doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Reloading problem

I need some input on a reloading problem. I reload 6mm Remington for one of my rifles (Ruger 77, MkII), and in my last two batches of 20 cartridges I had a few that were difficult to chamber. Each time, out of 20 cartridges maybe 5 were hard to close the bolt on. Some almost wouldn't close, and others were just slightly tight. The basic steps in my reloading process are: 1. Decap; 2. Collet sizing die (sizes only the cartridge neck); 3. Dead length bullet seater die; 4. Factory crimp die. All of the dies are Lee brand.

My brass has been reloaded about 3 times, and I annealed the necks after the second reloading. My loads aren't especially hot, kind of mid-range according to the manual. I'm thinking maybe the shoulders of the cases are stretching and causing the tight chambering. Following that line of thought, perhaps I need a full length re-sizing die. ??? I welcome input from others on this. Thanks!

From my experience, you are doing everything right. It sounds like your cases are elongating with the shoulders moving forward which suggests full length resizing is needed.

Are all your cases the same manufacturer? I had a similar issue once and every case was a different maker that gave me issues.

All of my cases are either Federal or Remington. I experienced it once with Federal and once with Remington.

Try chambering your neck-sized cases before adding powder and bullet?

I've reloaded a lot of 6 mm Rem and always used a set of old C&H .244 Rem neck sizing dies that belonged to my Dad. I never had any problem with simply neck sizing, and have reloaded brass to the point where I scrapped it after seeing neck cracks after perhaps 8 reloadings. None of my 6 mm brass has ever been full length resized, and my Dad never full length sized any brass he used in his .244 Rem which is the same cartridge. The shoulders can only stretch as much as the chamber will permit, and immediately upon firing, they should retract or spring back a very small amount which will allow easy chambering next time. Is extraction normal? Have you tried rechambering the empties after firing, but before resizing? You might try smoking the neck and shoulder area to see where contact is occurring with your reloads.

I also never crimped my bullets when reloading the 6 mm. Neck sizing tension was always more than adequate. But I noticed that case length must be identical to get good crimps when I reload for my .45-70. Is it possible your crimping is creating a very slight buckling of the neck/shoulder juncture with some cases?

I do want to ask why you annealed the case necks after only two reloadings? I typically don't see any neck cracks developing until cases have been reloaded 7 or 8 times, and my groundhog loads are fairly warm.

Did you trim the cases back to length?

Great input from everyone here. Yes, I trimmed the cases to length. I annealed them just to be on the safe side. I have not tried chambering a fired case, but I will. Extraction has generally felt normal, but I haven’t paid close attention. I’ll pay closer attention going forward. Thank you to everyone for the input, super helpful as always.

The most likely reason has not been named.
Brass flow from body to shoulder and to inside of case neck. During bullet seating, this inside donut is being pressed outside, and obstructs.
Remedy: inside neck reaming after resizing the case.

Carcano

Could your factory crimp die be bumping up the neck just behind the neck?

Try chambering before applying the factory crimp and after, to see if there is any difference?