What to do

[Mr.Snerdly]

I am new at reloading and I realize now this was a mistake. I bought some new Lapua brass and some high grade bullets since I want maximum accuracy. I went to shoot today and they will chamber but it takes some pressure to close the bolt. I now know you should full length resize new brass. I don't have a bullet puller and will ruin the bullets if I pull them out with what I have to work with. What would happen if I shoot them? I don't want to run into more trouble from trying to save money. I am thinking maybe the brass could get stuck and I would have far bigger expense to correct rather than lose the money on either the bullets of bullet puller. I doubt this would make any difference but it is a 223 with a 52 grain bullet.

[sharpshooter]

It could be that the seating length is too long, jamming the bullet into the throat. Look for marks on the bullet.

[Mr.Snerdly]

I thought of that. I didn't really think that was the case since I believe the amount of tension between the bullet and neck would be easily overcome by chambering the round. Even though I figured it was the brass I took some once fired brass and loaded a bullet (without powder, naturally) to the same dimension as the one that was hard to chamber. It chambered just fine so I am positive it is the brass.

[NicfromAlabama]

If you know it is the brass, I don't see how it would be a problem to shoot as long as you can can close the bolt. I have loaded new brass many times without sizing and never had a chambering problem. I pretty much use Lapua brass and I always load it straight from the container. I check length is all. It is probably just a tad larger than your chamber and resulting in a heavy bolt. Just my 2 cents.

[Ted_Feasel]

I am new at reloading and I realize now this was a mistake. I bought some new Lapua brass and some high grade bullets since I want maximum accuracy. I went to shoot today and they will chamber but it takes some pressure to close the bolt. I now know you should full length resize new brass. I don't have a bullet puller and will ruin the bullets if I pull them out with what I have to work with. What would happen if I shoot them? I don't want to run into more trouble from trying to save money. I am thinking maybe the brass could get stuck and I would have far bigger expense to correct rather than lose the money on either the bullets of bullet puller. I doubt this would make any difference but it is a 223 with a 52 grain bullet.Dont let that discourage you. 1 you need like a head space gauge that you measure your fired round before resize and after, you want on your typical bolt gun .001 to .002 shoulder set back. Then you want to take that first round you resize and make sure it chambers. If it's a bolt action rifle you may consider just neck size and shoulder bump only, meanwhile order you a bullet puller.. one of the ones that look like a hammer will do fine and drive out your bullets and they capture your powder also. I personally check every case and make sure my bolt actions are set back .001 and my AR rifles are set back .004. It's not unusual to take a little pressure to close the bolt but it shouldnt be difficult to close. Buy a lee or lyman or some reputable reloading manual and read all the prefaces before the load data.

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[CFJunkie]

I use Lapua brass all the time and one of its benefits is that it is trimmed and sized to SAAMI recommendations for the caliber and comes from the factory ready to load.
New Lapua brass doesn't need to be resized before loading.
Once-fired brass regardless of head stamp is a different matter entirely.

Are you sure your brass is for .223 Remington caliber?
You wouldn't be the first person to get brass with .224 necks that were made for a variant based upon a .223/5.56x45 case.

By the way, you don't need to pull bullets to seat the bullets deeper into the brass.
You can re-seat bullets deeper into the neck by adjusting your seating die a bit.

For a .223, 52 grain bullets generally should be seated to an overall length no greater than 2.260.
Much deeper than that may leave too little of the bullet body in the neck to maintain consistent neck tension.
If you are seating your 52 grain bullets at 2.250 to 2.260, the problem probably isn't your chamber.
You may be experiencing some non-concentric reloads or your may have loaded cases that were made for chambers longer than .223 Remington.

[charlie b]

I also fire all of my Lapua .223 brass without resizing the first time. I suspect it is seating length. Despite how it seems, a long bullet will require quite a bit of effort to close the bolt. As long as the loads are a bit below maximum you can just go ahead and fire them (seating into the lands will increase the pressure slightly vs a bullet that has a jump to the lands).

One other thing that can cause a bolt to be hard to close is a primer that is not fully seated. Again, does not seem like much but you can feel the difference.

[Mr.Snerdly]

Just to be extra safe on the bullet depth, I went through the entire procedure again. I took a once fired case, just resized the neck a slight distance, seated the bullet in just slightly, measured the length, then I chambered the round, ejected it and again checked the length. I then set the bullet to .030" deeper off this measurement again and every measurement came out almost identical to my original measurements that I set the bullet in the Lapua brass. I also chambered another loaded round I reloaded that had Winchester brass. It chambered perfectly as well so it just has to be the brass. Is there no chance that the Lapua brass won't get stuck if I fire it? I am very, very new at this but I read numerous places that when the round is fired normally the brass has slight clearance in the chamber, the brass expanded to the dimension of the chamber on firing and after firing it decreases in size slightly but is still larger than the original size. I have read that this is an advantage to have the case fit as closely as possible to the chamber dimension and some say neck sizing is more desirable than full length sizing. I have also read that the shoulder will eventually get pushed out and then some say rather than full length resizing you should "bump" resize the shoulder and this is considered easier on the brass and can be reloaded a few more times.

I would like to emphasize that this is just what I read and I have no first hand knowledge of any of this. If anyone would be willing to give advice I would be most appreciative.

I would also like to make an observation, and this is with experience, at least in this one area. The digital calipers are not as accurate as a mechanical micrometer. I have tried and tried and often times I measure the same thing a number of times and find that it will vary by .001-.0015". If you are proficient in the use of a micrometer there should probably be less than .0001-.0002" variation. The digital powder scale is also quite variable in checking powder weights as well, although I knew the one included in the reloading kit I bought would probably only be close enough to avoid blowing up your rifle. There are digitals on the market very accurate but they are going to cost quite a lot. The beam scale is accurate enough I think but it no doubt takes more time.

[Mr.Snerdly]

Well, I feel like a dummy now. It WAS the bullet seating depth. I mistakenly thought the bullet seating device contacted the ogive. Turns out it doesn't. I was using the same setting on 2 different bullets, both 52 grain but I guess you have to check each time you change bullet brand and probably weight. It does kind of amaze me that it takes that amount of pressure to move the bullet in the neck but it does. They chamber just like they should now.

I told you I was a beginner. Thanks for your help.

[JW]

I am glad you got it figured out.
There is no mistake you can make that most of us haven't already made too.
You did the right thing by asking. There is no dumb question. You will do fine with reloading.
Have fun and be safe.
Jack

[charlie b]

Congratulations on finding the issue. Don't worry, you'll find many other issues pop up over the years as you reload more, especially as you chase down the finer details to get more accurate loads.

Consider yourself fortunate that you discovered something about reloading that some do not figure out until much later. Almost all bullets have a slightly different shape of ogive. Even some bullets out of the same box might have a slightly different shape to them, even the more expensive match bullets are not exact in that department.

Just a caution. When you have a round that is tough to chamber like that, be careful if you decide to unload it. Sometimes the bullet will stick in the bore and you will extract only the case, spilling powder all over the guts of your rifle as well as needing a cleaning rod to get the bullet out of the bore.

[yobuck]

Some of us still find the overall length by partially seating the bullet, then jamming it in by closing the bolt.
Then smoke the bullet with a match and adjust the die till the marks disappear. AND then continue from there on seating depth for the desired accuracy results.
Lots of different methods that work, the end result is what matters.

[Ted_Feasel]

Congratulations on finding the issue. Don't worry, you'll find many other issues pop up over the years as you reload more, especially as you chase down the finer details to get more accurate loads.

Consider yourself fortunate that you discovered something about reloading that some do not figure out until much later. Almost all bullets have a slightly different shape of ogive. Even some bullets out of the same box might have a slightly different shape to them, even the more expensive match bullets are not exact in that department.

Just a caution. When you have a round that is tough to chamber like that, be careful if you decide to unload it. Sometimes the bullet will stick in the bore and you will extract only the case, spilling powder all over the guts of your rifle as well as needing a cleaning rod to get the bullet out of the bore.I hated when that happened

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[Ted_Feasel]

Some of us still find the overall length by partially seating the bullet, then jamming it in by closing the bolt.
Then smoke the bullet with a match and adjust the die till the marks disappear. AND then continue from there on seating depth for the desired accuracy results.
Lots of different methods that work, the end result is what matters.The OAL gauge works really well too:) I sort all my pills by distance from BT to ogive (cant believe they vary like they do) and seat all my bullets by ogive and not OAL . If you sort all bullets by ogive it's not as big as a pita as you may think.. start your seating with the longest and adjust die down as you go.

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[yobuck]

I don’t sort anything, and if i can get away with it I don’t weigh charges either.
But it’s OK with me if everybody else does.
Some of the bullets i shoot have lead oozing out the tip like toothpaste coming out of the tube.
I just clip that off and hit prairie dogs with those also.
At least most of the time. Lol

[Ted_Feasel]

I don’t sort anything, and if i can get away with it I don’t weigh charges either.
But it’s OK with me if everybody else does.
Some of the bullets i shoot have lead oozing out the tip like toothpaste coming out of the tube.
I just clip that off and hit prairie dogs with those also.
At least most of the time. LolLol whatever works for you.. I think mine is more to satisfy my OCD lol

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[Robinhood]

Lol whatever works for you.. I think mine is more to satisfy my OCD lol

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Definately

[Ted_Feasel]

DefinatelyI really do just like everything being neat and organized and predictable lol. I do also feel that eliminating as many variables as possible can help when it comes to my extremely long range. Like on my precision ARs , After fully resize i use neck size bumping dies to make all the shoulder bumps identical to .001.. in other words when I'm ready to trim say my creedmoor brass , all the shoulders on every case read say for my creedmoor AR reads 1.559 when I'm done.. does it make a difference at 100 yards?? No at a 1000 what I normally shoot.. I feel it doeshttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200105/10827609fcb709bca4f2cd8d33b502f9.jpg

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[gbflyer]

Good work.

Speaking of Lapua, I have a chamber in a 30-06 that’s referred to as a no - turn “Serengeti”. I still have to neck turn this lot of new Lapua ‘06 brass, Winchester fits fine. Both manufacturers new brass headspace’s adequately.

[Ted_Feasel]

Good work.

Speaking of Lapua, I have a chamber in a 30-06 that’s referred to as a no - turn “Serengeti”. I still have to neck turn this lot of new Lapua ‘06 brass, Winchester fits fine. Both manufacturers new brass headspace’s adequately.I'm probably one of the few that think lapua is not even close to being worth the cost. I can buy 250 starline , hornady, atlas and with willingness to put the time in come up with 175 or more of those 250 pieces having tighter specs than lapua.. that's just my opinion.. I lost my taste for lapua after the 1st time I bought some when 1/3rd were under saami min, only about 1/3 were at minimum and rest were over.. I'd rather have at min and over but none under.. that again is just my anal retentive nature plus if I'm going to spend $100 buck for 100 cases they will be american made like alpha or such

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