Need help with .223 reloads...

[baloha]

I am new to reloading and am starting out with .223. I have shot some of my reloads in a RockRiver ar15 and most are not chambering all the way. We are having to hit the charging handle back with a 2x4 and hammer to get them out (not something i like to do). My question is why is this happening? I have resized them all and have the right length. They will seat all but 1/4 of an inch in the barrel. factory ammo shots just fine through it. Any help would be much appreciated, Thanks.

[Wollychop]

If you've verified that you have the correct OAL, first make sure the rest of the case dimensions are correct as well, from neck all the way to the case head.

Also ensure that the cartridge length is correct and that it doesn't need some trimming.

Could be a number of things, from improper seating depth to bad dies.

[mickey223]

What dies are you using, and are you neck sizing or full sizing the brass?

[baloha]

What dies are you using, and are you neck sizing or full sizing the brass?

I'm using a Redding 3 die set; Full length, Bullet seating and taper crimping on a Dillon 550.

[mickey223]

If it is a full size die, sounds like the die is off. Compare one you made to a commercial brass, definitely looking at the relationship to the shoulder. And measure the distance above labled 1.4378 and 2.2598.

Post a pic of your load with a commercial so we can see

[baloha]

If it is a full size die, sounds like the die is off. Compare one you made to a commercial brass, definitely looking at the relationship to the shoulder. And measure the distance above labled 1.4378 and 2.2598.

Post a pic of your load with a commercial so we can see

The ones on the left are the Factory...

[romer522]

That came out of a Redding die? It looks very weird, and asymmetrical.

[mickey223]

Looks like the die is defective, just eyballing the pics, the shoulder on the reload on the right is off and almost flat.

[romer522]

Do you have your sizing die tight down to the shellholder? I simply cannot imagine a Redding getting out the door that is THAT bad.

[baloha]

Do you have your sizing die tight down to the shellholder? I simply cannot imagine a Redding getting out the door that is THAT bad.

The die should be barely touching the shellholder right? If yes then it is tight down.

[Wollychop]

Screw the die down with the ram all the way up until it makes contact. Then lower the ram and give it another quarter or half turn and then size a few, see if you get better results.

[romer522]

Also was the brass shot out of the same gun your trying to chamber it in?

Using the Redding shellholder? Not their competition holders right?

[Grantness]

The shellholder should be making contact with the die while sizing the case. Sometimes its not enough for the shellholder to just touch the die w/o a case. To get rid of any play in the press, screw the die in an extra half turn or so like Wollychop suggested.

If you've checked the trim length and the oal, and your rounds still won't chamber, then it could be the die. If you are running close to the max OAL, try seating a little deeper to make sure that isn't an issue. That case looks crooked at the shoulder and at the base. Either the die is off, or the ram on your press isnt aligned with the die properly. Redding is known for quality, so it would be surprising to find one of their dies so far off spec. You may want to give them a call and see about having your die replaced.

Am I correct in assuming that both the size die and the AR are .223 remington and not 5.56? What about the cases you are using?

Also, check to see if the rounds will chamber before you run them through the crimp die.

[Wollychop]

One other (minor) observation. Soft point bullets like that can have a hard time chambering as the soft point sometimes deforms during chambering . I pretty much stay away from bullets like that for autoloading rifles.

[baloha]

Screw the die down with the ram all the way up until it makes contact. Then lower the ram and give it another quarter or half turn and then size a few, see if you get better results.

K did that, hows these look middle 3 look outer 2 are factory

[baloha]

Also was the brass shot out of the same gun your trying to chamber it in?

Using the Redding shellholder? Not their competition holders right?

I got the shellholder from dillon along with the dies. The dies are redding tho I don't know about the shellholder. Some of the ammo was out of the same gun and some was once fired brass that we got from brassmanbrass.com.

[romer522]

Can you chamber a piece of brass w/o a bullet seated?

The Ogive on the reloaded rounds looks substantially higher than the factory, that could be one of the problems. However the sized brass still doesn't liike quite "crisp" enough at the shoulder.

[Wollychop]

Romer just made a great observation. Try seating those bullets deeper, until the cannelure is juuuuust visible above the rim.

[baloha]

Just to clarify this is the problem... The bullet still sicks out and the bolt cant push it in or extracted it.

[romer522]

Do you have any pics of a round that you have gotten stuck then dislodged? Any marks at the actual bullet that look like its been stuck into the rifling?

Chambering an unloaded piece of brass will tell us if its a sizing issue or a seating depth issue.

[f3rr37]

Looks to me like the case length is too long, be sure you trim it down to spec.

[baloha]

Do you have any pics of a round that you have gotten stuck then dislodged? Any marks at the actual bullet that look like its been stuck into the rifling?

Chambering an unloaded piece of brass will tell us if its a sizing issue or a seating depth issue.

I just tried a resized brass and it didn't go so that must be it. If you look at the 5 brass i have in the pic you will see a ring about 1/9 of the way up from the bottom that is where it is stopping.

[mickey223]

The shoulders still look a little "flat"

And good catch on the bullet depth, the canelure should be deeper as well.

[romer522]

Do you have any pics of a round that you have gotten stuck then dislodged? Any marks at the actual bullet that look like its been stuck into the rifling?

Chambering an unloaded piece of brass will tell us if its a sizing issue or a seating depth issue.

I just tried a resized brass and it didn't go so that must be it. If you look at the 5 brass i have in the pic you will see a ring about 1/9 of the way up from the bottom that is where it is stopping.

Just to make sure, is the shellholder and sizing die making contact while your actually sizing?

[romer522]

Oooh, here's a possibility.

Is the decapping/expander pin tightened down, too far down? So that the brass is bottoming out on the decaping pin prior to the die hitting the shellholder?

[baloha]

Do you have any pics of a round that you have gotten stuck then dislodged? Any marks at the actual bullet that look like its been stuck into the rifling?

Chambering an unloaded piece of brass will tell us if its a sizing issue or a seating depth issue.

I just tried a resized brass and it didn't go so that must be it. If you look at the 5 brass i have in the pic you will see a ring about 1/9 of the way up from the bottom that is where it is stopping.

Just to make sure, is the shellholder and sizing die making contact while your actually sizing?

yes

[romer522]

Next step is to try a new sizing die then.

[Grantness]

Screw the die down with the ram all the way up until it makes contact. Then lower the ram and give it another quarter or half turn and then size a few, see if you get better results.

K did that, hows these look middle 3 look outer 2 are factory

Perhaps those lines across the middle of the soft point bullets are a result of the bullets being pushed up into the throat of the barrel? ...or that could just be from your seating die. Still, I agree with the others that you should seat the bullets a little deeper. The shoulders on your brass definately dont look like they've been set back as much as the factory brass next to them. If you've tried turning the die in more and that didnt work, checked the trim on your brass, and seated the bullets deeper....I'd have to say its gotta be something to do with the die itself.

[f3rr37]

You've yet to say that you've trimmed the brass... here is what I'm seeing:



The green transparent line is a straight line from the top of the two factory rounds on either side. The middle three cases are clearly much taller than the other two.

[baloha]

You've yet to say that you've trimmed the brass... here is what I'm seeing:



The green transparent line is a straight line from the top of the two factory rounds on either side. The middle three cases are clearly much taller than the other two.

I didn't trim the brass because it has only been fired once but I will give it a try.

[f3rr37]

That's your problem then. From the looks of it, looking at the middle cartridge it almost looks like a double crimp, a regular one and then another at the very top of the mouth of the case. I would say those rounds are literally getting jammed into the chamber.

.02

[Wollychop]

It can be surprising how much brass can flow (stretch) even after just one firing and running through a full length sizing die.

[Grantness]

I guess one of the benefits of learning to reload on the 5.7x28 is that you become very careful about details. No matter what caliber I reload, I always measure each case to see if it needs trimming, check for bullet runout, I check the first couple cases after sizing to see if they will chamber, I weigh my charges, and I always measure the OAL after seating. It seems 5.7x28 made a benchrest reloader out of me without me even knowing it :laugh:

[romer522]

Length very well might be it, but I dunno if you should write off the funky necks your getting out of that Redding.

[baloha]

I guess one of the benefits of learning to reload on the 5.7x28 is that you become very careful about details. No matter what caliber I reload, I always measure each case to see if it needs trimming, check for bullet runout, I check the first couple cases after sizing to see if they will chamber, I weigh my charges, and I always measure the OAL after seating. It seems 5.7x28 made a benchrest reloader out of me without me even knowing it :laugh:

After I learn the .223 i am going to start 5.7 and try it for hunting with the speer trophy bear claw bullet. But I just screwed up my decapping pin on the redding die on a military crimp. so i got to call monday and get a new one. Newbie mistakes suck..but the best to learn from.

[Wollychop]

Very true. Make a mistake once, learn from it, move on

[baloha]

Latest development....
I screwed down my fl sizing die so it is a quarter turn pass the shellplate like redding said and some of you. I also trimmed all cases to the right length or a little below. The case dimensions are all right also. It still refused to seat.This is a picture of the reload now left reload,, right factory

Now this next reload fired , it was the same dies but I seated the bullet so you could not see the "vertical lines" on the bullet. The bolt blew back but the case stayed in the barrel.