Thread: Problem with brass

So, for some reason half my brass won't chamber.
7mm saum, I pulled all the projectiles, emptied then out etc then re sized all the brass with the full length dies, re loaded them to spec, and half of them still won't chamber.

What can I do? Buy new brass? If so, would my load be different going from adg to norma? I first lot of adg and I'm not too happy with it. The brass that wouldn't chamber was also tight and sticking when I was resizing.

I had a similar problem with my old 308,
Turned out the brass i was given had a larger diameter base.

I would start by measuring one piece of brass that chambers and one that doesn't.
Draw a picture and write the dimensions down so you can compare them and find the one that is larger.

Trim length, Head space, Base diameter etc etc.

Greetings Larskramer,
Had you fired the brass in your rifle before? How many times has the brass been fired? Did the brass go in the chamber OK when it was new? Knowing this will help narrow down the problem.
Regards Grandpamac.

Half the brass was new, half fired I assume. I brought the rifle from one of our forum members. I have taken some measurements, the cartridge by the neck seems to differ. The ones that chamber are close to 0.536 inch, and another over that will not chamber, and the rest measure 0.539 inch upto 0.543 inch diameter at the same spot.

What would be the likely cause for this ?

Originally Posted by Larskramer

Half the brass was new, half fired I assume. I brought the rifle from one of our forum members. I have taken some measurements, the cartridge by the neck seems to differ. The ones that chamber are close to 0.536 inch, and another over that will not chamber, and the rest measure 0.539 inch upto 0.543 inch diameter at the same spot.

What would be the likely cause for this ?

So two more questions. Does the new brass chamber and the once fired stuff not? And did you resize the once fired brass yourself and if so how? I have a 7mm SAUM here so can do some measurements once we know what is going on.
GPM

I can't tell for sure, as they were all tumble cleaned, and all reloaded. ( just reloaded the box of 50).
I ended pulling all of them and resizing them, some resized nicely, some had quite a bit of friction, but still resized ( so I thought ).
I'm using rcbs full length dies to resize.

It seems as they they are "springing" back after they leave the sizing dies.

maybe they need annealing

That's what I just got told. So I may aswell pull them all, remove the primers and powder ?

Originally Posted by Larskramer

It seems as they they are "springing" back after they leave the sizing dies.

Greetings again,
I went out to the shed and measured both new and fired shoulders on my Remington brass. Unfired measured.529 to .530 inches and the fired ones.535 to .536 inches, It seems that your tight ones are clearly oversize assuming our chambers are about the same. You should see a bright shiny mark around the shoulder on the ones you couldn't chamber. The fatter ones will be hard to size and will need good quality sizing lube. Imperial sizing die wax is one of the best although being a tight wad I use the Hornady one shot. Don't do any heavy sizing though. Anyway we know know that the cases are too big. It would be useful to know the dia of the shoulders that you have resized,
It may be less aggravation to buy some new brass to get you started. It would also be useful to weigh some of the empties to see how much variation there is. If they vary by more than a few grains they may not be worth bothering with. What is the rifle? Mine is a Sendero.
Regards GPM.

Mine a remington 700, with hardy carbon barrel.and hardys carbon stock. My smallest case sizes measures to 0.534.

I might just buy some new brass, only problem being that it seems as though all adg brass is out of stock in nz. And all I can find available is norma. Will my load change much going to Norma?

How are you setting up your sizing die and are you measuring shoulder bump?

I'm just setting it up as per the press instructions lol. Wind die to bottom with press up, lower press, wind another half turn, then tighten in. Maybe I need to learn alot more. Haven't had to do much in way of brass prep as I use to hunt, so only use 5 bullets each month, and I have 4 hunting rifles, so I only need to reload around 1 per caliber a year lol

Originally Posted by Larskramer

Mine a remington 700, with hardy carbon barrel.and hardys carbon stock. My smallest case sizes measures to 0.534.

I might just buy some new brass, only problem being that it seems as though all adg brass is out of stock in nz. And all I can find available is norma. Will my load change much going to Norma?

I wouldn't have any problem using Norma, its good brass. It will likely change your load but you can weigh samples of each case to see how much difference there is. If the Norma is heavier then you load may need to be reduced. The only way I can think of that the shoulders could be bulged like that is if the seating die was not set up properly and crushed the case when the projectile was seated. Did it myself once many years ago. Still interested to see someone else using the calibre. I need to use mine more.
Regards Grandpamac.

The seating die could of originally been setup incorrectly. That's all I can think of, or somthing wrong that I done,.but agin... not sure. Almost feel like starting with new brass and going from there.