Old Fired Cases Won't Chamber in New Barrel

[Roughrice]

Thanks for all the great replies! I know it's the web area of the case that's hanging up and not the shoulder. New brass loads fine. If I measure the diameter of the web area and compare a case fired in the old barrel to a case fired in the new barrel, it's wider in the case fired in the old barrel. I resized a case to the full extent my FL die will allow, screwed it all the way down, and it still won't chamber.

I need to try either a 300rum FL die or a base die, I would just buy some new Norma cases if I could find some.

Small base dies are not expensive and may allow you to use brass fired from the old barrel ... if you have lots of it.
Otherwise, throw em and buy new brass and be done.

 

[Rocketeer77]

I recently rebarreled a 270wsm. I have close to 300 cases that were all fired in the previous barrel. I used some new cases to make the loads I used to break in the new barrel. I also used these newly fired cases to measure the headspace of the new barrel. This morning I FL sized a few of my old cases and bumped the shoulders .002" back. When I checked to make sure they would chamber, I found out they won't. They get hung up in the belt area of the case and I can't get the bolt to close.

The FL die I use is a Redding Type S FL Bushing Die. It touches the belt area of the case when I FL size it but obviously does not size it down sufficiently enough for the case to chamber in my new barrel.

Do I have any options for getting these previously fired cases sized so they will chamber and I can shoot them in my new barrel? I do have some new cases I can use, but not too many. And with how hard it is to find new cases these days, I would really like to use my old cases, especially because I have close to 300 of them and they would last me a long time.

Thanks for any advice.

Full length resize all of them, the only 100% identical chambers are from the same new reamer. Usually with identical barrel dimensions & material. Also an older well used barrel will have chamber wear opening up the dimensions by a few thou. Enough to create critical dimensional differences.

 

[hoot1848]

I recently rebarreled a 270wsm. I have close to 300 cases that were all fired in the previous barrel. I used some new cases to make the loads I used to break in the new barrel. I also used these newly fired cases to measure the headspace of the new barrel. This morning I FL sized a few of my old cases and bumped the shoulders .002" back. When I checked to make sure they would chamber, I found out they won't. They get hung up in the belt area of the case and I can't get the bolt to close.

The FL die I use is a Redding Type S FL Bushing Die. It touches the belt area of the case when I FL size it but obviously does not size it down sufficiently enough for the case to chamber in my new barrel.

Do I have any options for getting these previously fired cases sized so they will chamber and I can shoot them in my new barrel? I do have some new cases I can use, but not too many. And with how hard it is to find new cases these days, I would really like to use my old cases, especially because I have close to 300 of them and they would last me a long time.

Thanks for any advice.

You might want to check the shellholder different manufacturers have different specs for shellholders I have run into that problem with a 6.5-06 or it could be a tighter chamber on the new barrel or a few other things as these guys have suggested they are pretty sharp

 

[feelinducky]

I have a small base sizer die in 270wsm. I'll loan it to you if you pay shipping both ways.

 

[pdog shooter]

another vote for small base, cheaper than 50 brass, not much of a gamble

 

[Rich Coyle]

I have a new barrel and discovered the necks are slightly too long. You might check that.

 

[bluegrassdan]

I hope Fl sizing solves the issue , I have had the same issue with a 284 win with win brass . A bulge would form at the web where the unsupported part of the case sits outside the chamber and no amount of FL sizing would size it enough for a different rifle chambered for the 284 win . I hope you are luckier than me it would be worth a try . If you can acquire some better brass I would recommend it ,I had as much as 15 grains difference in weight from brass too brass , in comparison too nearly no variation with Lapua brass.

If you run your die all the way down to touch the shell holder and size them and it still will not work, have a machine shop take .015" off the shell holder top. You can do it yourself with sandpaper and a FLAT...as in a piece of glass or steel plate...it just takes time. I had the same issue with .308 military brass that had been fired in a M240 machine gun. This allows that last little bit of length to size the entire case.

 

[hunter0528]

Correct. But I only shoulder bumped them .002. I'll try a full FL size tonight and see if I can get them to fit.

Very possibly. I just want to know if I can size them to load in the new chamber??

Where it is a new barrel you should probably treat any old brass as if you picked it up from the range.

 

[Frank in the Laurels]

Just adjust the full length die so it's flush to the shell holder, with two casings..if they won't chamber they you got a problem, that's in the chamber somewhere..If they chamber, load one and fire it and then best as possible do a lot of measurements all over the case and see the difference between fired and unfired expansion is, that way you'll have some idea where the problem is..good luck. Pretty simple and you just might fix it with a little turn of the sizing die without working with lots of cases at first..

 

[ultraedge]

Send the barrel and several loaded rounds to a knowledgeable gunsmith(Whiddens or Alex Wheeler). Have the rear portion of the chamber honed with sandpaper while being spun in a lathe. I have had a number of barrels done this way when wanting to use brass that had been fired in another chamber. It works great.

 

[bluegrassdan]

No two reamers are going to be the same, much as they try, they are going to have subtle differences and tolerances. As a rifle builder, I tell all of my customers to buy as much new brass as they think they will need for the life of that barrel, especially if they do not own the reamer. This allows them to use the brass for that chamber, that barrel and should not have any issues. However, this does not mean you can't use different brass from another rifle, it just takes some work sometimes to get it to fit right. This is usually the problem found on factory rifles where they get every last chamber they can before they change out a reamer. Small base dies work, but if not a popular caliber, you more than likely will have to get a special order grinding job for a new die. Changing the dimension on the shell holder works the same way. Yes, it works the brass more, but you only use that shell holder the first time you size your brass, after that you should be able to go back to a standard shell holder for future reloads since the brass now fits your chamber. I would love it if every time someone has this problem, they send me their barrel for me to polish the chamber and maybe set it back a few thousandths and run a reamer into it...great way to make money for something thats not always neccesary. Do yourself a favor and try the cheap solution first, a shell holder is $15 and 30-45 minutes and some sandpaper is worth the effort. If that does not work, then spend the money on a small base die, which may or may not fix the issue. Only after you try that, send it out to a rifle builder to have the barrel worked on. We gunsmiths are not cheap if you want good quality work, but in my opinion, I would not be telling you straight if I told you to send it out as your first step.

 

[dls guide]

Ran into the same problem years ago with buying once fired brass for a tight chambered 270 weatherby . Just had to grind the top of a shell holder down about .015 so you can turn the FL sizing die down more to bump back the shoulder. Do it a little at a time and try in your gun. It is a cheap experiment.

 

[Full Curl]

All great replies and information, thank you. Here's an update...

I have a couple CO-AX presses so do not use standard shell holders, I just use their shell holder jaws. So sanding down a shell holder is not a great option. I know I can get a standard shell holder adapter plate, but I'm not sure I want to go that route.

As suggested I tried running them through a 300 RUM FL die and it touches the web area but not enough so that didn't work.

I trimmed a fired case to the same length as a new Winchester case (that will chamber fine) and it won't chamber so it's not the case/neck length.

I loaded up a few new Winchester cases I had and it functioned and shot great, I don't think there's any issue with the chamber or the rifle. I'd rather just try to get/wait for some more new cases over getting the chamber polished.

I measured and compared cases fired from the old barrel and the new barrel and the issues is very clearly with the web area on the fired cases... the case diameter is wider in the web area on the case fired in the old barrel compared to the new barrel. Since the old barrel was a factory rem barrel, I'm assuming the chamber was cut with more slop than the chamber in the new custom barrel.

I turned my 270WSM FL die down as far as I can, even to the point were cam-over is hard when I run a case through it and it still doesn't shrink the web area enough. Otherwise, the FL sized case meets all SAAMI specs.

I'm going to look into a small base die since that seems like my last "good" option rather than just tossing all this old brass. If I could get some new Norma cases today, I think I would just start over and be done with it.

 

[Full Curl]

Small base dies are not expensive and may allow you to use brass fired from the old barrel ... if you have lots of it.
Otherwise, throw em and buy new brass and be done.

Yep. I'm about down to these 2 options.