Not sure what to do.

[soless]

I'm not sure what the deal is here. This 30-30 is seated to the crimp grove and it's not easy to chamber. I have to seat it considerably shorter before the boolit just touches the rifling. Is my mold Out of spec? Is my chamber short? Should I just seat deeper? Looking for advice.

[rockshooter]

I would switch to a pointier (but not pointed) boolet. I ran into this same issue in 300 Blackout.
Loren

[soless]

I guess the mold just isn't cut out for my rifle then?

[RickinTN]

What bullet are you using? That is the way the Ranchdog 165 grain bullet fits in my many Marlin 336 rifles, in other words it doesn't.
Rick

[Yodogsandman]

I hope you found the problem with an un-primed, un-charged case prior to loading. If that boolit is powder coated, you changed the diameter of your nose when you coated it. Just seat it deeper. I had the same situation today. Powder coating increased my nose diameter from .349" to .357" on my .35 Whelen. I had to back off my overall length from 3.340" to 3.245". Also, if your using that boolit unsized, you better check the neck diameter to make sure your boolit will release from the chamber when fired. Take a measurement of the diameter from the neck of a case that was fired in YOUR rifle before resizing. That's the largest it should be with a boolit seated in it.

[soless]

What bullet are you using? That is the way the Ranchdog 165 grain bullet fits in my many Marlin 336 rifles, in other words it doesn't.
Rick

Yep. That would be the 165 Ranch Dog.

I hope you found the problem with an un-primed, un-charged case prior to loading. If that boolit is powder coated, you changed the diameter of your nose when you coated it. Just seat it deeper. I had the same situation today. Powder coating increased my nose diameter from .349" to .357" on my .35 Whelen. I had to back off my overall length from 3.340" to 3.245". Also, if your using that boolit unsized, you better check the neck diameter to make sure your boolit will release from the chamber when fired. Take a measurement of the diameter from the neck of a case that was fired in YOUR rifle before resizing. That's the largest it should be with a boolit seated in it.

This is an unprimed case without powder. I just held a lighter under the boolit to use the soot as a visual aid. Any chance of powder coating this is out the window. I might just have to stick to the Lee mold. What a bummer.

[HeavyMetal]

No simply find your correct seating depth with an un primed case when you have that reduce your powder charge by 5% from the published starting info for the 165 grain boolit and work up slowly to find your load.

Figuring out your throat / neck dimensions is a good idea as well, before you put powder behind that RD boolit!

[soless]

No simply find your correct seating depth with an un primed case when you have that reduce your powder charge by 5% from the published starting info for the 165 grain boolit and work up slowly to find your load.

Figuring out your throat / neck dimensions is a good idea as well, before you put powder behind that RD boolit!

That was my intent. I'm learning little by little. And thanks for all your input thus far.

[Yodogsandman]

Ok, guess I've got powder coating of the brain. You don't say what that's going to be shot out of. If a single shot or bolt action, just seat deeper. If that's for a lever gun with a tube magazine, you could seat deeper and plan on only using two cartridges in the gun at a time, that's if the second cartridge will function through the action from the magazine. You won't be able to crimp in the crimp groove and stacking them end to end in the magazine runs the risk of pushing the boolit back in the case.

Good on you for checking with the empty case!

[wrench man]

Winchester 94AE by chance?

[rhead]

The Lee mould does that in my Marlin. I trimmed a set of a hundred cases and re worked the load. In this case the original load turned out to still be safe. I will work up a near factory load after the garden quits taking up all my time. (I trimmed my cases back to 1.995" from 2.04" they feed, chamber and shoot fine. I keep the separate from my other 30-30 cases). It will not reduce the case capacity any more than seating the boolit enough deeper to chamber easily. it is more effort but you will be able to get a good crimp on the crimp groove.

[44man]

I have the same problem with one of my home made molds. I guessed wrong and the nose is too fat.
I lapped a smaller caliber Lee die to size the nose to .301" and it works fine now.
very easy to size just the nose and tap the boolit back out with a dowel.

[RickinTN]

A question here. For all those who seat the bullet deeper and for those who trim the cases to use the crimp groove. What about the generous portion of the bullet that is below the neck/shoulder junction of the case in this situation? Powder contamination from the lube, riveting of the bullet upon ignition, and reduced powder capacity? The reduced powder capacity doesn't really concern me as most cast loads aren't "full house" and loads should be worked up accordingly, but the other two are situations I certainly try to avoid.
Rick

[rhead]

The base of the boolit extending past the neck does not seem to cause a problem with accuracy all the time. The two loads i use in my 30-30s both still result in the same size groups in my Marlin. one is loaded with a moderate charge of 2400 to around fifteen hundred feet par second. the other is a very lightly compressed charge of 4350. The only way I know of to tell if the base of the boolit extending beyond the nect is to try it both ways and measure the results.

[2ndAmendmentNut]

It wouldn't happen to be a Marlin XLR? I once had a Marlin XLR in 35 Rem that had absolutely zero throat. I took it to a gunsmith and had him recut the chamber. Worked beautifully after that. I have heard of other people having issues with XLRs specifically. My theory is that Marlin did this deliberately to work better with their lever revolution ammo which has brass with a shorter neck.

[high standard 40]

I have that issue with some of my molds, I do as 44man does and resize the nose. This make the bullet a bore rider and helps align the bullet true with the bore. Accuracy usually improves with this approach, at least for me. We have all heard it said many times here that bullet fit to chamber is crucial. Sizing the bullet nose is often as important a step as sizing the bullet body. I would not trim the brass or seat deeper, I would size the bullet nose.

[gwpercle]

The Lee 170 gr flat point chambers just fine in my Winchester model 94. The nose must be OK for this model.

[GoodOlBoy]

That is just ODD. I have never had a 165, a 170, or even a 185 grain 30 caliber cast do that in any 30-30.

GoodOlBoy

[robroy]

IF that chambered easily AND did not pull the pill out of the case on extraction I'd start with a starting load and work it up at that OAL.

[soless]

Meh! I had the same luck with my Lee 170fp. O I had wild hair to re-chamber to 30-30AI. I think I'll still have the same problem though. Looks like I'll be shooting the heck out of those C word bullets for the time being.