another reloading question

1chig

I to have the pleasure and enjoyment of reloading my own ammo though i am fairly new at it , about a year, im addicted. I have another simple ( i hope ) question. I reload mostly for remington rifles and a few others. I have 5 remington 700 rifles, a 600, and a 788. I use a lee 3 hole turret and mostly rcbs dies. My question is , i can load for my rem. and the case will be a little tight running through the gun, but i can run it through a ruger of same caliber or any other for that mater and it will play through like factory. This is the same on all the remington rifles.They are fairly new rifles. I dont know why this is. Do i needto adjust dye differently ?? the cases are all trimed the same.Bullets seated to correct length.They just run through a little tight. They seem to shoot just fine, and factory ammo runs through just fine. Am i worring about nothin or do i need to do something different.

BGHillbilly

What calibers are you talking about and what are you calling tight? My experience with Rem guns is confined to a 7mm08 788. Since 7mm08 ammo was hard to find and brass was impossible to find I usually necked down Lake City 7.62 Nato brass from the 60's. Loading to just touching the riflings my ammo/gun was always tight. My palm would be bruised after a day at the range. What was causing the tightness was long heavy btsp bullets which were engauging the riflings along with thick brass at the neck. Guess you need to determine if the tightness was is caused by brass or bullet. The rifling may start just a little bit sooner in the remington guns.

B17-P51

Although you stated that you are just running them through the rifles, I assume that you are just cycling them through the action. That said, there are slight chamber and barell variations in the same make, model, and caliber with consecutive serial numbers. There are most certainly variations with different manufactuers.I would hope that you are wise enough to not work up a load for one rifle and fire it another of the same caliber. I think this may answer your question but if not, clarify, and someone will help you.

1chig

I load for a .17, 223, 243, 22-250, 25-06, 270, and 7mm mag.also for a newly purchased 220 swift classic in remington. By tight i mean it takes a little more effort to close the bolt than it does for factory ammo.What i do is when i resize i run the case through the gun to see if it will run through. they are usualy just a little tighter than factory. then i load them and seat the bullet. They just are a little tight, but not so tight they bruise my hand. But then i run them threw another rifle that my brother has and they run through like factory. Through my rifles they shoot great and no signs of stress,other than being tight to close the bolt. I also have a couple of browning a bolt rifles i load for that work just fine (cycle like factory)..I just would like to know if im worried about nothing or if i can fix this.Guess i just want to try and get it perfect[:I] thanks for the help.

BGHillbilly

If they don't show signs of high pressure, your happy with the performance, and can work the bolt without hitting it; I say your worried for nothing.

zimmden

It is best to determine WHY a load is 'tight" in the chamber. It could be the COL (load too long ) case neck too long ( case needs trimming ), case neck too tight (case needs neck turning), headspace too short (need to check with HS gage and adjust dies accordingly) or case head or body area is too large (small base dies might be needed. All of these conditions can result in increased chamber pressure. As previous posts stated, this chamber is tighter for an unknown reason. Finding the cause will insure safer loads.

stevecrea

As zimmden pointed out, you should rule out any of the insidious causes of tightness, because those could be problematic, causing dangerous pressure and inconsistency.

However, if you rule those out, and the "tightness" is merely a "comfortable snugness", I have always preferred this condition to a too loose fit. You indicated that it just takes "a little more effort to close the bolt than for factory." Keep in mind that the factory ammo is specified to be a bit loose so it fits a variety of chambers. However, that is not the preferred specification for an individual chamber such as yours.

If you are using cases that have already been fired in that particular chamber, and I assume that is the case, then those cases are now custom-fitted for your chamber. The mild snugness suggests this, and is preferred for accuracy.

Rocky Raab

In theory, all US-made guns and ammunition conform to standards established by the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers Institute (SAAMI). The standards are set so that every round of factory ammunition will chamber and fire safely in every gun made for that cartridge.

However, in manufacturing, there are dimensional allowances, and it is possible that a cartridge that falls within the standards at the largest limits might fit very snugly in a gun chambered to the smallest limits.

Handloaded ammunition might not conform to SAAMI standards, of course. If a round doesn't fit a given gun, you might have to adjust your loading technique for that one gun - and mark the ammo loaded for it. You might have to trim the necks a wee bit shorter, size the case a wee bit smaller or shorter, or seat bullets a wee bit deeper for that gun alone.

1chig

ok i think i might have a headspace problem . i was messing arround with a couple of them this morning, resized a couple of cases like normal, adjusted die 1/4 turn down after touching shell holder.Tried them through gun, looks like the extractor is shining the case head.Does this mean i need to adjust the die a little further in? I really do appreciate all the help and input.

Rocky Raab

You probably can't adjust the die any farther down that that. I'd check the trim length. That's the #1 thing that causes my guns to close with bolt tightness.

1chig

this is what i have done.I adjusted the die,instead of 1/4 turn down i went down 3/4 of a turn down.It seems to help not so tight closing the bolt and no case head shining. Why would this make a difference?

Rocky Raab

That would help only if your press has a lot of "spring" in it. If the press gives, the sizer die doesn't come down as far as it does without a case in place.

JKB57

I just went through this with a 338 win mag one is a model 70 XTR the other a rowning A Bolt Medallion,if the brass is fired in the A Bolt I have to set my die 1/4 turn past shell holder and they work fine ,howerver the brass fired in the Model 70 and sized the same way is tight or will not close in the A Bolt,contacted RCBS they had me turn the die 1/2 turn down past contact with shell holder and size the cases from the winchester and try them in the A Bolt surprising they worked,RCBS said the chamber on the Model 70 may not be in SAAMI Specs or a large chamber and it appears the browning has a tight tollarence chamber,so my conclusion is to use only the brass fired in the A Bolt for the Abolt and that for the winchester for the winchester,the stuff I have sized for the A bolt will work in any 338 we have tried but anything fired in another gun and not sized to my chamber will not.You can send 5 fired casings from your gun with the tight chamber to RCBS and they will fit that die to that chamber if you so wish,but I found it easier just to keep my brass seperated for that gun

Okie743

Try your hulls in the rifle chamber BEFORE loading the bullet and powder! (this will give you an idea as to if its the bullet, neck, etc before all is loaded) It's most commonly the brass case that is too snug and if tightening down the die does not correct for that particular gun, you may need to go to a small base sizer die, although I've never had too do such for any bolt action gun as most dies can be set to OVERSIZE (push the shoulder back too far) to cases that headspace off the shoulder. Some chambers are tighter than others due to the specs!
Also some dies can be screwed down so far that the shoulder is pushed back too far for proper headspacing and the extractor will not grab the Hull for ejection until the case is fired! 30;06 is one example! This is why for some calibers your should use a HEADSPACE CASE GAUGE FOR RELOADING! This IS NOT a chamber headspace gauge! It's a headspace brass case HULL gauge to gauge if you are pushing back the shoulder of the brass too far, because you are screwing down the sizing die too far!
I prefer a reloaded case to feel a little snug in a bolt action gun, if I know it's the hull that's snug and NOT the bullet being seated into the rifling! When I feel the snug brass hull I know I'm not oversizing (overworking) the brass! I use neck sizer dies on most of my calibers and then chamber check for fit before loading the primer, powder bullet and if too snug I bring the case to proper feel by using a full length sizing die!

1chig

i appreciate all the input on this problem.I do try them in the chamber before i load the powder and bullets, this is where i notice the problem. This is what i have tried and seems to work, i dont know if is the correct way or not. I take the decapping,expanding ball out of the die and screw the die in the press just touching the shell holder.then i run the case in and then check the neck.you can see the roll in the neck. i keep doing this until i see the roll get to the shoulder of the case then i adjust die a little bit more down, not much then set the die in that position and put decapping,expander back in and resize.It seems to work.Any input would be appreciated. I alsoordered a headspace guage for this cal. just in case. thanks guys