Closing the bolt is hard.....why?

[Motoshooter]

Gentlemen.

Im reloading cases for a 6.5swede (great caliber by the way). After full sizing its hard to close the bolt, so I measured and its 55.10mm. Im my reloading manual case lenght is given at 55mm (2.165"). Slightly too long - So I trimmed the brass down to 54.80mm. Still it takes quite an effort to close the bolt. Trimmed down to 54.4mm and still bolt operation is maybe a bit smoother but still stiff.

I guess this scenario applies to all calibers so you guys might know - should I continue trim the cases until bolt operation is smoother or is the brass too old (Ive used it about 10 times before)

[Rick in Oregon]

moto: It's okay to stop trimming now.....the overall case length is not the problem.

Your issue is the shoulder of those cases needs to be bumped back to spec. This is best accomplished using your F/L or Body Die. Just screw the die down in increments using case lube on the case, and resize and check in the rifle until the bolt closes with just a hint of resistence.

Over time and repeated firings, case shoulders migrate forward giving stiff bolt closure. It's a typical thing in handloading, easily remedied, and is covered in that reloading manual you did read, right?.

[Motoshooter]

Yes I did and used the full size die to do so. Did not seem to work, at least not this time. Will look into die adjustments again...

[futuretrades]

If your die adjustment is not right, you won't achieve bumping the shoulder. Take Rick's advice and review your manual or the directions that came with your FL die. And STOP trimming you brass until it needs it!

[bow shot]

'Just curious... you been neck sizing all along but just bumping back occasionaly?

[Motoshooter]

Just neck sizing, got new FL dies and trying to work them out.

[Motoshooter]

Good news, got the FL dies working for me. Nice fit now, a bit of trimming still needed but shoulder issue solved.

Live and learn. Thanks

[Motoshooter]

Forgot to show U guys a picture I took before solving the problem.

Heres a picture of a dent in a case, I had a couple of these. Guess you know what were talking about here?

[Nor Cal Mikie]

Excess lube on the brass going in the die. It WILL blow out the first time it's fired. And make sure the lube doesn't build up inside the die. A "little dab" will do ya. (It's a feel thing.) We've all been there, done that.

[bow shot]

yup, after a few firings if you are necking only, you'll need to bump the shoulder back, and you can do that by tinkering like RIO says with the FL die to get what the degree of bump you need.. Now you know!

[Jim White]

While it looks like you found the culprit, another thing that will cause hard bolt closures is high primers. I just discovered that my Lee hand primer has a worm "flat" spot that didn't/doesn't seat the primer all the way

All the advise pointed out above is top-notch.

HTH,

[bow shot]

Oh yes, had that same situation with the protruding primers! As they say, "This happened to me!"..

[Sensai]

There's something that I ran across a few weeks ago concerning hard bolt closure. I mention it just for general info and a reminder to check everything and make no assumptions. My grandson started having trouble closing the bolt on his Rem 700 in 243. He was also having, in my opinion, a little flattening of his primers. He was using the same load that he has been using for over three years with no problems. He neck sizes three loads per case, then full length sizes, and keeps much better records than I do. We checked the shoulder length and case length by chambering a fired and sized case, then a sized case, no problem. Checked the rifle for cleanliness and galling, no problem. Checked everything I could think of to no avail. I had run out of altitude and airspeed when I thought of checking neck wall thickness. I got one of his fired cases and tried to push a new bullet into it. Sure enough, the bullet wouldn't fit into the fired case with hand pressure. We could have turned the necks on my old Forster, but he had some new cases that he wanted to break out and these had 14 loadings on them. He just smashed the old cases and put them in the recycle bucket. No problems with the new cases.

I'm not advocating turning or reaming necks as a general practice, but checking neck wall thickness by pushing a bullet into the fired case every now and then can't hurt anything. It may just save a bigger headache. Of course this trick only works with cases fired in same chamber that they are being loaded for.