Different Sized 270WIN Brass

[Irate]

A friend gave me some of his once fired 270 brass to reload for him, and he said he wanted more besides. I had some 270 brass laying around so I said no problem. I reloaded his brass and then used my brass to get an even 80 for him. I kept them separate because I loaded his brass before mine. When he went to shoot the ammo I used my brass for, he said his bolt on his bolt action wouldn't go all the way forward. He unloaded and tried the ammo that was loaded with his brass, which fired without a problem. He looked closely at the two rounds and noticed that there was a different angle between the neck and main shaft. All of this brass was tumbled, sized, trimmed, and deburred prior to loading.

I assume all 270Win brass is identical (as far as outside dimensions), so my question is did I do something wrong with my brass? Is it possibly not getting up into the sizing die high enough to resize the brass?

I think it was the sizing because this was old brass that I sized back when I first started reloading and may have been sized incorrectly. I believe I have adjusted the sizing die since then. I did not bother to resize prior to reloading it since I had the brass marked ready to load. I proceeded to seat primers without using the full stroke of my 550b.

Thanks for the help in advance.

Irate

[HoMiE]

Is it a Full Size or Neck only die? His brass has already been fire-forned to his chamber, and probabaly only needs to be neck-sized. The brass you had obviously came from a different rifle with a different chamber dimensions and you may not be resizing the case enough to fit his rifle.

[Irate]

Is it a Full Size or Neck only die? His brass has already been fire-forned to his chamber, and probabaly only needs to be neck-sized. The brass you had obviously came from a different rifle with a different chamber dimensions and you may not be resizing the case enough to fit his rifle.

I don't have the box from the dies in front of me, but i believe it was a full size die. I'll check as soon as I can.

So if it is only a neck die I have to buy a new die? great

[Scott R]

If the angle of the shoulder on each of the brass is different enough that you can see it you may have problems other than just needing to full length size. I would recommend consulting an experienced rifle reloader that is local and have him look at what you have and possibly school you on all of the aspects of loading for a rifle. There are worse things that can happen besides a round not chambering if you don't have a good grasp on all of the details.

[GentlemanJim]

You need to check your brass with a headspace gauge.

If it fits the gauge...it should be ok in any properly chambered 270.

If ether one of you has a gunsmith chambered barrel...It could be slightly out of spec.

jim

[Too_Slow]

I have seen this before in 300 Weatherby. I have a rifle with a really tight chamber and a friend has one with a very loose chamber. If a case was fired out of my gun all I have to do is neck size it and load it up. It can them be fired out of either my gun or his. But if it was fired in his gun I have to do a full length size and trim before it can be loaded and fired in my gun. If it just going to be used in his gun neck sizing is fine for brass fired in his gun.

Brian

[David Sinko]

Are you sure you can see a difference in the angle? Is this before or after you chamber the round that won't fit? You need to make sure the brass isn't too long. If you have two sets of brass that have lived their own separate lives you need to pay close attention to the overall length. It's possible that some of it is way too long. You'd be surprised how quickly brass can grow.

Dave Sinko

[Irate]

Are you sure you can see a difference in the angle? Is this before or after you chamber the round that won't fit? You need to make sure the brass isn't too long. If you have two sets of brass that have lived their own separate lives you need to pay close attention to the overall length. It's possible that some of it is way too long. You'd be surprised how quickly brass can grow.

Dave Sinko

That is one thing I am sure of. I hand trimmed all the brass so I know it's the same length. But yes, my friend said the angle was visibly different, before and after he tried to chamber it, and after it was fired. I plan on going and getting case gauges for all the rifle calibers I reload. Although I'm a little fuzzy on how case gauges work. If it's just a sort of donut and you drop the case or loaded round into it, how do you know it's going in all the way?

irate

[David Sinko]

How many times has the offending brass been loaded? If it has been loaded a few times it is possible that the necks are getting too thick. You trim the length, but the necks are still going to be thick. This could cause the shoulder to set back when the bullet is seated in the case. This would run up pressures dramatically and you should not fire those rounds. The solution would be to inside ream the necks, but this is a lot of trouble and .270 Winchester is common enough that I'd just throw it away and buy more.

Dave Sinko

[Irate]

How many times has the offending brass been loaded? If it has been loaded a few times it is possible that the necks are getting too thick. You trim the length, but the necks are still going to be thick. This could cause the shoulder to set back when the bullet is seated in the case. This would run up pressures dramatically and you should not fire those rounds. The solution would be to inside ream the necks, but this is a lot of trouble and .270 Winchester is common enough that I'd just throw it away and buy more.

Dave Sinko

These brass have been fired at least once, some twice or three times. Let's say I did want to inside ream the necks as you suggest, is there a specific tool I can do this with? I would assume a tool like this would have to be caliber-specific. Any particular manufacturer you suggest?

Irate

[Irate]

Ok I finally got back to my bench and have some measurements that might help people figure the problem I'm having. I measured my brass after I fired it through my gun and then after I full-length sized it. After the brass was fired, the outside neck width was .307 - .308" and inside neck width was .277". After I sized it (along with depriming) my outside neck width was .300 - .299" and inside neck width was .271". The brass of the neck was between 0.010" and 0.011" thick. I don't know if that will help anyone figure out my problem, since according to my reloading manuals, those numbers sound dead on. I was unable to find any numbers on how thick neck brass is supposed to be on a 270 Win. Thanks all

Irate

[Irate]

Alright, sorry for the repeating posts, but I just wanted to make a final post to close this issue. I spoke to a local reloading expert and he said that the reason brass fired through my gun won't fit in my friend's gun is because it was fire-formed to his chamber. It wasn't anything I was doing wrong. Apparently Savages are known for their tight chambers so brass fired through other rifles will not fit into a Savage. Hope I helped a few people by talking about this little problem I had. Thanks everyone.

Irate