My 308 lapua brass won't fl size....help/advice needed

[vbull]

Any of you guys ever come across a batch of once fired 308 Lapua brass that just won't FL re-size ? I have 100 once fired, ( through an SSG ) brass that I want to put through my AIAW rifle so I've cleaned the brass inspected each one cleaned my RCBS die, lubed the cases with a smear of Imperial Sizing Wax and set the die up in the normal way for a full length re-size but the amount of force I'm having to put on the press lever is exceptional to the point where I know things are going to get stuck, so I back them out way before they are de-primed. I've been reloading for years, both pistol and rifle but never encountered this before on once fired brass. Anyone else had this happen to them before and if so what was your solution ? Thanks. Forgot to say that the brass is 2.0075" long so no need for trimming yet and have also messed around with varying the amount of lube but no difference.

[mag44uk]

Presumably the brass wont fit your rifle?

[Simon_S]

Is it 308win palma

[bullbarrel]

Try measuring the outside diameter of the case and see how far out of spec it is. Could the original rifle be a tad bigger than it should be?

[vbull]

Presumably the brass wont fit your rifle?

Correct, won't fit.

[Black Beard]

Has it been fired in a military spec 7.62 rifle? There are meant to be differences, as this bit of random internet chatter says:

Indeed, cheaper commercial ammo canfailat the 1.638 headspace (e.g., UMC) in an M14/M1 Garand. Many military gas guns (e.g., M14 Rifles & M60 Machine guns) runwildlylong headspace by commercial (SAAMI) standards (U.S. Militaryfieldreject limit for the M60 & M14 is 1.6455, nearly 16 thousandths beyond commercial (SAAMI) GO, & nearly 8 thousandthsbeyondcommercial (SAAMI)fieldreject limit!).

[MikB]

Regarding military chamberings, they could indeed be overlong.

What happened in my 303 SMLE chamber was that the shoulder was more than 1/16" further from the bolt face than nominal. The case shoulder wouldn't roll forward, so the case body stretched just in front of the web, and swelled out by quite few thou because of the tapered chamber. I could FL resize the cases, but if I did it just squashed back the swelling in front of the web and disguised the problem whilst also probably aggravating it by working the brass. I got several case head separations on reloads - none of them dangerous - so I eventually gave up and stuck to factory rounds.

It might well not be possible for this to happen with a less tapered and rimless round like .308, but I think the advice above to measure diameters around the case head and just ahead of the web is good.

[tacfoley]

Has it been fired in a military spec 7.62 rifle? There are meant to be differences, as this bit of random internet chatter says:

Indeed, cheaper commercial ammo canfailat the 1.638 headspace (e.g., UMC) in an M14/M1 Garand. Many military gas guns (e.g., M14 Rifles & M60 Machine guns) runwildlylong headspace by commercial (SAAMI) standards (U.S. Militaryfieldreject limit for the M60 & M14 is 1.6455, nearly 16 thousandths beyond commercial (SAAMI) GO, & nearly 8 thousandthsbeyondcommercial (SAAMI)fieldreject limit!).

The Steyr SSG is not a military spec rifle.

Here in UK an M14 is a long distant memory, as we have not been allowed to have the real thing since 1988.

All firearms made in Europe conform to the CIP chamber dimensions, not SAAMI - Steyr is an Austrian brand, and as such uses the CIP dimensions.

The AIAW is made in England, and does likewise.

tac

[vbull]

Thanks for all the replies. I've managed to bump the shoulders back a bit with a 308 body die just enough so they will fit in the AW rifle and I've neck sized with a Wilson die for now although using the Wilson only sizes 3/16" of neck but at least I'll be able to fire them. Going back to the original problem, I tried a Redding FL sizer and still the cases won't size, bit of a mystery !