I was right. Tight chamber.

[waco]

My contender does have a VERY tight chamber. I thought at first I just had some brass that was a little long. That was not the case. There was nothing wrong with anything I did in the loading process. This makes me happy. A test proves what I thought all along. Very tight chamber. All things being equal on two loads except one had the neck turned. After the rounds were loaded, the unturned neck measures .330" with a .309" cast boolit and will not chamber. The same load with the turned neck measures .328" and drops right in the chamber.
I feel better now finding out what the problem was and that it wasn't anything I was doing.
Man, brass neck thickness varies quit a bit. The round on the top has the neck turned, below unturned.
Waco.

[Lonegun1894]

Glad you're working this out. I've been reading your posts because I keep thinking about getting a .30-30 barrel for my Contender.

[Tatume]

A loaded cartridge chamber neck diameter of 0.330" is within specifications for the 30-30 Winchester, although it is right at the maximum. Nevertheless, it should fit a SAAMI chamber.

[leadman]

From my experience the manufacturers seem to not follow SAMMI standards very often. Look at the dimensions that the 44 magnum handgun barrels and cylinders are being produced to then check the SAMMI dimensions. Some current 45acp pistols are being made with no leade causing problems with cast boolits. There are other issues as well.

Glad waco identified the issue. Very unusual to have a tight neck in a T/C barrel. I do know of one gunsmith that would buy unchambered T/C barrels so this might be how it was chambered tight.

[waco]

I'm just glad I figured it out. Now to test some loads. The boolits in the picture are Lee 309-113gr. I have several powders to try. Should make a good plinker. I have a couple other molds in the 160-170gr range to try to.