-
Short 223 varmint chamber
I'm only able to load 55gr amax at 2.260 before the bolt barely closes. Seems to me like that's really short since some are loading 75gr at 2.45. Is it posible my tikka has a short chamber or it wasn't cut correctly. All my other tikkas max col are way over max magazine length. Am I missing something
-
17 Replies
-
Get the Hornady device with the dummy case for measuring freebore with the bullet design you're using.
-
That's what I used
-
So, if you seated a few thousandths off the lands, is there a problem?
-
Yeah the bolt is really tight to close. I lost as if the lee fl size die doesn't form the shoulder correctly
-
If you're not already using a Wilson or some other brand of case gage for setting up your Lee die, that could be the problem. I load almost exclusively with Lee dies on a couple of Dillon 650s. I have to screw the die down until I'm getting a “camming over” of the handle. In other words, you'll have to screw the die down until it touches the shellplate, then lower the shellplate and turn the die in a little more.
-
Its a shoulder issue on the brass for sure…you should have no problems with that length…
You most likely have the die setup wrong or you are not getting a full press when sizing the brass. -
Well I ended up backing the fl size die back some so it doesn't bump the shoulder and now it's better and I'm able to get 2.282 with 55gr amax. The only thing I'm worried about is the neck is only getting halfway resized which might mess with my neck tension.
-
Sounds like you are still having a setup issue…you should still have full resizing on the neck.
You may need to play with it some more.Just curious…check to see if your de-capping pin and expander is set correctly. I've seen problems with this before if set too long. You are greasing the inside or the neck correct?
-
I lube the inside of the neck on every 3rd or 4th case. My decapper is set flush with the top nut.
-
Your description of hard bolt closing and backing out die don't seem to square with a short throat. I had some headspace problems which it turned out were caused by a powder granule smeared into the shoulder of the chamber. I cleaned and cleaned but until I brushed out and used a compresser to blow out the chamber I could not get the bump right and had hard closing.
Keep us posted.
-
Well I ended up backing the fl size die back some so it doesn't bump the shoulder and now it's better and I'm able to get 2.282 with 55gr amax. The only thing I'm worried about is the neck is only getting halfway resized which might mess with my neck tension.
This makes no sense to me, but what should I, a class 06 ammo manufacturer know, anyhow? 8) 8)
-
Well I ended up backing the fl size die back some so it doesn't bump the shoulder and now it's better and I'm able to get 2.282 with 55gr amax. The only thing I'm worried about is the neck is only getting halfway resized which might mess with my neck tension.
This makes no sense to me, but what should I, a class 06 ammo manufacturer know, anyhow? 8) 8)
I have no clue either. I have a tikka in 7mm-08 and the cases will do the same thing. When I set my FL size die I usually always turn it in until it touches the ram then back it out about 1.5 turns or the bolt will be hard to close. I'm not really sure why this is.
-
Still makes no sense to me. Please keep us posted. A shoulder that's been bumped too much absolutely won't cause the bolt to be hard to close, unless you've somehow buckled the shoulder slightly when seating/crimping??
I've never loaded a rifle case whose shoulder needed bumping that didn't require a “cam-over” of the ram during the sizing process. It's mechanically impossible to bump a case shoulder AT ALL, if you're backing the sizing die out one-and-a-half turns.
-
Well I ended up backing the fl size die back some so it doesn't bump the shoulder and now it's better and I'm able to get 2.282 with 55gr amax. The only thing I'm worried about is the neck is only getting halfway resized which might mess with my neck tension.
This makes no sense to me, but what should I, a class 06 ammo manufacturer know, anyhow? 8) 8)
I have no clue either. I have a tikka in 7mm-08 and the cases will do the same thing. When I set my FL size die I usually always turn it in until it touches the ram then back it out about 1.5 turns or the bolt will be hard to close. I'm not really sure why this is.
Don't back it off after the shellholder touches the bottom of the die.
-
Read on the site where people were encountering hard bolt closing. The problems were solved by greasing the bolt cam area covered by the shroud and the lugs. Give this a try, it solved the problems of others on ghis site.
Log in to reply.