neck sizing....possible problem?

[shoots_5]

Ok, so I bought my first neck sizing die for my 22-250 and loaded up some rounds tonight with it. Everything seemed to be fine until I cycled a couple of rounds through the gun to check to make sure everything was ok and I had to really use some muscle to close the bolt all the way. Am I doing something wrong with the die or is that the brass just fits that much tighter in the chamber? All were once or twice fired brass and yes I checked the length and they were all under the max length. Just never used a neck sizer so I wasn't sure if this was normal or not....I've always use f/l dies in the past.

 

[Desert Fox]

Are all these brass fired from the same rifle? Did you check the case length?. Are the case lenght within spec? Is the loaded round within COAL for that particular cartridge? If the answer is yes to all the questions, you probably need to bump the shoulder of the case. Redding makes body die that bump case shoulder. Also it is possible that your rifle have a sloppy chamber.

 

[roysclockgun]

When you set the die in the press, did you run the press all the way up to meet the bottom of the die?
My first guess would be as mentioned above; The cases need to be trimmed back.
Steven A.

 

[rick smith]

Did you happen to check the cases in the rifle prior to neck sizing? If they were not tight before sizing, I would think your expander ball in the die might be your problem. Try fit with/without the expander ball in the die.Rick.

 

[nodak7mm]

+10 on Desert Fox's reply.

Provided all cases are same, shot from same gun and then neck sized only, you should typically get by neck sizing alone maybe 3 times before full length sizing is needed again.

However, unless you have a mixed lot of brass shot from unknown rifles, I too think that, that your particular rifle may have "large" chamber. And what I mean is that your chamber may have been cut to the "max" tolerence.

Suggest doing a full length resizing and I'll bet this issue goes away. Also, besides getting a body die another option is to have your full length sizer mod'd to use neck sizing bushings and then you have the best of both worlds. The die mod is about 37$ I think.

Let us know more about the brass history & the resolution.

Rod

 

[Polaris]

Another possibility is that your initial load, even sometimes a factory one, was developing high pressure. I had some .308 win factory ammo that was a bit temperature sensitive, and firing them in warm weather would result in the same issue you have when neck sizing them later. This causes over expansion of the brass. It could also be that your brass is a bit on the soft side, especially if it's Federal. If your rifle is getting older in terms of numbers of rounds fired or if you shoot a lot of max pressure loads through it, you might also check your headspace. Another problem I have found, albeit only on military rifles, are out of round chambers, where the fired case is somewhat oval in cross section due to poor mfg practices.

It is normal to have some slight camming pressure on the downstroke of your bolt, you will notice it and it may even leave a slight streak on the case head. I neck size a lot of brass for match shooting in a Swiss K-31 (that brass is like gold and I like to make it last) and I have found that I need to bump the shoulder about every 5 firings with a load in the 45000 PSI range. You can do this with a FL die by smoking the shoulder area of a fired case with a candle, then adjusting your FL die down until it contacts the shoulder by a couple .001's, just a kiss. I've found little difference in grouping between this method and true neck sizing in hunting rifles.

 

[JD338]

My first thought is mixed brass fired from another rifle.
I am thinking that the shoulders need to be bumped back with a FL resizing die.

JD338

 

[shoots_5]

All cases were fired from the same gun and I measured every case prior to loading and all were under the maximum length specified in the book. I'll full try full length sizing them again and see what happens I guess. Just never used a neck sizer before and wasn't sure what "normal" was. Might just have a sloppy chamber I guess? If I do have a sloppy chamber it sure isn't affecting performance....I'm getting .38" groups with it! Rifle is a Rem 700 SPS.

And yes, the die is contacting the ram in the press. I'll keep playing with it and see what happens. I do load the OAL out past the stated amount but my rifle has a bit of room before contacting the lands. In fact I can't even get a 40 grain V-max to touch the lands with it even barely in the brass. I checked to make sure that wasn't the problem by loading some brand new brass to the same length and it fed perfectly in the rifle so that lead me to thinking it was a problem with the brass rather than the bullet being seated too far out.

 

[rick smith]

Try a fired unsized case in the chamber, neck size and try that case in your rifle.Rick.

 

[wildman]

Could be a faulty die not likely but it happens ... :wink: Geo..

 

[YoteSmoker]

Be sure you get the camming action when you FL size your brass. I'd guess the shoulders need to be set back just a hair. You can adjust the shoulder set back a little at a time until it cycles the action fine and then tighten down the locking ring on your die for future sizing.

 

[cloverleaf]

Had similar trouble with my rifle. In the end just decided I would need to bump the shoulder back in the full length die. Tha actual problem with my rifle was that the bolt face was not square to the bore or true. That meant that every time a case was fired it stretched at an angle so to speak. When you put the reload in the chanmber, that "angle never matches up perfectly with the angle of the bolt face and so it can be hard to close. in effect the OAL lenght changes with the rotation of the case. So....had to bump it back whether I wanted to or not. I do not think that is your problem....but it is a similar "feel" and it is frustrating :? Still shoots three shot groups at an inch or less with the right load. CL

 

[Ol` Joe]

Lube the case mouths to insure the expander isn`t dragging and pulling the shoulder out. The neck sizers should not change anything but the neck diameter. They are not made to contact the shoulder of the case or size the body. If the brass came out of the rifles chamber it should go back in sized or not.

 

[Desert Fox]

Polaris got this thing figured out. If the chamber is not concentric with the bore, the fired brass will conformed to this chamber. Next time you chambered this neck sized case again chances are you'll encounter resistance since the case is not oriented to the same position when it was fired. You're not gonna have this problem if the brass was full lenght sized since there will be enough clearance due to sloppy fit. Hotter loads will exacerbate this problem even more.

So forget about neck sizing. If your rifle shoot's well why bother. 22-250 Brass are cheap anyway.