Resizing Brass Problem, NEED HELP PLEASE!

[xr10065669]

I tried to find a post about this topic and I couldnt. So Im very sorry if this is another repeat of the same post. Im a beginner on reloading and have a very simple question that will be easy to answer for you veterans. I shot one round through my new brass and then resized the brass again. After resizing the brass and trying them out in my gun, the bolt is very hard to push down. Is this because the brass is too long? Not sized enough? I know there should be some pressure when closing the bolt but it shouldnt be strenous. Im using a RCBS rock chucker press and RCBS dies.Thanks for all your help, this forum really helps beginners.

[acloco]

More than likely, the brass has not been sized enough. Turn the full length sizing die 1/8 of turn down, size brass again, and try in the rifle. Keep turning die down 1/8 of a turn until bolt closes with very little resistance.

Any chance you can post a picture of the sized brass???

[Hawkeye Joe]

If your full length sizing make sure the die is almost touching the shell holder.With the ram in the UP position and die tight,Make sure you can slide a piece of paper between the shell holder and die.That's about as close as you can get without damaging the die or shell holder. If it's set properly, your having the same problem I did with the RCBS full length die. It squeezes the body( which makes it grow), Without bumping the shoulders back(the tapered part).If you have some fired brass that has not been sized yet. See how they chamber. If all is well, You know the dies are the problem. If your using a bolt gun and the brass is for that rifle ONLY, You should only be neck sizing. Then when needed, Bump the shoulders back with a "BUMP die" when slight bolt resistance shows up.

[xr10065669]

Thanks a lot for your help! I am not able to send a picture of the brass unfortunatly because I had to come back to college today. I will try and post a picture because I wish you all could see it. The best description I can give is that once the brass has been fired once and resized, Im noticing a line around the case thats about 1/4 inch from the end of the case. This did not look normal to me so i stopped resizing. As you said, this may be from the die not being lowered enough? I will try lowering it another 1/8 inch.

I appreciate the help because I was not sure if i should be using full length sizer dies or just neck sizers. I chamber the brand new brass and it has the "normal" resistance. I will try lowering my die and see if that helps.

Thanks a lot, I will let you know how everything works out. I cant wait to get this problem solved and get the load worked up for my LRPV!!

[xr10065669]

And now that you said that it just made me think.. When i compared my new brass with once fired brass it was longer. Therefore it did grow just like you said.. I will be looking into some neck sizer dies asap. Im worried about getting another set of RCBS. What do you use? Any specific brands you recommend?

[acloco]

You don't have to neck size. Generally, you will increase the life of your cases though.

...and...you can partial full length size with the die you have.

[Ray P]

xr10065669.........Watch your expander button. If you don't lub your necks when sizing, you might be streaching the cases when the come over the expander button. If you don't have any resistance in chambering the fired brass before sizing. Then the sizing is causing the problem. 204 brass is very tender so take your time with the rockchucker. If your have any......use imperial sizing lube, that helps.
Later
Ray P

[Silverfox]

xr10065669--When you check out which neck sizing die to purchase, I would strongly urge you to consider purchasing a Lee collet die. The collet dies have always worked great for me and the really neat thing about them (I'm somewhat lazy) is you don't have to lube the inside of the neck or the outside of the casing when you use a collet die!!!

If you purchase a Lee collet sizing die make sure you look at the picture below and do a little bit of pre-use polishing in the areas I have indicated. Also, place a tiny bit of lube (bolt grease is what I use) on the nose of the collet and on the collar that squeezes the collet fingers down onto the casing neck. Also, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, run the ram of your press up to the top of the stroke WITHOUT a casing in the case holder!!!!



You ask, "Why shouldn't I run the ram up in the press without a casing in the holder?" Here are some prime examples of what might happen if you do that. The collet fingers may become stuck on the mandrel and when put another casing in the shell holder and run the ram up to resize the neck, the top of the neck hits the bottom of the fingers that are stuck on the mandrel and that pushes the neck down into the shoulder of the casing. Hence, you get a turtle-necked casing as illustrated below:



Those are brand new Winchester 22-250 casings. I wasn't savvy enough to know what was causing the turtle-neck and ran three casings up into the die before I finally stopped and took the die apart. Polishing the surfaces and applying lubrications where indicated in my photo at the top will help eliminate the collet fingers getting stuck on the mandrel, but I still recommend that you DO NOT run the ram up into the die without a casing in your shell holder.

[Ray P]

Silverfox.......Thanks for pointing out the polishing point on the the Lee collet die, also the bolt lube, never tried that befor. How I have been tuning my collets is by turning them down to the shell holder with the ram in the up position. Use a sharpie marker and put a mark at 12 O'clock on the die. Then bring it down in quarter turns till you have the brass sized. Once I find that point I rotate the my brass 3 times and sizing each time. Yep I have some turtle necks too! I will doing ssome polishing and lubing as your photo shows. Collets dies also work for imp cases too.
Later
Ray P

[xr10065669]

Thanks a lot silverfox and Ray P. I really like the sound of those lee dies. Thanks for the pictures because that explains things very well. I wish I didnt buy the full length size dies, but as a beginner you have to start somewhere!

[jo191145]

You'll need to FL size eventually (most likely) so don't go throwing that RCBS away just yet.

How does one get out of FL sizing you ask. Either buy a shoulder bump neck sizing die or make your own.
I converted my 204 and 6BR S series Redding dies to shoulder bump dies by simply honing off my shellholder to match my headspace plus a little bump.

This works great on the 204 at normal pressures. My 6BR's run a lot hotter. If I ever settle on a particular load for both I might be able to necksize a few times before FL sizing.
Load development keeps me FL sizing for now to return all cases back to consistent dimensions.

Headspace (as others have stated) is most likely your problem. The case is simply not being forced deep enough into the FL die to bump the shoulders back. A FL die squishes the body which pushes the shoulder forward. You need to get that die lower until it can push the shoulders back also.

Run it right into the shell holder or deeper if need be. Sorry Mike never heard of ruining a standard die or shell holder by turning it in to bottom out.
Competition dies and Lee? should not be entirely bottomed out. Been a long time since I used a Lee.

If you've gone well past bottoming out and it still will not chamber then the die is to long for your chamber.
At that point I'd suggest removing some metal from the bottom of the die. No sense messing with the shellholder if the die is wrong. Worst case throw away the die and keep the shellholder

Now if you actually need to do this I would suggest removing enough that the die does not contact the shellholder to size for your chamber but don't get carried away..
Unless you have a lathe handy the bottom of the die will not be perfect and contact will cause uneeded run out. (crooked cases)

Rather just buy a Redding die feel free. I'd recommend springing for a S series (bushing) instead of a standard.