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stu925 · October 19, 2012, 01:01 PM

I seem to have developed a resizing issue recently in my 6.5x55 Swede die. I'm not sure exactly what my issue is and need some input. Here's the situation:

I have approximately 200 resized case and about 1/2 of them will not chamber in my rifle or it's hard to close the bolt on them. The head stamps are from various manufacturers (Norma, Lapua, Remington, Federal, Winchester) and were all resized on my RCBS Rockchucker. The vast majority of problematic cases are either Norma or Lapua brass (I have no idea how many time this stuff has been loaded since it came from my father's reloading bench) although all of my head stamps have had at least one case that was a problem. The sizing die is an old (60's-70's era) RCBS full length resizing die. At this point it seems that the shoulder might not be getting bumped back enough but since the sizing die is touching the shell holder I'm not sure how I'd get it bumped back besides grinding the bottom of the die a little bit. Measuring the cases, all my dimensions seem to be off by a thousandth of an inch or 2 (I got the specs from the 8th ed of Cartridges Of The World). Just to make sure it's not my technique I just resized a small batch resetting the die first and making sure the handle of the press is going all the to the bottom and I got the same results, 1/2 of them are hard to close the bolt. I'm fairly certain I can rule out the press itself since this is the only cartridge I load for that I'm having any issues with

Is it possible that my issue could just be old brass at the end of it's useful life span or should I suspect the die? If it's the die, what happened to it that it suddenly won't do what it's supposed to? I've been using this die for 15 years and never had any resizing issues so why all of a sudden?

Stu

October 19, 2012, 01:01 PM	#1
stu925 Senior Member Join Date: December 20, 2010 Location: New York Posts: 953	Resizing issue I seem to have developed a resizing issue recently in my 6.5x55 Swede die. I'm not sure exactly what my issue is and need some input. Here's the situation: I have approximately 200 resized case and about 1/2 of them will not chamber in my rifle or it's hard to close the bolt on them. The head stamps are from various manufacturers (Norma, Lapua, Remington, Federal, Winchester) and were all resized on my RCBS Rockchucker. The vast majority of problematic cases are either Norma or Lapua brass (I have no idea how many time this stuff has been loaded since it came from my father's reloading bench) although all of my head stamps have had at least one case that was a problem. The sizing die is an old (60's-70's era) RCBS full length resizing die. At this point it seems that the shoulder might not be getting bumped back enough but since the sizing die is touching the shell holder I'm not sure how I'd get it bumped back besides grinding the bottom of the die a little bit. Measuring the cases, all my dimensions seem to be off by a thousandth of an inch or 2 (I got the specs from the 8th ed of Cartridges Of The World). Just to make sure it's not my technique I just resized a small batch resetting the die first and making sure the handle of the press is going all the to the bottom and I got the same results, 1/2 of them are hard to close the bolt. I'm fairly certain I can rule out the press itself since this is the only cartridge I load for that I'm having any issues with Is it possible that my issue could just be old brass at the end of it's useful life span or should I suspect the die? If it's the die, what happened to it that it suddenly won't do what it's supposed to? I've been using this die for 15 years and never had any resizing issues so why all of a sudden? Stu