Shoulder bump problem or no problem?

[Roughrice]

Well... Since you know the area, I'm between Mamou and Ville Platte.
I found my wife in Lake Charles! At McNeese State University.

 

[Tidesloe]

Well... Since you know the area, I'm between Mamou and Ville Platte.
I found my wife in Lake Charles! At McNeese State University.

Yes, I know the area. I was in Lake Charles for 1 day the 1st week this month. It's probably been 30 years since I've been there. It's changed a lot, kind of like where I mostly grew up in Baytown. Had a few cousins went to McNeese. A few others LSU

 

[Roughrice]

My kids graduated from LSU.
I went to McNeese in the early 80's..
You are right… Lake Charles looks different since the 3 hurricanes re-arranged things in the last 20 years.
Great, resilient people down there who took care of themselves and never made the news when New Orleans was crying and blaming others for not taking care of them on national television.

 

[Tidesloe]

My kids graduated from LSU.
I went to McNeese in the early 80's..
You are right… Lake Charles looks different since the 3 hurricanes re-arranged things in the last 20 years.
Great, resilient people down there who took care of themselves and never made the news when New Orleans was crying and blaming others for not taking care of them on national television.

You're sure right about that! Hurricanes are something I do not miss. Been through several myself. Miss the hunting and fishing there though

 

[HandgunHTR]

This thread has gotten long, so forgive me if you have answered this already, but how does the fired brass chamber before you size it? Have you tried doing that?

If it chambers hard before resizing, it is probably an issue other than a donut. If it only happens after sizing, that points to something going on there, like a donut.

Myself, I am leaning towards it not being a donut, mainly because you stated that you are seating your bullets so that the bearing surface is above the neck/shoulder junction.

If you don't have it figured out in a couple of days, shoot me a PM. I will send you a piece of brass that has been fired in my chamber, which was reamed with a reamer to the same specs. It may not help at all as my headspace may be a couple thousandths different, but I know for a fact I don't have donuts.

 

[Tidesloe]

This thread has gotten long, so forgive me if you have answered this already, but how does the fired brass chamber before you size it? Have you tried doing that?

If it chambers hard before resizing, it is probably an issue other than a donut. If it only happens after sizing, that points to something going on there, like a donut.

Myself, I am leaning towards it not being a donut, mainly because you stated that you are seating your bullets so that the bearing surface is above the neck/shoulder junction.

If you don't have it figured out in a couple of days, shoot me a PM. I will send you a piece of brass that has been fired in my chamber, which was reamed with a reamer to the same specs. It may not help at all as my headspace may be a couple thousandths different, but I know for a fact I don't have donuts.

Thanks, I need to fire more rounds and as I only had 5, and I've got shoulders pushed back on all 5 now. Yes it's same pressure chambering fired as chambering bumped until I've bumped at least .006. It'll probably be next weekend weather dependent until I can fire more. That might be a good idea and wouldn't hurt to work with that. I may get up with you on that and I appreciate it.
Thanks!

 

[Tidesloe]

May have been hitting in other areas than the shoulder....possibly the neck...maybe the head......mark it up and retest....

This I have done. In the beginning I thought I had a burr in my chamber but it's since disappeared. I'm seeing nothing of concern, unless I just don't know what I'm looking at

 

[Shane Lindsey]

Thanks! I'm thinking there are nuances to this type of action. The bolt is different, and I've never worked with one. Otherwise I'm still not sure. I also started with a lower, but not bottom 338 WM load, and loaded 5 up in 1 grain increments. I did see only with a magnifying glass a slight ejector mark, on my 3rd round. I backed the other 2 off 1 gr, and it seems that worked well.

It says you loaded up in 1gr increments. Was that for fireforming? If so, are the cases still labeled enough to see what the charge was on each? Do they all feel the same when chambering or when you run them up the die? Totally separate cartridge (300 WM), but I did load development on virgin ADG cases. No pressure signs, but when I went to size them, they were very tight in the die, primer pockets were soft, and the same "money" charge weight was waaaay over pressure. Ruined my cases while fireforming.

My point is, maybe your charges were too high when fireforming and it just trashed the cases, blew out the web so much before the cases were completely fireformed/stable.

How are your primer pockets? Do you have pin gauges? .209" and .210".

I don't know, it's all voodoo...

 

[Tidesloe]

I have several Origin actions in SAUM and Standard long and short action configurations.
I haven't had problems with either of them in measuring chambers or loading yet.
Don't have a 338 Mega though…and I am no gunsmith.

I would put money though that the problem has already been mentioned somewhere in this thread.

One more question Rough. With your Origins, how far are you typically bumping shoulders on fired and fully formed brass to chamber with no resistance?

 

[Tidesloe]

It says you loaded up in 1gr increments. Was that for fireforming? If so, are the cases still labeled enough to see what the charge was on each? Do they all feel the same when chambering or when you run them up the die? Totally separate cartridge (300 WM), but I did load development on virgin ADG cases. No pressure signs, but when I went to size them, they were very tight in the die, primer pockets were soft, and the same "money" charge weight was waaaay over pressure. Ruined my cases while fireforming.

My point is, maybe your charges were too high when fireforming and it just trashed the cases, blew out the web so much before the cases were completely fireformed/stable.

How are your primer pockets? Do you have pin gauges? .209" and .210".

I don't know, it's all voodoo...

It says you loaded up in 1gr increments. Was that for fireforming?

Yes, I wanted to fire form at something just a gr or 2 below max.

Do they all feel the same when chambering

Yes, they all feel identical. I'm gonna fire a few more and start all over back at ground zero. I have nothing left to mark up and test now.

 

[Barehandlineman11]

Ive never seen a doughnut from necking up, only seen it from necking down. It will also not cause a clicker. Just off your measurements your case isn't being sized enough at case web. Cheapest route is run it through a 30 nosler sizing die first see if it chambers. Did you rule out the burr idea

 

[Tidesloe]

My point is, maybe your charges were too high when fireforming and it just trashed the cases

This is a possibility, but my measurements were all below what Rich told me the chamber dimensions are. When marking up cases and chambering as I was bumping other than in the beginning when I thought I might have a burr, I've seen nothing that would indicate that. I am pretty well confused as to why I have to size too far and cam over on my die stroke to overcome the resistance. I will start over. I actually don't believe I've even seated primers in those cases yet. Probably should have tried that a few days ago.

 

[Shane Lindsey]

Do you have to make a false shoulder or is this brass already proper dimensions?

When I did my 338 Sherman, I tried to just jam and it didn't work out very well. Creating the false shoulder and jamming about .010" has been effective on the last batch I did.

 

[Tidesloe]

Ive never seen a doughnut from necking up, only seen it from necking down. It will also not cause a clicker. Just off your measurements your case isn't being sized enough at case web. Cheapest route is run it through a 30 nosler sizing die first see if it chambers. Did you rule out the burr idea

Yes I pretty much ruled out the burr. Once I get more rounds to work with, I will try 2 step sizing. Still could potentially be a die problem