.30-06 hard to chamber

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antsi

New member
I have been struggling with my hand loads for a Savage 110 .30-06.

The finished ammo is hard to chamber. Moving the bolt forward is not particularly bad, but it is hard to rotate and close the bolt.

The gun does not do this with factory ammo.

I have been using a Dillon case guage, so I'm pretty confident this is not a problem with case sizing. Likewise trimming - the cases are all trimmed to the trim length and chamfered/deburred.

I'm also pretty sure it's not a seating depth problem, because
a) I am much less than max length
b) I tried seating some deeper and it didn't help.
c) the bullets don't have rifling marks if you chamber and unload them

I'm not sure there are any other variables in this process that I have any control over. Any ideas where I should be looking?

FYI:
I'm using Greek military spec surplus brass, once fired, and Sierra 150gr game king bullets.
 
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jamesicus

New member
Have you checked for high primers (protruding above the face of the cartridge case base)? I have experienced this problem recently (coincidentally when loading 30/06 for a new rifle) - not all the time, but frequently enough to produce hard bolt closure on several rounds out of each batch of hand loads.

As I have seldom experienced hard bolt closure in many years of reloading, I set about eliminating all of the variables as you are. In so doing, I noticed that the bolt closed easily on all of my full length re-sized empty cartridge cases and on the five dummy test cartridges (no primers or powder) that I always load up for testing loading and functioning of new rifles. I then stood up each fully loaded cartridge I had produced on their bases on a flat, smooth table top. Sure enough, a few wobbled a good bit (the others very little). When I checked the wobblers, they all had slightly high primers. I had been using Remington 9 1/2 large rifle primers with virgin Winchester brass on this occasion. I purchased a Lyman Primer Pocket Uniformer and used it for my next batch of reloads -- that cured the problem! I could see where the tool had shaved small amounts of brass as it freshed out the primer pockets on each piece of brass to effect proper primer seating.

JP
 
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graham82

New member
Are you full length sizing or neck sizing? I had what sounds like the same problem. I had been neck sizing only and I began to notice the bolt closing hard on some of my ammo. My problem turned out that I needed to bump the case shoulder back a little. Hope this helps!
 
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dmazur

New member
I have been using a Dillon case guage, so I'm pretty confident this is not a problem with case sizing.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure how Dillon makes their gauges, but LE Wilson makes theirs deliberately oversize in certain dimensions so all it will check is length to shoulder datum. They are definitely not cut with a SAAMI reamer.

I had a similar problem a couple of years ago and I had to resize enough to get the head of the case (fired in another rifle) to resize...then it would fit the chamber. There are special dies for this, rarely needed, called small base dies.

I since replaced the barrel on that rifle, and now (thankfully) I don't have any oversized chambers. Brass fired in any of my .30-06 rifles can be easily resized to fire in any other.

Anyway, the point was that I was having chambering trouble that the case gauge didn't catch, and this was bad enough that one of my rifles didn't like it. It would chamber fine in the other 3.
 
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sob (sweet ole bill)

New member
difficulty chambering

Had a similar problem when reloading once fired cases that I got at a show. Lee classic single stage and dies for full lengh re-sizing ($175). Slick as a wet baby seal. All load and function as if they were produced by the big boys.
 
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antsi

New member
Appreciate the suggestions.

I am full length sizing with a Lee die. I'm also using a Lee factory crimp die.

Don't know about the Dillon case guages.

I will try chambering an empy case as suggested, and try backing off on the crimp. If those don't help, I may try sizing a bit more (smaller).
 
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mrawesome22

New member
As stated, you are either not bumping the shoulder back far enough, or crimping too much which will buckle the case and cause all kinds of problems.
 
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F. Guffey

New member
There are two thought, one (the loudest) says purchase another tool, the other (the one never read) says you do not need all those tools, for most the light goes out when the bolt closes causing the chamber to go dark and not understood.

Straight off new, store purchased, factory over the counter ammo will chamber, by design. The chamber is go-gage size, the new store bought, factory, commercial ammo is sized to minimum length (dimension), in the perfect world there is a .005 difference in length between a go-gage sized chamber and the ammo that fits the 30/06.\

With out discipline the reloader is the cause of most problems, I would suggest a reloader start by sizing a case then attempt chambering the case without primer, bullet or powder, if the case chambers, proceed, I have no ideal how someone could load a box of ammo and find none of it will chamber after completion.

I move (erase) the shoulder back (bump ???) .388 thousands when forming 30/06 to 308 W cases, when I finish I expect them to chamber, for some chambers I ream the inside of the neck.

New, factor, commercial ammo is minimum length/sized ammo, cases sized in a press with the die down to the shell holder with the additional turn of 1/4 turn produces cases that are sized to minimum length (dimentions) just like store bought asmmo, seems to me it would dawn on someone they could use store bought/commercial as a standard for comparison to determine what is going wrong in the reloading process and when, purchase another tool? There are a lot out there that are nice to have, not necessary but nice to have.

F. Guffey
 
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sundog

New member
Antsi, what was the once fired brass shot in for the first firing? Does it chamber in the Savage if it was fired in another rifle? If it was fired in the Savage it should rechamber freely. Have you measured the brass just forward of the web and compared it to a round that will chamber freely? Has the brass been trimmed if over length? Have you measured the shoulder after crimping and compared it to a round that chambers freely? It is not absolutely necessary to crimp that round for a bolt gun. Ease of on the crimp die or skip it. Does a piece of resized brass chamber freely? If it does, then your problem is being induced at some point after FLSing. Have you measured bullet diameter? Could be a number of things, so you have eliminate one thing at a time. Try chamber an empty FLS brass first.
 
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jamesicus

New member
I previously wrote:

Have you checked for high primers (protruding above the face of the cartridge case base)? I have experienced this problem recently (coincidentally when loading 30/06 for a new rifle) - not all the time, but frequently enough to produce hard bolt closure on several rounds out of each batch of hand loads.

As I have seldom experienced hard bolt closure in many years of reloading, I set about eliminating all of the variables as you are. In so doing, I noticed that the bolt closed easily on all of my full length re-sized empty cartridge cases and on the five dummy test cartridges (no primers or powder) that I always load up for testing loading and functioning of new rifles. I then stood up each fully loaded cartridge I had produced on their bases on a flat, smooth table top. Sure enough, a few wobbled a good bit (the others very little). When I checked the wobblers, they all had slightly high primers. I had been using Remington 9 1/2 large rifle primers with virgin Winchester brass on this occasion. I purchased a Lyman Primer Pocket Uniformer and used it for my next batch of reloads -- that cured the problem! I could see where the tool had shaved small amounts of brass as it freshed out the primer pockets on each piece of brass to effect proper primer seating.
Click to expand...
Today I fired forty of my reloaded cartridges with nice and easy bolt closure accompanying each firing, thus confirming that it was high (not fully seated) primers that were causing the occasional hard bolt closure. Using the Lyman Primer Pocket Uniformer resulted in correct primer seating. My conclusion is that a possible quality control problem in manufacturing this batch of Winchester brass resulted in ill-formed primer pockets that prevented proper (full depth) primer seating.

JP
 
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mehavey

New member
Rules of Thumb on new brass:

1. Uniform the primer pockets (Very Important)
2. Full-length size/expand case & neck (Important)
3. Check OAL & trim/debur case mouth (Important)
3. Debur the insideflash hole (should-do)

4. Check that the first 2-3 cases in the batch done this way will chamber easily. After that, proceed.

5. If ANY uncertainty/doubt [and if able to do safely], chamber the first 1-2 loaded rounds to check same.
 
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W

wncchester

New member
"I have been using a Dillon case guage, so I'm pretty confident this is not a problem with case sizing. "


It's almost certainly a failuure to set the shoulders back far enough during sizing. Easy to test, turn your FL die down another 1/8th turn (about 9 thou), or less, fully resize again and see if the cases don't chamber easily.
 
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