Sizing bottle neck cartridges in Break open guns

[Kill n Time]

Hi Guys and Gals,

I just bought a Freedom Arms single shot in 7 BR. This is my first time working with a bottle necked cartridge in a break open gun.

I full length sized my first 100 rounds of virgin brass, loaded them, chambered them, and they fired fine.

So today I was resizing these 1st 100 rounds. I bought a neck sizing die, neck sized them, but I cannot get the once fired brass to chamber and get the gun closed all of the way. I also tried full legth sizing some of this once fired brass with the same results.

What am I doing wrong? Is the sweat spot on the sizing die that fine of an adjustment that I'm not hitting it right? I'm using hornady oneshot for case lube, Should I try a heavier lube?

Thanks in advance for your advise!!

Regards, Doug

[ihmsakiwi]

Hi Kill n Time,

I too had the same problem in both my 223 and 7mmBR barrels in my FA S/S.
I thought initially it was a tight match chambering that was causing the issue. I e-mailed Bob Bakee to ask and was told it was probably my reloading technique ( but not in those words).

Bob suspected I was possibly pulling the neck forward in the sizing die when the expander was coming back up through the neck. Long story short................I found I needed to either raise or lower the die in the press more than I do for my 7mmBR XP100 loading. I think the case needed to go further into the die by memory. It drove me nuts for weeks until I got it sorted. About 50% would chamber and the other 50% not. All measurements, diameter and length appeared the same using calipers. Play with the die depth and advise if this fixes the problem. Peter

[Kill n Time]

I e-mailed Bob Bakee to ask and was told it was probably my reloading technique ( but not in those words).

Bob suspected I was possibly pulling the neck forward in the sizing die when the expander was coming back up through the neck.

Thank you for your response. I don"t think I agree with Bob in my case because when I full legth sized my virgin brass I did not " pull the necks" and all of my virgin brass chambered fine.

Do you get 100 % success chambering since you got things sorted out? It would really suck to have to chamber check every piece of brass before reloading.

Thanks again, Doug

[Kill n Time]

Use a bushing die, it does not touch the inside of the case neck and will not pull it forward. You will never have to full length size with a bushing die, at least I have not.

What brand bushing die do you recommend? Redding? Excuse my ignorance, but does a bushing die bump the shoulder?

Thank you, Doug

[260 Striker]

The virgin brass may have been slightly undersized and worked OK. When once fired it has now grown enough to be tight. You may still be able to use your full length die. Many people just run the FL die down until it touches the shellholder and many times that is enough. I have found with some guns/cases I have to run the FL die down till it touches then lower the ram and turn the FL die in another 1/8 to 1/4 turn to take all the slop out of the press linkage. Also some shellholders are thicker than others. A friend of mine uses the Lee set for most of his reloading but had trouble loading 308 for one rifle even after taking the slop out of the linkage. I miked the Lee shellholder and found it to be several thousands thicker than a Lyman shellholder. He switched to the Lyman, removed the slop in the linkage and was able to FL size for the problem 308 rifle. For all my TCs I just set the FL die to allow a snug closure on new brass. When I resize I place a .020 shim under the FL die lock ring and that allows me resize without over working the brass but allows the gun to close with no resistance. I suspect the FA has a tight chamber so you will just have to play with the different suggestions you are getting here. I have just started to use a bushing die for a gun I just got from Tonedaddy so I can't really comment how well it will work for me but seemed to do the job for him. Try different things and see what works best for you and the gun.

[Kill n Time]

The virgin brass may have been slightly undersized and worked OK. When once fired it has now grown enough to be tight. You may still be able to use your full length die. Many people just run the FL die down until it touches the shellholder and many times that is enough. I have found with some guns/cases I have to run the FL die down till it touches then lower the ram and turn the FL die in another 1/8 to 1/4 turn to take all the slop out of the press linkage. Also some shellholders are thicker than others. A friend of mine uses the Lee set for most of his reloading but had trouble loading 308 for one rifle even after taking the slop out of the linkage. I miked the Lee shellholder and found it to be several thousands thicker than a Lyman shellholder. He switched to the Lyman, removed the slop in the linkage and was able to FL size for the problem 308 rifle. For all my TCs I just set the FL die to allow a snug closure on new brass. When I resize I place a .020 shim under the FL die lock ring and that allows me resize without over working the brass but allows the gun to close with no resistance. I suspect the FA has a tight chamber so you will just have to play with the different suggestions you are getting here. I have just started to use a bushing die for a gun I just got from Tonedaddy so I can't really comment how well it will work for me but seemed to do the job for him. Try different things and see what works best for you and the gun.

Thank you very much!! Turning my RCBS full legth sizer die down a little more did the trick. Tried the same thing with my Forster neck sizing die with no success. Guess Ill have to try buying a bushing die. But for now, at least I'm back in buisiness and can go shooting.

Thanks again, Doug

[260 Striker]

Glad to hear you found something that works so you can at least keep shooting. Many times neck sizing may help reduce over working your brass but there are times where using a FL die is OK too. Depends upon how much expansion you get when you fire the round and then how much the brass is worked when using the FL die. My trick with the .020 shim works great for my 260 Striker. I have been using the same brass now for about 4 years and haven't had to trim the cases but once and that was just to even them up since they really hadn't grown much. Reloading sometimes is a trial and error thing and what works for one gun may not work for another. If you can get your FL dies set just right the first time and the cases don't expand too much when firing then you may get along just fine using the FL die. Finding that right combination of loads and reloading tricks is just part of the fun of shooting. Enjoy that new gun. I hear they are very accurate.

[gunsphoenix]

I have been looking for a solution to the same problem online for a few days now and came across this post searching online. I had just bought some 223, 5.56 and 308 once fired brass over at http://www.diamondkbrass.com/ and the neck sizing helped. Thanks guys for all your help.