Trouble Chambering .30-06

S

Shooter2675

New member
I went to the range yesterday with my brother to shoot some of my new handloads for his Remington 700 .30-06. When we tried to chamber the round, the bolt was a little hard to close. Once closed, the rounds fired fine, and there was no trouble extracting, no wear marks on the case, nothing. All the cases were measured below 2.494 inches prior to reloading them, and I was using Hornady .308 cal 150 Grain Interlok Round Nose bullets. Per the Hornady manual, I seated them to 3.000 inches. Not sure if this matters, but the powder I used was IMR 4064. It was a lighter load, on the lower end of what was listed in the Hornady 9th edition manual. What could be causing the tough chamberings? My first guess was that the chamber is not cut for Round Nose bullets, but I am not sure.

Thank you,

John
 
The shoulder needs to be bumped back a little further upon sizing. I personally don't have a case guage for that caliber when I reload it. So when I set up my dies I size one case and I take it to the rifle no powder primer or bullet should be used as your just checking to see how the bolt closes if it feels stiffs. Turn your sizing die a 1/4 turn tighter than take another case and repeat above test. It always works for me
 
I went to my reloading bench, adjusted the sizing die to knock the shoulder back further, sized two .30-06 cases, and when I put them in my brother's rifle, they champered fine. Just to be sure, I tried a case that had not been sized properly, and like you said, it was tough to get in.

Thank you for all your help,

John
 
Good catch, but I highly recommend a case gage for all the common cartridges you may load. Checking at the bench is better than finding a problem at the range or on a hunt.

Was very interesting reading your initial posting as a friend was here loading the exact same case, powder, projectile. Deja Vu.

I even make case gages for my 50BMG using a section of rifled barrel and cutting the chamber with the same reamer used on my target rifles. This way I can verify exact fit without running all loaded rounds thru my rifle after dis-assembling the bolt to prevent a misfire.
 
I went to the range yesterday with my brother to shoot some of my new handloads for his Remington 700 .30-06. When we tried to chamber the round, the bolt was a little hard to close.
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Instead of sizing the cases before you went to the range you sized them when you closed the bolt. My opinion? A bad habit.

You could have upset the shoulder/case body juncture when you seated the bullet. You could have sized the case without checking if the case was sized before you lowered the ram. I do not fire cases that chamber with difficult bolt closing. It is like a pass, there are three things that can happen, two are bad.

F. Guffey

Without access to his rifle you had no choice but to return the cases to minimum length/full length sized. You measured the length of the case from the mouth of the case to the head of the case and the COL, the important measurement is the length of the case from the shoulder to the head of the case. Most call that case head space. My cases do not have head space.
 
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You use an FL sizer die? If the case was fired out of another rifle, you must FL resize.
The shell holder should just kiss the bottom of the die with the ram all the way up.
Chambers don't get cut for any kind of bullet.
 
You use an FL sizer die?
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Yes I do, if I have access to the chamber/rifle I use all the options the full length sizing die offers. I have sized 30/06 cases that would chamber in a short chamber, I have sized/formed cases that fit a chamber that is .002" longer than a field reject length chamber, all of that with one die.

Advantage, I knew the length of the chamber from the shoulder to the bolt face before I started.

F. Guffey
 
Shooter2675,

Below is a drawing of what happens when you size a case. Note that as the FL die narrows the case the shoulder moves forward. So when the die contacts the shoulder it has to push at least that extra length back to get the round to chamber smoothly.

shouldersetbackandneckgrowth_zps15e9ff94.gif


A common error when setting up an FL die to FL resize, is to forget to make the crack of light check. When the case is being resized, the effort stretches the press slightly, so even if your FL die was making good contact with the shell holder when you set it up, it may no longer be doing so with the press stretched. The cure is to look sideways for a crack of light to appear between the end of the die and the shell holder when actual resizing of a case is being done. You then turn the die in further until the crack of light is tightened to zero.

If you are trying to minimize shoulder setback, the cases generally need to be from the same manufacturing lot and to have been fired in the same gun you are resizing them for. If you set the die up to push those cases back the right amount, then put in a case from another gun with a longer chamber, or one made of heavier brass or with a harder alloy, the press stretches more and often doesn't push their shoulders back as far. The added stress can also make the brass spring back a little more. I've resized military .30-06 brass of the same lot but fired in different guns and had them vary by over 0.003" in the final length that came out of the gun.
 
F.Guffey, why would you post any reply telling us you know exactly what the heck we want to know then expounding how you know any measurement, IF YOU AREN'T GONNA TEACH US REFRAIN FROM BRAGGING WHAT YOU KNOW, cause frankly your post and and a handfull of nightcrawlers is all thats needed to catch catfish.:rolleyes:


We already know your a well worn shoe with handloading but we cant dig it, if you dont teach it....
 
F.Guffey, why would you post any reply telling us you know exactly what the heck we want to know then expounding how you know any measurement, IF YOU AREN'T GONNA TEACH US REFRAIN FROM BRAGGING WHAT YOU KNOW, cause frankly your post and and a handfull of nightcrawlers is all thats needed to catch catfish.


We already know your a well worn shoe with handloading but we cant dig it, if you dont teach it
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Hooligan1, a shooter, reloader, collector ask a question on another forum, he was treated in a manner rather rude. He wanted to know about casting a chamber. I started to help him but it is not easy to help and defend your self so I had him contact me off the Internet and by phone.

He wanted to cast a chamber that would include head space/the length of the chamber from the shoulder to the bolt face. He is now measuring chamber complete, he has run out of anything to check. In the time I spent with him on the phone I know he is a very disciplined reloader that had a little trouble wrapping his mind around a problem.

I do read through a lot of responses and have the ability to go through old archives.

F. Guffey
 
You could have sized the case without checking if the case was sized before you lowered the ram.
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Some choose to ignore information, not my problem, A reloader that desires to be disciplined should learn the discipline. I have suggested a reloader could remove the shell holder before lowering the ram, after removing the shell holder they could remove the die with the case and measure case head protrusion. A disciplined reloader know the deck height of the shell holder is .125". When measuring the case head protrusion from the die the case head protrusion should be .125", anything beyond .125" did not get stuffed into the die. To verify a disciplined reloader could pull the case from the die and measure the length of the case from the shoulder to the case head.

F. Guffey
 
The guys have covered it. When you reload you need to consider who will be shootind your reloads. Not every rifle is the same. I reload for several guys in 30-06 but I size all ov trhem for my rifle as its chamber is so tight that I have to have my die all thge way down to the shell holder and a bit extra fro takeup of my press to be able to chamber finished rounds. So out of habit I do all my rifle rounds that way.

I just resizes 30-06 and a few .270 cases for 8mm Mauser and if I had not set up for maximum sizing once I had my cases cut to the proper length I would have had problems with his Mauser too as it was vert tight.

Full sizeing all the way doe reduce caselife but it sure eliminates hassles.
 
Thanks for the reply Guffey, you dont have the need to "defend yourself" from me or most that post here, and we know your a tad eccentric, but stating you know something and then not sharing how you come by your hypothesis has no interest value. Im disciplined in safe and accurate handloading, but a lot that post here can't glean anything from your rhetoric.
It may be you cant communicate with anyone a little less intelligent then you believe yourself to be, but I think your just a tad arrogant, and not to mention "full of yourself", you may be super at your trade, but your not helpfull to anyone.

And with that I still say thanks to you for any positive input on all threads you post because you do know things us handloaders gotta know but cant get things figured out...
Thanks anyway bro.
 
and we know your a tad eccentric, but stating you know something and then not sharing how you come by your hypothesis has no interest value.
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Hooligan1, thank you for the kind words. The Jersey shore reloader got the hang of casting chambers in a very short time. He called me and said "You are a genius". Then he had a few more questions. I was not sweating because I find the best answer "I do not know" is an option.

F. Guffey

then there is that part about lowering the ram before the case is sized. From the beginning the feeler gage has always been an option to determine the gap between the shell holder and bottom of the die.
 
Sheeeesh, and to think reloading manuals make reloading look simple with ten or twelve steps. I kinda like the Army way - K.I.S.S. - Keep It Simple Stupid.
 
I did full length resize them, and I measured them AFTER sizing them. If I chamber the empty cases AFTER sizing they do fit in the chamber, but only after I adjusted my die. What should I do with the ammo that isn't sized right? It is very slight, and the bolt only takes a small little effort to close it, but definetly a little more than factory ammo.

Thank you,

John
 
What should I do with the ammo that isn't sized right? ... bolt only takes a
small little effort to close it, but definetly a little more than factory ammo.
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Some "feel" as the bolt closes is OK.
As long as the bolt completely closes
w/o having to be forced, ...shoot it.




postscript: The only chamber guage that really matters is the rifle's chamber itself.
Short of having to try every sized case in the rifle each time you reload, I recommend
you get a Hornady Case Headspace Comparator set, determine what reading fits
that rifle, and use it to initially adjust the sizing die for each session.
[NOTE also that brass develops "spring-back" as it is work-hardened. Knowing
the headspace reading req'd allows you to adjust/check that die no matter what.]
 
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