First Grendel Reloads "Sticking"

[Chrazy-Chris]

Seeking your help with my first round of Grendel reloads-

I reloaded a ladder of 123 SST using once-fired (untrimmed) Hornady brass using Hornady dies. I full-sized the brass with the die going all the way down over the brass until it contacted the shell holder. I seated the bullet to the book recommended OAL (2.245 if I recall - the cannelure was barely visible) and did not crimp. I dropped the loaded rounds into the Wilson chamber gauge and they fit perfectly. When I chamber a round, I have to "mortar" the rifle to get the unfired round out (pull on the charging handle while hitting the buttstock on the ground) because the round is sticking in the chamber. It is a Wilson barrel from JSE and I'm using an AA bolt. Factory SSTs loaded/unloaded fine.

Looking for any input! Thanks!

[Drillboss]

It sounds like you're not bumping the shoulders back far enough. Try screwing the sizing die in another 1/4 turn at a time, until you can get a case to chamber and extract easily.

I'm assuming the rifle is handling factory ammo without problems. Your OAL seems reasonable, so I don't think you're jamming the bullet into the lands.

[Chrazy-Chris]

It sounds like you're not bumping the shoulders back far enough. Try screwing the sizing die in another 1/4 turn at a time, until you can get a case to chamber and extract easily.

I'm assuming the rifle is handling factory ammo without problems. Your OAL seems reasonable, so I don't think you're jamming the bullet into the lands.

The sizing die is already screwed down all the way so that the die body contacts the shell holder - am I missing something here?

[JASmith]

Did you check for marks on the bullet at about 0.1" above the case mouth? Yes, the book recommends a length, but yours might be a chamber that likes bullets seated just a little deeper.

Second, if there are no marks on the bullet, even after coating the bullet with a Marks-A-Lot and repeating the chamber-eject sequence, then check for whether your shoulder is binding in the chamber. Do that check with the shoulder and body near the chamber costed as before. This should not be an issue based on your description if the sizing procedure - UNLESS your die is one of those that have instructions indicating that the die should be lowered a quarter turn or so after first contact. That added tightening will eliminate slack resulting from tolerances adding up through the press parts and any press spring.

I haven't read Lee die instructions in a long time, but they may be one of those with this advice.

[Drillboss]

The sizing die is already screwed down all the way so that the die body contacts the shell holder - am I missing something here?

The degree of contact can vary. Hornady's set up instructions get you to a starting point to be adjusted from. See if you can thread the die in some more and still get the press to cam over without excessive effort.

Joe makes valid points. Your loads either have the bullet into the lands, or the case isn't being resized enough to fit the headspace for your rifle. Again, I made the assumption that you're able to function factory ammo, since you have once fired cases to load. Hence it sounds like your issue is probably headspace.

I recently tried to run some of my handloads through a new build. The handloads functioned fine in two other rifles, but they were binding up as you described in the new barrel. The headspace of the new barrel was a little more snug than in my others. I was able to swap bolts around until all the rifles handled the handloads without bumping the shoulders back any further.

I like Hornady's headspace and bullet comparators to actually measure these dimensions.

[Chrazy-Chris]

Did you check for marks on the bullet at about 0.1" above the case mouth? Yes, the book recommends a length, but yours might be a chamber that likes bullets seated just a little deeper.

Second, if there are no marks on the bullet, even after coating the bullet with a Marks-A-Lot and repeating the chamber-eject sequence, then check for whether your shoulder is binding in the chamber. Do that check with the shoulder and body near the chamber costed as before. This should not be an issue based on your description if the sizing procedure - UNLESS your die is one of those that have instructions indicating that the die should be lowered a quarter turn or so after first contact. That added tightening will eliminate slack resulting from tolerances adding up through the press parts and any press spring.

I haven't read Lee die instructions in a long time, but they may be one of those with this advice.

Thanks, I did check to make sure the bullet was not contacting the rifling and I'm confident that it's not due to them being loaded just as deep, if not deeper, than the factory SSTs. I will try marking the shoulder as it looks like that is the only remaining possible culprit. I'm using Hornady dies and the sizing die was screwed all the way down to the shell holder. I'll try a few more rounds tonight with it screwed down even further and pull down on the handle harder than normal to see if that makes a difference.

Could it have anything to do with me not crimping them? Perhaps that extra little squeeze would help? I'll try that too on a mocked up round to see if it makes any difference. This is frustrating because I set everything up following the instructions to a T and thought they were going to be perfect when they dropped into the Wilson case gauge just right. I realllllyyyyy hope I don't have to pull these 50 meticulously loaded rounds for a ladder with two powders over ten different charge weights....

[Drillboss]

Crimping won't fix the problem you're seeing and most of what I've seen on the forum recommends against crimping.

[Chrazy-Chris]

Alright, maybe I'm just being paranoid as this would really suck- but hear me out:

I'm using the AA bolt which is .136" depth. If it turns out my chamber is for the .125" depth bolt, would this be a contributing factor? I would think that if this were the case then I'd have the opposite problem - excessive headspace, but I'm not sure I completely understand the bolt depth discussion. I thought I did my homework on this but now I'm second guessing everything.

[VASCAR2]

I think you've got the correct bolt and like you mentioned if you had the wrong bolt you might have excessive headspace. What shell holder or type of press are you using? Single stage press it is recommended to use a Hornady shell Holder with Hornady dies. Not all shell/case holders have the same dimensions. I've not seen this issue on a progressive press like a Dillon 650 but I don't own a 650. A Friend has a couple of Dillon progressive presses which he has used to load 6.5 Grendel without issue.

[Drillboss]

Alright, maybe I'm just being paranoid as this would really suck- but hear me out:

I'm using the AA bolt which is .136" depth. If it turns out my chamber is for the .125" depth bolt, would this be a contributing factor? I would think that if this were the case then I'd have the opposite problem - excessive headspace, but I'm not sure I completely understand the bolt depth discussion. I thought I did my homework on this but now I'm second guessing everything.

Now you've exceeded my knowledge base. JSE's website shows all of their barrels (or at least all of the ones I looked at) to use 0.125" bolts. But I agree, that should cause excess headspace. Might be worth a call to them.

[Chrazy-Chris]

I screwed down the Hornady resizing die (using Hornady shell holder) another turn and mashed the sh*t out of the reloading handle and that did it. Seated a 123SST and it chambered on both the .136" a bolt and a .125" 7.62x39 bolt.

Can I resize loaded rounds by removing the decapping assembly or am I going to have to pull all my bullets?

[Djgrendel]

You will need to pull the bullets. Other than potential of a grenade going off in your reloading area. But the sizing die will force the case neck into the bullet trying to resize the case as if it were empty. Pull the bullets, powder, and remove decapping stem to bump them back.

[rabiddawg]

If his projectile is not jammed into the lands and the round chambers would it be safe to fire the rounds he has made up?

[Sticks]

If he does nothing to the existing ones, they may or may not fire (had the same problem).

Best thing to do is download the rounds and start over. Sucks but his ladder loads will give false info at this point.

[grayfox]

One thing I might add b/c not seeing it mentioned yet... for me, once-fired hornady brass, the case length has always been too long after re-sizing, it's like 1.523 or 4 or so... I have had to trim/chamfer all my hornadys after the first firing. After that they behave fine.
Do you verify that case length after re-sizing is under 1.520?