Too much neck tension???

Started loading for a new to me 300WSM today, using once fired Hornady nickel plated cases, 200gr ELD-X and brand new RCBS dies.
I ran cases through the full length sizer per RCBS instructions, and the first bullet I seated shaved copper something fierce and took quite some force to seat. I then chamfered all cases which did help with the shavings, although it didn't go away completely, and the amount of force required to seat the bullets was more than double that of what I'm used to loading for my .270 win.
Can anyone help with what might be going on here??

What is your neck tension? That will tell you if it's high or not.

Are you using a vld style chamfer on the case neck?

Make sure that you are not bulging the case with that much seating pressure. If you can, try to chamber one of the cartridges.

Quicksilver338 said:

What is your neck tension? That will tell you if it's high or not.

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I tried measuring with my calipers which is all I have at the moment, figured it might not be the most precise way. Measuring the thickness of the case gave me about .015-.016, and neck diameter of .336-.337 on those that I measured, soooo if that was in fact correct then its not high.

crashlanding said:

Are you using a vld style chamfer on the case neck?

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No, I believe its the RCBS chamfer/deburr tool.

Laelkhunter said:

Make sure that you are not bulging the case with that much seating pressure. If you can, try to chamber one of the cartridges.

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I will do that when I'm back at the shop at my dads place.

nickel plating likely causes the issue to be worse than regular brass?
Might take more chamfer than normal.

MEasure outside of neck, before & after seating a bullet. .002 to .004" increase, after seating should be ok.

Make sure the seat stem fits the bullet ogive.

Nickel brass is harder.

Measure expander diameter. Should be .0015" smaller then bullet diameter.

First off, remove the expander stem from your FL die, measure the OD of the size button, then using 400-800grit wet/dry and WD40 spin it up in a drill and polish it exactly .002" under bullet diameter, it should be .306".
Size a case with the expander removed, measure it, then do another case with the expander installed and measure again.
If the difference is more than .005", then your die is moving a lot of brass.
Nickel is hard on your die, polishing the expander will help stop the bullet shaving and so will a nice chamfer inside/outside of the neck. You do not NEED a VLD type chamfer tool in most situations.
Hope this helps.

Cheers.

If .015"-.016" is what you have that's a ton! Most don't go over .005".

Quicksilver338 said:

If .015"-.016" is what you have that's a ton! Most don't go over .005".

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That was the variance of the brass thickness measuring with my calipers.

You can always use a mandrel so the tension will be a same on all cases.

I wouldn't reload nickel plated brass more than once or twice. If it's all you've got, go ahead. Be sure an get a good VLD chamfer, if you do, boat tail bullets should slide right in.