Tight chamber and reloading

sharkbait

Well-Known Member
Been told that my rifle has a tight chamber (tika t3 hunter 6.5x55) that's why I'm having trouble closing the bolt on my reloads. I've neck sized and they weren't too bad. I double neck sized and they felt a bit better. I went and see a reloading master. Who is apparentley god when it comes to reloading he told me and sold me a lee full length resizer said he would only full length resize. And neck sizing was specialist stuff. We or he resized some of my cases. I chambered some and they weren't any better infact they felt worse. At that point he said that it was a case of having a real tight chamber and there weren't nothing he could do about it ( commented about buying a decent gun)! Just wanted to know of your thoughts on this before I go back on factory ammo.
 
2p worth
​so new rounds of x make are ok , are the fired cases ejecting ok bet they are ! and can you feed back in with out any problems a fired unsized case bet you can . +try 1/4 turn down with the die in your press sound like you are not bumping the shoulders down enough.
 
2p worth
​so new rounds of x make are ok , are the fired cases ejecting ok bet they are ! and can you feed back in with out any problems a fired unsized case bet you can . +try 1/4 turn down with the die in your press sound like you are not bumping the shoulders down enough.
Hi paul o yes to all the above . I have tried 1/4 . 1/2. Full turn even two full turns I think I could keep turning all day but still makes no difference!
 
By the sounds of it you were given duff info by a non-master.

I've got exactly the same rifle as you have and never had to have cases neck sized.
May be they weren't perfect in the first place and you were on the right track until you visited the Master!!!

Haven't gained enough knowledge to rectify your problem but somebody on here will.

Hope you get it sorted soon.

Ed
 
Been told that my rifle has a tight chamber (tika t3 hunter 6.5x55) that's why I'm having trouble closing the bolt on my reloads. I've neck sized and they weren't too bad. I double neck sized and they felt a bit better. I went and see a reloading master. Who is apparentley god when it comes to reloading he told me and sold me a lee full length resizer said he would only full length resize. And neck sizing was specialist stuff. We or he resized some of my cases. I chambered some and they weren't any better infact they felt worse. At that point he said that it was a case of having a real tight chamber and there weren't nothing he could do about it ( commented about buying a decent gun)! Just wanted to know of your thoughts on this before I go back on factory ammo.
your reloading god is a fool
you havnt got a tight chamber you just need to know how to set up a die correctly so it does what its suspose to do,if I was you I wouldnt use this "god" ever again I don't know where your from but iam sure someone local who has a brain will help you out,if your near me bring your tackle over I will show you how its done
 
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did the chap use your die to try to resize your cases some dies, ( lee i found are a tad long on the base) stopping it fully size'g the case or a faulty shell plate being over thick not allowing the die to go all the way down ! thinking out loud here , did he try as i said above to rule out faulty dies or shell plate ! cant see a tight chamber in a stock rifle coming out of tika or the proof house finding the perfect size case to run in it without coming up with the same fault as you have !!
is any one out their who lives near you got a 6.5x55 ! as you are met i would think there are a few 6.5 owners around you. i know its a bit more to do but you could use a vernier and compare new and fired then resized use the book spec as a guide. wished i had some dies to lend you or was closer to have a look .
Try a call for help from one of the lads hopefully one of them on the site can come round or you go to his place .Sorry not been more constructive.
​paul
 
your reloading god is a fool
you havnt got a tight chamber you just need to know how to set up a die correctly so it does what its suspose to do,if I was you I wouldnt use this "god" ever again I don't know where your from but iam sure someone local who has a brain will help you out,if your near me bring your tackle over I will show you how its done
Thanks fella but your a million miles from me. Much appreciated thou
 
if you wish to and you fancy a drive you are welcome to come to southend-on-sea, along with you rifle and case's and you loading press etc and we can have a look !
 
Thanks paulo your not a million miles away I do a bit of fowling over your way. If you don't mind pm me your number thanks fella
 
Sounds like your reloading master is a bit confused! I cant see you getting a tight chamber on a Tikka anyway. I have not read all posts so if someone has covered this then please ignore this. I think everyone is barking up the wrong tree here and I dont think this is a case sizing issue. It sounds very much like your COL is too long thus you are jamming the rounds into the lands which will make it very difficult to chamber them regardless of what you do with your sizing dies.
 
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+ 1 on COL if your using lee dies get someone to take 10 thou of the length it will bump the shoulder back I bet it works had the same problem. lee dies are sometimes a bit on the long size
 
No, what I was getting at is you need to seat your bullets a few thou deeper. Try a dummy case loaded as you are and seat the bullet a few thou deeper and try again I bet it will chamber easily when you get off the lands. This is why you should always use an OAL guage to measure your COL.
 
If it's a tight chamber (I have one on my Howa 1500) try loading an empty full length sized case (no bullet), if it chambers it's not tight, if it's difficult to close the bolt then as suggested you need a die that will bump the case shoulder back slightly.

My gunsmith tried go/no go gauges in the Howa and the no go was a "just" fit, he tried cases sized in his RCBS and Hornady dies and they also wouldn't chamber, in the end he took a few thou off the base of my Lee die, enough to add an extra 1/2 turn on the die, all it needed to chamber was an extra 1/3rd turn. The other answer (if it is tight) is to buy an RCBS "small base" full length sizing die, these set the shoulder back slightly farther than the standard dies and are usually used to produce rounds for fully auto use to give less feed issues.
 
Interesting thread and good to hear that others offering hands on help!!
When you fire a new case you need access to a head space gauge which measures the base of the case to the shoulder!!
The usual advise is after a case is fire formed to your chamber that it retracts by 1 thou!!
Add this 1 thou to your head space measurement and this should give you your chamber measurement..
Now another cracking tool which i like to use as i mainly neck size , is a Redding shoulder bump die - you can set this up to give you the desired " bump " on the shoulder!!
I had a 6mm ppc which used to have the shoulders bumped back after every 5-6 firings after been fired 10 times from new!!!
As for the quote as in neck sizing in specialist stuff , the beauty of neck sizing is less working of the brass which makes it last longer but when the bolt gets a bit stiff - then its time to bump the shoulders back!!
Another factor in case life is how hot you run your loads too!!
You can buy ingot especially for melting down and making a chamber mold that when set will give you your exact chamber dimensions!!

As mentioned it would pay to measure your chambers seating depth for whatever bullet you decide to use too!!
I f using factory loads and you suspect the bullet too long , look on the bearing surface of the bullet after chambering to see if you see any rifling marks too!!
All the best .
 
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Its NOT always the shoulder !! Lube up a case and after setting up the die, ram it five times through the die ! then try it again in the rifle.
I think your problem is the case springing back just above the extractor ring.
 
Do the cases need trimming? Presumably the cases have only been fired in your rifle. I would trim and check length and try a dummy round seated to a standard length as shown in a reloading manual, don't worry about the jump to the rifling at this stage. Have the primers been fully and properly seated? I would also save up and buy a new reloading guru!
with regard to the web of the case expanding, I think this is probably unlikely unless the brass has been fired in another rifle of more generous chamber proportions or with over pressure loads
i think we could do with more detail regarding the previous history of the cases you are using
 
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