Definitely got a head scratcher.

[mytwo60]

Definately a sizing issue. Are you bumping the shoulder at least .002 back? If you are not measuring the shoulder (especially on belted cartridges), then chances are you are not sizing it back enough. I had similar problem with my 300WIN. Chambers fine on an empty FL case until it was shot at the range.

I finally went and measured it and it did NOT bump back the shoulder at all. Went and set it back to .003 and all was well.

So measure a before and after FL sized case. You'll find your problem there.

[okiehunter]

Gentlemen, I really appreciate the input from each of you. You have line item by line item gone through all the things I have checked. To let you know where I am on this, I inked 2 loaded rounds completely with a Sharpie. Not just 3 lines down the lenght but the whole thing, and what it has shown me is my problem is with the necks. That's the only place that the ink is completely disturbed (slight 'pressure' on one other area of the ink but not what I call disturbed). I really feel that the necks of the brass was to hard and not relaxing to allow easy removal. I have read as much as I can find about the annealing process and have performed that on 6 test rounds that I feel were done correctly by showing the correct color and similarity to factory annealed cases. As time permits, I will clean, load, and test fire these rounds and let you guys know the results.

[Luckus]

okiehunter,I use 650 degree Tempilac on the shoulder to case body junction. When it turns black you"re done. It's not that difficult to do as you have allready shown yourself. I have some Lapua .308 cases that have been loaded 15-20 times and are still good. Let us know how it worked for you.

[stangfish]

Okie. The first time around aneal them in 1/2 to 1/4 inch of standing water then tip them over. I have seen...haha I have heat soaked cases by not being fast enough. The end result is at a minimum.... loose primer pockets.

[Luckus]

Okiehunter, The suspense is killing me, what did you find?

[okiehunter]

Ok gentlemen, here's the latest... I suspected the problem may be tied to the hard brass. I removed the expander from my RCBS die to see how much the neck was being worked. Without the expander the outside diameter was .358, with the expander it was .365. The fired brass measured .371. So, the necks were being worked from new (.365) blown to .371, resized from .371 down to .358 then back out to .365. The Nosler brass does not appear to have been anealed. So, what I've done is bought a Redding S die with .364 collet and removed the expander ball. I have anealed all the brass and ran it through the new die. I also purchased a shoulder measuring insert for my Hornady ogive measurement tool. The shoulders were being blown .004 forward (compared to new) with the RCBS die not setting them back at all. The Redding would adjust to set them back .002 but I put a .002 shim in the seater and now they are going back to new measurment. The problem has disappeared, but I have never had to work so hard at finding a reloading problem in my life. I have definitely learned from the experience.