Problems with .300 WSM reloads

[landon74]

I have a question that I figured someone here might be able to answer for me. My buddy recently bought a Model 70 in .300 WSM, and asked me to reload some cartridges for him. He bought a set of RCBS dies, I full length resized them, and loaded them for him. When he went to chamber a round, it goes about 3/4 into the chamber and then doesn't want to go any further. So I thought that perhaps I didn't have the die set deep enough, and that the brass wasn't getting resized the whole way. I adjusted the die deeper, and resized the brass again, and still the same thing. So my question is, is it an issue with the die, does his rifle have a tight chamber, or is it some combination of the two? How should I remedy this? Look into a set of Redding dies? BTW the OAL is not an issue. Thanks you in advance for your input.

 

[dakotasin]

it could be the die, and if it is rcbs will make it right for free... but, i ran into this when i started loading for my wsm, and made an ass out of myself by pestering (blaming) rcbs about it. turns out, when i was seating bullets, i had the seater die turned in way too far, resulting in cases that wouldn't chamber.

you didn't mention your seater set up, but remember to put an empty case in the shellholder, raise the ram all the way, turn the seater down until it touches the case mouth (not the shellholder), then back off at least 1 full turn. might solve your problem.

 

[landon74]

Thanks for the input, I'll give it a try and let you know. Is your WSM a .300? If so, would you mind sharing your loads? We're using H414, starting with the suggested minimum and working our way up to see what will be most accurate.

 

[dakotasin]

yeah, 300 wsm. all the 300 wsm's i've worked on have responded very well w/ rl-19 and 180 sierra gamekings. i won't mention powder charge, but i started loading for the 300 before there was much information out for loading, so i just kinda worked a load up. i found peak accuracy at a little higher than the now listed max loads.

but, rl-19 seems to be the best for the 300 wsm w/ 165-180's.

 

[landon74]

Thanks!

 

[Smokey Joe]

Another powder

Landon74--FWIW, I'm getting good results with H380 in my .300WSM. Shooting Nosler 165grain Ballistic Tips. Working with the reccommendations in the Nosler Manual, although the Lyman and Sierra manuals say almost exactly the same for this bullet. Am still working on the perfect load for my rifle, but so far it's looking good.

I want to try a stick powder (H380 is ball) like IMR4350, but haven't gotten that far yet. May not go there anyhow if the H380 works well enough.

 

[GooseGestapo]

Check your seated bullet overall length (oal.)

Sounds like the bullet is impinging on the rifling in the chamber.

The Win. Short mags (Remington's, too!) have very short throats.

Max OAL for the .300WSM is something 2.830".

My Remington m7 in 7mm-08 is much the same. With a Sierra 140gr bullet, because of the ogive, max OAL (and for best accuracy ) is 2.795", and is not quite touching. At 2.800", I get resistance chambering the bullet, and pressures jump noticibly.

Had same issue with the 7mm RemMag in a friends Savage m110.
Max OAL with Sierra 140gr was 3.250", despite what some loading manuals said to the contrary.

Just because it will fit in the magazine box, dosen't mean that you don't have an issue with the OAL. If it fits the magazine box, fine; but it has to fit the chamber too!

 

[landon74]

Thanks for the replies SJ and GG.

I've had good success with H380 in my .338-06, once I get this issue resolved I'll give that a go.

 

[landon74]

I think I've got it figured out now, it wasn't an issue with the sizing die, as sized brass would chamber. I did as dakotasin recommended and backed out the seating die, and voila the rounds would chamber. I believe that I was deforming the shoulder when I seated the bullet and crimped it. Thanks to everyone for your imput.

 

[steve4102]

Thanks for the input, I'll give it a try and let you know. Is your WSM a .300? If so, would you mind sharing your loads? We're using H414, starting with the suggested minimum and working our way up to see what will be most accurate

I have tried several powder in my 300WSM BAR and found Ramshot Hunter to work for me. 71gr of Hunter with 165gr Nosler Partitions gets me sub MOA and 3153 avg fps. 71gr is 2gr less tham published max from Ramshots data. I also have had excelent groups with MagPro but my vel. were quite low.

 

[Berek]

Ok, I have to chime in as I had this prob. I found that I was applying too much pressure during the seating phase and the shoulder was becoming deformed. I was able to remove the prime punch from the resizing die and set it straight without pulling the round, but be careful. I have a lee classic (single stage) and lee dies.

Many hours of :banghead: until I noticed. It was hardly noticable at first.

Berek

P.S. Replied before I noticed that you found the issue.

And, I use 63 grains of W760 for my classes and "light loads" with Sierra 180gr. GameKings SBT.

 

[Woolecox]

Sticky 300 WSM

I have the same problem with my 300WSM shooting from my Rem 700 Alaskan Ti. After one firing, the brass is so swollen and sticky that is hard to chamber a round. I reloaded about 20 rounds neck sizing only. I can barely close the chamber with them.

I have to full length re-size after every shot. This is with full charges or reduced loads. There are no other sings of overpressure.

I use the Redding S type dies with an included body die (3 die set). When reloading, all brass must be ran through the body die first and then neck sized, then bullet seated. After that extra step, the reloaded rounds feed just fine.

 

[sourdough44]

H 4350 here with 165 & 180 grn bullets.

 

[HydeSmyler]

Ran into this with 270 wsm as well. Even with full length resizing the brass is still just slightly sticky. Did some headspace measurments from shoulder to case head on fired cases then on resized cases- came up with .002 setback. Then I marked up some sized cases with magic marker and worked them in the chamber. The sticky spot is at the rear of case just ahead of the case web. I am using lee resizing die adjusted so there is no light between shellholder and die with a case in the press and the ram up. Have had good luck with r-22 and h4831 so far with 150's.

 

[hoghunting]

Hyde,

You can also grind the shellholder down about .005" - .010" to push the brass further into the sizing die.

 

[HydeSmyler]

hoghunting- I tried feelers under the case base when sizing and .003" provides the clearance for easy chambering. Should'nt be too hard to remove that much. Thanks for the tip.