Another chambering issue

[Jardinski]

Hi All,

A few months back I was helping a friend with a chambering issue so I posted here and everyone was a great help. Now I'm having the same issue with my rifle and I want to find out what Im doing wrong that causing this.

I created a load that worked great with my rifle, but I went to recreate the load, and now I'm having issues with every 2nd or third bullet not chambering. The bolt goes 95% of the way forward but just cant go far enough forward to close without putting excessive pressure on the bolt.

I have 2 cartridges now, one from the load I created last week, and the one from this week, both in theory should be exactly the same. The one that will chamber without issue is labeled "A" and the one that has issues chambering is labeled "B".

I took measurements of of the case month diameter, COAL to OJIVE, and the shoulder, and all seem to be the same between the two loads. Also just for good measure since I thought it was a resizing issue I took a measurement of the shoulder of a fired piece of brass form yesterday and both loads are 4 thousandths smaller then the fired brass.

Any help is appreciated, thanks!

 

[Baron23]

Hi All,

A few months back I was helping a friend with a chambering issue so I posted here and everyone was a great help. Now I'm having the same issue with my rifle and I want to find out what Im doing wrong that causing this.

I created a load that worked great with my rifle, but I went to recreate the load, and now I'm having issues with every 2nd or third bullet not chambering. The bolt goes 95% of the way forward but just cant go far enough forward to close without putting excessive pressure on the bolt.

I have 2 cartridges now, one from the load I created last week, and the one from this week, both in theory should be exactly the same. The one that will chamber without issue is labeled "A" and the one that has issues chambering is labeled "B".

I took measurements of of the case month diameter, COAL to OJIVE, and the shoulder, and all seem to be the same between the two loads. Also just for good measure since I thought it was a resizing issue I took a measurement of the shoulder of a fired piece of brass form yesterday and both loads are 4 thousandths smaller then the fired brass.

Any help is appreciated, thanks!

I'm no reloading expert but if I understand you looked mostly at the front of the case and not the base. If it goes in 95% before jamming, might this not be the case diameter just above the case head? Might it be your resizing?

Since you have one from the previous loading that chambered well, compare the case diameter just above the head with one that will not.

Do you use a full length sizing die? Do you over cam? And is this the 2nd firing on these cases (that is, new brass shot once and issue is with the 2nd loading) or 3rd (factory ammo, reloaded once, and now with problems chambering).

It may take a couple of firings to get virgin brass to fully form to your chamber and maybe that's why you are only now seeing that your sizing is not sufficient...maybe?

What caliber, what brass, and how you size seem fairly pertinent here.

Hopefully one of the experts here will weigh in.

 

[Jardinski]

Hi Baron, thanks for the advice. I just measured the base and it looks like the one that doesn't seat is 1 thousandth more. Not sure if that's enough to cause a chambering issue. The round is 6.5 creed, and one is on its 3rd firing, one is on its 4th. I used a full length sizing die, but I'm not sure what you mean by over caming.

My loading process is:
Wet tumble the brass
Dry brass
Anneal the brass
Lube up the brass
Resize it with the full length sizing die, 0.289 neck bushing in this case
Prime the brass
Charge the brass
Seat the Bullet

Let me know if you need any more information. Thanks for your help!

 

[spife7980]

You found a dimension that’s not getting sized down. That’s your culprit.

 

[Jardinski]

You found a dimension that’s not getting sized down. That’s your culprit.

That would make sense so I went and checked, and I have another bullet from group "A" that has 0.468 as its diameter and my fired brass is 0.469 so I think it has to be something else.

 

[SporterII]

Seat bullet b deeper. Next pull it, measure case oal, it and chamber the brass.

 

[Jardinski]

Seating the bullet deeper doesn't fix the issue. I seated one super deep and still having the problem. The brass seems like it isn't too long, if anything its too short. If I pull the bullet from one that doesn't chamber the brass will not chamber so it has something to do with the sizing of the brass.

Edit: Added photos

 

[Huskydriver]

Webb is not getting sized all the way possibly

 

[Jardinski]

Webb is not getting sized all the way possibly

Can you expand on this please? Not sure what exactly is the webb.

 

[Jardinski]

Another interesting thing. As mentioned earlier, if I pull a bullet from a piece of brass that does not chamber then it will continue to not chamber. But if I take a fresh piece of resized brass (I resized 300, but only made 100 into cartridges, the 100 that don't feed) then that fresh piece of brass chambers without any issue.

So is there something in the seating step that can somehow be resizing my brass?

 

[Huskydriver]

Can you expand on this please? Not sure what exactly is the webb.

You measured it above. The webb is where the brass stretches and gets thinned out with every reload cycle. It's the ara of the case wall typically .25" up to about .5" or so on a 308 family case from the rim.

Usually when a round is not going into battery usually the common issues are:

it's either the bullet seated to long.... Brass overall length too long and easy past max trim length... Or your chamber may be out of spec and your die isn't able to size the webb area back down or your die is out of spec and isn't touching the webb.

 

[KnowNothing256]

The web is right above the rim of the case; I think measuring about 0.200" up from the case head is pretty common for the 308 family. See if that's too big on the ones that won't chamber; if so, you might need a small base die.

 

[Jardinski]

Thanks for the explanation. So while the web does seem to be 1 thou larger on the brass that wont chamber, what makes me question that is that all the resized brass that hasnt been loaded chamber just fine, it seems like somewhere in the seating process the dimensions get changed. I just cant seem to find where since the web is both 0.468 in the loaded and unloaded brass.

 

[KnowNothing256]

And you're sure all the cases are sufficiently short? They might need to be trimmed, although I know you said above that they're almost too short.

When you FL resize, you're not just bumping shoulders, right? You have hard contact between the bottom of the die and the shellholder?

 

[mick243]

If your resized case fits the chamber, but seating a bullet in that same case causes it not to chamber, I’d say go looking for faults in the brass thickness in the case neck - eg a donut forming from brass flow during resizing.

seat a bullet in a resized case, colour the whole thing with a sharpie/text/marker of some description and chamber it. Extract it and see where the rub marks are in the colouring - that will point you in the direction of where the fault lies.

 

[Jardinski]

And you're sure all the cases are sufficiently short? They might need to be trimmed, although I know you said above that they're almost too short.

When you FL resize, you're not just bumping shoulders, right? You have hard contact between the bottom of the die and the shellholder?

I am trimming each time, and one of them that I pulled is actually below the trim to length by 0.002''

I am just bumping the shoulder though, there is a tiny gap between the bottom of the die and the shellholder since I setup the die as per whiddens instructions:

Click Adjustable Sizer Die Instructions - Whidden Gunworks

Click Adjustable Sizer Die Instructions 1. With the proper shell holder for your caliber in the press ram, raise the press ram all the way up. 2.

www.whiddengunworks.com

If I made the die touch completely wont that make it bump the shoulder way too far back?

 

[Jardinski]

If your resized case fits the chamber, but seating a bullet in that same case causes it not to chamber, I’d say go looking for faults in the brass thickness in the case neck - eg a donut forming from brass flow during resizing.

seat a bullet in a resized case, colour the whole thing with a sharpie/text/marker of some description and chamber it. Extract it and see where the rub marks are in the colouring - that will point you in the direction of where the fault lies.

After forcing a round in, there are 3 noticeable scratch marks

1. Right below the shoulder, only on one side.
2. On the bullet, again only on one side.
3. Right by the case web, also only on one side.

The bullet scratch and the web scratch are on the same side, the one near the shoulder is on the opposite side.

 

[rustyinbend]

A couple of questions ...
1. Are you using a bushing die? If so, try a smaller bushing.
2. Are you using a mandrel to expand after sizing? If so, try chambering with the smaller bushing and no expander mandrel.
3. Does bullet seating take a lot of force, or does it seat smoothly?

I had a similar situation, and it turned out to be a neck that was too big. Down-sizing both my bushing and my mandrel solved it.

 

[Carlos Danger]

A couple of questions ...
1. Are you using a bushing die? If so, try a smaller bushing.
2. Are you using a mandrel to expand after sizing? If so, try chambering with the smaller bushing and no expander mandrel.
3. Does bullet seating take a lot of force, or does it seat smoothly?

I had a similar situation, and it turned out to be a neck that was too big. Down-sizing both my bushing and my mandrel solved it.

I don't believe smaller bushing would have any effect as the final sizing (expander ball or mandrel) will be what it is if you use a smaller bushing. I'd be curious as to the diameter of the bullets being seated.

 

[Dot3]

Strip your bolt and run the sharpie test again. The ejector pressing on the case *may* have helped with those scrubs all on the same side of the loaded round. Not likely based on their shape but worth a shot

Also, you say 200 other pieces that are sized but not loaded chamber fine...have you made a dummy round out of one of those pieces and checked? If they chamber without a bullet, then don't with a bullet, you may be able to narrow things down.

 

[GreenGO Juan]

Have you cleaned the chamber on the rifle?

Have you checked the run out on the cases after sizing and seating? You can eyeball it by rolling the loaded cartridges across a flat and seeing if they are concentric. I have had cartridges that would not go into a chamber gauge that I rolled could see the bullet was seated out of round. Pulled the bullet and powder resize the case put everything back together and Passed the roll check and would chamber.

 

[Jardinski]

A couple of questions ...
1. Are you using a bushing die? If so, try a smaller bushing.
2. Are you using a mandrel to expand after sizing? If so, try chambering with the smaller bushing and no expander mandrel.
3. Does bullet seating take a lot of force, or does it seat smoothly?

I had a similar situation, and it turned out to be a neck that was too big. Down-sizing both my bushing and my mandrel solved it.

I am using a bushing die with a 289 bushing, but not using a mandrel to expand after. All of the bullets are pretty light in the amount of force they take to seat.

It has something to do with seating though. I can take a piece of resized brass, and it chambers, then I seat a bullet in it and it doesn't. I push the bullet down to a really low seating depth and it still wont chamber. Then I pull the bullet and it still doesn't.

 

[KnowNothing256]

It sounds like a neck OD issue somehow, or possibly a carbon ring? Do you have a borescope? If so take a look at the very end of the chamber, just before the freebore starts; here's a pic of the general area (where the "What is the Black Ring" spot is):

 

[Dot3]

I am using a bushing die with a 289 bushing, but not using a mandrel to expand after. All of the bullets are pretty light in the amount of force they take to seat.

It has something to do with seating though. I can take a piece of resized brass, and it chambers, then I seat a bullet in it and it doesn't. I push the bullet down to a really low seating depth and it still wont chamber. Then I pull the bullet and it still doesn't.

Got a borescope? I'm thinking carbon ring

ETA: what he said

 

[acudaowner]

looking a little dried up in there might be time to get a new barrel your going to eventually fix this problem and walk straight into that one

 

[bax]

Hi All,

A few months back I was helping a friend with a chambering issue so I posted here and everyone was a great help. Now I'm having the same issue with my rifle and I want to find out what Im doing wrong that causing this.

I created a load that worked great with my rifle, but I went to recreate the load, and now I'm having issues with every 2nd or third bullet not chambering. The bolt goes 95% of the way forward but just cant go far enough forward to close without putting excessive pressure on the bolt.

I have 2 cartridges now, one from the load I created last week, and the one from this week, both in theory should be exactly the same. The one that will chamber without issue is labeled "A" and the one that has issues chambering is labeled "B".

I took measurements of of the case month diameter, COAL to OJIVE, and the shoulder, and all seem to be the same between the two loads. Also just for good measure since I thought it was a resizing issue I took a measurement of the shoulder of a fired piece of brass form yesterday and both loads are 4 thousandths smaller then the fired brass.

Any help is appreciated, thanks!

Thoughts ...

So far you don't know which reloading step is causing the issue. Do the following chamber checks with a stripped bolt - that is, remove shroud/firing pin assembly and ejector pin.

Can you reliably chamber ...

1. ... a piece of brass fired in your weapon? - if yes, you have a good starting point. If no, what the heck?! It fit when you extracted it !?

2. ... a piece of brass after resizing? - If yes, then your sizing setup is good. If no then something is wrong in your sizing setup.

2a. "Something wrong" first guess, you aren't bumping the shoulder back enough. You can check with Dikem or market. Hornady makes a nifty headspace comparator tool that fits on your caliper.

2b. Second guess, your sizing dies doesn't reduce the base enough - check with Dikem or marker. There are other possibilities.

3. ... a loaded round? If you got here, sizing was good. If you can chamber then problem solved. If not, then a seated round doesn't fit.

3a. You already tried to seat bullets deeper, that didn't help so the bullets are probably not pushing into the lands.

3b. Maybe your brass has necks that are too thick for your bullets and chamber. Compare the neck diameter of a loaded round to a fired case that fits into your chamber - that is, compare to a piece of brass fired in YOUR weapon. Loaded round neck diameter should be smaller than fired case by at least 0.002. If loaded round is the same or larger than fired brass, that might be your issue.

3c. Check the diameter at the case mouth and the diameter at the base of the neck. As someone else said, donuts. Or excessively tight neck so that heavy seating force makes the neck balloon out.

3d. compare the diameter of the case about 0.3 inches above the base. If necks too tight then high seating force can make a thin case base swell.

If you have excessively tight necks, use a larger button. I do a lot of 30 cal. My bullets are right around 0.308. My neck ID is 0.305 +/- 0.0005 so I have to stretch the necks 0.003 diameter or about 0.0094 in circumference. If you are forcing bullets into a tight neck you will have heavy seating pressure.

 

[Jardinski]

Unfortunately I dont have a borescope. I should really just get one, but I pulled the barrel and cleaned the heck out of it as a first step. I soaked it in wipeout overnight twice, and scrubbed it with a brass brush, and ran like 20 patches through it.

I think I found the issue, though I'm not sure how to solve it. When I seat the bullet in the brass, it seems to flare the neck into a "V" Shape. The strange thing is this happens even with very little seating pressure, and it seems like it actually gets worse by using smaller bushings. The amount of flare with a 288 bushing even got to 299 in some cases. Anything under 295 seems to chamber.

The weird part is crimping doesn't seem to reliably fix the issue. Sometimes it will and sometimes it wont. Even if I crimp it down to 289. This makes me think its more then just the case mouth getting flared

 

[Mike Casselton]

Let's look at your seating die.
Please tell me it isn't screwed down to touch the shell holder.
If it is, it's over crimping or possibly collapsing the shoulder/body transition.


Either way, take one of your cases that chambers, place it into the shell holder and raise the ram.

Leave it there.

Now, take your seating die and thread it into the press. It should thread all the way down without touching your brass or disturbing the press handle.
If it does either of the two, you have your seating die too far down and it's crushing your brass and causing expansion at the front of the neck or the shoulder/body junction.

 

[Jardinski]

1. ... a piece of brass fired in your weapon? - if yes, you have a good starting point. If no, what the heck?! It fit when you extracted it !?

Yes fired brass fits

2. ... a piece of brass after resizing? - If yes, then your sizing setup is good. If no then something is wrong in your sizing setup.

Yes resized brass fits

2a. "Something wrong" first guess, you aren't bumping the shoulder back enough. You can check with Dikem or market. Hornady makes a nifty headspace comparator tool that fits on your caliper.

Yes, I checked with the headspace comparitor and I am bumping 4 thou.

2b. Second guess, your sizing dies doesn't reduce the base enough - check with Dikem or marker. There are other possibilities.

I thought about this when another poster mentioned it. The cartrige that wont chamber is 1 thou larger at the base, but so is the rezied brass that fits, and the fired brass is even 1 thou larger then that and it fits.

3. ... a loaded round? If you got here, sizing was good. If you can chamber then problem solved. If not, then a seated round doesn't fit.

This is where the issue comes up. Seating is messing it up somehow.

3a. You already tried to seat bullets deeper, that didn't help so the bullets are probably not pushing into the lands.

This is correct, it wont even chamber if you remove said bullet, even though the brass chambered a second ago when there was no bullet in it.

3b. Maybe your brass has necks that are too thick for your bullets and chamber. Compare the neck diameter of a loaded round to a fired case that fits into your chamber - that is, compare to a piece of brass fired in YOUR weapon. Loaded round neck diameter should be smaller than fired case by at least 0.002. If loaded round is the same or larger than fired brass, that might be your issue.

The loaded round is larger then the fired round in some cases. The weird part is in some occasions even after crimping the neck with a crimp die it still will not chamber, I think the entire neck is getting flared and not just the case mouth.

3c. Check the diameter at the case mouth and the diameter at the base of the neck. As someone else said, donuts. Or excessively tight neck so that heavy seating force makes the neck balloon out.

The "B round that i used in the first example has now been crimped to 292 but wont chamber, it seems though right before the shoulder it goes up to 297 which is why I think its getting stuck.

3d. compare the diameter of the case about 0.3 inches above the base. If necks too tight then high seating force can make a thin case base swell.

Same answer as for 2b

 

[Jardinski]

Ok, so answering everyone's questions I think I found the issue, just not sure how to solve it. My neck is getting flared across the entire neck, sometimes its the case mouth, some times its right above the shoulder. Anything above .295 will not fit in the chamber and I see .296-.299 in many cases.

I tried a more aggressive chamfer, and that helped, but I was still seeing cases with 296 at the mouth.

I tried a smaller bushing .288 instead of .289 and that made it worse. Am I being an idiot and is this bushing way too small? A fired brass is .295, and using a ball micrometer my brass neck ranged from .014 to .015. I'm worried if I go up to like a 291 I wont have any neck tension.

I tried adjusting my seating die up and down and it made zero difference. It is not touching the plate. It is the whidden micrometer seating die and I set it up as per instructions.

 

[KnowNothing256]

Ok, so answering everyone's questions I think I found the issue, just not sure how to solve it. My neck is getting flared across the entire neck, sometimes its the case mouth, some times its right above the shoulder. Anything above .295 will not fit in the chamber and I see .296-.299 in many cases.

I tried a more aggressive chamfer, and that helped, but I was still seeing cases with 296 at the mouth.

I tried a smaller bushing .288 instead of .289 and that made it worse. Am I being an idiot and is this bushing way too small? A fired brass is .295, and using a ball micrometer my brass neck ranged from .014 to .015. I'm worried if I go up to like a 291 I wont have any neck tension.

I tried adjusting my seating die up and down and it made zero difference. It is not touching the plate. It is the whidden micrometer seating die and I set it up as per instructions.

Your fired brass is 0.295", your seated brass is 0.291", and your bushing is 0.289", those all sound right for someone not using a mandrel after the bushing. When you're chamfering, is it both inside and outside? If it's both, then I'm still speculating, but take heart, you've narrowed your problem down to a specific location on the case and you're 90% of the way there.

Your die should be touching the shellholder, it's got a separate chamber body just like my Forster micrometer die. This style of seating die doesn't seat and crimp in one step like many do, so I assume when you're crimping, you're using a separate crimp die for that?

You're close to figuring it out, just gotta find out which part of your process is flaring the case neck. I'd set the die up per Whidden's instructions (I gather you already did this), then run a case up in there with no bullet and see if it gets flared. If so, you have a die issue, either setup or a bad die. If not, ok, it's something to do with the actual bullet seating. At that point I'd make sure your bullets are the correct OD (they should be, but stranger things and all), and if they are, then start with one seated waaaay out, just barely held on by the neck. Check for flaring then. If you've got flaring at that point, then check your inside chamfer.

After that, I'm a little stumped.

 

[Dot3]

So it sounds like this setup (rifle, tooling, et al) has been used before. Did I understand you correctly that you've loaded these same components for this same rifle with these same FL and seating dies? And had no trouble before?

 

[Jardinski]

Your fired brass is 0.295", your seated brass is 0.291", and your bushing is 0.289", those all sound right for someone not using a mandrel after the bushing. When you're chamfering, is it both inside and outside? If it's both, then I'm still speculating, but take heart, you've narrowed your problem down to a specific location on the case and you're 90% of the way there.

Your die should be touching the shellholder, it's got a separate chamber body just like my Forster micrometer die. This style of seating die doesn't seat and crimp in one step like many do, so I assume when you're crimping, you're using a separate crimp die for that?

You're close to figuring it out, just gotta find out which part of your process is flaring the case neck. I'd set the die up per Whidden's instructions (I gather you already did this), then run a case up in there with no bullet and see if it gets flared. If so, you have a die issue, either setup or a bad die. If not, ok, it's something to do with the actual bullet seating. At that point I'd make sure your bullets are the correct OD (they should be, but stranger things and all), and if they are, then start with one seated waaaay out, just barely held on by the neck. Check for flaring then. If you've got flaring at that point, then check your inside chamfer.

After that, I'm a little stumped.

Ok, so I setup the seating die so that it seats super far out, only the very base of the bullet is being held in by the neck and I still am seeing significant flaring for the part of the neck that has a bullet in it.

Your second paragraph is correct, the inner tube is touching the shell holder and going up about a 1/3rd inch when it is in the fully downward position. I am using a lee factory crimp die to troubleshoot. Id rather not crimp if possible.

It seems like the act of actually seating the bullet is whats flaring the case neck, and it flares the entire neck not just the mouth which is why the crimp doesn't fix it as the lee factory crimp only crimps the mouth.

So is it just a crappy seating die or am I doing something stupid? Again the brass is necked down to .289 with a bushing. I do not use any mandrels, but if that's the problem I'd be happy to order some. The issue occurs the moment a bulelt is seated into the brass. I confirmed the bullets are all .264 as they should be.

 

[Jardinski]

So it sounds like this setup (rifle, tooling, et al) has been used before. Did I understand you correctly that you've loaded these same components for this same rifle with these same FL and seating dies? And had no trouble before?

This is correct. The only thing that changed in the process is I wet tumbled the brass after sizing in the second batch that has issues, and the first batch I ultrasonic cleaned. Both were wet tumbled for the intial clean after firing.

 

[KnowNothing256]

I feel like you don't have an inside chamfer, is that correct? That's my last guess.

I'm not convinced you have a bad die, it sounds like the bullet seating is your problem, agreed. That die shouldn't be contacting the case mouth at all if you've got it set up as described, and it isn't designed with a process to close the case neck back up if it flares like you're seeing. If your die was exactly what it's supposed to be, it wouldn't correct the issue you're seeing once it forms. Now, I do think you don't have the die set up fully correctly, if it's like the Forster it's designed to bottom out the outer die body on the shellholder, with the internal sleeve fully pushed up inside the die, but perhaps Whidden is different in that regard. Also, I don't think this would cause the issue you're seeing, so more of a side note.

 

[Jardinski]

Ok, I believe I have a solution that works. I previously was chamfering the inside edge but I guess that was not enough. I added a much more significant inside edge chamfer and that seems to have worked. Bullets now seat consistently without bulging in any part of the neck.

 

[KnowNothing256]

Ah, another one bites the dust, I do enjoy figuring these out haha

Glad it's working for you now!

 

[Jardinski]

Yeah, thanks so much for your help and everyone else who commented on this thread!

 

[Baron23]

Ok, I believe I have a solution that works. I previously was chamfering the inside edge but I guess that was not enough. I added a much more significant inside edge chamfer and that seems to have worked. Bullets now seat consistently without bulging in any part of the neck.

Maybe I missed it, but what do you use to trim and chamfer?

 

[Jardinski]

Trimming and chamfering was done with a Giraud trimmer. It was previously setup to chamfer the inside edge and outside edge evenly.

I found the solution by running brass through a frank ford arsenal chamfer and debur tool that does it all manually. When that worked, I adjusted the Giraud so that it takes a lot more off the inside and less off the outside, by adjusting the blade position. Now the brass seems to always chamber since this elimited all the wierd bulging issues in the neck.

 

[Baron23]

Trimming and chamfering was done with a Giraud trimmer. It was previously setup to chamfer the inside edge and outside edge evenly.

I found the solution by running brass through a frank ford arsenal chamfer and debur tool that does it all manually. When that worked, I adjusted the Giraud so that it takes a lot more off the inside and less off the outside, by adjusting the blade position. Now the brass seems to always chamber since this elimited all the wierd bulging issues in the neck.

Thanks....I too use a Giraud and have no issues with insufficient chamfer. Glad you found your problem and that it was a relatively easy and cheap fix. Cheers

 

[parshal]

This is correct. The only thing that changed in the process is I wet tumbled the brass after sizing in the second batch that has issues, and the first batch I ultrasonic cleaned. Both were wet tumbled for the intial clean after firing.

I wonder if you wet tumbled too long and peened the necks enough to cause the flare. When you aggressively chamfered you removed all the peen so they seated without a flare.

 

[KnowNothing256]

I wonder if you wet tumbled too long and peened the necks enough to cause the flare. When you aggressively chamfered you removed all the peen so they seated without a flare.

This is what I figured when he said he had two wet tumble steps, I assumed any chamfer was gone. You can see the outside chamfer in the pics, but couldn't check the inner surface with the provided pics.

I know I always have to chamfer after a wet tumble, I don't even bother trying to tumble "just long enough" to keep the chamfers.

 

[Jardinski]

I think that's exactly why the first set would chamber and the second had issues. It looks like the second set of tumbling removed all the chamfer and then without any chamfer I was getting wierd neck bulge/flare.

I just wanted spotless brass! Oh well, lesson learned to chamfer AFTER all tumbleing

 

[KnowNothing256]

I too love spotless, shiny brass; the joy in my heart when it comes out of the tumbler is worth the time it takes to separate the pins and dry the brass.

Unfortunately, I'm having to reevaluate whether it's worth the chamfer time (generally I'm leaning towards "no" sadly).

 

[parshal]

I used to use stainless pins. I now like the carbon left inside the neck of dry tumbled cases. I feel compelled to add graphite inside the necks when using a mandrel.

 

[KnowNothing256]

I just saw a guy report that he saw vastly lower ES/SD numbers when he used neck lube, so now I gotta try it haha; luckily I do have the graphite already

 

[parshal]

I've not seen any difference. I just see scratches inside the case necks without lube on squeaky clean cases.

 

[KnowNothing256]

Hoping I don't see a change, yeah; one less thing is always appreciated

 

[BKKSW]

I read halfway through this thread and no no mention of you using a case gauge or anyone asking you if you did. This is basic. A case gauge will verify if everything behind the bullet, the case, if it's resized properly, if it needs to be trimmed, if it fits in the case gauge it will fit in your chamber. If it does, then try and chamber a round, if the bolt won't close but the round will extract and there are no marks on the bullet (projectile) showing your running up against either the lands, a squib, or some other obstruction.. ,,then you for sure need to have yoru chamber and barrel scoped and see what's going on in there. A case gauge is give or take a few bucks from $25.. every round you load should be "gauged" if reliability is important to you.