Rifle won't chamber reloads

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Arkansas Paul

Arkansas Paul

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I need you guys' help again. I loaded some rounds up to hunt deer with and was going to the range to try them out. I am a new reloader and was excited to try and kill a deer with my handloads. I get to the range and load my rifle. It is a Weatherby Vangaurd in .30-06. I chamber a round and the bolt won't close. It chambers, but won't close. I'm thinking it wasn't sized correctly. Does this sound right? Also, the cases were once fired, so I didn't measure or trim the cases. I'd heard you shouldn't have to with once fired stuff. Maybe I heard wrong. Help me out please.
Factory rounds worked fine and I ended up shooting factory ammo on opening day. I have no complaints, the Remington 165 grain core locked performed perfectly, taking a decent six point at 175 yds. I was a little bummed that I didn't get to use a handload, but oh well. With you guys' help, I'll get to next time.
 
check your OAL. I would pull the bullet and see if the empty brass will chamber. If so, I would suspect that your bullet is in the lands.

Did you full size or neck size? Was the brass once fired from that chamber or from a different gun?
 
Be sure that when you screw your sizer die in let it touch your shell holder with the ram all the way up and then back the ram off and screw the sizer die down at least one complete turn.

back many many years ago i had a problem like yours and my sizer was not set right.

i know people set there loading up differently but thats how i do mine and i have not had that problem again
 
You will need to pull the bullets and powder and resize the cases so that they fit the chamber. Raise the depriming/sizing punch so it does not pop out the primers. Drop the sizer die down until the empty cases fit in the rifle. Set the COAL to the recommended length in the manuals so that is not an issue .
The sizing die expander punch will stretch the neck/shoulder area a bit upon extracting the brass and unless you allow for that by bumping the shoulder back initially, you may run into the situation that you experienced.
Hopefully you have learned from the mistake.


NCsmitty
 
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I have the same rifle as you, only in .308, and recently ran into the same problem. The above suggestions could all the be case. For me, since I was using a bullet with a short ogive, when I chambered and the bolt didn't completely close I was stumped. My OAL was close to max, but not passed it. Still, the short ogive and long bearing surface, meant the bullet was indeed contacting the lands. I just took that lot home and seated a bit deeper. The Weatherby's lands are very close to the bullet tip, there isn't a lot of "jump". This is where I'd check first, as it's an easy fix. If this doesn't work, it's the brass - and then you'll be pulling bullets and all that.

Good luck.
 
When setting up rifle sizing dies, always use a cartridge headspace gage. Wilson version pictured.

The instructions about turning the die to the shellholder seldom sizes the case correctly. I simply size to gage minimum, which means my cases will fit any correctly headspaced rifle.

Sometimes you will find that the die is so long that even when the die is bottomed out on the shell holder, that the case shoulder is not being pushed back.

When I have encountered this, I removed material from the bottom of the die.

The Wilson gage will also tell you if your case needs to be trimmed. The back side will tell you whether the neck is too long.


ReducedWilsongagemeasuringnew308bra.jpg
 
Sometimes you will find that the die is so long that even when the die is bottomed out on the shell holder, that the case shoulder is not being pushed back.

When I have encountered this, I removed material from the bottom of the die.
Click to expand...

My very first rifle reloading was .223 with Hornady dies. Thank goodness I had made a Wilson gauge a "necessity" on my purchases. In less than an hour, I had tried every variation of screwing in the die... up till the point my ram wouldn't hit TDC. Gauge said brass not sized, and Hornady tech confirmed this. A few thou off the face of the die and I had perfection!

Never would have known this with any other measuring tool at that time. The case gauge can only be replaced by ones personal rifle chamber if you have to do without one.

Justin
 
and screw the sizer die down at least one complete turn.
Click to expand...
I don't know of any press that would allow you to screw a die in a full turn after shell holder contact and still reach maximum ram extension or "toggle-over".

Generally an extra 1/8 to a 1/4 turn is all it takes to get the press to "Bump" at full stroke and fully set the shoulder back.

A full turn would not allow that to happen and inconstant sizing would be the result.

rc
 
The little things that some take for granted should be left out when it comes to reloading. Good measuring tools such as calipers, a mic, headspace gauges, bullet and case comparators all pay you back dividends over time if you are looking to get great performing loads. Different bullets have different dimensions even if "by chance" they happen to be the same length so using overall length ( OAL ) will not insure your handloads will chamber. As stated in another post the bullets hay be hitting the riflings too soon due to a longer "ogive" point on particular bullets. As was also stated your brass although fire formed in your rifle may need to have the shoulders set back a couple thosandths of an inch to chamber and a full lenght die will be needed here. If by chance you have RCBS dies they will custom adjust the dies for you if too long. Just send them 5 fired and unsized pieces of brass out of a same lot ( box of loaded ammo with a production run number ) and your dies and they will do the rest at no charge to you. I dont know if any of the other die manufacturers do this but you can go on line and ask them . I had to do this on one set, asked them for a short .002 setback as not to overwork my brass and they nailed it. Great customer service .
 
I agree with those who are recommending the Wilson Case Gages... if you don't check your resized cases with a gage, you are just guessing.
 
You've discovered several mistakes that many new reloaders encounter.

1) Make a "dummy" round. Same brass and bullet.....just no powder and primer. You will quickly find out if it will load in your rifle. This will solve your resizing issue. Of course the other option is to buy the gauge.

2) Always measure and/or trim your cases. I don't know where you picked up on that doing this is not needed on once fired cases, but it's wrong.

3) Check to see if your die is adjusted correctly and your OAL is within specs.
 
I had a similar problem that was vexing for a while. I finally figured out I was getting a tiny bit of bell on the case mouth. I fiddled with the seating die until I got just a light touch of crimp and everything was fine.

I have also seen bullets with good OAL within specs not seat until they were seated a bit deeper. A bit too long for my chamber I guess.

Tom
 
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When setting up rifle sizing dies, always use a cartridge headspace gage. Wilson version pictured.

The instructions about turning the die to the shellholder seldom sizes the case correctly. I simply size to gage minimum, which means my cases will fit any correctly headspaced rifle.

Sometimes you will find that the die is so long that even when the die is bottomed out on the shell holder, that the case shoulder is not being pushed back.

When I have encountered this, I removed material from the bottom of the die.

The Wilson gage will also tell you if your case needs to be trimmed. The back side will tell you whether the neck is too long.
Click to expand...

I have these for every caliber I reload.. since day one , they were mentioned in the ABC's of reloading Which I read before even buying anything ,. It Helped a lot..

good luck
 
Yes, but that would affect all dies used with that shell holder. Better to modify the die, after making absolutely sure that it is needed.
 
You know,its odd how things creep in to "accepted" practice over the years. After loading for various rifles for many year I never once had a need for a headspace guage. Your rifle and chamber make a perfect headspace guage.

Most of the time I found the magazine limited how long I could seat a bullet and still feed reliably. But as long as you are starting with cases already fired in your rifle you should only need to neck size them in order to chamber them.

As to your problem...did you trim your cases back to the "trim spec" after the first resize? Weatherby used to like a lot more freebore in his rifles than many manufacturers so that was usually less of a problem with his rifles. But because this is pretty much a "standard" cartridge he may not provide as much.

If you're careful you can take a newly fired case and lightly bump it into the size die enough to just nudge the neck down to where a bullet can be hand pressed into the neck and not just fall out when you hold it pointing down. If you gently insert it into your chamber and slowly close the bolt until it fully closes and then even more gently back it out your bullet should kiss the rifling as you close the bolt but slide back into the case. Measure carefully and do this a few times to make certain the measurement is consistent. This will let you know just how long a cartidge can be with this particular bullet in this particular rifle can be seated to touch the rifling. You can set your dies to load to this point or a couple of thousanth's shorter as long as your magazine and feeding mechanism will permit it. If they don't; just seat as long as you can and still stuff the magazine and feed reliably. Don't even begin to work up a load until this is done because pressures will develop faster when the bullet is seated closer to the rifling. And this is beneficial for two reasons...you'll burn less powder to achieve the same velocities and you minimize bullet "jump" which assists in achieving accuracy. You will also know your cases will fit your chamber before you begin loading them up.

Hope this is helpful.

Regards,

TB
 
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As for taking "a little material" off the die to enable the case to enter further into the die, why not do something a little less dramatic and take a tiny bit of material off the TOP of the shell holder? Much less expensive if you screw something up.

Good advice above RE a headspace gauge. Buy one.
 
As already noted, altering the shell holder alters it for every other caliber it is used with.
With the OP's 30-06, that covers an awful lot of calibers.

If the altered shell holder is kept with the die set and only used with it, no problem.

But use it with another caliber on down the road and you could have grossly excess headspace.

Anyway, I doubt very seriously that the OP's problem is anything other then improper sizing die adjustment.
Seems folks find it hard to screw the die in far enough to make the press linkage "bump" or cam over when sizing. With less then that to take all the press slack & frame flex out, you really aren't sizing enough to push the shoulder back where it came from.

rc
 
RoccoBro, he's actually my brother, so he's ribbing himself. lol We're learning this reloading gig together and having a blast. I guess you learn by making a few mistakes.
I appreciate the replies fellas. I knew I could count on you. I'll check all that out. And we're buying calipers and a headspace gauge very soon.
 
Megadittoes to Steve in PA. Make a dummy round. If that size works well, repeat, repeat, and repeat.

Another trick is to study a factory round carefully. If EACH of the dimensions on your dummy round matches the factory round, chances are that you are fine or will need only small tweaks in, say, the bell of the case.
 
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