Hello and thanks for any help anyone can give me, I am going nuts. New Lapua brass fits on the chamber of my AI AX 260 Remington. I shoot it, go through the process (deprime, wash on tumbler with SS needles, anneal, neck size, prime, powder and sit bullet) and the brass is too large (fat below the shoulder) to fit the same rifle, I can't close the bolt. It is weird because I put the same brass on the headspace gauge and it fits perfect. This does not happen with my 308 reloads. I am just a few months into reloading, so many things I still don't know. My dies are Redding competition (JIC you ask). COAL is way within SAMI specs.
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Help with fire-formed brass not rechambering
- Thread starter Vitaver
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- brass forming
What case headspace gage are you using?
The most likely reason for your chambering issue is that you're not pushing the shoulder back far enough on your fired brass.
How many thousandths of an inch are you pushing the shoulder back?
If you can't answer this question with an exact number, you've got the wrong tool.
The most likely reason for your chambering issue is that you're not pushing the shoulder back far enough on your fired brass.
How many thousandths of an inch are you pushing the shoulder back?
If you can't answer this question with an exact number, you've got the wrong tool.
I was wrong. I had to trim them. I did and now they chamber. Sorry for taking up your time and thanks for trying to help me.
Does a fired case, fresh from the rifle, before you have done any processing, re-chamber?
If it will rechamber, its either the decapping or the neck sizing process, as they are the only operations that are going to alter the brass.
Depending on what style of headspace gauge you are using it may only be measuring the shoulder datum line, and might not be doing any measure of the case body.
Questions about the dies
I assume you are using the neck size die to do the decapping? Bushing die? How did you determine how far down to adjust the neck sizing?
My quick guess is the neck die is adjusted too far down, and is making contact with the shoulder, and slightly distorting the brass.
If it will rechamber, its either the decapping or the neck sizing process, as they are the only operations that are going to alter the brass.
Depending on what style of headspace gauge you are using it may only be measuring the shoulder datum line, and might not be doing any measure of the case body.
Questions about the dies
I assume you are using the neck size die to do the decapping? Bushing die? How did you determine how far down to adjust the neck sizing?
My quick guess is the neck die is adjusted too far down, and is making contact with the shoulder, and slightly distorting the brass.
Thank you guys. I have the exact same platform (Accuracy International AX) on 308. I shot the same cases over 10 times, never needing to trim the necks. Eventually using the Sinclair tool, I measured the neck in the chamber and it is very long, I probably will never have to trim those cases before they fail somewhere else. Neck stretch does not seem to be a problem on the AI 308. Got the same gun on 260 Remington and it is a very different story! I will measure the neck space in the chamber this weekend, but it has almost no tolerance. The neck was protruding "a hair" on the gauge (I know we need more precision, but I have to take my wife for dinner, Valentines day routine which I gladly do for a wife of 24 years that does not bitch at all the toys I buy and made an arsenal of a bedroom and a mess in the kitchen), so no time now. Anyway, I got used to not caring about trimming. The 260 is unforgiving, so I need to get in the routine of checking case length. This is the right crowd, you guys jumped to help and I really appreciate it!
That's strange. It is possible that the chamber is short in the neck area, but .260 is no different than .308 with regard to case stretch. I go many many firing's before even checking them. Keep in mind that just as chambers vary from barrel to barrel and gun to gun, dies vary as well. Since most of us use standard dies or bushing dies, we concentrate on headspace since it is the only part of the body we can control. You may be getting much more sizing in other areas that go unnoticed.
Just this weekend I helped a buddy set up a .308 FL sizer for a TRG-22. That chamber was .001" shorter than my Forester GO gauge. Cases sized fully (die on shell holder) would not chamber and were actually growing in length. I had to hone his shell holder to get proper headspace. He's a new loader, and would have struggled forever with that die and rifle combo. Sometimes dies and rifles just don't match well.
Just this weekend I helped a buddy set up a .308 FL sizer for a TRG-22. That chamber was .001" shorter than my Forester GO gauge. Cases sized fully (die on shell holder) would not chamber and were actually growing in length. I had to hone his shell holder to get proper headspace. He's a new loader, and would have struggled forever with that die and rifle combo. Sometimes dies and rifles just don't match well.
After 3 days of trying everything under the sun (and moon) and hitting solutions that turned out not to be, I got it. I got away without chamfering and deburring the mouth of my multiple reloads on the AI 308, which is very forgiving. Not so on the 260. Chamfering and deburring the cases' mouths was all that was needed. I verified this with 20 loaded rounds, the same that before would just not chamber. I mention this here in case I am not the only one who encounters this problem. Thanks all for your help.
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