.22-250 doesn't chamber well with virgin brass

[psywar]

Hello All,

I am a somewhat experienced reloader. I have successfully reloaded 9mm, .223 and .308. Successfully means the ammo shoots as well or better than factory ammo and I had fun making it.

My problem is am trying to reload some .22-250 for my father in law.

I have lee RGB dies for my forester co-ax. He just wants plinking ammo, so I didn't buy expesinve dies. I set up the sizing die per Lee instructions.

I am using virgin winchester brass which came out of the bag overly long and with lots of dented mouths. I resized and trimmed to 1.902.

I made a dummy round with a Hornaday V-Max 55gr (.224) bullet with a COL of 2.345.

Feeling pretty proud of myself, I gave him the dummy round and asked him to test it. He called me up and said as he chambers the round, the bolt gets hard to close right at the end of him closing the bolt. <span style="font-weight: bold">It will still close</span>, but it is sticking enough to bother him. With factory ammo, it does not stick.

His .22-250 was made in the mid-1960's. So maybe he has an odd / overly tight chamber? But if that was the case, I would think factory ammo would stick as well.

Should I buy a small base die and try that?

Any ideas, advice or thoughts very much welcome.

Thanks in advance for any help,
Jim

 

[ofcrfs242]

Re: .22-250 doesn't chamber well with virgin brass

Had this problem with a 7mm mag. Check to see if the bullet is engaging the rifling. If it is as you close the bolt you are actually focing the bullet into the rifling making it hard to close.

 

[psywar]

Re: .22-250 doesn't chamber well with virgin brass

I will mark up the bullet with some yellow wax and see if it is hitting the lands.

How far can I set back the .224 55gr V-Max? Right now I have a COL of 2.345 (and I trimmed the brass to 1.902)

thank you,
Jim

 

[9H_Cracka]

Re: .22-250 doesn't chamber well with virgin brass

try chambering the brass right out of the bag before you have touched it to know if the problem is in the brass or what you are doing to it.

 

[psywar]

Re: .22-250 doesn't chamber well with virgin brass

<<try chambering the brass right out of the bag before you have touched it to know if the problem is in the brass or what you are doing to it.
>>

Great, very obvious idea and I am feeling stupid to not have tried that first...

thanks!

-jim

 

[9H_Cracka]

Re: .22-250 doesn't chamber well with virgin brass

Factory brass is notoriously undersized. The most likely culprit is OAL and the ogive of the bullet contacting the lands before the bolt is fully closed.

Have him pull the round you sent him and check for rifling marks on the bullet. At his advanced age (and mine too LOL) he'll need a magnifying glass and bright light.

 

[Thud]

Re: .22-250 doesn't chamber well with virgin brass

To make it eaiser to see the rifling marks get a silver sharpie marker and mark the bullet up all around. When the lands are engaged it will leave a very easy to see mark where the engagement happens. Good Luck


<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: psywar</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I will mark up the bullet with some yellow wax and see if it is hitting the lands.

How far can I set back the .224 55gr V-Max? Right now I have a COL of 2.345 (and I trimmed the brass to 1.902)

thank you,
Jim </div></div>

 

[johngfoster]

Re: .22-250 doesn't chamber well with virgin brass

What rifle are these being shot out of? I have a new factory Rem 700 VSF in 22-250 that has a very long throat. If I oversize the brass just a small amt, then it seems I have the same problem with a stiff bolt closure. Ammo still shoots great and no pressure signs. Now that I've figured out how to measure how much I'm bumping the shoulder back, I'm going to see if I can minimize this. However, I've found that if I set the die up to FL size per the instructions, then the cases get sized a bit more and the bolt closes easily. As I back the die off some, they get a bit harder to chamber until this goes away too and I can chamber them easily again. Bottom line--you may not be sizing them enough, but then you may be sizing them just a bit too much as well. If it is a factory Rem barrel, you may have to seat the bullets out quite far before you end up contacting the lands. In mine I have to seat them out to 2.525 before they touch the lands (also 55gr V-Max).

Does your Father-in-law have some once-fired brass from this chamber that you could measure/compare your sizing to?