Feeding problem in my bolt action

[jkgts1]

Hi, I have a Remington 700 in 308 and I am shooting Remington brass, Sierra MK HPBT with 43.5 gn of Varget. I had about 25 rnds and 5 of the rounds would not chamber. I was unable to push the bolt all the way forward to lock the handle down. I did not want to force it so I just set those rounds aside. Also a few of the rounds that did chamber had a problem extracting. I would lift the bolt handle up, but just shy a few degrees of being completely in the up position. I just pushed up a little harder and it would work and extract the round. These rounds were hand loaded by me and made all at the same time so I'm not sure why some would work and some won't. I have been using this load, with no changes, for about a year with no prior problems. I had a new barrel installed and bolt trued by Randy, R&D precision, last year. That is the only thing that has changed about the rifle, but I have shot it numerous times after receiving it back with no issues. What are your thoughts?

Thanks

[Timberwolf]

Are you FL sizing your brass or neck sizing?

[brando]

Yeah, sounds like the shoulder needs a bit of a bump. It's entirely reasonable to neck size rounds from a bolt gun, but there's a certain point where your fireformed brass will become too tight to close the bolt. This is usually after 2-3 neck sizings, at which point you should bump the shoulder back 0.002" with a full length or body die.

[StraightShooter]

Did you use the same loaded ammo that You used in the last barrel? If you got a new barrel then it probably is much tighter and you may need to bump the shoulder back on the cases with a fl size die. I just chambered a barrel and the brass that I used in my other rifle fit very tight in my new barrel and would not close easily. (I was just testing to see if the new chamber was tighter, and it was). You will need to re set your sizing die so that you for sure have the correct headspace as well as a small enough body diameter. Actually, pretty much everything should be started over, Brass prep, load development, cartridge oal, bullet seating depth when you get a new barrel.

[Fjold]

I bet if you measure the cases you will find that the ones that are sticking are a little longer. Check to see if the seating doe is screwed in too far and if the case mouths are hitting the step in the die when the bullets are seating. When the die hits the mouth of the case it causes the shoulder to bulge, preventing you from chambering easily.

Loosen the lock ring on your seating die and then put an empty case into the shell holder and raise the ram all the way. Try to screw the seating die in. If the die doesn't turn in a full revolution then your die is screwed too far into the press. Screw the die in until you feel it hit the case mouth and then back it off one full turn and lock it down. Then adjust the seating plug to get your desired OAL.

[jkgts1]

Yeah I FL size the first time, then just been doing the neck sizing after. I guess that is the problem. I actually measured the cases and the ones that fit and the ones that don't, but they are the same. Yes, I used the same loads on the original barrel too. I suppose I need to FL size more often. Thanks for all the replies.

[scfast]

FL size and bump the neck back like others have said.....after about 3 to 5 neck sizings you should FL

[rksimple]

Do you have a case comparator? That will help get things dialed in correctly instead of arbitrarily setting your sizing die as the instructions say.