Weird reloading problem

[seramafarm]

So I've been reloading for about 3 years now and ran into a problem I'm stumped on. I've been having issues with some of my 308 reloads getting stuck in my bolt action rifles where I then have to get a cleaning rod to push them out. (This is before even firing the cartridge . A Remington 700 and a .308 desert tech. It's about 10 percent of them and it's bad. So I went and bought a le Wilson case gauge and the ones that jam in my rifles fit in their perfectly. Anyone have any suggestions? Anyone had this problem before?

[ojisan]

It sounds like some of your cases, despite having been through the sizing die, are larger in diameter than the others.
First guess is the neck area, which is usually the tightest fitting area in the chamber.
Possibly your chamber is tight in the neck....not necessarily out of spec but on the tight side.
Is this the same brass that you have used before or different?
Does this happen with only one brand of brass?
Is this .308 brass and not 7.62x51 brass (military type) that is often a bit thicker than commercial brass?
Measure the neck diameter with bullets seated.
Is the sticky brass larger than the ones that fit fine?

The other question is have you changed bullets?
Longer / heavier ones or a different shape?
It's possible the bullets are hitting the lands and getting stuck there.
Any marks on the bullets?

[baih777]

Are you reloading mixed headstamp or all the same?

[baih777]

OAL of the brass could cause this.

[wforider]

So I've been reloading for about 3 years now and ran into a problem I'm stumped on. I've been having issues with some of my 308 reloads getting stuck in my bolt action rifles where I then have to get a cleaning rod to push them out. (This is before even firing the cartridge . A Remington 700 and a .308 desert tech. It's about 10 percent of them and it's bad. So I went and bought a le Wilson case gauge and the ones that jam in my rifles fit in their perfectly. Anyone have any suggestions? Anyone had this problem before?

Are you full length sizing? Neck sizing only.
Need your OAL.OCL

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[otteray]

Have you trimmed them?

[Dave626]

Measure the headspace with your fired brass, resize it 0.003 down then Trim your case to sami spec coal

[kengotit]

Machine gun brass ?

308 small base die

[STEWMAN]

I had that problem before with a full lenght resizing die. The solution for me was to set the die a little bit lower.

[eric n]

Do you have a caliper or micrometer? If so, a few measurements will tell you what's wrong.
If you don't have those tools, you should go buy a caliper at minimum as they are useful in every reloading task.
If you have calipers... Pull apart one of the rounds that won't chamber and measure the length of a fired piece of brass without a primer in it or make sure your primer is sitting below flush to not get a false measurement.
Measure your over all length of a loaded round (oal).
Measure the neck diameter of a loaded round.
If you have a micrometer, measure the largest diameter above the web (base).
What brass are you using?
What's your cleaning routine?
If you feel comfortable taking your firing pin assembly and ejector out of your 700, do that and chamber one of your troubled pieces of brass ( the one you pulled apart to measure oal) where do you feel resistance dropping the bolt? Does it click at the top of bolt lift?
It's a broad net but your answer will lie somewhere in those questions.
Also, it wouldn't be a bad idea to buy a comparator to measure headspace, you will have concrete numbers instead of '' it fits''.

[LynnJr]

Tight on closing usually means the shoulder needs more bump and tight on opening usually means the base needs more sizing.
It's called the click on opening problem. After you fire a round the handle comes up most of the way but right at the top it clicks when reach the extraction point.

[NorCalFocus]

So I went and bought a le Wilson case gauge and the ones that jam in my rifles fit in their perfectly.

Sorry but you wasted your money. I know tons of people rely on those things, but they don't mean squat if they don't match your chamber.

Walk us through your every step of brass prep and type of sizing. What are you doing to the brass? Have you ever ever measured your distance to the lands, the length of the chamber? How much are you sizing the brass back? Have you marked up one of the bad rounds with a sharpie to see where its making contact?

[SMarquez]

How many times has the brass been reloaded? Maybe they need to be annealed. They could be springing back at the shoulder instead of setting back. Try some new brass.

[pacrat]

Sorry but you wasted your money. I know tons of people rely on those things, but they don't mean squat if they don't match your chamber.

^^^THIS^^^

[1]...A rifle chamber is a piece of steel with a hole in it.
[2]...A die is a piece of steel with a hole in it.
[3]...A gage is a piece of steel with a hole in it.

Unless the holes in [1] and [3] match. [3] is useless to test fit a case from [2] in [1].

Typically if the shoulder needs more bump. It will cause hard closing, but not sticking in chamber. Because that is a "length" conflict.

Sticking in chamber is usually caused by a diameter conflict. Causing the case to "wedge" into the chamber.

Coat a few cases that stick, with black marking pen. [PoBoy Dykem] Then try to rechamber. Any dimensional conflicts will show as scuffs in the ink on the cases.

JM2c

[J-cat]

U need to figure out where the case is sticking. We can’t because we don’t have your rifle. Take your round and a factory fresh round and measure the body of the case, the shoulder, the neck, case length, oal, and compare the numbers.

A typical rookie mistake is when people forget that the seater die crimps. They set the die too close to the shell holder and collapse the shoulder which in turn expands the case body. Then the case gets stuck.