Hotburn76

The new savage has only seen FL sized once and all the rounds since then have been partial neck sized. So far the cases I have been using have been just neck sized three times I think and for the first time the other day I noticed the bolt had just a little resistance to it. I would say I can still close it ok, maybe while sitting and just using two fingers pushing. Mainly curious as to when is a hard closing bolt to hard? They are trimmed good, so it is only the shoulder doing it, just curious as to when I should bump the shoulder a tad?

Rifle Loony

Neck sized brass needs to be bumped back periodically........

Hotburn76

Thanks, but I was really wanting to know how to tell when. At what point is closing the bolt to hard and I need to do it?

harter66

I would say at the point that you need to palm the bolt . That point when push and thumb drag doesn't close and "lock" the bolt . This time around just to avoid trouble and to be safe .

Rifle Loony

I Full Length, and don't run too hot, to fend such issues..............

bigcountry

When you start having unusual trouble removing brass, and tight bolt close is the first indication. I would never take 3 or 4 times neck sized brass hunting due to this. But if you have trouble extractign at the range, no big deal.

gunnermhr

Purchase a body die. This will only bump the shoulder. With a headspace guage you can set up the die to bump the shoulder .001" or .0015" This will help you from overworking your brass and you'll get more life out of it. I bump the shoulder everytime in comp. guns so I'm sure the bolt always closes easy.Run your brass through the body die then neck size it and you will no longer have any problems. You will also retain your accuracy. You could also buy a bushing die and set it up the same way and that will eliminate the body die. They are a little more money though.

steve4102

When is tight, to tight? For a hunting rifle, "to tight" is when you lose confidence that you will be able to chamber each and every round in the mag in all situations and weather conditions without a problem. If you have second thoughts, it's to tight.

In a target or bench rifle, it's just a matter of how hard you want to work at closing the bolt and is accuracy suffering because of it.

Hotburn76

Thanks guys for all the info. I see what your saying about the difference in the range and in the field. If I had to ever use more then a couple of fingers or palm the bolt I will probably use my redding body die and bump the shoulder. Just curious since this is my first time using just neck sized cases repeatedly.

Frank in the Laurels

I'm a firm believer in partial sizing in factory cut sloppy chambers, only to try and get the best accuracy possible..they have so much clearance in the neck - .006-.008 per side in some cases that accuracy is hard to achieve. Partial neck sizing will help out in most cases but shooting full power loads will make them sticky over time..I just drop it down a few grains and solve the problem..in my hunting firearms I full length size without question..your shooting at a basketball sized target area and all factory rifles will be able to hit that no matter what your shooting.. but for varmints and targets, partial neck sizing will help out the groups..plus it takes far less time to reload,I just use moly dust to resizeabout 1/3 of the neck or to the bottom of the seated bullet..you can actually see the multiple levels of the neck diameter and you actually see how sloppy and wide these factorycut chambers really are..IMO