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Posted: 10/3/2010 2:19:16 PM EDT
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I have an Olympuc Arms .243 wssm upper that has cycled perfectly until I started reloading. I have since been having feed issues. If the brass is new, it will be fine but once fired brass will not chamber at all.
After a very long troubleshooting session, I have determined that Olympic has made my rifle chamber somewhat larger than necessary, making the brass swell .005-.006 after being shot. This Is all fine and dandy but my LEE dies bore is still too large to resize the brass down to the factory brass size. My question is, Do I just buy a new set of dies (rcbs, etc...) and hope that they are in a closer tolerance, or do I contact Olympic and try to ship them my upper and ask for a set of dies speciffacly for my rifle? |
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OK first question, what dies are you using (and I don't mean brand)? Are you using a full length sizing die? Are you sure the die is screwed in all the way and that you are closing the ram on the press all the way?
If the rifle takes new factory brass, then I highly doubt it is the chambering. I would call Lee and talk to them about it. What are the dimensions of the unfired factory brass, fired factory brass, and once fired and sized brass? |
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Try another set of dies. RCBS or Redding.
Another issue could be the brand of brass you're using. I take it it's either Winchester or Federal. Winchester has thicker walls which would account for more "spring back" than the Federal brass from what I've gathered which might be where the difference is coming from. |
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Quoted:
It occured to me that brass grows in length the first re size quite a bit. Could the length of the re sized brass be causing trouble in this instance? In a word... yes. If the case OAL is long the cartridge won't chamber and if forced into battery could cause pressure spikes due to the case mouth "crimping" the bullet. Depending how the chamber is cut will determine how long you can let your brass grow until you need to trim them back to the minimum trim length. It's best to stay within reloading manual specs though. |
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