Case question
 

I sized a bunch of cases my nephew gave me that he had shot out of his Remington. I was setting up my seating dies and I decided to make a dummy round because I have read in some reloading books that it aids in setting dies if they get out of adjustment. I also wanted to see if I wanted to crimp or not and how tight the bullet fit into the case with just a sized neck. I seated the bullet to the same length as my factory Federal rounds with the neck at the ring on the bullet. I then put it in my Savage to see how it fit. It went in fine until I went to turn down the bolt and then it got tight. I pulled it out and checked every possible measurement with my caliper. They were all very close if not exactly the same. The only thing I could find different between the cases was the neck. On the ones I had from the factory and the ones I had shot in my Savage had a good sharp turn at the shoulder. On the cases I got from my nephew, the shoulder had a more rounded shoulder.
My questions are has anyone seen this before? Is there something I should be concerned with? And if I shot these out of my rifle, will they form to my chamber? Any advice would be appreciated.

RE: Case question
 

Did you full length size them? If not I highly suggest it. Especially if they come from someone else's gun. And yes, it could be a bad situation.

RE: Case question
 

As B C said you should have full length sized them to start with..Even new
brass should be resized befor use..Then you can fire them and then do
your neck sizing and things should be ok..If not-you've got another
thing wrong..You have got to pay attention to detail...You have to
avoid operator head space..:D:D

RE: Case question
 

Yes, they were full length sized, not neck sized.When I put one in my gun it slid into the chamber fine. It was when I closed the bolt it got tight. Not REALLY tight but they were tighter than factory rounds. I also rechecked the case length and the case measures 2.540" likemy book says.

RE: Case question
 

Maybe you got a tight neck spaced chamber. I have seen it happen. Or your die maybe loose neck spaced. Do you have a head and shoulders gauge?

RE: Case question
 

I do not have a head and shoulder gauge. I just tried a sized case only in my chamber and it is a tight fit also. The neck diameters between the dummy round and the factory round are almost identical with the dummy round being the smaller diameter of the two. I just remeasured the 2 and the only difference seems to be the angle of the shoulder on the old Remington case (dummy round). Also when I sized them I bottomed them out so it's not like I am not getting a full size on them.

RE: Case question
 

Try cranking the dies down another 1/8 turn until it chambers. You are going to have a very difficult time trying to measure where the shoulder contacts. The rounded shoulder vs. the sharp shoulder is where the problem is most likely occurring. Also the headspace on one of the rifles may be at MIN and the other rifle at MAX tolerance.

RE: Case question
 

3.5, frequently a case fired in one gun will be tight going in another gun, even if full length sized. This isn't anything new or anything to even worry about so long as the cartridge is sized and loaded to specs. You've got a generous chamber in one rifle and a tight one in the other rifle. No big deal. Some rifle chambers are cut so small you have to use "small base" resizing dies to make any reload fit in them.

No to worry. But you may want to keep your brass seperate from his. The only concern here is if his chamber is so loose that he may have excessive headspace. But to a point, even this is not as issue as his brass will fire form out to fit it and then it would be best to only neck size his cases.

RE: Case question
 

Smoke the shoulder, neck and bullet. Chamber the round. Then open the bolt and remove the shell. Check the cartridge where you smoked it. You will see marks where you are touching either the chamber or the throat(lands of rifle). Simple process. If you do not see any marks then smoke the bottom inch of the shell. If you do not see any markings then take your rifle to a competent gunsmith.

Did you measur the overall length of the cartridge?? Or did you measure it to the Ogive?? Tom.

RE: Case question
 

I totally agree with Head0001 (Tom). Good advice. Any chance of getting some of those cases FL resized in someone else's dies and check again?