What did I do wrong?

[mzvarner]

So this is my first attempt at reloading. I picked up a used RCBS JR2 yesterday and started working. I followed this description found here on the hide for how to set up my FL re-sizing die

"Put the die into your press and raise the ram with a shell holder in place. Screw the die down until it hit’s the shell holder. Now back it off 1 full revolution. Size a piece of brass. Attempt to chamber the brass. Does the bolt close smoothly with NO resistance? If it does you’ll need to back off the die some more and try more brass until it DOES NOT chamber with out resistance. Remember to keep the brass lubricated during this phase. Once you are feeling resistance or can’t get the bolt closed, begin rotating the die clockwise about a 1/16th or a 1/8th of a turn at a time and resize the case again. Continue to check the brass against your chamber and reset the die as needed until you get to the point where it just closes smoothly and without resistance in the rifle. Don’t forget to keep the case lubed while doing this!! Now take a new piece of brass and resize it. It may fit your chamber cleanly but chances are you will need to give the die another 1/16th of a turn to ensure the first time through the die gets it right, even brass coming out of dies has spring back. At this point in time you have your dies set and are probably pushing the shoulder of the case back .001 - .002”, not a whole lot of work on the brass. Lock your dies in place and don’t touch them again."

http://www.snipershide.com/shooting...eloading-101-reloading-basics-new-reload.html

After this step I measured all the brass and they were all under the Sierra recommended length of 2.015. If they were not I then trimmed them. I then set up my seating die so that they would be at 2.80.

I attempted to chamber a round and I could not even close the bolt. I Decided to load a dummy round (no primer or powder). Before loading a projectile, I checked the case to see if it chambered, and it did with no resistance. Next I loaded a projectile and tried again. I applied a little force and got the thing all locked up but was able to remove it. Upon inspection, the shoulder is crushed back.

Crushed one is on on top (these are the dummies)...View attachment 22072

Im loading 308 for a Remington 700 with stock 20" barrel. Am I not seating these Amax's far enough and they are pressing on the lands? What am I missing. There are no scratch marks on the projectile or case either.

These are live

View attachment 22073View attachment 22074

 

[High Binder]

Too much neck tension. You want to have .002-3" tension.

 

[Nate O.]

It sure looks like there's some crimp on those necks.Are you sure you don't have your seater die screwed down too far?

 

[pyplynr]

Yup, what HB said. What seating die are you using? Does it crimp? When I first started I did the same thing. I was loading .223 and had the crimp way too tight.

 

[mzvarner]

Not sure how to tell how much neck tension I have. Not sure if it is relevant, but i think I may have over done the outer de-burring so maybe thats what your seeing as a crimp? I am using the 2 die RCBS set for 308 win

 

[High Binder]

Not sure how to tell how much neck tension I have. Not sure if it is relevant, but i think I may have over done the outer de-burring so maybe thats what your seeing as a crimp? I am using the 2 die RCBS set for 308 win

Measure the ID of the neck. It should be .002/.003" less than your bullet diameter. In your case .305/.306".

 

[milo 2.0]

Most of the time when a case gets crushed like that, it's done in the seater die. If the chamber did it, you must have had more than a little resistance! Make another dummy and make sure the die didn't do it. You're crimping your neck, no crimp is needed in a bolt gun. Back your die out a little, and screw the seater plug down a little.
Your neck tension is controlled by the expander ball, nothing you can do about it.

 

[mzvarner]

dam. totally what it was. Set up my die wrong, had it touching the shell holder on accident. Thanks guys. Now I need a bullet puller...

 

[mtrmn]

When setting up the seater die, run a empty case to top of stroke and screw the die down until you feel it touch the mouth of the case. Back it out 1 round and lock it down. Then use the seater stem to set your bullet depth. You do not want any crimp.

 

[Pinecone]

HUH.

Typically, with the ram at the top of the stroke, you adjust the die to touch the shell holder, then adjust the die IN so that the ram cams over.

If you start with adjusting the die 1 turn OUT from touching, you would screw it IN bit by bit until the case will fit YOUR chamber.

1 full turn is 41 thousandths. For SAAMI spec cases (fits all chambers), most dies are at least 1/4 turn IN from touching. So starting one full turn out, I would suspect that you would have to turn it in at least 3/4 turn before you even get close to fitting the sized case in the chamber.

 

[Mad_Charlie]

It sure looks like there's some crimp on those necks.Are you sure you don't have your seater die screwed down too far?

I'm with him, to set up the seater, use a prepped empty case, run it all the way up. take the seater plug out of the die, screw the die into the press until you feel it hit the crimp shoulder then back it out 1/2 turn. Put the seater stem back in and set your depth.

If you are going to crimp, make sure all of your cases are the same length as close as possible.

 

[milo 2.0]

HUH.

Typically, with the ram at the top of the stroke, you adjust the die to touch the shell holder, then adjust the die IN so that the ram cams over.

If you start with adjusting the die 1 turn OUT from touching, you would screw it IN bit by bit until the case will fit YOUR chamber.

1 full turn is 41 thousandths. For SAAMI spec cases (fits all chambers), most dies are at least 1/4 turn IN from touching. So starting one full turn out, I would suspect that you would have to turn it in at least 3/4 turn before you even get close to fitting the sized case in the chamber.

PC, did you read the thread? He has his sizing die set right, was having seating issues.

 

[mtrmn]

HUH.

Typically, with the ram at the top of the stroke, you adjust the die to touch the shell holder, then adjust the die IN so that the ram cams over.

If you start with adjusting the die 1 turn OUT from touching, you would screw it IN bit by bit until the case will fit YOUR chamber.

1 full turn is 41 thousandths. For SAAMI spec cases (fits all chambers), most dies are at least 1/4 turn IN from touching. So starting one full turn out, I would suspect that you would have to turn it in at least 3/4 turn before you even get close to fitting the sized case in the chamber.

SEATER die......now go write "I will read more thoroughly before posting" 100 times...

 

[High Binder]

To the OP: I had the same problem recently with virgin/un-prepped Lapua brass.

The neck collapsed so much that I couldn't remove it from the die's body. The neck tension was .3345" (.338LM):

Had to punch the shoulder back in with a screwdriver and a hammer to get it free from the die:

I've been reloading for almost a decade and you're always learning new stuff. From the above, I learned NOT to trust virgin Lapua brass, it's not always ready to load right out of the box, like so many claim.

 

[milo 2.0]

To the OP: I had the same problem recently with virgin/un-prepped Lapua brass.

The neck collapsed so much that I couldn't remove it from the die's body. The neck tension was .3345" (.338LM):

Had to punch the shoulder back in with a screwdriver and a hammer to get it free from the die:

I've been reloading for almost a decade and you're always learning new stuff. From the above, I learned NOT to trust virgin Lapua brass, it's not always ready to load right out of the box, like so many claim.

Lapua brass is nice, for sure, but I'm not sold on loading without some prep. If the case mouths are dinged, they are bad, real bad!
Did you at least chamfer your cases?

 

[High Binder]

Lapua brass is nice, for sure, but I'm not sold on loading without some prep. If the case mouths are dinged, they are bad, real bad!
Did you at least chamfer your cases?

Well I typically do a light charge and fireform virgin brass first. Then I'll trim, ID/OD chamfer, deburr flash hole, neck turn, etc.

 

[Griffino]

100 pcs. Of lapua 338lm brass: neck turning, I found brass on the case neck varied as much as .0025"

Sent from my LG-E980 using Tapatalk

 

[judgedelta]

The OP's instructions don't sound like anything from RCBS. I always re-read the instructions if I haven't loaded in a while. You screw the sizing die down to touch the shell holder, lower the ram and screw the die DOWN another 1/4 turn (maybe less), so that your ram "cams over" when you lower the handle (raise the ram) all the way. It will then fit in any standard chamber, presuming that you have properly sized the neck. To seat the bullet, put the sized case in the shell holder, raise the ram and screw the SEATING die down until it touches the case, (first back the seater off enough that it won't get in the way) then back the seating die off one full turn (to get the crimper out of the way). Then after seating the bullet way long, start lowering the seater down gradually to seat the bullet at the desired over-all cartridge length. RCBS will gladly send anyone a copy of the instructions 1-800-533-5000. You can probably find the instructions on the website.

 

[milo 2.0]

The OP's instructions don't sound like anything from RCBS. I always re-read the instructions if I haven't loaded in a while. You screw the sizing die down to touch the shell holder, lower the ram and screw the die DOWN another 1/4 turn (maybe less), so that your ram "cams over" when you lower the handle (raise the ram) all the way. It will then fit in any standard chamber, presuming that you have properly sized the neck. To seat the bullet, put the sized case in the shell holder, raise the ram and screw the SEATING die down until it touches the case, (first back the seater off enough that it won't get in the way) then back the seating die off one full turn (to get the crimper out of the way). Then after seating the bullet way long, start lowering the seater down gradually to seat the bullet at the desired over-all cartridge length. RCBS will gladly send anyone a copy of the instructions 1-800-533-5000. You can probably find the instructions on the website.

I don't think the op stated what brand he was using, but to me it sounds like what Redding recommends for sizing. You set a Redding sizer up to RCBS directions, you'll get crushed shoulders right quick, not in every situation, but you'll definitely bump your shoulders into the dark age.

 

[rdinak]

with respect-you might want to seek a reloading mentor to help you get going.

 

[Pinecone]

PC, did you read the thread? He has his sizing die set right, was having seating issues.

From first post

how to set up my FL re-sizing die

 

[scudzuki]

To the OP: I had the same problem recently with virgin/un-prepped Lapua brass.

The neck collapsed so much that I couldn't remove it from the die's body. The neck tension was .3345" (.338LM):

Had to punch the shoulder back in with a screwdriver and a hammer to get it free from the die:

I've been reloading for almost a decade and you're always learning new stuff. From the above, I learned NOT to trust virgin Lapua brass, it's not always ready to load right out of the box, like so many claim.

That'll buff out.

Joe

 

[former naval person]

80 grit?

 

[advance]

I will take a case that is prepped and ready to load, raise it all the way in the press, and then screw down the seater die until it make contact with the case. At that point I will lower the case, and tighten down the lock nut with the die in the same touching position. I feel as if it probably lifts the die slightly off of the case, but keeps the case in the position where it is as close as possible to being aligned center to center of the case and seater die.
Not close enough to crimp, just align.