Small base dies

[Executive]

I've been having some sporadic problems with my .270 Win load chambering in my Winchester 700 CDLSF. I am getting an occasional (1 out of 10) round that will not chamber and actually gets stuck (along with the bolt). A carefully applied aluminum rod with very little pressure pushes the partially chambered round back out along with the bolt. Everything seems to check out. Cases are properly sized and trimmed, COAL is perfect, and the round (43.5G 4064 pushing a 130G Speer BTSP) is really accurate. I am shooting 5/8" groups at 100 yards and I'm not a great shot by any means and this is not a target rifle. Anyway, some of the old timers at the club suggested using a small base die set to shrink the case just enough for consistent chambering. I have read, however, that small base dies are NOT recommended for bold action rifles. Looking for advice from the NES reloading experts. What's my next move?

Chris

 

[EddieCoyle]

Have you measured the headspace length of the rounds?

You might not be pushing the shoulder back far enough.

Info here: http://massreloading.com/bottleneck_case_resizing.html

 

[Steve Marshall]

After you follow EC's advice you should be all set. If not, try chambering resized brass. There are many reasons for sticking and COAL especially is NOT one of them unless you are using a bullet with a totally different shape .

You could be inadvertently overcrimping, banana shaped brass, out of square brass or my personal favorite, neck sizing crap brass. If you aren't positive on where your brass is after sizing, you'll eventually run into problems.

On the ones that stick in the chamber, run them in until they come out normally then look for wear spots or scratches. Then you could pretty much determine what's going on.

 

[mac1911]

I only load for my 1903a3s for bolt guns. I had some problems clambering after the 3 time with HXP brass. Now I don't know why but when I bought the rcbs precision mic and set my die up using the longest "head spaced" case found in the 3rd fired case batch all has been well. I basically adjusted the die until I measured .003" less on the gauge.
Since then I shoot my brass for this rifle then neck size for 3 loads. On the 4th load I full length size.

Now I don't have extraction issues but when shooting the rapid portion of a,match the hard to chamber issue is a pita.

I also found on my lock and load bushing on my 223 set up that the oring lost its tension and would visibly lift up when resizing? New o ring and good to go?