Confused and need some input

[ooglassoo]

Ok I have a rem700 in 223, I have been Loding ammo for it for three years. I took a break for a year and just got some time to start loading again. I trimmed my cases to 1.750 and loaded them to 2.270 and the ogive with the 55g btbt noslers was at 1.860. That's all good and what I used to load my ammo to before but now I'm havering a hard time closing my bolt. I chambered a factory round perfectly normal but the reloads are hard to lock in? I don't understand the cases are mixed head stamps and the necks and shoulders are to spec. I had the same problem with my 308 last year right before I packed all my reloading stuff up. I don't get it please throw some ideas at me.
Thanks Dennis
P.S the dies are rcbs sb 223 rem and the 308 dies are rcbs sb. I thought the problem with the 308 was do to the lake city brass?

 

[ballistic1]

You need to post more info about what proceedures you did on your case prep.., but it
sounds like you need to full length resize your cases.

 

[bcrich]

Sounds like your dies need to be adjusted further down because if the shoulders don't touch the die as you resize them the case will grow a couple thousandths causing your problem.

 

[ShtrRdy]

Whenever I've had a hard time closing the bolt on my reloads, it's because I didn't resized the case enough. I think that usually means pushing the shoulder back enough so it will chamber. To help me figure this out, I would try chambering a fired case, and a resized case to see how the bolt feels. It should close without any trouble on the resized case. - Todd

 

[flashhole]

Get a small piece of aluminum foil. Fold it into 3 layers and slip it under the shell holder between the shell holder and the top of the ram on the press. Use the FL resizing die and resize the cases. If that does not provide enough clearance for bolt closure put another fold or two of the foil under the shell holder and try again. A precision shim does the same thing if you are willing to cut them up for reloading. Or, get a sheet of emery paper and drag the top of the shell holder on the paper until you remove enough material to do the same thing the foil is doing under the shell holder. Or, get a sheet of emery paper and drag the bottom of the die on the paper until you remove enough material to do the same the the foil is doing under the shell holder. The distance between the datum on the shoulder and the bottom of the case is too long. It needs to be shortened.

You might also need to anneal the cases, sounds like you are getting too much spring back from the case brought on by work hardening.

 

[ooglassoo]

For case prep, I tumbled sized/deprimed with the two die rcbs sb die set. I then measured the and cases cut them to 1.750 cleaned the flash hole and cleaned up the mouth with the chamfering tool. I then primed powdered and seated the bullet to 2.270. Today I took out the pin from the sizing die and tried to resize the primed cases and moved the die down a quarter then a half turn. I then tried the case in my chamber and still the same thing. These cases are second fired cases, I thought i anneal the brass around the fourth time? Could it be the die?

 

[ShtrRdy]

Is the die turned as far down as it can go to contact the shell holder?

 

[ooglassoo]

I set both dies per rcbs directions.

 

[JB02]

I set both dies per rcbs directions.

Your cases aren't sized enough. The reason factory rounds feed fine is because they are sized to SAMMI min spec. Your die isn't bumping the shoulder back far enough to fit your resized cases in the chamber. Screw your die down so that it kisses the shell holder, then pull down the ram and turn the die down another 1/8 to 1/4 turn. This should fix your problem.

A more precise way to fix this is to get some Hornady or Sinclair headspace gauges. Measure the case to its shoulder datum line before you size it. After the sizing, the shoulder should be bumped back ~ 0.001-0.002".

 

[ooglassoo]

I went out and bought a Hornady FL die set and they work like a charm. I reloaded 80 rounds tonight and they fit my chamber perfectly. Thanks for the input guys