Brass Hanging In Sizing Die

[hunter24605]

I have some once fired 30-06 brass from factory Winchester ammo. Two of the pieces drag very tight through the last 1/4" or so in the sizing die. In the pic you can see the area in question because of the color difference near the head. There also appears to be some very light horizontal striations on these two pieces The two pieces on the right are like the rest that feed smoothly through the die. What would be the cause of this? Again, these were factory boxed ammo that I fired myself from the new box of ammo. And everything was properly case lubed.

 

[kraky1]

I have several sets of 3006 resizing dies and my hornady's resize more than my lee or my RCBS or my redding body die.
Just above the base where the die stop sizing the hornady's always have them a good .003 smaller than the other dies.
Just for Giggles you might want to take some measurements right in that area on all that brass and see if there's anything much for differences. You might also want to check the dimension on the brass after firing but before you size to see how much those dies are taking the brass down.

 

[Kodiak]

Can any of the fired cases be chambered with out any sizing? Looking for a large chamber. I want cases sized just enough where the loaded round can be felt entering the chamber as the bolt is closed down. And, not all case lube is equal!

Best of luck,

 

[Guy Miner]

Run a .30 cal brush through the neck first?

When I started doing that, before re-sizing, things got much easier.

Guy

 

[waveslayer]

I have some once fired 30-06 brass from factory Winchester ammo. Two of the pieces drag very tight through the last 1/4" or so in the sizing die. In the pic you can see the area in question because of the color difference near the head. There also appears to be some very light horizontal striations on these two pieces The two pieces on the right are like the rest that feed smoothly through the die. What would be the cause of this? Again, these were factory boxed ammo that I fired myself from the new box of ammo. And everything was properly case lubed.

Several things occurring here. One, the scratches are from dirty brass scratching your dies, thus scratching your brass. You may want to clean the dies and see if they scratch the brass still. If so, I would send the dies off to be polished.

Second, it looks like your brass was resized a lot because they stretched to match your chamber. I would bet you are using a full resizing die, obviously by the markings on your brass. Nothing wrong with it, but look into just neck sizing your brass and bumping the shoulders back .002 ". .

Make sure to clean your brass good, there's a lot of pressure in there when resizing. Also lubing the necks interior will help a lot if you keep your stems in your dies. I don't. Reduces the wear on your brass

My wife thinks I only have 3 guns

 

[1Shot]

It has also been my experience with some Winchester ammo that it is loaded really HOT thus really stretching your cases. If you combine that with a chamber that is on the large side of standard you can really have trouble sizing the case back down especially if you have a loading die that is on the snug side of standard. Another thing that can happen that makes cases hard to size and will leave scratches on the case is having a dirty shell holder that will not allow the rim of the case to seat in it squarely or you just don't push the case rim all the way into the shell holder and it allows the misaligned case to scrape on the bottom edge of the die. If after you load these cases and shoot them again you have this same problem on a couple try what I call part sizing. Back your sizing die off the shell holder some and size the case only enough to resize the neck and just slightly bump the shoulder back and try them in your chamber to see if they fit with no problems. You can smoke the neck and shoulder of a case with a match or candle before you run it into the sizer and it will show you how much you have sized.

 

[hunter24605]

It has also been my experience with some Winchester ammo that it is loaded really HOT thus really stretching your cases. If you combine that with a chamber that is on the large side of standard you can really have trouble sizing the case back down especially if you have a loading die that is on the snug side of standard. Another thing that can happen that makes cases hard to size and will leave scratches on the case is having a dirty shell holder that will not allow the rim of the case to seat in it squarely or you just don't push the case rim all the way into the shell holder and it allows the misaligned case to scrape on the bottom edge of the die. If after you load these cases and shoot them again you have this same problem on a couple try what I call part sizing. Back your sizing die off the shell holder some and size the case only enough to resize the neck and just slightly bump the shoulder back and try them in your chamber to see if they fit with no problems. You can smoke the neck and shoulder of a case with a match or candle before you run it into the sizer and it will show you how much you have sized.

That was kind of my thought..Since it was only 2 out of 20, maybe they were a little hotter or just somehow off from specks a little. I measured them after sizing and they are the same as the others. I was concerned about that discoloration and wanted to make sure they were safe to use, but to be on the safe side, I culled them. I just finished up with 20 more pieces and all of them went without a hitch..I disassembled my die and it looks really good inside.