.308 Reloading problems.....

[USMCM16A2]

Folks,



I have a new Remington SPS Tactical in .308 Winchester, I was trying some one fired brass I got from a fellow calgunner. First the cases were full length resized, as needed trimmed to length. I was using a baseline of 2.008.
I then neck sized the brass, cleaned out the primer pocket. A CCI LR 200 primer was inserted into the pocket. Next was 48.5gr of Hodgdon CFE 223 powder, a 155gr Nosler Custom Competition to a COL of 2.75 inches. The bolt will not close all the way. The cases were all clean, I checked all dimensions all seemed right.
I am using RCBS dies, FL resizer, Neck sizer, and bullet seating die. Newly manufactured ammo cycles fine, and so does ammo made on virgin brass, any help would be a great help, A2

[Corbin Dallas]

Have you sammi spec'd the cases?

[alfred1222]

Are you crimping?? I taper crimp all of my 308, it leads to consistency, IMHO. Also, have you checked your loads through a go-no/go gauge??

[G-forceJunkie]

Did you try and chamber the case after you sized it? You probably need to size it more, turn the die down another 1/8 to 1/4 turn and make sure it really cams over on the bottom of the down stroke. If that doesnt work, that mystery brass may have been fired in a semi auto with a fat chamber and really blown the brass out, you may need to use a small base die.

[Bill Steele]

It sounds like the F/L sizing die was not screwed down far enough to bump the shoulder on the case back enough.

I recommend getting a Hornaday or RCBS Headspace kit. It will allow you to setup your F/L sizing die so it bumps the shoulder of your case just the right amount for your rifle. You will get better loads and better life out of your cases by using one of these tools.

To get you going, just adjust the F/L sizing die down so it contacts the shell holder, hen give it another half turn. This will allow you to chamber rounds made with that die until you get something to measure your actual headspace.

One last thing I may have misread, but if you neck sized after full length sizing but before you shot those F/L sized cases in your gun, don't do that. You either neck size (cases you have fired in your bolt gun) or you F/L size (when you are sizing cases not fired previously in your gun or cases that have grown enough in headspace length that you need to bump he shoulder back, see headspace gauge above).

I hope all that made sense.

[BisDak]

Resize again. Go all the way down.

Measure the good round against the bad round. Check the Neck size. Also check the lip of the cartridge. If fired from an over gassed semi auto the lip might be protruding and therefore not riding on the bolt face.

Would be helpful if you have pics of both the good one the bad one side by side.

Make sure it is a .308 shell case.

.

[stevec223]

sizing

if my once-fired brass is lake city,or any military headstamp,, or i have bought once fired and i dont know the rifle its been fired from i small base size the first time.... i use a lyman case length headspace guage (15 bucks )to set up the die and make sure im bumping the shoulder back to spec...i find trying to seat a bullet and crimp on the same die a pain.... seating bullet with seater die, then using a lee factory crimp die in a separate sequence,,, keeps me from buckling the neck....if you feel the neck you will know if its buckled--- and wont chamber....good luck.... cheers...

[CEDaytonaRydr]

It sounds like the F/L sizing die was not screwed down far enough to bump the shoulder on the case back enough.

This would be my guess. I did that once with some .30-06; ended up shooting them in my 1917 Enfield, just to get rid of them but they would barely chamber in my 721, and after they were fired, the case would usually fail to extract.

[firebert]

Sounds like a full length size issue to me as well.

I never understand why people both full length size and neck size. I do one or the other.

[thomashoward]

Did you try and chamber the case after you sized it? You probably need to size it more, turn the die down another 1/8 to 1/4 turn and make sure it really cams over on the bottom of the down stroke. If that doesnt work, that mystery brass may have been fired in a semi auto with a fat chamber and really blown the brass out, you may need to use a small base die.

size it more .a little at a time until the bolt will go down.Too much and you create head-space. Make sure the case is well lubed. If it gets hard to size you may get a case stuck in the die.

[Beelzy]

Ahem, one must full length size cases when using them for a different gun. Then you can neck size them for that same gun from then on.

[USMCM16A2]

SPS Trouble

Folks,



The only cases that will function in my SPS are those that have a neck size of .336 or less. The cases that are larger than .336 EVEN when full length resized will not work. I have started to separate out the cases into 2 piles, I am going to try to take the SPS to Angeles this afternoon. A2

[Springfield45]

I have done a lot of Military once fired brass and they can range from normal size to wide expansion. I think the widest were probably fired through Machine-guns. I "One Shot" lubricated them completely and ran them as far as the will go through the sizing die. They have no problem chambering in the 4 different .308 rifles that I have.

[Wrangler John]

I will say this once again. If loads from virgin brass and reloaded commercial ammunition fired in your chamber, and resized with your tools works, then the used mystery brass is defective. There can be many reasons for this, but usually it's excessive headspace, misshapen chambers (some are off axially from the barrel/bolt head which bends the case or causes it to take on a banana shape) or other dimensional weirdness. It can also result from hardened brass that springs back after sizing. Just toss this stuff into the recycle bin (brass is valuable at the scrap prices today).

I know prices are high these days, but I never use mystery brass from friends, enemies, or picked up at the range. There isn't any profit in trying to make something work when new brass and factory loads fired in my chamber always work.

[gunboat]

One other thought -- is your bullet seated too shallow and jamming into the lands?