Reloading belted magnums, what am I doing wrong?

Mike38 · June 27, 2010, 08:30 PM

I’m not necessarily new to reloading, but I’m no expert. I am fairly new to reloading belted magnums however. On the last 40 rounds I loaded for my 7mmSTW, on 10 of them, the bolt closed harder then the other 30. I tried the permanent marker trick trying to see where the resistance was. It’s on the shoulder. This is using new Remington brass, full length resized using Lee dies. Now I am with the understanding that belted magnums head space on the belt, so full length sizing should move the shoulder back out of the way. Some, maybe many reloaders head space them on the shoulder, which make sense to me.

So I sorted out the loaded rounds that caused the bolt to close harder then normal and shot them, figuring they needed fire formed to my chamber. The empties still close hard. I full length resized them again, and they still close hard, and the permanent marker trick still shows heavy contact on the shoulder. What am I doing wrong? Could I have a bad resize die that won’t form the shoulder correctly?

I should mention that of the first 100 reloads I have done in this caliber last year, (20 pieces loaded 5 times) different lot of brass but same make of Remington, I didn’t experience the bolt closing hard. So it could be the new brass and not the dies.

I am using a different bullet then before with a much different profile / ogive but the permanent marker test doesn’t show the bullet contacting the rifling. The only contact seen is the shoulder.

HELP.

zxcvbob · June 27, 2010, 08:38 PM

Take a look at the belted magnum collet die halfway down the page: http://www.larrywillis.com/

wncchester · June 27, 2010, 09:05 PM

Mike, I wonder how you are setting up the sizer. It needs to be down far enough to make shell holder contact while under the full pressure of resizing, not dry, with no case in the die. Failure to size down far enough is the most common cause of what you are experiencing.

No matter if a bottle neck case is rimmed, rimless or belted, a loader should to size his cases so they fit his chamber at the neck. Making ammo that actually fits our own rifles is one of the advantages of being a handloader!

Try pushing a case into your size die adjusted as you normally do. Raise the ram/case fully up take a look under the die mouth to see if there's any gap between the die and shell holder. If so, screw the die down enough to close it. IF that fixes your chambering problem you may want to back the die back out just far enough to allow cases to chamber easily and no further.

If you take a look at Larry Willis/Innovative Technologie's nice collet belted case resizer you will see that it won't do a thing about hard contact at the shoulder, it only affects the case body near the belt.

steve4102 · June 27, 2010, 11:28 PM

Yup, screw the die into the press deeper.

Mike38 · June 28, 2010, 11:18 PM

Boy do I feel like an idiot. It helps to read instructions that come with the dies, doesn’t it? The instructions say 1. put shell holder in place, 2. raise ram, 3. Screw in die until it touches shell holder, 4. Lower ram, 5. Screw die in additional ¼ turn, 6. then lock in place.

I skipped part 5.

Dummy.

So this might explain the inconsistent chronograph readings + - 50 fps, and the lousy groups. Learning the hard way, so I never forget.

escard · July 7, 2010, 08:51 AM

take a good look at larry willis´ special die if you are starting with cases not first-shot out of your own rifle.

Nine out of ten you will have case separations if you are following the mentioned "Step 1....to step 6" procedure!

June 27, 2010, 08:30 PM	#1
Mike38 Senior Member Join Date: December 28, 2009 Location: North Central Illinois Posts: 2,758	Reloading belted magnums, what am I doing wrong? I’m not necessarily new to reloading, but I’m no expert. I am fairly new to reloading belted magnums however. On the last 40 rounds I loaded for my 7mmSTW, on 10 of them, the bolt closed harder then the other 30. I tried the permanent marker trick trying to see where the resistance was. It’s on the shoulder. This is using new Remington brass, full length resized using Lee dies. Now I am with the understanding that belted magnums head space on the belt, so full length sizing should move the shoulder back out of the way. Some, maybe many reloaders head space them on the shoulder, which make sense to me. So I sorted out the loaded rounds that caused the bolt to close harder then normal and shot them, figuring they needed fire formed to my chamber. The empties still close hard. I full length resized them again, and they still close hard, and the permanent marker trick still shows heavy contact on the shoulder. What am I doing wrong? Could I have a bad resize die that won’t form the shoulder correctly? I should mention that of the first 100 reloads I have done in this caliber last year, (20 pieces loaded 5 times) different lot of brass but same make of Remington, I didn’t experience the bolt closing hard. So it could be the new brass and not the dies. I am using a different bullet then before with a much different profile / ogive but the permanent marker test doesn’t show the bullet contacting the rifling. The only contact seen is the shoulder. HELP.

June 27, 2010, 08:38 PM	#2
zxcvbob Senior Member Join Date: December 20, 2007 Location: S.E. Minnesota Posts: 4,720	Take a look at the belted magnum collet die halfway down the page: http://www.larrywillis.com/ __________________ "Everything they do is so dramatic and flamboyant. It just makes me want to set myself on fire!" —Lucille Bluth

June 27, 2010, 09:05 PM	#3
wncchester Senior Member Join Date: December 1, 2002 Posts: 2,832	Mike, I wonder how you are setting up the sizer. It needs to be down far enough to make shell holder contact while under the full pressure of resizing, not dry, with no case in the die. Failure to size down far enough is the most common cause of what you are experiencing. No matter if a bottle neck case is rimmed, rimless or belted, a loader should to size his cases so they fit his chamber at the neck. Making ammo that actually fits our own rifles is one of the advantages of being a handloader! Try pushing a case into your size die adjusted as you normally do. Raise the ram/case fully up take a look under the die mouth to see if there's any gap between the die and shell holder. If so, screw the die down enough to close it. IF that fixes your chambering problem you may want to back the die back out just far enough to allow cases to chamber easily and no further. If you take a look at Larry Willis/Innovative Technologie's nice collet belted case resizer you will see that it won't do a thing about hard contact at the shoulder, it only affects the case body near the belt. Last edited by wncchester; June 27, 2010 at 09:13 PM.

July 7, 2010, 08:51 AM	#6
escard Member Join Date: April 20, 2010 Posts: 44	"zxcvbob" is right........ take a good look at larry willis´ special die if you are starting with cases not first-shot out of your own rifle. Nine out of ten you will have case separations if you are following the mentioned "Step 1....to step 6" procedure!

June 27, 2010, 11:28 PM	#4
steve4102 Senior Member Join Date: December 23, 2005 Location: Minnesota Posts: 2,968	Yup, screw the die into the press deeper.

June 28, 2010, 11:18 PM	#5
Mike38 Senior Member Join Date: December 28, 2009 Location: North Central Illinois Posts: 2,758	Boy do I feel like an idiot. It helps to read instructions that come with the dies, doesn’t it? The instructions say 1. put shell holder in place, 2. raise ram, 3. Screw in die until it touches shell holder, 4. Lower ram, 5. Screw die in additional ¼ turn, 6. then lock in place. I skipped part 5. Dummy. So this might explain the inconsistent chronograph readings + - 50 fps, and the lousy groups. Learning the hard way, so I never forget.