Brass help between guns

[Mikido]

300wsm
Brass is from Norma bondstrikes

Factory ammo, 1st shot from a savage, then neck die only.

Sold savage, bought a Sako.

Took that brass, and ran it through a FL die. Bolt is difficult to close on most of the pieces. Took 1 or 2 hard to close brass, ran them
Through the FL die several times, finally smooth bolt close.

What gives? Using standard RCBS dies.

 

[Brontosaurus]

What's your OAL on the brass?
Maybe a trimming issue?

 

[Mikido]

case OAL is right at or below spec. Very confident I checked that the first go around, and will double check….

 

[Pickettpuncher]

How is your sizing die set up. You sure you’re bumping the shoulder back sufficient

 

[Mikido]

I’m not sure. The needle sticks out the bottom 3/8”, and ram kisses the die at the top of the stroke plus a touch more, like the instructions for the die show.

 

[rayporter]

take some metal off of the shell holder or buy several shell holders to try. shell holders vary in height and some will allow a little more sizing than others. you only need 2 or 3 thousands removed to get more sizing.
the lube you use is important also some lubes are better than others. are you using plenty of lube?

after firing several times it is common for brass to need a little more sizing.

 

[Mikido]

case OAL is right at or below spec. Very confident I checked that the first go around, and will double check….

It’s def not the OAL case. I have short ones sticking, and long ones running smooth

 

[Mikido]

take some metal off of the shell holder or buy several shell holders to try. shell holders vary in height and some will allow a little more sizing than others. you only need 2 or 3 thousands removed to get more sizing.
the lube you use is important also some lubes are better than others. are you using plenty of lube?

after firing several times it is common for brass to need a little more sizing.

Yes using imperial die wax

 

[Mikido]

take some metal off of the shell holder or buy several shell holders to try. shell holders vary in height and some will allow a little more sizing than others. you only need 2 or 3 thousands removed to get more sizing.
the lube you use is important also some lubes are better than others. are you using plenty of lube?

after firing several times it is common for brass to need a little more sizing.

Don’t you mean added?

 

[rayporter]

if you add metal to the shell holder you will get less sizing and the case will not chamber.
the taller shell holder will size less than a shorter one.

you want to size more, is my take on your problem. i have several brands of shell holders for this reason. i also keep one that i have ground metal off of to get brass sized a lot.

 

[rayporter]

dont be afraid to take a grinder or belt sander to a shell holder. just leave enough lip on it to remove a case from the die.

many times you will hear that you should take metal off of the die but shell holders are cheap!!

 

[BigStick]

Start with Virgin brass and focus headspace control.

Norma is routinely horrid.............

 

[Mikido]

if you add metal to the shell holder you will get less sizing and the case will not chamber.
the taller shell holder will size less than a shorter one.

you want to size more, is my take on your problem. i have several brands of shell holders for this reason. i also keep one that i have ground metal off of to get brass sized a lot.

Ahh, I was picturing the base of the shell holder (where the brass sits), you mean the top the shell
Holder (where the die kisses)…..which is also much easier to grind! Thanks for the tip. I’ll give
This a try. How many 1000’s off at a time am I gunning for?

 

[rayporter]

correct!
if you can measure it you probably took off enough. over 10 thou and you may rip off the rim of the shell holder and have to extract the case with a bolt and washers.

many times trying to save old brass is not worth the effort.

 

[doverpack12]

You need to figure out where the problem area is.
It could be the shoulder bump as rayporter suggests but typically with WSM that hasn’t been the problem.
I had an issue within the last year and have commented several times on other threads as well. My problem area was the base of the brass just above the 0.2 ish dimension line which is right where the die sizing stops.
Watch Alex Wheelers video on YouTube about figuring out how well your die matches your chamber. That will show you how to measure the various dimensions of fired vs sized which will inform where your die is not sizing and will be where you need more sizing to chamber easily.
Do you have Sako rifle fired brass to measure?

My solution was a different full length die, and an Eric Cortina mandrel die, but I’m not using the mandrel. He also made the mandrel die to minimum size the base near the 0.2 line.

So figure out where the size problem is first, that will inform the solution

 

[Mikido]

Checked again, ran them a second time through the FL, goes smooth now. Maybe I didn’t have it tight down enough the first time. Appreciate everyone’s responses.

 

[TaperPin]

I was going to say standard full length dies are not designed to bring the case back to original size. Small base dies are closer. There is such a wide window of acceptable dimensions in chambers combined with a tolerance range in dies, add in two rifles and it can be a choice between just getting new brass or a special die.

Glad it worked out.

 

[Unckebob]

if you add metal to the shell holder you will get less sizing and the case will not chamber.
the taller shell holder will size less than a shorter one.

you want to size more, is my take on your problem. i have several brands of shell holders for this reason. i also keep one that i have ground metal off of to get brass sized a lot.

I get why shortening the bot of the die would result in movingnthe should back more.

I have never understood why shell holder height matters. If I set my sizing die against the shell holder + 1/4 turn. Wouldn't I just end up back same position regardless of shell holder height?

 

[Mikido]

Think about the distance between the die and the brass….

 

[wind gypsy]

I get why shortening the bot of the die would result in movingnthe should back more.

I have never understood why shell holder height matters. If I set my sizing die against the shell holder + 1/4 turn. Wouldn't I just end up back same position regardless of shell holder height?

It's not the height to where the case sits that is getting shortened, its the part that contacts the die. So whether you take it off the die side or the shell holder side, the case can still get pressed further into the die just the same.