apple12

This is the 1st time relaoding Nickel cases. I'm reloading for a
Browning A-Bolt chamberd in 243 wssm. I resized all the cases
and they will not fit in gun. I check the dia. it is .550 in. on a
factory case my case measure .554 in. Case,Gun,or Dies?

thx for any help

bigcountry

Was they fired in someone elses WSSM? The nickel shouldn't have anything to do with it. They are not solid nickel but plated. Was you able to size and chamber regular brass? Are you FL sizing or just collet, or neck?

I suppose you don't have a stoney point or equivlent comparitor? If you can get one, check the length of the necks compared to a fireformed in your gun piece of brass.

Do you have a fireformed piece of brass you have not sized to compare the diameter? Could be the dies. Not unusual to get dies off a little.

huntdanielboone

The only time that I ever used nickel plated cases was, and still is for a .280 Rem. A-Bolt Browning rifle. I have never had a problem with them. I however have not purchased anything else but brass cases since. If the cases are new and unfired, they should fit perfectly. I suggest measuring one of the cases prior to resizing and after resizing. Then carefully check all the data in one of the better reloading manuals with the data that you have. I suspect the problem is that the cases have been fired in another rifle and need to be full length resized. If not, try to adjust your dies to the proper dimensions.

ranger140892

First, were the cases fired in another rifle? If not, your chamber is probably out of round or egg shaped. Almost all factory rifle chambers are out of round. Some are WAY out.

Try this: Take a case fired in your rifle. Measure just above the head with a dial caliper. Rotate a few degrees and measure again. Continue this until you've made several measurements all the way around the case. If the measurements vary more than .007", orit's more than .007" larger than industry chamber spec's, your chamber is either too far out of round, and/or not centered with the bolt and receiver.

If the above test suggests your case is coming out egg shaped, try this to confirm it: Put the case in the chamber and try to close the bolt. Note the orientation of the case. Then rotate the case in the chambera few degrees and try the bolt again. Keep doing this until you've rotated the case 360 degrees. If the chamber is out of round, eventually the bolt will close easily when you orient the case exactly as it was when it was fired.

Most bolt rifles can overcome this simply by cranking the bolt down until the round chambers. However, that short, fat WSSM case will be really hard to chamber if it's that far out. You may have to full length size or even use a small base die.

apple12

Here what my dad and i have come up with. My Dad talk to RCBS today and
they say the chamber is small and if I send them the dies and 5 fired case
they will redo the dies for my gun. If I measure a factory case and then
I measure 1 of the resized cases they are .004 in. bigger then factory cases. Could the dies be bad or could they be right. Should I return dies or
send them to RCBS. thx for any help.

bigcountry

Well, you already said all that. But still havn't answered any of the questions. So its up to you man.

apple12

The case where from my gun. I have no unresized case on hand. The
case are all resized so they measure .554 all the way around. Sorry for
not post answers I tryed everthing people said to and thx all. I think
the chamber is a little small dies in the mail soon.

bigcountry

Reason I say this is .004" is nothing. Nothing unusual for FL dies to not size it down as small as Factory. Small base dies will take it down to factory sizes. I am surprised it wasn't more than .004".

You ought to measure the diameter of the chamber. You do that by measuring a fireformed piece, and then compare it to factory.

If the brass was fired in your rifle, and then FL sized, and you can't get back in the gun, that makes no sense. Think about it. You take a piece of factory brass that is a certain diameter, fits fine in a rifle. You fire it, the diameter grows some, has too, or you couldn't chamber it in the first place. You size it with a FL die, the FL die cannot expand the diameter greater than fireformed. Many of us on here only neck size. We don't size the case at all.

HEAD0001

Why would you fix the dies if the chamber is wrong? I have never heard of anything like that. I would send the rifle back to Browning, or at least have a gun smith check the chamber. You could be playing with fire. BC is right, .004 is nothing. Tom.