I hate reloading so so so so so much sometimes.

[Rez Exelon]

Long story short, was working on dialing in a 22-250 load. Had some pretty promising results back in last April. Made up a nice ladder test to get it all dialed in in June. Get to the range, and suddenly the bolt does close. What. The. Heck.

Come home, test most of the round in that batch --- none would close the dang bolt. This is in a Rem 700 SPS for the sake of disclosure. What. The. Heck. The previous tests USING THE SAME DANG BRASS WORKED FINE. But now nothing worked. So I did what anyone would do. Put the round on my "deal with later pile" for the next few months.

Come February, I'm bored AF so I start going "Hey, let me work though all my fun projects" and unfortunately I got through them. So I start going "hey, let me work on the boring stuff that I don't want to do but hey I'm an adult and have time" project and get them out of the way. So I'm back to this dang batch of craptastic-non-bolt-closing-waste-my-time 22-250 rounds.

I start by taking 5 apart, resizing on the exact same dieset, press, etc as used to work. NOTHING. Sidenote: I basically ruin a dieset when one of those nickle plated pieces of crap gets stuck. SONOFA I CAN'T EVEN TEST CLEANLY NOW. Figure out I have a backup set of dies. Got through the setup process, and guess what. BOLT STILL DOESN"T STINKING CLOSE.

I decide my sanity is not worth it. Back in the pile.

Fast forward to now. I'm sick as crap. Can't do much. Need monotonous tasks to keep me awake and focused as the dayquill courses through my veins. Dang adorable baby girl that brought whatever this is home from school. I have no choice --- back to the pile.

Early testing is still making me wish I hadn't given up nicotine this week. And drinking. And Meth. And LSD. Heck, any of those would be better than "the pile". But slowly in my sickness and foggy mind I chip away. I finally figured it out. A breakthrough.

I had to sand the stupid crappy Lee shell holders. No matter how I adjusted the dies, I could NOT get enough shoulder bump. Ran a set of 60 brand new brass. 15 were fine, 35 "iffy" (could close bolt with effort) and the rest wouldn't close at all. Then I said, screw it, shell holders are cheap so I busted out the reference granite stone, plunked some 220 on it and went to work. Then some 400, then some 800, but what the hey. I tested the "couldn't close at all pile" again and the STUPID PIECES OF CRAP WORKED JUST FINE THIS TIME THOSE NO GOD GOD FORSAKEN PIECES OF STUPID SATANIC METAL.

I gathered myself from hating the whole situation and did the 25 "iffy" pile again and THOSE STUPID IDIOTS WORKED TOO, I HATE THEM ALL!

Now, being a sucker for punishement, and still having nothing better to do to focus my energy away from the sickness engulfing me and the feigning in my soul for a good stogie, I decided to get a new pile out....that which was labeled "cleaned but no other prep". I trimmed them, chamfer, deburr and ran every single one through and found they all let the bolt work silky smooth.

I can only pray that this is the last of it. I so passionately hate this project now. I should have kept my 220 swift and been happy, but NOOOOOO I had to get this because it was "better" and "fancier" and "I could put a scope on it since it wasn't manufactured 200 years ago".

 

[Aries]

Does it make me a bad person because I found this to be fairly entertaining??

 

[Profreedomokie]

It makes me feel better to know that this kind of stuff happens to other people too. Not that I'd wish it on anyone.

 

[Perplexed]

Examples of this are why I hate reloading! Some people claim it’s relaxing, alleviates stress, is a tonic for the soul, etc. But not me, and I’ve only reloaded “easy” calibers like .38 Special and .45 Colt. The worries about squib loads and double charges, bullets seated too deeply or not enough, primers not set correctly, etc. have me agonizing over each and every cartridge that goes around on my press. Running with the bulls at Pamplona would be more relaxing.

 

[dlbleak]

I get the same issues with 6.5x55. I’ll load up 60 for a match and five won’t work. So, I just started loading 65-70 for a match so I’ll have enough. I take the ones that won’t work and break them down. Start the whole process over and might get half to sorta work. I just don’t get it sometimes

 

[Shinneryfarmer]

The Reloading Gremlins are at your place to. I never see them but they show up at my place pretty frequently also.

 

[ssgrock3]

The bastards adjust your dies to. Just a little so you crush brass


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[swampratt]

Sucks when things like that happen.


One thing I check when setting up my dies is shoulder set back.
I use a Hardline Tube Nut placed on top of the fired case and on the first resized case.
https://www.holley.com/products/plumbing_an_fittings_and_hose/hardline/tube_nuts/parts/00103ERL
Look at the pictures and see one end has a very nice taper and with the correct nut you can get a measurement right at the Ogive of the neck taper

Now another thing all my dies have is a Black line drawn down it that lines up with a black line on the top of my press.
Sharpie.
This way I can watch to make sure nothing moves.

Resistance when pulling the sized case out of the sizing die will pull the neck Ogive longer.

If I lube some cases inside the neck with a Q tip and sizing die wax and others do not get lube the Ogive will measure different.
Not good when I am pushing the neck Ogive back only .001" from fired position.

If the cleaning method is different the Ogive will also be a little different.

Pin cleaned vs walnut tumbled.
One thing I do to keep Ogive consistent is brush the necks inside with a spinning nylon bore brush before sizing.

I also have my sizing stem polished like chrome to add less resistance when sizing and it keeps neck Ogive more consistent.

I chuck up the sizing stem in the drill press and polish with 2000 grit sandpaper with spit or water on it.
I then take a paper towel and add a machine glaze to it and polish that rough 2000 grit surface.
You get chrome and slick that way.

My dies inside the body get the machine glaze treatment and sizing cases and making them come out the same is a non issue now.
You must have the cases lubed exactly the same or all bets are off though.
I lube with my fingers and use a sizing die wax by Hornady or Imperial and a Q tip with some wax treats the inside of the neck just barely.

Removing all the lube after sizing requires more paper towels and Qtips.

Yea brass prep is on my hate to do list.

 

[magna19]

The post in this thread gave me flashbacks.

 

[Cat City Slim]

I only laugh so hard because I've been through exactly the same thing. More than once I've sworn to go back to just buying ammo. Then the next panic hits and I feel like a genius again.