Well, chambered all the rounds and it was one single round that was stubborn, the rest would chamber though the bolt was still really stiff. I reseated the bullets and they chamber a little smoother now, still stiff but not as bad. The COL is now right at 2.800, the overall length in manuel says 2.825. I also took one more round and trimmed just a bit and it seemed to chamber slightly smoother as well, although it still yielded to a stiff bolt. thanks guys.

All you need to do is smoke or put a little talcum on the bullet and the shoulder. Chamber the cartridge, then take the cartridge out of the rifle . Inspect the cartridge. If your bullet is too long the bullet will be marked by the lands. If you did not properly bump your shoulder back, then your case shoulder will be marked. If neither are marked then it is in your case taper, and you probably set your sizer wrong. Easy fix, just take your time. Try this first before you spend any money. Tom.

I do not believe the RIFLE is causing your problem. And, if as you say, the cases are withing specs for length, the only other factor that is causing difficulty closing the bolt is that the cases aren't being sized enough. The die needs to be screwed down toward the shellholder more to push the case shoulder down a little more. But rather than screwing it down solidly against the shellholder which could result in shoving the shoulder back TOO MUCH (thus causing an artificially introduced excessive headspace condition), just take a lubed empty case and size it a little more than previously by screwing the die into the press perhaps 1/4 of a turn more, then try to close the bolt on it. Repeat this "screwing down" process as necessary, until the bolt will close on the resized case with JUST A LITTLE PRESSURE on the bolt handle. This way you can avoid artificially introduced excessive headspace by setting the shoulder back TOO MUCH, and also avoid working the brass excessively, thus improving case life.

IF your die is screwed down to where it is touching the shellholder, and the cases sized with it set this way still cause trouble, you may have to file a little metal off the top face of the shellholder to permit a little more resizing. However, IF your shellholder and sizing die are of the same make, this should NOT be necessary.

Sounds like the sizer die is not setup properly. I shootthe Rem 300 saum and also use RCBS dies with a FL sizer die and when it is setup properly you shouldn't have this problem. You definitely need to get your RCBS instructions out for setting up you dies and make sure youdo it exactly how they say.

Per the RCBS instructions, with the ram in the up position screw the die in until it touches the shellholder then back off 1/2 turn and that should duplicate SAAMI spec.

Hey thndrchiken, I think maybe you have your seating die and FL die instructions mixed up. RCBS instructions for FL dies are to turn the FL die IN about 1/4 turn not out. RCBS seating die instructions are to back the die out 1 turn to get away from the built in crimp.