The Firearms Forum banner

Reloading for 22-250

3K views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  Twicepop 
#1 ·
I am reloading for my 22-250. I did some reloading about 15 years ago and finally got myself a used setup with a single stage press. I am having a small issue. With my reloads ( I have only done 20 while cooking up a good load) they are hard to chamber. The rifle is a Ruger m77. The dies are brand new Hornaday, they are set to specs as far as I can tell. The casings all measure good with a micrometer. What is happening is when pushing the bolt ahead I have to really push the last 1/8" or so to get it where I can lock the bolt in. It has done this on every shell. The overall length is 2.250 and the Google machine says maximum length of 2.35. Do I try seating the bullet a little deeper? Thanks in advance.

By the way I'm using a 60 grain SP Hornaday with 34.6 grains of H380. Seemed to work good.
 
#5 ·
Try to chamber a case after it has been resized, but before seating a bullet. That should tell you whether or not your resizing die is set correctly. If it does not, make sure your full length resizing die not only touches the shellholder when you pull down on the handle, but the press cams over.
If it chambers well, make sure that the bullet seating die is not crimping the case neck at all, seat a bullet and see if it will chamber easily.
If it does not, look to see if it has rifling marks on the bullet (you might try using a felt tip pen to mark the bullet, it will show up rifling marks easier). If so, you need to seat the bullet deeper.
You will probably want to do these steps without primer or powder. I have dummy rounds made up for all the ammo I reload for, it makes it easier to set up the dies.
If it chambers easily at that length, with no crimp, you probably overcrimped the case when you seated the bullet, it can bulge the case below the neck and make chambering difficult. The Lee Factory Crimp die for bottleneck rifle cartridges will alleviate this problem. You can also just use a lighter crimp, or crimp in a separate stage. If you crimp and seat in the same step, you should make sure your case lengths are pretty close to the same, or you will have uneven neck tension or possibly some overcrimped cartridges.
 
#6 ·
Try to chamber a case after it has been resized, but before seating a bullet. That should tell you whether or not your resizing die is set correctly. If it does not, make sure your full length resizing die not only touches the shellholder when you pull down on the handle, but the press cams over.
If it chambers well, make sure that the bullet seating die is not crimping the case neck at all, seat a bullet and see if it will chamber easily.
If it does not, look to see if it has rifling marks on the bullet (you might try using a felt tip pen to mark the bullet, it will show up rifling marks easier). If so, you need to seat the bullet deeper.
You will probably want to do these steps without primer or powder. I have dummy rounds made up for all the ammo I reload for, it makes it easier to set up the dies.
If it chambers easily at that length, with no crimp, you probably overcrimped the case when you seated the bullet, it can bulge the case below the neck and make chambering difficult. The Lee Factory Crimp die for bottleneck rifle cartridges will alleviate this problem. You can also just use a lighter crimp, or crimp in a separate stage. If you crimp and seat in the same step, you should make sure your case lengths are pretty close to the same, or you will have uneven neck tension or possibly some overcrimped cartridges.
Got it. It was just as moody explained. I had the die just touching the ram so I tightened it down a bit more like you explained where it cams over just a bit and that seems better. Still just a hair tight when the bolt handle is about halfway down, I probably need to give it just a hair more. Thanks to both of you
 
#7 ·
If you need just a hair more, I would suggest measuring the thickness of your shell holder. Not all shell holders have the same dimentions. The area that holds the shell in place may be thicker in one brand verses another. I had the very same problem with my 270wsm. I had to over cam with one brand of shell holder and not with another brand. Remember it only takes a few thousands to make a world of difference.
 
#8 ·
Try to chamber a case after it has been resized, but before seating a bullet. That should tell you whether or not your resizing die is set correctly. If it does not, make sure your full length resizing die not only touches the shellholder when you pull down on the handle, but the press cams over.
If it chambers well, make sure that the bullet seating die is not crimping the case neck at all, seat a bullet and see if it will chamber easily.
If it does not, look to see if it has rifling marks on the bullet (you might try using a felt tip pen to mark the bullet, it will show up rifling marks easier). If so, you need to seat the bullet deeper.
You will probably want to do these steps without primer or powder. I have dummy rounds made up for all the ammo I reload for, it makes it easier to set up the dies.
If it chambers easily at that length, with no crimp, you probably overcrimped the case when you seated the bullet, it can bulge the case below the neck and make chambering difficult. The Lee Factory Crimp die for bottleneck rifle cartridges will alleviate this problem. You can also just use a lighter crimp, or crimp in a separate stage. If you crimp and seat in the same step, you should make sure your case lengths are pretty close to the same, or you will have uneven neck tension or possibly some overcrimped cartridges.
Touching the die to the shell holder isn't always a good idea. I got in a hurry setting up a set of .308 dies several years back using this idea. When I got around to checking the brass with the proper gauges I found out that I'd set the shoulder back about .007-.008" to far. To salvage this brass I had to expand the neck out to .33 caliber to create a shoulder to headspace the brass on, then resize the necks with the now properly adjusted dies.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top