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Old January 27, 2018, 11:18 PM   #1
Chaparral
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Difficulty full length sizing 220 Swift

I am having an awful time trying to resize my 220 Swift brass. I have tried my Redding FL sizer and a Lee FL sizer. I just can't seem to resize it back to where it will properly fit in my case gauge. Any body got any ideas?
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Old January 28, 2018, 12:14 AM   #2
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Does a sized/not-yet-loaded case fit/chamber/bolt close in the rifle ?
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Old January 28, 2018, 01:45 AM   #3
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Were the cases fired in your chamber?
Or is it used brass? ("Once-fired" or otherwise.)
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Old January 28, 2018, 08:46 AM   #4
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Does the sized case fit your rifle's chamber? If so, the case gauge is irrelevant.
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Old January 28, 2018, 04:50 PM   #5
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No it does not. And I purchased Winchester brass and Hornady brass and neither fit. Also they do not fit in my case gauge. Strange.
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Old January 28, 2018, 04:51 PM   #6
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New brass. Winchester and Hornady
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Old January 28, 2018, 04:52 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mobuck View Post
Does the sized case fit your rifle's chamber? If so, the case gauge is irrelevant.
sized case will not fit, new brass will not fit. Bolt will not close, but very close.
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Old January 28, 2018, 04:55 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mehavey View Post
Does a sized/not-yet-loaded case fit/chamber/bolt close in the rifle ?
I actually took a new brass casing and lubed it up and tapped it into my case gauge until it was flush. Then put it in my rifle and it chambered perfectly.
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Old January 28, 2018, 04:59 PM   #9
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And my rifle is an old custom rifle. It is a Flaig Ace built on a Mauser action with a Douglas Supreme heavy barrel.
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Old January 28, 2018, 05:01 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mehavey View Post
Does a sized/not-yet-loaded case fit/chamber/bolt close in the rifle ?
no
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Old January 28, 2018, 05:04 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by FrankenMauser View Post
Were the cases fired in your chamber?
Or is it used brass? ("Once-fired" or otherwise.)
New brass. I did get some new Hornady factory loads to chamber but it was extremely tight.

Last edited by Chaparral; January 28, 2018 at 05:05 PM. Reason: spelling
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Old January 28, 2018, 05:24 PM   #12
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So, you have a very tight chamber. Not to SAAMI spec. Two things can go wrong. The dangerous one first:

Some tight custom chambers have chamber necks that are below standard size and you are supposed to outside-turn the necks to fit in. They will not load and shoot factory ammo safely. If you have this you MUST outside turn necks to the custom spec or you can have a failure to properly release the bullet and can have very high overpressure. Usually, a custom smith will stamp the loaded round outside neck OD on the barrel somewhere. Cases must be turned down so the neck walls are not thick enough to exceed that dimension with a bullet inserted into them.

If that is not the case and the rest of the case is what is not fitting, you may need a small base die. Having a die custom made is possible. The standard industry tolerance is ±0.002", which isn't all that tight, so some dies may work when others in the same brand do not. Call Lee or Redding or Forster and find out what they need to get you a working die. Usually, they can tell from fired cases you send them, but do check the neck thing I mentioned above, first, before shooting anything it the rifle.
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Old January 28, 2018, 07:16 PM   #13
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Quote:
am having an awful time trying to resize my 220 Swift brass.
...and you're comfortable that you're not springing the press a bit ? (i.e., you've still got some 'cam-over' feel at the end of the upstroke).

Worst case (barring UncleNick's small-base/neck anomaly possibility), is having to shave a few thousandths off the top of the shell holder to set the shoulder back a scoch more.
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Old January 28, 2018, 09:45 PM   #14
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From a safety aspect, it would be prudent (IMO) to get a finish reamer and bring the chamber to standard dimensions. Prolly cheaper and safer in the long run than purchasing specialized dies as they can be expensive.....and quicker.

Chamber reamers can be rented.
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Old January 28, 2018, 10:11 PM   #15
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My 220, a rebarreled Ruger 77V, now has a Douglas barrel with a snug chamber. Reloads were a bit tight. I took a very small amount of metal off the top of the shell holder and that fixed the problem. But it wasn’t much of a problem to start with.

Much worse was my new 223 barrel, which had what the gunsmith referred to as a “match chamber” when I called him to discuss chambering issues. Well, I didn’t ask for a match chamber, but that explained my chambering difficulties. New Lapua brass had thick neck walls, relatively speaking, and with a bullet seated the reload would not chamber at all. Factory ammo, which I had to borrow from a neighbor, would chamber. I neck turned a lot of brass until I decided that i’d drive 75 miles and leave the rifle with the gunsmith to open the chamber a bit. I was very worried about possible pressure problems. Problem now solved. I shoot coyotes for goodness sake, and have no plans to shoot BR competition. In the OP’s situation, i’d sure have that tight neck opened up a hair.
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Old January 29, 2018, 02:58 PM   #16
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Much worse was my new 223 barrel, which had what the gunsmith referred to as a “match chamber” when I called him to discuss chambering issues. Well, I didn’t ask for a match chamber, but that explained my chambering difficulties.
I've had two companies do that to me, as well.

One was a gunsmith that built competition rifles and repaired antique firearms, primarily. The 'competition rifles' part took hold of him with my rifle.
But even that was no excuse for what he did. He wanted to give me a "match" chamber (even though I didn't ask for it), but he couldn't get a "match" reamer. So, he used a standard reamer and only reamed the chamber as deeply as necessary for a crush-fit with Remington factory ammo. The chamber was still 0.003" short of SAAMI minimum.
For that one, I actually put together a combination of dies that would size small enough to work with that chamber, because it shot exceptionally well. But the gunsmith still had to do more work for me, to pay for his ignorance and arrogance.

The other was a company that kept sending me AR barrels with short chambers, due to an issue with their production process. I identified the likely cause of the production issue, which they later verified and corrected (many other customers had issues, too). ...But they told me to pound sand on the last barrel, even though my "go" gauge and bolt, and their "go" gauges would not chamber in the barrels that I returned. Their final excuse was, "tight chambers shoot better..."
Often true... But only if you can chamber a cartridge!
I had to obtain a reamer and finish-chamber the final barrel myself.
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Old January 29, 2018, 04:38 PM   #17
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Quote:
I am having an awful time trying to resize my 220 Swift brass. I have tried my Redding FL sizer and a Lee FL sizer. I just can't seem to resize it back to where it will properly fit in my case gauge. Any body got any ideas?
If this thread goes into 3 pages there is a small chance someone will explain why you are trying to size cases that will fit your case gage.

All of my case gages are datum based tools, I measure before and again after. That would be before firing and again after firing. And then there is after firing and again after sizing.

The 220 Swift is one of those cases with a long tapered body and a shoulder that needed to be improved to be effective.

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Old January 30, 2018, 01:42 PM   #18
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Are you using the correct shell holder? This problem arises regularly with WSM. There are three shell holders that work, but only the correct one works right.
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Old February 3, 2018, 07:34 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by F. Guffey View Post
If this thread goes into 3 pages there is a small chance someone will explain why you are trying to size cases that will fit your case gage.

All of my case gages are datum based tools, I measure before and again after. That would be before firing and again after firing. And then there is after firing and again after sizing.

The 220 Swift is one of those cases with a long tapered body and a shoulder that needed to be improved to be effective.

F. Guffey
Yes sir I have been measuring before and after just because of the problem I was having.
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Old February 3, 2018, 07:37 PM   #20
Chaparral
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Originally Posted by reynolds357 View Post
Are you using the correct shell holder? This problem arises regularly with WSM. There are three shell holders that work, but only the correct one works right.
I am using Redding Dies with a Lee Shellholder
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Old February 3, 2018, 07:38 PM   #21
Chaparral
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Originally Posted by Dufus View Post
From a safety aspect, it would be prudent (IMO) to get a finish reamer and bring the chamber to standard dimensions. Prolly cheaper and safer in the long run than purchasing specialized dies as they can be expensive.....and quicker.

Chamber reamers can be rented.
Thanks, I will talk to my local gunsmith
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Old February 3, 2018, 07:41 PM   #22
Chaparral
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Unclenick View Post
So, you have a very tight chamber. Not to SAAMI spec. Two things can go wrong. The dangerous one first:

Some tight custom chambers have chamber necks that are below standard size and you are supposed to outside-turn the necks to fit in. They will not load and shoot factory ammo safely. If you have this you MUST outside turn necks to the custom spec or you can have a failure to properly release the bullet and can have very high overpressure. Usually, a custom smith will stamp the loaded round outside neck OD on the barrel somewhere. Cases must be turned down so the neck walls are not thick enough to exceed that dimension with a bullet inserted into them.

If that is not the case and the rest of the case is what is not fitting, you may need a small base die. Having a die custom made is possible. The standard industry tolerance is ±0.002", which isn't all that tight, so some dies may work when others in the same brand do not. Call Lee or Redding or Forster and find out what they need to get you a working die. Usually, they can tell from fired cases you send them, but do check the neck thing I mentioned above, first, before shooting anything it the rifle.
Oops! I have already fired some Hornady factory loads that would fit but were extremely tight. Hope I didn't mess anything up.
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Old February 3, 2018, 11:37 PM   #23
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Quote:
Oops! I have already fired some Hornady factory loads that would fit but were extremely tight. Hope I didn't mess anything up.
You didnt mess anything up. My advice is get the headspace right. If you don't correct it, the issue will annoy you from now on.
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Old February 4, 2018, 03:37 PM   #24
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You didnt mess anything up. My advice is get the headspace right. If you don't correct it, the issue will annoy you from now on.
Thanks! Will do.
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