308 Win reloading problems

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Spiff

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It's odd that both your reloads and your friends' did the same thing. Sounds like you have a tight chamber in combination with headspace that is just almost as long as the max spec. I'd screw your sizing die down just a little bit more (to where it's a little difficult to get the ram all the way to the top) and see if it changes anything. I have had to polish a few thousandths off the top of a shellholder to get the headspace on my rounds where I wanted it.

EDIT:

If you want to quit guessing about your headspace, get one of these. I don't know how people reload without them.
 

SDarkRage

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You may want to adjust the sizing die down to where it is no longer turnable with your fingers then go another 1/8th turn with the ram at top dead center of the stroke.
The die is screwed down far enough now to where it locks the press up at the cam over point... don't know how much farther down I can get.

Is you die set a 2 die NECK sizing set? If you're only neck sizing you're not bumping the shoulder back at all. You may also need to trim your brass if you have not.

Nope, its a full length die set. The brass is once fired Federal out of my gun. I've trimmed all the cases to 2.005" which is what all 8 of my reloading manuals say.
 

Randall

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I have taken a magic marker to the shoulder of brass and screwed the die down to where it just removes the marker off the shoulder,then give it just a hair more of a turn, maybe 1/16th of a turn to make sure it chambers ok. If the marker is not rubbing off you may have to grind a little off the shellholder or the die like someone else suggested.I had to do that once on a 7-30 waters RCBS die.
 

SDarkRage

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One of my friends with the reloads just told me that he had neck sized his so that explains why it was snug in mine. We are all shooting Savage 10's but I know no 2 chambers are exactly identical. Like someone mentioned, my chamber could have been cut at the end of the reamers life.
 

SDarkRage

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Okay, I got some help today from Shadowrider. He came over and gauged everything out for me. Apparently I didn't have my sizing die completely down. After the resize, my brass was .0050" longer at the shoulder than my once fired. So, ran the die down a tiny bit more and the new resized brass is .003" shorter at the shoulder than my once fired. These fed just fine into my Savage. Lesson learned on my part and thanks very much to Shadowrider for helping a brother out!
 

Shadowrider

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Okay, I got some help today from Shadowrider. He came over and gauged everything out for me. Apparently I didn't have my sizing die completely down. After the resize, my brass was .0050" longer at the shoulder than my once fired. So, ran the die down a tiny bit more and the new resized brass is .003" shorter at the shoulder than my once fired. These fed just fine into my Savage. Lesson learned on my part and thanks very much to Shadowrider for helping a brother out!
No problemo. Glad it worked out that your dies and chamber were good.
 

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