Problem with bought "once fired" cases

[CROWMAN]

Just thought of one thing which I meant to do but haven't , I have not measured the overall case length, I'll do that now but have never cut to length the cases before resizing before and all have been ok.

I've just measured both makes of cases, the Norma and the Winchester are both measuring 1.758" to 1.763" in case length.

Is it worth cutting the cases to length and then full length resize? would it make any difference?

[loiner1965]

you can trim and see if that helps...
does the case go fully into the die when you resize?
only issue i had is with different brands of martini henry cases when i resize.....some i have to really adjust the die until it chambers.
you can send me some of the troublesome brass and i will resize in my die which like yours is a lee.....
i also use norma in all my calibres but i do have lapua / rg in .223 as well

[CROWMAN]

I have CTL some of the "once fired" cases and tried again, no success.

The rifle chambers with no problem loaded rounds with bullet inserted.

I have tried some of my own fired cases, sized them and they are not chambering unless some force is used which generally damages the case.

All I can assume is that there is something wrong with the die set up, but what?
In my experience nothing changes, so why is there this difficulty?

[loiner1965]

I have CTL some of the "once fired" cases and tried again, no success.

The rifle chambers with no problem loaded rounds with bullet inserted.

I have tried some of my own fired cases, sized them and they are not chambering unless some force is used which generally damages the case.

All I can assume is that there is something wrong with the die set up, but what?
In my experience nothing changes, so why is there this difficulty?

do you insert empty case into mag then chamber or do you just lay case on top then chamber....
or half insert in chamber then close bolt ?
take a dodgy case that wont chamber and insert bullet ( dummy round ) will it chamber then...
sometimes if you try and chamber an empty case the extractor might not engage on closing....i always seat empty cases into mag well for this reason

[CROWMAN]

My Howa has a "trap door" magazine and I have been inserted them as I would with loaded rounds.

I'll try one just resting on top of the "trap door" plate and I'll try loading a dummy round with bullet inserted, that possibly could be the answer as loaded rounds I've tried chamber and eject fine.

I've just googled the problem and several people have stated that in their experience cases fired from another rifle never chamber at all or not well in another rifle due to headspace etc.

It's the first time I've had this problem with "once fired" cases, and it could be totally new cases from now on instead of a mixture.

[loiner1965]

My Howa has a "trap door" magazine and I have been inserted them as I would with loaded rounds.

I'll try one just resting on top of the "trap door" plate and I'll try loading a dummy round with bullet inserted, that possibly could be the answer as loaded rounds I've tried chamber and eject fine.

I've just googled the problem and several people have stated that in their experience cases fired from another rifle never chamber at all or not well in another rifle due to headspace etc.

It's the first time I've had this problem with "once fired" cases, and it could be totally new cases from now on instead of a mixture.

cases from another rifle will chamber in yours when you full length size them as you take them back to saami spec.
they wont chamber if you only neck size them.
i set lee dies up by raising the ram fully then inserting die until it touches shell plate. lower ram them give the die another 1/4 turn ish......size then try etc
if you dont want the onced fired .223 i will take them etc

[CROWMAN]

I set up my Lee full length sizer exactly the same.

If I put a "once fired" sized case resting on top of the trap door magazine plate and work the bolt, the case locates into the barrel.
I have also made a dummy round with one of these cases and it loads without a problem!

So, I assume there is some issue with trying to load a bare case into barrel from insertion in the magazine.

I have never had this issue in 223 and two other calibres I reload for.

I think the next step in this saga is to size a small number (5) and load them, I'll then try them in the magazine and hopefully they should chamber and load and eject ok.
I'll then take the rounds to the range and fire them and see the result re chambering etc.

Thank you very much for your help Loiner, I appreciate it.

I'll update after I've tried this, but it could be 10 days time as heavy thunder storms for this Wednesday at the range.