Hard closing bolt on reloads

land308

land308

New member
I was wondering what are some causes of a hard-to-close bolt on a remington 700(308 win). I went out shooting tonight and many of my reloads were difficult to get the bolt to close. On one I could not get it to close. This is my 1st firing on some once-fired FC brass. I have used some of this brass before without problems so I am thinking its the bullets or I messed up during the resizing process. I'm shooting speer 125 TNT hollow points from a new bulk bag I got at a gunshow. The col of this load is below the max listed in the books and with this short bullet I don't think I'm anywhere near the lands. I also trimmed this entire lot of brass to the trim-to length from the books. Any thoughts?
 
Pull the bullet on the round that wouldn't chamber and full length resize it, Make sure the shell holder is touching the bottom of the die, then try it in the chamber.
 
It's a 98% probability you are not pushing the shoulder back enough. Either you don't have the die screwed down far enough or the die is too long and can't be screwed down enough.

Jack
 
Were the cases shot in your rifle the first time, or did you get the fired cases from someone else?

Do the empty cases chamber easily?

There should be no shoulder problems if they are fired in your rifle previously.

.
 
FWIW...I have a 700 that the bolt is hard to close on even when it's empty. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif
 
Quote:
Were the cases shot in your rifle the first time, or did you get the fired cases from someone else?

Do the empty cases chamber easily?

There should be no shoulder problems if they are fired in your rifle previously.

.



If the sized cases chamber without resistance, then the sizing is not the cause of the problem.

However, I have had some cases start to bolt down harder if I have used higher pressure loadings in the cases being reloaded, even in the same gun. Bumping back the shoulder a bit is usually sufficient to cure the problem.
 
I had the same problem, I thought I was not chamfering the necks well enough. Turned out that I had my seating die set to low on the shell, and was slightly forcing the shoulders back when I seated the bullet. What can I say I was a rookie. When I measured them there was only a few thousandth's difference. But it was very hard to get the bolt closed.
 
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I don't like to do more than neck sizing on my cases when possible. I bought a couple RCBS "body only" dies. These dies will bump the shoulder back and also smooth out the pressure ring without affecting the neck.

Mike
 
I will give pulling and resizing a try tonight. Answer to some other questions: These brass have not been fired in this gun before. I bought them on ebay so I guess they came from a semiauto. The bolt opens easily after firing.
Thanks for all the sugestions.
 
Sounds like you're firing brass that has been fireformed to a different rifle's chamber. Once you fire them in yours, they'll pretty much reform to your chamber, hence, the ease of extraction. The easiest way to get them to function in your rifle on subsequent firings is to just go ahead and shoot them "as-is", if closing the bolt isn't too difficult.

Mike
 
I have also had the same problem and changed dies and it eliminated the problem.

I do have a question about using the ammo that I reloaded with the other die. When the bolt is hard to close do I create a dangerous situation by using those rounds and does it affect accuracy?
 
If the problem is just that the case needs to be resized a bit more, then so long as you can close the bolt without damaging the rifle in the process, it should be OK. I have heard that sometimes shells which "bolt down" harder than normal tend to shoot to a slightly different POI. But, this would be small enough that only if you were shooting very long distances and/or with a very accurate rifle would you notice it.

I have seen this phenomenon in my rimfires, .22 and .22 Mag. The shells with the thicker rims would bolt down harder, in my guns at least, shoot a little higher than the rest.
 
If the bolt will close on the rounds with slight to moderate resistance, you will be good to go. I actually like a slight bolt resistance in my bolt on closure. This eliminates insipiant(sp) head seperation.
 
I going to continue using these loads for practice. I have had no pressure signs what so ever. Out of the 70 rounds I shot last night only one would not chamber. From what I have read I am guessing that I blew it when resizing. I usually put the sizing die down to contact the shell holder and jsut cam over a little bit. I may have got sloppy. A learning experience anyway.
thanks for the help. I will investigate further when I get home from work today
 
Sometimes, simply adjusting the die until it contacts the shell holder while the ram is at the top of it's stroke isn't quite enough. When FL sizing or "body only" sizing, I usually tighten the die down an eighth to quarter turn past the initial contact point. Unless, of course, the die manufacturer recommends otherwise.

Mike
 
I had this problem with my .223 loads 2 months ago and I did what hese good folks have said reset the die and trimmed the cases and voolah problem solved and now after every firing I polish and trim the cases.
 
Quote:
Sometimes, simply adjusting the die until it contacts the shell holder while the ram is at the top of it's stroke isn't quite enough. When FL sizing or "body only" sizing, I usually tighten the die down an eighth to quarter turn past the initial contact point. Unless, of course, the die manufacturer recommends otherwise.

Mike



That's particularly true when using presses with a lot of spring in their linkage. After adjusting the die down to the shell holder, I will lube and insert a case into the shell holder, run it fully into the die, then check to see if it chambers properly. If it doesn't I turn the die down about 1/16 of a turn and repeat. Sometimes I have seen it almost impossible to turn the die down far enough to size the case properly. I then take a flashlight and shine it from behind the shellholder/die junction. If there is light showing from a space between the shellholder and die, the die can be turned down more ......if necessary.

Even though you think you have turned down the die enough, often press spring will necessitate turning the die in a bit further.
 


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