new gun - tight chamber??

shootingduckdog

Well-Known Member
I have got myself a new .22/250 semi custom. I am very pleased with it. However I am struggling to resize brass from my old gun to fit the new one. The new gun accepts new brass perfectly. However resized brass from my old rifle either wont allow the bolt to close or the bolt is very tight to close. Equally the occasional round when fired results in the bolt being tight to open.

There are no pressure signs on the fired ones and the resized ones are full length resized.

Is this normal?

Also, are some dies tighter than others? I have about 150 cases I cant use at the moment and wonder how I can go about getting them back to an "as new" size??
 
You may find that youre new chambered rifle has a Minimum SAAMI spec chamber,, the fired brass from the old rifle despite being re-sized is not chambering because I suspect the shoulder requires bumping back a little.

If you have set up your FL die correctly you should be 1/8th turn off touching the top of the case holder in the press.

This should allow you to ful length size the old brass and allow the bolt to close, however, not all dies are the same (exactly the same),

If the dies are set up correctly and still wont allow resized brass to chamber, I would ask someone with a lathe to take .040" off the base of the FL sizer die - this extra ajustment will now allow you (WITH CARE) to bump the shoulder of the fired brass just enough to close the bolt.

I do not mean screw down the FL die another .040" by the way, I mean tuen down in 1/8th turn increments beyone the minimum now untill a sized case allows the bolt to close snugly....
 
I The new gun accepts new brass perfectly. However resized brass from my old rifle either wont allow the bolt to close or the bolt is very tight to close. Equally the occasional round when fired results in the bolt being tight to open....

In my gallery, there is a new to me 243 AI. The advice from Russell Gall who built it was, get new brass and dump any old brass that you have, and that's the approach I am taking. Have fun with the new rifle. Regards JCS
 
In my gallery, there is a new to me 243 AI. The advice from Russell Gall who built it was, get new brass and dump any old brass that you have, and that's the approach I am taking. Have fun with the new rifle. Regards JCS


That would have been my initial advice, but I felt the urge to type!!
 
The brass was bought new but the rifle delayed so I used some. It has only been fired once and I would be gutted to have to chuck stuff out only once fired.
 
i would just start over with new brass also. when i had my fireball built that was min sammi spec and even new brass had to be full length sized before it would fit the chamber snug.
 
As I see it you have two options:-

1) Go back tot eh builder and have him make a dies using the same reamer so the chamber and die match.

2) Take the rifle back and have the builder fix the problem so that normal dies work with the chamber.

Yes I believe you can get special small base dies and tight chamber dies but the tight chamber dies are usual hand ones for the bench rest crowd. They do not use a press or if they do it's a simple but expensive affair.
 
Where to start:

1) Most factory "FL" dies don't, actually, full-length size. That is why there exist so-called "SB" SMALL BASE dies. After all if a factory "FL" die really actually did full-length size to SAAMI "spec" then why would any "SB" die be needed?

2) Within the instructions or setting of your FL die it may instruct to lift the ram to full stroke and then screw the "FL" die down until it contacts the top of the shellholder. If you aren't doing that (or following any other instruction similar) then again you aren't sizing to the maximum potential of your die.

3) It may not be that at all...but in fact a chamber NECK issue. To find out load a cartridge, with a bullet, using your NEW brass.

I am assuming that the NEW brass you tried to chamber didn't have any bullet in it but was just an empty case from the maker's carton?

If it accepts with a bullet that it is a die issue...at the BASE of the cartridge. If when the new brass has bullet in it then it is a chamber neck issue.

Either a tight chamber neck in the new rifle and/or the necks of your old cases have had brass flow and need outside reaming to fit into the chamber neck of your new weapon.

4) If you have "engineers' blue" paint one of the reluctant cases with it and see where the blue is removed. That will indicate where the fit problem is located.

Where does the resistance come?

I suspect that the bases of your fired cases are not being re-sized enough OR that you have an issue with the chamber neck.
 
How about checking case length?. 22-250 is notorious for stretching. Check resized case length is less than 1.912".
 
The "good" cases fit with or without a bullet in.

The cases are trimmed and the length appears not to be a factor.

What would you like photos off??

Where does one get small base dies from
 
sdd - have you tried resizing the old brass with the expander ball removed? This would just allow you to push the shoulder back and eliminate one potential issue - length to the shoulder being too long. Good luck. JCS
 
Small Base Dies are available ONLY in those calibres that were at one time loaded for self-loading rifles. Those things that that wretched Mrs Thatcher said we couldn't have here in GB.

So you'll find them in 270 Winchester, 280 Remington, 6mm Remington as well as the "usual suspetcs" such as .223 Remington and 308 Winchester. Because of course in the USA all those calibres were available in self-loading sporting rifles. Remington's or Browning's etc., etc.

So I doubt that "SB" dies exist in 22-250. However it would help to know whose die set you are using. As some makers are of tighter tolerance than others.

Also are you dies the same make as the shellholder that you are using?

There are "fixes" there that can be done, but FWIW it is probably better and CHEAPER to buy some more "good" cases.

Maybe as a last test try this...load some cartridges with the NEW cases, fire them and then reload them and see if you again have this chambering problem.

I assume that when you are using the new cases you are first putting them through the FL Size Die?

If you don't then the chamber and dies are BOTH OK. If you do then it is likely that the expander ball of your die is expanding the neck too much.

Or run the new cases through the FIRST die, the FL Size Die with the Neck Expender Plug and then seat the bullet as normal in your Seater Die.

But overall it sounds that you may have brass flow into the neck of your fired cases and need an outside neck turn. Or that the bases have become oversize just above the "web" of the case head.
 
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Well the very reason I own a rifle chambered for 303 Imp is because the darned chamber was too tight. We could not find any dies that would size cases down enough to chamber unless those cases were fire as new ammunition in that rifle. Having some Eight 303's at the time it was a PITA to keep cases separate just for this rifle so when i ended up with it being mine, another story entirely :rolleyes:, I asked Norman Clark re-chamber it to .303 EPPS. I got a .303 IMP with a shorter neck but again that's another story :banghead:, but the rifle accepts brass fired in another rifle now. I can only assume the chamber reamer that Century Arms used was worn out hence the tightness.

We tried dies from lee, RCBS, several sets, Redding that I recall. I took it to Fultons, Arthur Gent and finally Norman Clark and it took the re-chamber to sort it out. None of the dies tried would size a case down small enough to chamber properly.
 
It might be that you're sizing too much. Try neck sizing making sure the inside of the neck is lubed. My 6.5x55 closes hard on FL sized brass but easily on neck sized, or "partial resized" cases.

Isn't the internet great?? "DO THIS!" or "NO! DO THAT!":D Hope you get it figured out.~Muir
 
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