Hi Roy & Mike -

I really appreciate you all trying to help me out.

When I compared the cast to new brass, length seemed identical. And the cast shows a long leade so I really think this is 72mm long.

When I had used a Sharpie to coat around the mouth of the brass and the side of the case from rim to mouth, there was none rubbed off around the mouth or on the bullet itself. I also tried a case without a bullet and that also hung up the same distance from fully seating...basically the thickness of the rim (which if flipped around, the rim perfectly fits the recess for it.)

If you look at the picture where I show the cast plus two loaded rounds above, you'll see the cast and the top loaded round are each marked at half inch increments from the base. I've recorded measurements at those hash marks that you can see in the picture.

The bottom of the two cases has a stripe of Sharpie ink on it from rim to mouth. That is worn away starting at 3/4" thru 1 1/2" from the rim. That's what's binding.

Here's what I plan to do next (unless someone stops me!)

1) order dies for 9.3x72r. (Buffalo Arms has them in stock right now)
2) polish the chambers with 320 or finer paper wrapped around a dowel, focusing on the first two inches, and make sure they are super clean (although I've already cleaned them) and then try another cast and smoking another case (empty this time using the RWS brass I've received (which currently hangs up just like the loaded S&B rounds)
3) if no luck with the above, I would think the next step might be to try resizing cases using the dies and a shim or two to squeeze down the trouble spot 0.75-1.50" ahead of the rim (or wrap that with tape?)

Lastly, if 1-3 do nothing, and the updated cast I make reconfirms the overall length of the cartridge, I'll see about renting a chamber reamer after confirming the pilot will fit. I would prefer not to alter the rifle and frankly this scares me so I'll probably ask help from a local smith. 4D rentals have them, although I forgot what pilot they had.

What do you think?

Chris