6.5-06 ai HELP!!!

OK, so the headspace bushing arrived today and I took apart one of the last three rounds that came with the rifle; It read 2.1115. (Still need to come down some to meet your 2.092 recommendation.) This round cycles flawlessly in the action. The rounds that I reloaded were between 2.115 and 2.116, they were stiff to close the bolt on and even harder to get the to eject.

Now the problem I'm running into is that the most I can get my die to bump the shoulder is down to 2.1125. This is will the body of the die (decapper out) making good contact with the shell and a very noticeable spring in the press and the end of the stroke. If the die is turned down any farther a full stroke is not obtainable.

Any advise?
 

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Yes, I was going from memory so I may have been wrong. Here's what you need to do. Take one of your fired cases and knock the primer out with a small screwdriver or a decapping tool if you have one. You want to get the primer out without sizing the case. Then use your headspace gauge to measure a fired case. Subtract .002" from that and set your die up to size to that measurement and you should be golden
 
Sounds like you have a short chamber and a long die. This is easily remedied by using a feeler gauge in between the case head and shell holder when sizing. Start at .003", then .005", then .008" and finally .010". One of these will yield the correct bump, just check a case in the chamber each time and use a different case each time. Once you determine the correct amount to use, buy a new shell holder and get that amount turned off the top of it, thus will allow the case to enter the die that amount further into the case, keep it with your die set.
I have had to do this a few times with custom chambers.
Hope this gelps you out of a sticky situation.

Cheers.
gun)
 
Magnummaniac,

Guess you missed this: "very noticeable spring in the press and the end of the stroke. If the die is turned down any farther a full stroke is not obtainable."

I use feeler gauges to help set the die the correct depth. In this situation the OP needs MORE sizing not less.

j3564wost:

I have encountered the issue of a die not sizing a case enough even with the "noticeable spring" from going over the top with the press. Some rifles done by my gunsmith were headspaced on the short side.

Simplest way is to grind off some of the surface of the shell holder. Based on your measurements you are almost there. More severe sizing can be accomplished by removing some material from the bottom of the die. Try the shell holder first.

Let us know what happens.
 
AZShooter said:
Magnummaniac,

Guess you missed this: "very noticeable spring in the press and the end of the stroke. If the die is turned down any farther a full stroke is not obtainable."

I use feeler gauges to help set the die the correct depth. In this situation the OP needs MORE sizing not less.

j3564wost:

I have encountered the issue of a die not sizing a case enough even with the "noticeable spring" from going over the top with the press. Some rifles done by my gunsmith were headspaced on the short side.

Simplest way is to grind off some of the surface of the shell holder. Based on your measurements you are almost there. More severe sizing can be accomplished by removing some material from the bottom of the die. Try the shell holder first.

Let us know what happens.
Click to expand...
AZshooter,
Re-read my post, you DO NOT know what you are talking about.
Using a feeler gauge UNDER the case is the SAME as removing metal from EITHER the TOP of the shell holder, or the BOTTOM of the die. The feeler gauge RAISES the case FURTHER into the die by the amount it measures.

To the OP, DO NOT remove metal from any die, shell holders are cheap, dies are dearer to replace.
I have had succes with removing .010" from the TOP of the shell holder, and then adjusting the die until you get the bolt to close with the slightest feel on a sized case.

Cheers.
lightbulb
 
Thanks for the input guys. I think I narrowed down the problem....

I had an extra shell holder so I was able to grind some off to reach the 2.092". I had to take off .0375 to reach it but oh well....

So with the headspace at the "correct" size I tried chamberring the shell and wouldn't you know it, it still wasn't right.....

So I played around with it a little more. I took the bolt out and tried just lightly dropping one of the last loaded rounds in the chamber. It went in and seated all the way and came out when the rifle was pointed up. Next I tried it with the head spaced round. When I dropped it in it Did Not seat all the way. It stopped about .25" short and had to be pushed with my finger to seat all the way.....so.....
 
Obviously you did not read my last post. I was going from memory on the 2.092" measurement. IF the headspace on one of the loaded rounds you got with the gun measured 2.1115" then the 2.092" measurement was wrong. If you bumped a case back to 2.092" now you have excessive headspace. Think about it. If the round you measured that fit the gun well was 2.1115" why would you bump your shoulders back any more than that?? The 2.1115" measurement should be good but like I said before you need to measure to the shoulder on a fired case to see where to size the case back to.

Example. If a fired case measured 2.113" then bump your shoulders when you resize to 2.111" and life should be good. A good way to test that is to pull the firing pin out and close the bolt on the resized brass. If the bolt closes with no resistance you are good. If the bolt closes with resistance you have one of three things happening. 1. You need to bump shoulders back a little more. 2. Cases are longer than chamber length and need trimmed. 3. Your die is not sizing the body of the case enough and that is creating resistance (slim possibility but not likely)

DONT size any more cases to 2.092"!
 
CPGfan I did read what you wrote and that's why I wanted to try to get it down to 2.092. Yes I know you we're going from memory but I'm at a lost now on a solution and trying anything I can think of...so I'm out a piece of brass and an old shell holder...

It seems headspace is not the issue anymore. The case around the base has grown by FL sizing it, thus not allowing it to freely enter the chamber. This is on all the resized brass.

I also tried trimming well below trim to length just to see, same results.

Any thoughts?

Thank you again everyone for input its obviously above my head...
 
Did you measure the case to compare the body to the already loaded round that fits. If so then it sound like the die has a clearance/slop issue. This is what I have experienced is the neck gets to thick on it neck wall. I had some 6.5x284 get so thick it was starting to give me some issues when tring to chamber with a seated bullet. I think the un chamber stuff was doing the same. It been my experience the webbing at the bottom get thinned out and the case necks get thick. This was after about 10 to 12 full length sizing on some Lapua brass. I know by this time it was toast and its sad to say even though I love the lapua brass my butt still puckered a little when I had to lay out another 145.00 for new cases 100 count. And yes I don't neck turn the brass. manner of fact some of these that had 12 reloads on them finally had a case breach at the webbing. I could see the slight powder burn marks. :D....Little to much use out of them I guess. Ultra mag cases did the same but at 6 reloads. Just my 2 cents. Does the orginal owner of the rifle have the dies he/she was using. If so maybe they would be willing to let them go.
 
I agree with the above statement. I am the original owner of the gun and I had custom dies built from hornady. I sent them 3 fired cases and had a set of dies built. So I never had any issues with that gun. I have had three other rifles built with the same reamer and used the same dies and never had any issues. My suggestion is the Op do the same. Send 3 cases to hornady and get some dies built. Sounds like the redding dies he is using will not size the body back enough to permit easy chambering. I sold the dies with the last 6.5-06AI I had so they are not available.
 
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