308 not chambering

[Old Dog]

Don't stop if the cases don't fit the gauge....try them in your rifle anyway.  They might work whether they fit the gauge or not.

I already know that in my M1A and my son's M14S reloads done with the Lee dies set we have work just fine - but I went out and bought one of the little gauges anyway just to see what I learn from it - will the rounds fit?  I don't know yet, gotta go try some.

[Jungle George]

I use a lot of Lee dies and they work well for me.

JG

[Beezer]

Personally, I had bad experiences with the 7.62 machine gun brass - lots of case separations - about one in fifty on the first reload.  I found some once fired Lake City "sniper" brass online and it has worked great, but a bit more expensive.  I think I paid $180 for 500 cases.  The fellow said it had been fired from M14's, which of course have tighter chambers than the MG's.  Problem solved.  I should have bought more at the time, because now he's out of stock.

Regarding the Lee dies - I can get a Redding two die set for $35, so why not?  To me, the extra $20 is well worth it.  Even though I enjoy putzing around with handloading, I don't consider the savings worth the time and frustration.   

[Reveille]

Pretty much everything discussed on this thread has been happening to me over the past couple of weeks. (All but the pink spray from a machine gun) I have been resizing once fired LC brass from Wideners ( I am guessing MG brass) with standard full length dies from RCBS.  All of this was being done without a case gauge, which I ordered yesterday along with a set of RCBS small base dies.  I am very new to reloading for the M1A and the rifle I have has a Criterion NM barrel and the chamber was finished and headspaced to the bolt during assembly by LRB.  So pretty much after a crap load of FTE and short stroking and second guessing the gas system and op rod alignment............it looks like user/reloading error has come into play.  It has been a learning experience which oddly enough I have enjoyed.  The LC brass sounds like it is prone to memory retention and from what I understand machine gun chambers are huge compared to what I have so I may need to be resizing the brass a couple of times before it will accept the new dimensions, which I will now be checking with a LE Wilson cause gauge.  I hope that this will remedy the problem.  Thanks to all who have passed on the knowledge to rookies like myself. 

[Beezer]

I'm no expert, but I read everything I could find when troubleshooting my issues.  One resource I found to be helpful was Zediker's Reloading for the Match M14 - http://www.zediker.com/downloads/14_loading.pdf

Read the section on "Powder and Port Pressure." Zediker has some definite opinions about which powders are suitable for the M14.  For example, though I've heard people recommending Varget, Zediker believes it burns too slow to work well with in the M14. 

Lots of other good information in there as well... 

[Reveille]

Roger on the Zediker's manual, I downloaded that one a couple of weeks ago from TFL.  Lot's of great info in that one.  Thanks for the input.

[Shooter30-06]

+1 to those who recommend Small Base RCBS dies for semi-automatic rifles.  Regular RCBS or Lee dies work fine for me if I am reloading for bolt, lever, or single shot rifles.  However, when I am reloading .223 for my Mini-14 or 30-06 for a Garand, I found out early on that reliable function was occuring only when I used Small Based dies.   

[Reveille]

Case gauge and dies showed up Friday.  I gauged the remainder of the loaded lot and found more than half had the heads stick out beyond the top step!  Ouch, good thing I didn't get a big boom on some of them.  It must of been close to the danger zone of the bolt not locking in place.  The bright side is my bullet puller will see some good use tonight and I will be running ALL my sized brass through a case gauge from here on out.  Only takes a second and is well worth it to me.  Thanks, Reveille.

[artkat2]

Progress as promised;

Got my tools and brass (Lee dies, Lyman case gauge and LC '05 MG brass). While sizing, I wipe clean and run through the gauge about every 3rd or 4th piece of brass, finish the lot then wash and tumble. When clean, I check every piece in the Lyman gauge then move on to trimming. After chamfering and de-burring, every piece goes through the gauge again for trim length (the pilot on my trimmer leaves the brass at about 2.010", right between the two steps on the Lyman gauge).

  I should be getting some 147 gr pills this week, so I'll build a few dummy rounds to check in my rifle and report back. So far...so good!

   I believe you were promised some problems? Well here goes; I was down at my local range just hanging around and 7th stepping, and I found a few LC '90 cases. I didn't have my brass yet so I took them home to "experiment" with my new tools. I de capped them, cleaned them up, lubed them and sized them (once each). Wiped the lube off of the first one, popped it in the gauge and ...too long. I promptly ran it up into the sizing die again when I remembered that I had wiped the lube off of it!  STUCK!
I got the die out (case still inside) and beat the expander/decapper to dislodge the case. Got it out but bent the expander in the process . A call to Lee, $10 and 4 days later (I had my brass by then) I was back in business!

Thanks again for all the advice in this thread, I'll post more when it happens.

Andy

[spitstickler]

I promptly ran it up into the sizing die again when I remembered that I had wiped the lube off of it!  STUCK!
I got the die out (case still inside) and beat the expander/decapper to dislodge the case. Got it out but bent the expander in the process
Andy

I had one stuck so bad in my Lee die, that I pulled the rim off it trying to pry it out. I finally got it out by putting the die (with the stuck case in it) in the freezer for a couple of hours. When it was good and cold, I stuck it back in the press, and just a tap or two with the hammer on the decapping pin and it popped right out of there. I'd read about this elsewhere and they were saying that brass shrinks a little more than steel when it's frozen.

[Johnny]

 The only die I would recommend if your using a std chamber is the Dillon dies. When a case gets stuck you simple take the die apart and drive out the case. AND Dillon has a No BS replacement guarantee. Anytime you brake something, call them and they will ship it free and it only ever took them 3 or four days to get it to me. BTW...the last 308 case that stuck in my Lee die is still stuck in that die. That's when I bought the Dillon dies and then an RL550 press. I took this advise from Jerry Micilik. 

[Reveille]

Update:  It is official, resizing and verifying with the case gauge not only remedied the problem but also increased the accuracy.  Newbie reloaders, what can you do with em?  Thanks for all of your tips.

[The Old Guide]

Here's a hint: Always use the same brand of case holder and die. They do vary from brand to brand, but using the same brand holder and die will minimize problems. Not sure who made your case holder? Get a case holder with the same brand as your dies. Then you'll know for sure.

I use only RCBS so I don't have the problem, but I have seen loaders grab unknown brand case holders out of a box and wonder why they have erratic groups or worse.

[Taylor]

Reading thru all 4 pages of this thread sure makes me miss my reloading bench which I had to dismantle in June because we moved and have not been able to reconstruct due to temporary lack of space. But to make a short story long...I too started out on the Lee Anniversary kit with my first reloading efforts, a sporterized .30/40 Krag. Eventually got Lee dies for all I shoot, largest being .44 Mag HG and .300 Wby rifle. Eventually acquired a Lee Classic Cast single stage which I have used for all rifle reloading (two .250 Sav, two .300 Sav, .30/40 Krag, multiple  .30/06 bolts,  .30/06 M-1, .45/70, .35 Rem, .308 for a BAR carbine which in a weak moment I gave to my son-in-law, and the aforementioned .300Wby which has put several elk and moose in the freezer) and a Lee Classic Cast Turret Press for various and sundry handguns (.38s, .357s, .44mags, .45ACPs), again using all Lee dies. Never had die issues but decided to migrate away from the Classic Cast Turret press when a PLASTIC wear part cratered after a 1,000 round .45 ACP marathon. Saw a lot of the negative Lee comments too and didn't think too much of them until this experience which opened my eyes to the amount of pot metal and plastic in a lot of Lee's products. Sold the Turret Press and bought a Hornady Lock-Load-AP which still sits in the box awaiting completion of the new shop building which will house the reloading bench. Looking forward to loading more .30/06 for the M-1 along with getting started on .308 for an M-1A and R-25 using small base RCBS X-Dies also. Looked very hard at the Dillons but being an accountant by trade, I couldn't make the numbers work. Please feel free to let me know I messed up or pass along any Hornady Lock-N-Load tips. Still have the Classic Cast Single Stage which I have no issues with. My last reloading project before moving was assembling 600 rounds for my CMP M-1 which thus far have functioned flawlessly but after researching I did upgrade to RCBS small base X dies but still using a Lee factory crimp die to apply a very mild crimp. Sorry for taking up so much space describing my Lee experiences but it felt good talking reloading which I cannot wait to get back into.