Sizing die issues

[osteodoc08]

Working on the 22-250. New hornady brass. Sized, trimmed loaded. Shot sub MOA groups.

The problem now is that full length sized again, however, when chambering a resized but empty casing, there are issues with the shoulder being too far forward. See pictures. 91053
This one is with sharpie on it before loading.

91054

This is after. Bolt is a little sticky closing. Takes extra effort but not much.

In over 20+ years of reloading, never ran into this issue.

Suggestions?

[NuJudge]

For a turnbolt, the bolt handle closing a little sticky is not a bad thing, except when you need to do rapid fire.

I would think that your full length size die is not screwed in quite enough. Run a fired case up into the full length size die again, and have a bright light shining between the shell holder and the size die, and see if you see light between the shell holder and the die. If so, try screwing it in another 1/4 turn.

[SWANEEDB]

You should only have to neck size, had the same problem with a 22-250, you will get a lot of case stretch on full length sizing, well, maybe yes-maybe no.

[osteodoc08]

For a turnbolt, the bolt handle closing a little sticky is not a bad thing, except when you need to do rapid fire.

I would think that your full length size die is not screwed in quite enough. Run a fired case up into the full length size die again, and have a bright light shining between the shell holder and the size die, and see if you see light between the shell holder and the die. If so, try screwing it in another 1/4 turn.

It's all the way up to it and caming over with a "bump" on the downstroke of the handle.

[220swiftfn]

A little odd, but you might have a tight/short chamber. Remember that the 22-250 was a wildcat for MANY years before Remington "legitimized" it, so you can find differing dimensions, shoulder angles, etc. That being said, the easy way to fix is either to take a little (.020-.030") off of either the die mouth, or the shell holder face. This will let the case enter further into the die, gaining you the ability to bump the shoulder back the couple thou that you need.


Dan

[Mk42gunner]

Take the decapping rod out of the sizing die and try a case or two. If those cases freely chamber, the problem is the expander ball dragging when you pull it out of the case.

The solution is to either polish the expander ball or to lube the inside of the case necks better, or both.

It seems to me like there is more problems with the expander ball pulling the shoulder forward on cases with a lot of taper.

Robert

[GabbyM]

Take the decapping rod out of the sizing die and try a case or two. If those cases freely chamber, the problem is the expander ball dragging when you pull it out of the case.

The solution is to either polish the expander ball or to lube the inside of the case necks better, or both.

It seems to me like there is more problems with the expander ball pulling the shoulder forward on cases with a lot of taper.

Robert

That’s your issue almost for sure.
I’d guess your dies are also grossly over sizing the case neck. Could be all you need is a jar of dry case neck lube from Sinclair. You'll not have nice straight cases if you have to much pressure on the upstroke expander.

I bought a new Hornady 30 caliber neck size die last summer. The die only lacked a few thousandths inch from sizing my 30-06 brass down to a 7 mm.
I tossed that Junker in the back of my drawer and ordered a bushing neck die in a different color box. You can have your size dies neck section honed out for a reasonable fee. Much less cash than go into a bushing die system. I got three bushings in .002” increments for different sized cast bullets in the 30 caliber. Some big bucks in that die. But I can load my .312” bullets. Brass should last longer than I do running at around 35,000 psi.

[EDG]

Your FL sizer die needs to be set down .001 to .003 more.
When you size with a FL die it squeezes the sides in before it starts pushing on the shoulder.
When the sider are pushed in the shoulder is pushed forward just like a balloon.
The Hornady case head space gauge is good to measuring that change. There are several youtube videos showing this hand tool in use.
You can try slowly sizing a case and then extract a little, turn and size again, repeat again for 3 resizing. At the top of each sizing stroke let the ram dwell 3 or 4 seconds to allow the brass to creep to its new size. This may allow your cases to chamber. The 22-250 has a good bit of taper so it is like driving a self locking wedge into your die.

If that does not work continue as follows.
Deprime some cases with a hand punch.
Put them in your set up with a .003 feeler gauge shim under the case head - and size.
If that is not enough try a .006 feeler. Once you find out what works you can back down the shim size until the drag on the bolt is barely detectable. That is about .000 clearance in your rifle. Then use a shim about .002 thicker than the shim that gave .000.
If you cannot get your die set to match the shim results you can get some one to grind off the shell holder or the bottom of the die. If you grind the shell holder mark it or paint it and keep it only in the box with that set of dies. Remember any modification has to be a precision operation.

[hornetman]

The Redding competition shell holder set has five shell holders varying in height from + .002 to to +.010. This is an easy fix to a multitude of chambering problems if used correctly. However, they are rather pricey-around 50 dollars from most mail order places.

[Doc_Stihl]

Did you check your OAL?

[Larry Gibson]

It's all the way up to it and caming over with a "bump" on the downstroke of the handle.

Ergo the problem. You've a minimum chamber with dies and shell holder on the max side dimensionally. Not a bad thing, rather good actually when FL resizing. Screw the FL die in so there is no "cam over". The shell holder should bump solid on the face of the FL die. That will probably solve the problem. If not the fix is easy and simple.

However, as I've used the 22-250 in several rifles over the years including the current M700 I also suggest just neck sizing for best accuracy and much, much longer case life. I usually NS and fire 22-250 cases about 6 -8 times before a FL size and trim is necessary. Case life is extremely good that way.

Larry Gibson

[GabbyM]

I’d suggest setting your FL die with no expander ball used. That way you won’t be compensating for any length you may be pulling the shoulder forwards with the ball. Also try chambering a case before you FL size it. They should chamber right back in after being fired in the same gun. Why would he need to FL size or set the shoulder back on brass that was fired in the same rifle one time?
My premise is, if neck sizing doesn't work there is an issue. Sure you may be able to over run the FL die to the point where case is over sized more than the expander button pulled the shoulder back up. People do it all the time.

I'll add that fine tuning die adjustments over the internet isn't easy.