Thanx for the replies.. I full length size every time and trim to length. I'll check the face for brass.. To clarify: It's not that the bolt is hard to lift. It isn't. The problem is after the handle is raised the bolt will not slide back.. I thump it a few times with my hand and it opens.. I loaded some new brass and had issues still. Note, it's not every round.. Sometimes it doesn't occur for 15-20 rounds..

I read elsewhere that one fella had this problem and cured it by replacing the bolt handle.. On a whim I swapped bolts with my son's Savage 12 in 223. I fired close to 200 rounds today P-dawging and not one issue.. One box of reloads was on it's fourth reloading.. Now I am wondering if the issue isn't just the bolt handle.. FWIW there are a lot of people with this issue it seems, as I was googling ..

FWIW I am using a Redding competition die set. I am familiar with bushing dies, just do not own any