Stiff bullet seating

Tackleberry270

Well-Known Member
Seating needs a lot of pressure on the press arm even with sizing wax around the neck - impossible without and will buckle the shoulder if attempted. Could this be neck thickness? I've not gone down this route yet (neck thickness and turning) and would rather not either.
Specifics,
.308 Sako case, neck sized and on their 1st reloads (fired 1st as factory ammo).
Sierra 165gr BTSPs
redding seating die (with aftermarket micrometer adjustment) and redding press.

Have been reloading with this caliber and number of others for some years now and not had this problem. Any ideas?
 
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what sizing die are you using and have you used this norma brass before as they do have thick necks,I would check the bullet OD to start with
 
You've used this exact set up to successfully reload other 308 rounds?? If not, and after bullet diameter check, I'd look to the expander ball or the A/M seater.~Muir
 
I'm guessing that bullets may be .311" diameter - i.e for 303 rifle.

As a follow on from this does anyone know what the effect would be from shooting .311" bullets from a 308 barrel in the real world? (assuming that you could load them into the case & chamber them)

​Ian
 
I'm guessing that bullets may be .311" diameter - i.e for 303 rifle.

As a follow on from this does anyone know what the effect would be from shooting .311" bullets from a 308 barrel in the real world? (assuming that you could load them into the case & chamber them)

​Ian

You will get some increased pressure and, unless the neck of your rifle's chamber is generous enough to accommodate that .311" bullet, you could blow the breech of your rifle. In a commercial sporting rifle that might be an unlikely occurrence but you never know. I'd pull them.

FWIW I pulled some bullets from some early US import S&B ammo and all the bullets were .310". Seems they used one bullet for 30-06, 7.62x54R and 303 British... or so I guessed at the time. Never heard any ill reports other than crummy accuracy.~Muir
 
As a follow on from this does anyone know what the effect would be from shooting .311" bullets from a 308 barrel in the real world? (assuming that you could load them into the case & chamber them)

​Ian

Well Ruger builds all it's 7.62x39 rifles on a .308" barrel without any issues.

Neil. :)
 
I always have a slight chamfer on the inner lip of the case . Have you measured the inside diameter of a sized case , and then micrometer a bullet diameter , also are you sizing with a bushing die and getting to much tension .

Cheers
 
Sounds like you've got a slight lip on the inside of the case mouth - are you cleaning with Stainless Steel media by any chance? Using that method will peen the ID and chamfering is required to remove it. I'd run over an expander ball again and put a VLD chamfer on.

I deliberately load some of my loads on full sized cases with the expander ball removed to create more neck tension (typically for tracer or FMJ rounds) and never have a problem seating them.
 
.
Specifics,
.308 Norma case, neck sized and on their second reloads.
Sierra 165gr BTSPs
redding seating die (with aftermarket micrometer adjustment) and redding press.

Tac - you state 2nd firing, so how were they 1st firing?

If you are using the same bullets from the same batch No, then that is a mystery. Daft question but do you give your N/K and F/L dies a good clean after use? I say this because a friend encountered something similar to your problem which was sorted when he removed the copious amount of crud from his dies caused by a build up of lube/sizing wax.
 
Tac - you state 2nd firing, so how were they 1st firing?

If you are using the same bullets from the same batch No, then that is a mystery. Daft question but do you give your N/K and F/L dies a good clean after use? I say this because a friend encountered something similar to your problem which was sorted when he removed the copious amount of crud from his dies caused by a build up of lube/sizing wax.

Sorry. I wrote the OP with the kids yelling in my ear. Correction - Sako brass. Second time used first time reloaded. Bought as factory 123gr. Interesting to note that they look to be crimped although there was not cannelure visible on the bullet.

Dies are fairly clean although it won't cost me anything to clean them again so might try this.
 
Interesting to note that they look to be crimped although there was not cannelure visible on the bullet.

There you go - brass has a memory and will spring back. Resize the necks again and put a good VLD chamfer on them, they'll be fine.
 
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