22-250 Reloads won't Chamber?

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murphjup

New member
Well I worked up a few rounds of 22-250 60 Grain Nosler Partitions for my Ruger Hawkeye bolt action rifle...

I'm using 1st round reloaded brass from the same rifle... I'm case trimming and neck sizing...

I am using 2.345 OAL Max shown is 2.350...

I cannot get them to chamber in my bolt action without cranking hard down on the bolt, which I didn't do... the factory loads chamber fine..

Could it be that the 60 grainers require a shorter OAL for my rifle? Where can I find MINIMUM OAL?

Any thoughts/ideas would be appreciated, these are my first rifle reloads...

Thank you in advance!

:)
 
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steveno

New member
reducing the oal length would be a good place to start. make up a dummy round at this length and markup the bullet with a black magic marker. load the round until you feel resistance and look at the marked up bullet for marks where it contacted the leade and rifling. seat the bullet a little deeper and repeat until you don't get any marks on the bullet.
 
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Doyle

New member
What he said - also, try chambering a neck-resized brass WITHOUT a bullet. If you have trouble with that, it isn't your OAL, it's your shoulder length. If that happens, you'll have switch to full-length resizing.
 
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Horseman

New member
You have either miscalculated the proper seating depth or you need to full length resize. If you're a beginner reloader I'd suggest full length resizing being careful to just bump the shoulder back enough so you don't have much resistance when chambering the case in your rifle. This adjustment is made by how deep your full lenght sizing die is threaded into the press.

How have you been finding seating depth. I prefer to slit the neck of a case, insert bullet and chamber it several times measuring after each to find maximum COL. Then I seat the bullet an additional .010" or 005".

To test what the problem is try seating a bullet deeper and see if your problem goes away.
 
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murphjup

New member
Well I had some time this morning and made up a few dummy rounds...

Long story short, I figured out the the primers appear to be flush, but they are sticking up slightly... compared to the factory round primers which are slightly inset... When I chamber a round I can actually see the firing pin hole rotation around the primer...

I spoke with Lee and they are gonna send me a new primer arm for my press, it may or may not solve the issue, perhaps it's the brass/primer combination, that isn't correct...

I am able to chamber a round with the 2.345 overall length with the primer not installed...

It may be a Control Feed Bolt Issue..

Anyone heard of this before?

:)
 
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mkl

New member
I am able to chamber a round with the 2.345 overall length with the primer not installed...
Click to expand...

Are you cleaning the old primer residue out of the primer pockets before you attempt to seat a new primer?

Sometimes (although not too often) there is enough build up of the old primer compound in the pocket to prevent a new primer from seating all the way.

If you still have problems, a tool called a "primer pocket uniformer" will both clean and size the primer pocket to correct specifications. Once I purchased a brand new lot of Winchester 30-30 brass that would not accept a primer until I uniformed the pockets with the above mentioned tool. Just bad QC at the factory, but it does happen every now and then.
 
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murphjup

New member
MKL, Yes I have cleaned out the primer pockets... it didnt really make a difference...

I have a feeling the Lee Auto Primer is just not seating them deep enough..

Thank you all for your replies!

:)
 
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mehavey

New member
Observation 1: How are you neck sizing? (If using a standard FL die, but only screwed down partially so as to show neck engagement, you are partially resizing. That partial resizing can/will side-squeeze your case into a slightly longer length.

Observation 2: A high primer should not resist the camming action of the bolt closing at all -- at least not to where you feel it to any degree. Ditto having a bullet seated too long. Bolt closure has such high leverage that it will shove the bullet back into the case w/o much effort at all again

Observation 3: Controlled feed actions may cause you to feel resistance if the extractor claw has to climb over the rim upon closure (instead of the rim automatically sliding under the extractor coming out of the magazine box). Once successfully closed (and the extractor engaged), do you feel the same resistance if you open the bolt slightly and then reclose it?
 
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murphjup

New member
Mehavey, I understand what you are saying, but with a factory round they chamber fine, I am also able to chamber my brass fine with no primers installed...

I found this thread online in my searches...

http://www.thehighroad.org/archive/index.php/t-509641.html

This is the identical problem I am having...

So I will first try a new priming tool from Lee and if not, purchase a uniformer...

I do believe after all my research, that with a controlled feed bolt primer depth can be an issue for chambering..

Thank you for your reply...

:)
 
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mkl

New member
If your replacement from Lee does not work, I'd suggest the following:

http://www.sinclairintl.com/.aspx/pid=34720/Product/Sinclair_Primer_Pocket_Uniformers

You need the UN-8002 uniformer (Large Rifle) for your 22-250.

This tool will work in a 3/8" electric drill or in a drill press if you have one. It is much easier this way. If you do not have the above, check out the hand holders for this tool.

They almost never wear out. I know I have over 2000 case pockets on one of mine and it still cuts the pocket just like when it was new.

Again, this assumes that your problem is a shallow or too tight primer pocket. It will fix that. It will not fix an issue with case sizing or bullet seating.

Hope this helps.
 
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mehavey

New member
Interesting to say the least. (I'd never suspect a bolt wouldn't simply force-crimp the seated edge of the primers in the pocket and close home.)

I'll also admit that I've never had a Lee Auto/Hand primer not seat fully home. I use that AutoPrimer (old style) exclusively in all my handloading. I(and a lot of other people) would be interested if you find that to have been the problem.

I'd get/use that pocket uniformer in any case, just in case. Chucked in a cordless drill and it's a 1-second operation.

and peace of mind.....
 
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murphjup

New member
MKL trhanks for the link I will certainly get one if the Lee part does not work...

Actually, I will prolly get one anyways..!!

:D
 
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longranger

New member
Just went through this same thing with a new .308.You do not indicate what dies you are using.RCBS dies require them to have a "camming" action when resizing, neck sizing only makes the problem worse.This is the only rifle I have ever had that has this problem(Remington 700 LTR 1:10).
 
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murphjup

New member
I'm sorry I should have said, I am using Lee reloading dies on a Lee Classic Turret...

I am only neck sizing.. these were 1st run Hornady brass fired from the same rifle...

I'm Loading Nosler 60 Grain Partition boolets...

I’m new at this, But here's my order...

1.) I decap and Neck size

2.) I case trim and chamfer inside and outside the neck

3.) Load Charge with Lee Auto Disk.. I check Load weights as well intermittently..

4.) Load bullet with Lee Die on turret

5.) Light crimp with Lee Factory Crimp Die.

6.) Check round length.

:)
 
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T

Tim R

New member
murphiup,

I stopped using the press priming system long ago. I use the Lee Auto prime 2 which allows me to feel the primer seat with a much more uniform result.
 
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murphjup

New member
Tim R, Im not familar wuth the Auto Prime 2 system. Can you use it on the turret press? What's the main difference with it?

Thanks for your reply...
:)
 
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243winxb

New member
Lee Dies

6.) Light crimp with Lee Collet Die.
Click to expand...
<This should be a factory crimp die. A collet die is used to neck size brass if that is what you own? No crimp is needed for your bolt action 22-250. Neck tension from sizing the neck is all that is normally needed. Tho if using a neck sizing collet die, neck tension is very light, to almost none at all. Can be a problem.
 
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mehavey

New member
By ANY chance can you....

1. Resize all the cases and then test them for chambering before priming them?

2. Then prime them and see if they will chamber again?

3. Then load them -- NO CRIMP AT ALL -- and see if they will chamber?
 
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