I ran into an issue today that I can’t seem to figure out. I’m still very new to reloading but while developing loads for my .300 WinMag I managed to get a single round that wouldn’t chamber. The thing I can’t figure out is that it’s one of five I loaded that doesn’t chamber. I resized all the brass, measured, trimmed, and prepped every case the same way. All five rounds have the exact same charge, overall length, and seating depth yet that one is the only one that doesn’t let my bolt close all the way. The other four have no problem loading from a magazine and when dropped in. My next step is pulling the bullet and trying another one to see if the bullet is the issue but any other tips would be appreciated.
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I know nothing about nothing. I’m a newb. I would also like to hear the more experienced thoughts on this. Out of curiosity, did you run it through a cartridge gauge after resizing the case and bullet seating?
So far I’ve pulled the original bullet and tried another but had the same result. Tried another piece of brass and still struggled. I’ve measured everything again and the brass is well within specs. What’s throwing me off is that its all unfired hornady brass and every other round I have chambers fine.
I tried seating the bullet a little deeper but still couldn’t get in in without pushing pretty hard on the bolt to where I didn’t feel comfortable shooting that round. Based on all the other rounds being fine I’m thinking I may have gotten a few pieces that aren’t quite sized properly and even after resizing myself they still don’t fit. I loaded 20 rounds and 19 went in just fine, tried another piece of brass for the 20th and found a second piece of brass that didn’t fit.
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Sounds like maybe you have a couple of bad pieces that are out of spec. I wonder if the spacing from the belt is ever so slightly “off” but in any case, maybe the manufacturer will replace it with good pieces.
Do you have a case gauge for the 300 win mag? If you drop those in a case gauge, it should tell you real quick what the issue is.
I used the gauge for all the brass when I first got them and they all fit just fine. I still have the round loaded and it fits in the gauge clean with no resistance. Colored the bullet and the neck with sharpie and saw no signs of rubbing or pressure so I’m guessing its somewhere around the shoulder thats the issue.