass to either have very slight tension or close the bolt on its own via gravity. I have seen several videos showing proper headspace and they all seemed to close w/out tension once the fired case is sized properly. All 3 of the cases I described above closed almost identically with very slight bolt tension.
I know my chamber is tight and I have a .230 no turn neck. My rifle is a GreTan built by Greg Tannel. I don't think my neck is causing tension but maybe my tight chamber? Should I just size down my virgin Nosler .001-.002 and see if my bolt falls closed? Like I said it is closing now but with very slight tension. I wouldn't consider it tight at all but for the videos I have seen where the bolt just falls closed once they properly size a fired case.