Give your sizing die another 1/8th of a turn. (this is advice from RCBS) I has having the same problem, and it went away.
In or out?
In....
This.
Not all cases and shellholders are the same. Raise the ram (with shellholder only) all the way. Turn the die in until it hits the shellholder. Drop the ram and turn the die in 1/8 turn or so in and tighten the locknut. Raise the ram again, and you should feel it reach a point of maximum resistance then ease a bit as the ram "Cams" over (Kind of like a piston just past TDC). If too tight/ too much resistance, back the die out a tad, re lock the nut and repeat. All presses have a bit of slop in them, and it's important to ensure the case makes it all the way into the sizing die.
Lightly lube the cases and re run a few thru the die after turning the die in. See if the ridge disappears. You may still see a shiny mark. Measure diameter with calipers if unsure, or chamber an empty case and see if it's still hanging up on extraction.
Yes FL die and expander. I'm using RCBS case lube with a lube pad. I've been lubing the inside of about every 3rd case neck. I'm not getting much resistance while resizing. Some of the brass had an OAL of 1.770 before I trimmed. I've read about guys reloading LC brass with the same OAL and have had no problems. In the same article they said they resized then trimmed. The only 2 things I can think that it could be is my die was to close and the brass was bottoming out and rolling the neck or not close enough and not going far enough down on the neck. I have adjusted it closer trying to get the roll out to the point my shell holder and die touch. The roll smooths out some when doing this but it doesn't completely eliminate it. I hate to trash it but if it won't cycle then there's not a lot I can do with it. Maybe it's time to buy a 300 blackout and cut these cases off.
WHOA! Read this. The die and shell holder need to do more than just touch. Raise the shellholder/reloader piston all the way up. Screw the full length resize die in till it stops against shell holdrr. Then lower shell holder/piston down. Screw the die in (clockwise) another 1/8 of a turn. Now when raising the shellholder/piston it should cam over. (get more resistance pushing the handle, then the resistance will quit just as it peaks.)
OKBASSIN and Dennishoddy are right. You want to feel resistance when your press cams over.
Can't say how much long is too long but I had a fairly large batch that the loaded rounds stuck out a good .010 to maybe .015 past the dillon case gage because I mis-judged just how much they would grow. My dies make them grow around .006" when sized. I knew they were on the long side but didn't think it would bother anything. I ended up being right for my rifle but this may very well not be the case for your rifle. Also it's real easy to pull the shoulder back out with the expander ball by not lubing the inside of the necks. I bought a Dillon die set because it has a real short expander ball and it's carbide. It totally eliminated my issue with that and runs as smooth as glass. I'm pretty sure RCBS makes a carbide expander and I would definitely recommend trying it.
Edit: I'd be shocked if your brass was not usable. I've never had an issue with any named mil spec brass or name brand commercial.
Can't say how much long is too long but I had a fairly large batch that the loaded rounds stuck out a good .010 to maybe .015 past the dillon case gage because I mis-judged just how much they would grow. My dies make them grow around .006" when sized. I knew they were on the long side but didn't think it would bother anything. I ended up being right for my rifle but this may very well not be the case for your rifle. Also it's real easy to pull the shoulder back out with the expander ball by not lubing the inside of the necks. I bought a Dillon die set because it has a real short expander ball and it's carbide. It totally eliminated my issue with that and runs as smooth as glass. I'm pretty sure RCBS makes a carbide expander and I would definitely recommend trying it.
Edit: I'd be shocked if your brass was not usable. I've never had an issue with any named mil spec brass or name brand commercial.
