Rem 700 ADL 30-06....some reloads not chambering

[duckey]

So out of 10 reloads with J words I will have a few rounds that will not chamber at all, others may feel tight chambering as i close the bolt, the rest chamber just fine My reloading process includes FL sizing my brass or neck sizing my fire formed brass, I check case length and trim with a lee case trimming tool in my cordless drill, I also chamfer inside and out of case mouth. I use RP, Win, FC brass....most of which is range pick up. I tumble it in corn cob and separate my brand. I just ordered a L E Wilson Case gauge to hopefully help solve my issue. I was just on the YouTubes and a fellow was talking about the Lyman "Ammo Checker" as he compared this to his L E wilson Gauge. What i got out of this is that the L E Wilson gauge will check headspace and case length and the Lyman Ammo Checker will check the case body size and let you know if it will fit into your chamber. Now I looked at an RCBS base sizing die that said it could be used for ammo going into the bolt gun and in the specs of the die is said it is not recommended....???? I have an RCBS 2 FL die set and the resizing die looks just like the base sizing die (PN#1408), so I am all over the road here. I do own a Hornady Lock and load Headspace gauge and was messing around with that tonight and saw some different readings between cases that chambered fine with ones that were a tad sticky and those that I could not close the bolt on. I am thinking I need to either bump my shoulder back on my cases and or size my base down a bit. Any suggestions?

[RKJ]

I had this problem with 223. I had to bring my sizing die down until it cammed over pretty good. It fixed the problem for my Rem 700 and an AR. Bring the sizing die down until it's compressing the shell plate just a little and try that.

[country gent]

If you have a min cut chamber and a max cut die you may not get to where you need to be with out removing some from the top of the shell holder or bottom of the die. This is usually under .010 needing to be removed. If you have several shell holders try a couple different ones to find the thinnest top portion. Some times camming over a little harder will get you there but this is harder on the press frame and linkage also.
Blacken a tight case with a magic marker and chamber it carefully and remove carefully this will show your high points with the marker being rubbed off the case. When you state fire formed brass was it fire formed in this rifle or another? Garands especially and most semi autos are hard on brass pulling the rims and case heads out of square due to how they function.
Go slow and recheck everything measuring what you can and usung the in to check see whats going on.

[725]

Have you examined the effects of crimping the bullet? A crimp with the standard die exerts downward pressure on the cartridge. Too much and the shoulder may begin to buckle. I've corrected that when I reload with a Lee Factory Crimp Die. YMMV.

[duckey]

The brass is fired formed to this rifle. I can try to cam over a bit more, will also try the marker trick. I forgot to mention that I am seating my bullets one to three thousands back form the lands, so I know that this is not the problem.

[duckey]

So I looked up SAMMI specs of the 30-06 Springfield and the min headspace is 2.0070 and max is 2.0526. I used a Sharpie on a good and bad fitting case and saw that my shoulder needs to be bumped back on the case e I could not close the bolt on, so will try caming over (however I am skeptical). I used my Hornady Lock N Load head space gauge and measured 10 cases and saw a varied speed of numbers, so I will add this step into my reloading process to weed out the trouble cases from the good.

[Texas by God]

Check your seating die adjustment. Make sure the base of the die is not contacting the shell holder at all.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[duckey]

So the SAMI specs show a MIN of 2.0526 and a MAX of 2.070 for head space, which will not work in my gun....so I think its safe to say that I have different tolerances in my chamber. My gun was manufactured in 1983. A head space no more than 2.034 works just fine.....with that said to much head space can be a safety issue. How much is to much?? I have reloaded about 10 rounds with a head space ranging from 2.027 - 2.034 which I have measured with my Hornady Lock N Load head space gauge and micrometer. I found slop in my shell holder that I shimmed using a stiff paper and I also turned my die down a tad until I found a happy medium. Do they make shell holders machined to different tolerances for this issue?

[duckey]

725

I'll chamber a few reloads and see, I have run into this before but I was half neck sizing at the time. I don't see any deformity after seating a bullet.

[duckey]

Country gent

My chamber is under SAMI specs. I could take a bit off the bottom go the die. I only have one Lee shell holder kit and one shell holder for 30-06.

[Larry Gibson]

When comparing cartridge headspace measured with the Hornady tool against SAAMI specs make sure the datum line diameters of the SAAMI spec is the same as the diameter of the Hornady bushing used. If I recall correctly the two are different for the '06. If they are not the same then you will get different measurements.

[duckey]

Larry Gibson

Just when I think I am on a roll....Well I am not sure if I know what the Hornady Lock N Load datum line would be for a Springfield 30-06, nor where to find that. May have to check this out on Hornady's site perhaps? The SAAMI website gives a drawing of the 30-06 measurements I'll take another look. Thanks for the feedback.

[izzyjoe]

I think those specs are a little off, look like 2.0487 min, 2.0587 max. Looks like they .010 leeway. How does it chamber factory ammunition?

[Pilgrim Sojourner]

Do they make shell holders machined to different tolerances for this issue?

This may (or may not) be helpful:
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/52...ngfield-45-acp

"Notes: Packaged 5 piece set in .002" increments (+.002", +.004", +.008" & +.010")
Each shellholder is clearly marked to indicate the amount it will decrease case to chamber headspace.
Set allows you to adjust case to chamber headspace of your reloads with a simple shellholder change. "

[duckey]

izzyjoe

Factory ammo has never been an issue. I haven't shot any in some time through this gun. I know that anything about 2.0400 (ish) and it will show difficulties chambering...and I have cleaned the chamber out.

Pilgrim Sojourner
thanks for the link...I'm glad there nice and cheap....lol

[izzyjoe]

That is a strange one for sure, I've run across a few rifles like that in the past years.

[duckey]

SAAMI specs aside I just have to go below the min spec for head space as the higher specs are just not able to chamber. I may have been doing this for a while now and just now taking measurements and seeing whats going on with these cases that are stubborn, haven't had any issues and my accuracy is real good.

[Larry Gibson]

Which bushing/or hole diameter are you using? I'm not near my equipment right now but if I remember correctly it should be the "C" bushing with a .375 diameter hole that hits the shoulder. That puts it lower on the shoulder than the SAAMI spec datum line.......thus the shorter headspacing you're measuring.

[duckey]

Yes it's a C 375 bushing.

[oldblinddog]

What is the size of the neck on a loaded cartridge that will chamber compared to one that won't?