Brand new lapua brass, stiff bolt while loading into rifle?

[Bigeclipse]

All,
My wife has a savage rifle with a barrel which I purchased from Apache gunworks. I went to work up some loads for the rifle using brand new lapua brass. Every few pieces of brass are slightly stiff to load into the rifle (Not stiff bolt lift after firing). I decided to then run some pieces of brass through a full sizing die to see if that would help and it did not. I still get an occasional stiff bolt while loading. This has never happened with any factory ammo so I am pretty confident it is not the barrel. Thoughts?

As an FYI, I fired those rounds and there were no pressure signs that I can see so I'm also confident they are safe to proceed using.

 

[26Reload]

Okay...i will stab at this one....
All factory chamber fine....
Some reloads stiff closing bolt....are all fired brass able to rechamber without pressure?
If so...
...maybe there's a touch of carbon near the throat....
...maybe those particular brass need extra trimming...
...maybe full lenght die needs a slight turn out..maybe at the point of starting to smash the body....

 

[Bigeclipse]

Okay...i will stab at this one....
All factory chamber fine....
Some reloads stiff closing bolt....are all fired brass able to rechamber without pressure?
If so...
...maybe there's a touch of carbon near the throat....
...maybe those particular brass need extra trimming...
...maybe full lenght die needs a slight turn out..maybe at the point of starting to smash the body....

Ill check that the fired brass can all chamber without being stiff on the bolt. What is the best way to clean the throat of the barrel? I will remeasure all brass, but I believe all were within spec as far as length goes. As for the dies needing a slight turn out, are you saying that the way I have them currently set may be causing the body of the brass to bulge slightly due to pressing hard on the shoulder of the brass?

 

[26Reload]

Keep one piece of brass that does not work correctly for a sample......until things are cleaned....

For cleaning....i started with carburator cleaner...spray it in and it takes a matter of seconds to loosen...then a wire brush on a drill for a few seconds...and spray again...wipe clean...
And for dies....yes...maybe you are camming over and causing a few pieces to widen....it may be at the shoulder or the base...but it can and does happen..a slight loosening turn of the die could change it all for the better...

 

[Mike 338]

Try a different primer. Could be some are sitting a bit proud. Or possibly take the ones that aren't going in well and re-seat the primer good and hard. Probably want to wear safety glasses for that operation and don't point the bullet at anything while your doing it.

 

[Bigeclipse]

Okay...i will stab at this one....
All factory chamber fine....
Some reloads stiff closing bolt....are all fired brass able to rechamber without pressure?
If so...
...maybe there's a touch of carbon near the throat....
...maybe those particular brass need extra trimming...
...maybe full lenght die needs a slight turn out..maybe at the point of starting to smash the body....

Try a different primer. Could be some are sitting a bit proud. Or possibly take the ones that aren't going in well and re-seat the primer good and hard. Probably want to wear safety glasses for that operation and don't point the bullet at anything while your doing it.

the primers are flush with the bottom of the cases. The primers go in just fine.

 

[toddc]

Chamber is too tight. You screwed the barrel too far in. Check headspace again. One possible explanation

 

[Mike 338]

the primers are flush with the bottom of the cases. The primers go in just fine.

That's cool. I've had that problem before and it was the primers. It takes just a second to re-seat a primer in a problem bullet, just to eliminate that thing. Not much wiggle room for primers when your set to minimum headspace.

Another thing is using compressed loads. I've crammed so much powder in a case that it bulged the case enough that it didn't want to go in.

 

[Rich Coyle]

Did the cases go in before you loaded them?

 

[Dosh]

Keep one piece of brass that does not work correctly for a sample......until things are cleaned....

For cleaning....i started with carburator cleaner...spray it in and it takes a matter of seconds to loosen...then a wire brush on a drill for a few seconds...and spray again...wipe clean...
And for dies....yes...maybe you are camming over and causing a few pieces to widen....it may be at the shoulder or the base...but it can and does happen..a slight loosening turn of the die could change it all for the better...

Big, perhaps a wire brush in your barrel could be a bit harsh. The wire brush on a drill could cause irreparable damage. Try a nylon brush on a protective coated cleaning rod.

 

[Bigeclipse]

Chamber is too tight. You screwed the barrel too far in. Check headspace again. One possible explanation

Headspace is correct as far as the go and no-go gauges are concerned. Also, I have purchased 5 different brands of factory ammo and none have been tight. 100 rounds or so. The lapis brass, I would say every 1 out of 10 were a bit snug.

 

[Mike 338]

Did the cases go in before you loaded them?

I like this approach. I'd disassemble a few of those duds and try to identify the problem by adding one component at a time to try to replicate the problem. I once had this problem where some Federal primers were causing fits like this. Different primers... no more problem.

 

[26Reload]

I don't believe you will ever find that a liteweight barrel brush will ever ruin a steel barrel.....if so then most every smooth bore shotgun or muzzleloader that has plastic wads shot thru it is garbage......and cleaning the throat and cartridge area with a good brush should be done before running a nice fiber brush inside...fiber brushes are great for finish work....

 

[bigedp51]

Color the problem cases all over with a black felt tip marker and see where the black wears off.

And make sure the rear of the primer is flush with the base of the case. I have also had new cases where the primer pockets were not deep enough. I could not believe how much brass was removed when uniforming the primer pockets.