Shoulder not set back

As a reloader of about 50 years experience I have some basis to these opinions. I don't know everything but the stuff I posted above is pretty basic stuff. These days with ammo and component shortages I would do as I suggested, shoot the ammo but if afraid to do that, pull it down and re use the components. Silly not to.
 
As a reloader of about 50 years experience I have some basis to these opinions. I don't know everything but the stuff I posted above is pretty basic stuff. These days with ammo and component shortages I would do as I suggested, shoot the ammo but if afraid to do that, pull it down and re use the components. Silly not to.
Im in no way questioning your reply I’m sure it’s very accurate information, I was simply sharing my opinion on the matter and what I would do in said situation.
 
Don't do any of this. If you can chamber them, even if snug just shoot them. If it takes a lot of effort they may be too much but just snug to slightly hard, shoot. As far as the primers go, if you do decide to pull the ammo down, pop the primers out as suggested and use them again. There is no reason to chuck the primers just because you popped them out, they are fine. Have done this many times. Why waste expensive hard to find components?? Re use them.
+1. I’ve done the same thing quite a bit. The primers won’t go off pushing them out slowly with the decapping pin. Then reuse them. No reason to do this in this situation, as just fire the loaded cartridges. Brass is very forgiving when fired in the SAME rifle as it will fire form to that rifle’s chamber and no full length resizing is needed for several/many reloads as long as the case length is checked periodically and trimmed if necessary in a BOLT actioned rifle.
 
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Pull the bullets and save them and the powder. Deprime as per usual and reuse the primers. Resize, reload with the components and you are good to go. I've reused primers several times with no ill effects. They are perfectly fine.
 
Im in no way questioning your reply I’m sure it’s very accurate information, I was simply sharing my opinion on the matter and what I would do in said situation.
No worries, its all good.
 
Off this specific situation topic here, but recently I’ve reloaded straight walled .458 WM and it’s short bottle necked .416 Taylor offspring. Once fired cases have the same length as new. So, I’ll be neck sizing the Taylor and ball expanding the WM and they’ll be good to go for PRACTICE rounds as they are shot in their same respective rifles. There’s no need to “over work” the brass (especially with a belt) for a practice round unless you just want to? My 2 centavos.
 
Are you measuring just after firing or after sizing. Brass grows longer in the sizing die, not in the chamber.
 
If last fired in the same rifle - No biggie. Shoot em, as you have necked sized only. GTG.

Decap if desired and start over - again no biggie, but use common sense. Eye protection and go slow. A Universal decapping die is preferred.

Drop the decapped live ones in a zip lock bag, spray with your oil of choice and into the trash they go.

I decap live ones on occasion. Not a good thing to do, but no issues (yet).
 
Correct. However, forming the Taylor case from new WM brass didn’t lengthen the case. I suppose when I eventually full length size the the Taylor, I’ll have to trim the case a little. But I’m sticking to neck sizing only now as long as a bullet will seat.
 
"Drop the decapped live ones in a zip lock bag, spray with your oil of choice and into the trash they go."

Waste of good useable primers. Primers are hard to find these days, why waste them for no good reason?
 
Thanks for helping me think through this guys. It's very much appreciated.

Using the Larry Willis headspace gauge , I measured the cases vs a few that I did shoot. I think I have effectively necksized them. I checked the case length and it is within tolerances on all of them. I checked the OAL and it too is ok. So, I think I have just not set my FL die to bump back the shoulder, causing it to be effectively necksized. I think the resizing process did, ever so slightly, stretch the brass as some of the unfired cases measured literally 0.0005 longer than fired cases at the shoulder. That is not even a margin of error for my skills - which leads me to believe they were from this rifle and effectively necksized. I will reset the die to my normal 0.002(ish) setback for the future. But, I believe these are safe to shoot anyways.

Again, thanks for the advice. It helped to focus my thinking with this problem!
 
You will find if you do a lot of reloading that there will be tight cases out of every 100 or so.

That is one reason to test chamber all the rounds that you plan on taking on a hunting trip.

I have seen a number of folks who reload and didn't test them and missed a chance at a animal because of it
 
The brass does grow in the die, the metal being squeezed has to go someplace right? Also they can be pulled forward by the sizing button on the stem if its tight coming out. But this is all normal. If you use some form of lube inside the case neck when sizing it helps minimize this pulling action. I just use sizing lube by dragging the case mouth over the lube pad every few rounds and you can feel the difference. Afterwards I throw them in the tumbler and it cleans the cases inside and out.
As above for hunting rounds its critical to check all your loads, I use new brass on my hunt loads, but still run them thru the rifle.
 
Yes, if your load is safe otherwise you can probably shoot these without issue. Given that- the only things that would cause excess pressure would be too long case length or bullet jam into lands. If you are satisfied with both those measurements (clearances), then any tight headpiece issue when chambering will not affect pressure.

(I'll second this thought and possibility already posted) If your neck sizer plug really drags with a lot of friction when pulling back out of case during the sizing operation.... it can actually increase headspace length some. I use a dry lube and neck brush prior to sizing to minimize that possibility also for most cartridges I size cases and expand necks in two different operations. I remove the neck sizing button and decapping pin from the sizing die. And only resize with that die. I use a neck expander like the Lyman M die to expand neck. So no chance of increasing headspace length and seems to also help reduce neck runout. When setting up sizing die smoke or mark shoulder to inspect for die contact and additionally check sized case in rifle after sizing to confirm no interference chambering. Then check again after bullet is seated. Once set for that rifle, that sizing die setting should be good to go for all cases for that rifle.
 
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I’m glad you have thought it through and have understanding.
I’m glad you asked the question, it doesn’t hurt to ask.
We all have an opinion and you know the situation better than us, it’s good to work through and learn from it.
 
"Drop the decapped live ones in a zip lock bag, spray with your oil of choice and into the trash they go."

Waste of good useable primers. Primers are hard to find these days, why waste them for no good reason?
Superstition.
 
May have missed it but have you checked for a carbon ring in the chamber?
 
May have missed it but have you checked for a carbon ring in the chamber?
Ok, I think I understand. I
Am I looking for a buildup that would make it harder to close the bolt?
 
I couldn’t figure out how a lot of people were getting this done using alternatives not mentioned until I read this hilarious article. Basically, people are using photoshop to illegally beat the rules.


Ok, I think I understand. I
Am I looking for a buildup that would make it harder to close the bolt?
Yes. You need a borescope to check. OT but Teslong makes a useable one for around fifty dollars.
 

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