Brass a bit stiff when chambering....at my wits end. Help!

[thwatson2]

Check headspace and bump .005 instead of .002, full Length size, and trim brass. If all those check out, then cull the sticky brass as you suggested it only happens to some brass. Of course based on the premise you have cleaned out the chamber of all carbon.

 

[BoatTail]

Is the chamber a SAAMI chamber? My first thought is that it isn't and you necks may need to be turned.

 

[ncmeatgrinder]

I had the same problem, with the same gun, but different caliber. Found I need to bump the shoulder back more as some have suggested. I made a dummy round (no power or primer) and set the shoulder back until it chambered smoothly. Never had the problem again. Gun still shoots lights out.

 

[oneeyejohn]

I had this problem when using GI brass in my 30-06. I tried every thing could find reading, talking and talking to myself. I used a hornady datum line gauge and could not get the shoulder to set any deeper.
Finely I ground about a 1/16" of the bottom of the die and screwed it down to resized a case until it would feed and close like normal factory loads. I have found the same problem with custom chambers and ground of the die bottom to fix the problem. My problem with the case that is hard to load is almost always a datum line problem.

 

[skipglo]

All,

I am trying to reload for a Browning Xbolt long range in 28Nosler. Factory rounds chamber fine but some pieces of one fired resized nosler brass are giving me sticky bolt feedback (id say 1 out of 5 pieces). I commented here a few times and most came back saying either the chamber is tight, the die is too long or the shell holder is too long. Well I have since ground down the shell holder to below spec height, purchased a bump die from redding and I am still having the same pieces give me a slightly stiff bolt when cycling. What exactly is going on here? I am opened to all suggestions at this point.

3-4 things.... try a different box ( manufacturer ) factory shells....shoot 3 rounds and reload them and try them. 2- you could seat the bullet 5 thousands deeper....3 take brass you have ...size it and without seating a bullet...try it in your gun...then bump the shoulder back and back until the bolt drops readily....if it's not stiff empty then it tells you you are into the lands

 

[Uncle yib]

All,

I am trying to reload for a Browning Xbolt long range in 28Nosler. Factory rounds chamber fine but some pieces of one fired resized nosler brass are giving me sticky bolt feedback (id say 1 out of 5 pieces). I commented here a few times and most came back saying either the chamber is tight, the die is too long or the shell holder is too long. Well I have since ground down the shell holder to below spec height, purchased a bump die from redding and I am still having the same pieces give me a slightly stiff bolt when cycling. What exactly is going on here? I am opened to all suggestions at this point.

You might wanna see if anyone has a shell checker for 28 Nosler Lyman makes custom shell checkers i use the shell checkers to make sure that my dies are staying on and are not drifting sounds to me like you may have got a couple pieces of bad brass pull the brass out that is sticking in the next time you shoot and resize if you don't have any problems with sticky shells then you know some of the brass was just bad

 

[Magnett]

If those measurements are of brass that you have sized then the issue is the consistency of your sizing processes. You should be able to get all the cases within 0.0005" at the datum on the shoulder. It could be the die setting, slop in press linkages (not usually), inconsistent lubing (more likely culprit with your measurements. I use a Rockchucker II, a Redding BB, and a Hood press. I set them all to slightly cam over when touching the shellholder. I may go through several shellholders to find the right deck height to give me the setback I need or adjust the base of the die/top of a shellholder if I can't find one that does the trick without mods. I would eval your lubing process first though.

I have noticed that my base to datum measurements are more consistent if I pause for a second at the top of the upstroke of my ram (thereby fully resizing the case.) This seems to lessen the spring back of the case after it is sized.

 

[Cammo]

Comparator lengths are as follows:

2 with bolt pressure when chambering: 2.2340 and 2.2325

8 with zero bolt pressure: 2.2310, 2.2305, 2.2310, 2.2320, 2.2305, 2.2290, 2.2295, 2.2310.


All were fired from a different person who sold me this gun so I cannot verify that all were originally shot in this gun. My worry is that the 8 which chamber fine simply chamber fine for now but may grow further and then not chamber if maybe there is something wrong with the gun itself. Thoughts?

Think you might have just answered your own question.

 

[foul bore]

I am glad you got the problem resolved. It can drive you crazy trying to figure something like that out. I had a similar problem with a loaded cartridge, it was primer seating depth. sure happy when you cure the issue. constant learning with loading and shooting, part of the fun

 

[jimbires]

Well I will be stand corrected. it was my lubing process. I went back and wiped all the parts off of the die. Relubed those pieces of brass. Sized them again, and bingo...they chamber. Wow. I feel dumb. Why would lube make such a big deal?

if you would have looked at the shellholder and die when you were sizing at the top of the press stroke you should have seen a gap . what happens is the lube is allowing friction between the brass and the die . this friction is enough to spring the press a little . when the press springs the brass doesn't go fully in the die . when the brass doesn't go completely in the die , the brass does not get fully sized . I've went full circle on case lubes . I started with a lube pad , and I'm back to using a lube pad .

 

[Tulsa Reiner]

ok. I can do that but what exactly will that tell me? just curious.

It will tell you whether or not you are pushing the shoulder back when resizing. If not, you are trying to chamber unmodified fire formed brass. It is exactly the length of your chamber, and can make chambering difficult.
Also, as mentioned above, partial sizing actually lengthens the neck, which might be causing impingement.

 

[Tumbleweed]

All,

I am trying to reload for a Browning Xbolt long range in 28Nosler. Factory rounds chamber fine but some pieces of one fired resized nosler brass are giving me sticky bolt feedback (id say 1 out of 5 pieces). I commented here a few times and most came back saying either the chamber is tight, the die is too long or the shell holder is too long. Well I have since ground down the shell holder to below spec height, purchased a bump die from redding and I am still having the same pieces give me a slightly stiff bolt when cycling. What exactly is going on here? I am opened to all suggestions at this point.

It is your brass! Some batches of Nosler brass have tons of spring back even with annealing. I had 40 rounds in 30 Nosler that were complete garbage. This stuff showed false pressure signs as virgin, factory ammo with sticky extraction. I thought i just had a tight barrel as it was new. I annealed every 3 firings and really had to adjust my sizing die way down just to get an easy re-chamber. Running very light reloads I'd get sticky extraction every time.
Finally wised up and realized that my shoulder datum measurement was about .003" longer than my actual chamber after extraction. Just crap quality brass on this lot. Bought ADG and all problems went away.

 

[Bwana Barry]

I had the same problem, with the same gun, but different caliber. Found I need to bump the shoulder back more as some have suggested. I made a dummy round (no power or primer) and set the shoulder back until it chambered smoothly. Never had the problem again. Gun still shoots lights out.

How did you set the shoulder back? Which method is the simplist? 30-06 and Redding kit...thanks

 

[Bwana Barry]

3-4 things.... try a different box ( manufacturer ) factory shells....shoot 3 rounds and reload them and try them. 2- you could seat the bullet 5 thousands deeper....3 take brass you have ...size it and without seating a bullet...try it in your gun...then bump the shoulder back and back until the bolt drops readily....if it's not stiff empty then it tells you you are into the lands

How to bump shoulder back? Tks.