SJAdventures

I went to the range today and ran into one cartridge that went into the chamber OK and the bolt closed half way OK but then got extremely stiff and was very hard to lock. I didn't shoot it because I wasn't sure what was going on. I had a few other cartridges that made the bolt just a tiny bit sticky feeling when closing it but they all shot just fine and ejected perfectly OK and the bolt wasn't hard or sticky feeling at all when I ejected them. When I got home I checked the OCL of the unfired cartridge that wouldn't hardly close and it is well within the limits and I also checked the CL of it and it seems to be within the limits but when I force the bolt closed (it will close) it looks to me that there are marks on it that looks like it is being shoved into the lands a little bit. Am I having a lack of shoulder set back issue or what is going on?

TUK101

You probably need to trim your cases back a bit farther. I ran into this when first getting into reloading and trimming and chamfering the cases solved 90% of the problems. The other 10% was me just learning the ins and outs of reloading in general. Thats one of the things that I like about reloading is that there is always a lot more that you can learn.

SJAdventures

I will give that a try. The case is under the maximumrecommended but still longer than the trimmed length recommended.

Briman

My guess is that you are partial full length sizing the cases?

steve4102

Agreed! Adjust your FL die down about 1/8 of a turn and resize a piece of brass. See if it chambers without any bullet. If not keep turning the die in 1/8 of a turn until they chamber. Or you could purchase a Stoney Point(Hornady) Head and Shoulder Gauge and find out for sure what your dies are doing.

pdp440

i have had the same problem and adjusting the die fixed it

Pawildman

Have you changed bullets?

SJAdventures

I still am having an issue with my casings. I resized all of them again and trimmed then to recommended length but I am still having some cases that are making the bolt really stiff to close that last little bit. I tried some empty cases with no bullets in them at all and some of them were tight enough against the face of the bolt to leave brass on the bolt face even though the bolt closed. Is it possible for the shoulder set back to get messed up and if so how does it happen. I took my FLS die out and reset it by the instruction from RCBS that came with the dies but that still didn't help. The die is full against the shell holder so will it help to screw the die down even more? It isn't the OCL or seating depth to the lands because I am having problems with empty cases too. How do I find out if the shoulder set back is correct on my cases? Is there a tool I can buy to measure the set back? Can you control the set back with the sizer die or do you need a separate tool/die for that? I check my chamber in the gun and it seems to be fairly clean. Can you buy a chamber cleaning kit?

Briman

What cartridge are you shooting?

SJAdventures

Rem. 300 saum. I have some cases that have been fired once and some that have been fired twice and I can find cases in both groups that make the bolt hard to close even on empty cases.