Sizing belted magnum cases ?????

HTDUCK

Handloader
Apr 18, 2009
955
0
My 7 STW is giving me fits.
Bolt is hard to close on sized cases.
I thought die had become mis-adjusted some how so I reset it like I always have.
Ran press ram with shell holder all the way to top of stroke.
Screwed die into press until die body touched shell holder.
Gave it another 1/8 turn.
Sized a fired case and dropped it into chamber.
Lots of resistance to close bolt.
Gave it another 1/8 turn and still no joy.

Chamber is freshly cleaned, bolts has a light coat of oil on it.
Cases measure less than max OAL as listed on Nosler's site.
What am I missing ?
 
Cases had already been shot in this rifle?
Have you measured to see if the shoulder is being bumped back just a bit?

What I do is grab a case, and completely paint it with a Sharpie. Now load it in, close bolt, and open. Look at where the marks are on the case and it will give you more info that we can guessing on the 'net. :grin:

I've seen this in my own loading from not pushing the shoulder back enough, or from using cases from another rifle which have expanded too much above the belt and wouldn't fit. The Willis collet die fixes that issue.
 
Yes all Nosler cases and all fired in my rifle.
Willis collet die ?
Never heard of it, I'll take a look.
Thanks for the info.
 
http://www.larrywillis.com/

I use his headspace gauge as well.

The only time I usually need his die is if I take brass from rifle X and want to use it in rifle Y.
I also use it on all used brass I might buy for use in my rifles just so they're as close to perfect as possible when I start.
 
Spoke to Larry a bit ago and the die is on it's way.
Appreciate the help sir!
 
HTDUCK":2c3bco0y said:
Spoke to Larry a bit ago and the die is on it's way.
Appreciate the help sir!

I’ve used his die in the past myself. Great product.

I’d bet it cleans you right up.
 
I have one of those dies and it works great. I've only had one rifle that needed the die to resize the cases to fit the chamber.
 
I may be wrong but could it also possibly be that you are chasing the dragons tail?
While loading in steps for velocity I had one casing that was over sized do to a max load charge and was hard to chamber even after full length resizing. I had to bump the shoulder back hard on that one case to get it to fit the chamber. If it stretches to far again I will retire it to the scrap bucket.
 
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