I began reloading last year. Bought some fired brass (1st mistake) and when I went to fire the 1st round it was tight going into the chamber (2nd mistake) it got stuck, had to force it out. I also notice that some where hard to prime as while and some of the brass had dings on the rims. I just bought a case trimmer this year and had some I did not load laying around and they look shorter then the winchsters that I loaded and work perfected. I did not know what brand the other brass.
I load 30-06 rounds what could of done that. mistake on my part or unuseable brass. I paid 5 bucks for them and got a mgm box with it.

I have a pretty good idea of what your problem is, but since I'm just getting back into reloading myself, I'm gonna let some of the more experienced guys answer your question.

Corey, did the whole case stick or did the head of the case separate and leave th body in the chamber? If it is the latter, you had a separation usually caused by the case stretching do to being over worked. ( Full lengthed sized too many times.) If the whole case is in the chamber, there may have been some debris in the chamber, or the case was too long. Do you have a case gage or a sliding caliper? If so, measure the case length and check it against the reloading manuel. Could be someone has trimed those cases that you think are short too much.

I have always been told that IF your 1 time fired brass is not from your gun that you need to full length resize it. This brass has been "fire Formed" to the chamber of the gun that it was fired from. Meaning, it expanded just a little to the shape of the gun it was fired from. If there is just a hair difference from that gun to yours, the brass may, NOT ALWAYS, have a hard time chambering. As for it getting stuck. Could be one of a few things. I'll let somebody else get more into that. I haven;t had your end result problem, so I can't really advise you on it.


Good luck to you.

Kd, you are correct. That is why, if you have more than one gun of the same caliber, you should full lenght size all your cases unless you mark the boxes as to the gun they to be used in.

Are you full-length resizing those used cases in a good quality resizing die? If so, they should NOT be hard to chamber or to extract from the chamber of your rifle. As a rule, there's nothing at all wrong with re-using fired brass from some other rifle, if you resize it correctly.

I have several guns in the "same" caliber, but shells fired in one of them will not chamber in the other two, unless theyare full-length resized FIRST.

Now. Do you have a LOADED round stuck in your chamber? If so, and you cannot close the bolt and fire it before using a ramrod to push the empty case out, remove the bolt and take it to a good gunsmith for removal of the stuck cartridge. It'll cost you a little, but that's the only safe way I know of to get a live round out. IF you can close the bolt, fire it then knock the empty case out. Then FL size 'em all first next time.

You made several mistakes my friend. And these mistakes next time could cost you alot, like an eye or injury.

If that brass was from someone else, it needs to be Full Length sized. Second, it sounds like you didn't measure the cases with a caliber to see if they are too long. Cause you justgot a trimmer.This could be a very dangerous mistake. And too long brass can cause pressures to shoot up. Case failures or even action failures has happened. I am gathering you just kinda threw these together when you say, you didn't even know what the brass mfg. was? Did you ever measure the distance to the rifling?

There are several tools I think reloaders need. Calibers, Head and shoulders gauge, trimmer

So far, I have met 2-3 people that told me they don't need fancy stuff like shoulder gauges or even calibers. Then I got a call a month after he started reloading. Complaining he couldn't chamber a round in another gun he has. I of course took my gauges over and found the problem in less than a min.

Your dinged rims are likely caused by previously being fired in a military semi-auto as they weren't designed with reloading in mind.As for the primers being tight/irregular they could have military crimps still in them and case cpacities will vary..............Food for thought......Harold

I just got the trimmer a few weeks ago and don't have any brass to reload, i did it all last year, discarded the brass that was giving me trouble. I am slowly getting all the stuff i am needing. thanks for the help. and sorry about all spelling errors, it was late last night when I posted this.

Three.pieces of advice to go along with the excellent advice listed already. Get Lees Modern Reloading Manual Second addition and read it cover to cover. Also, Brass is cheap and if you have any question about a casing, pitch the darn thing, its not worth and eye or worse. Last piece of advice, Listen to BC.He does things right, the way I would if I had more patience.