LC Brass feeding issue

[automatikdonn]

I have 1000+ Lake City brass cartridges, and for the life of me I cannot get them to feed into my LR-308 RELIABLY. I am using 2 sizing dies, a lee full length resizer, and then on to a RCBS AR series small base resizer. I have set the dies up correctly taking them a half turn past touching the shell plate. The issue seems to be the shoulder not being pushed back far enough. Any ideas on how to correct this problem. I am using a lee load master press.

[joelogic]

The half past turn is just the starting point. Adjust die until brass chambers.

[FTC]

I ran into this problem also. I picked up a case gauge to help diagnose the problem. The rounds would jam in the chamber and the bolt wouldn't close completely. I checked my shell holders and found that of the two I have (lee and rcbs) one is slightly taller preventing the shoulder from being bumped back enough.

[gau17]

+1 on FTC or get a bump gauge so you can accurately tell how much your case is growing. Sinclair or Hornady are two good brands.

[DarkSoul]

Is the brass new or used (sorry if I missed this) if its used, has it been properly sized? I had some reloaded .223 that I failed to resize, and it played all sorts of havoc, once it was properly resized, it worked like a charm.

[problemchild]

Its not the brass. My bet is (ask me how I know this) you have your de-primer set too deep. Back your de-prime rod(just the center rod NOT the die) out a few turns so that it just pops the primer out at full ram.

Second thing is get one of these so you know for sure its done right before you jam one in your chamber.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhgWqrvdzrU

[Pete1979]

If you are using once fired lake city brass, its just damned hard to resize. I have had the same problem but its all I use in the M1 and M1A. What we are getting is probably old machine gun brass fired in an oversize chamber then yanked out while still hot.
Use a quality lube, back the decapping rod off until it just knocks the primer out as Problem Child recommended and go slow. I set my Hornady press (Old 007 single stage) up to "cam over" with a small based die (RCBS) and 2 out of five wouldn't drop into the case gauge. If I lube them one at a time with Imperial Sizing Wax, they drop in consistently without having to "cam over" which will in time distort your dies.

[problemchild]

If you are using once fired lake city brass, its just damned hard to resize. I have had the same problem but its all I use in the M1 and M1A. What we are getting is probably old machine gun brass fired in an oversize chamber then yanked out while still hot.
Use a quality lube, back the decapping rod off until it just knocks the primer out as Problem Child recommended and go slow. I set my Hornady press (Old 007 single stage) up to "cam over" with a small based die (RCBS) and 2 out of five wouldn't drop into the case gauge. If I lube them one at a time with Imperial Sizing Wax, they drop in consistently without having to "cam over" which will in time distort your dies.

I was having issues and I switched to Dillon lanolin lube and backed my de-capper rod off and that solved the problem. At the time I was camming over and was able to back the die out to where it was just kissing the shell plate and NO cam over. I am using a Dillon small base carbide die FYI.

[bohoki]

what is your trim length

[sonnyt650]

Once-fired LC .308 is a major pain to size the shoulder down. My DPMS 18" upper has a chamber that's even tighter that way than my Remington 700 (though significantly less camming force). Recently I've been using a Redding body-sizing only die which pushes the shoulder down a bit more than the Lee dies but the hard extraction problem still came up on some cases. For that die there's no issue with a decap pin, while excess lube doesn't do anything at all. Eventually I decided to Dremel down the top of a spare Lee shellholder (Classic Turret used as a single-stage press) so I could do an initial resize down to new brass lengths. I think I took off maybe 0.01" of metal which corresponds directly to the amount of additional setback I am able to put on the shoulder.

[automatikdonn]

Thank you everyone for your input. I need to get a case gauge. I'm new to reloading, and didn't even know such a thing existed. I am using LC once fired brass. I have backed off the depriming pin so far that 1 out of 15-20 dont get deprimed all the way. I will post back after I go to the range this weekend.

[problemchild]

Thank you everyone for your input. I need to get a case gauge. I'm new to reloading, and didn't even know such a thing existed. I am using LC once fired brass. I have backed off the depriming pin so far that 1 out of 15-20 dont get deprimed all the way. I will post back after I go to the range this weekend.

Screw the rod in until it deprimes all cases. Just screw it in 1/4 turn at a time.