Problems with .223 Remington reloads

[Lonnie Pendleton]

I had one of my reloads get stuck going in to the chamber of my rifle. When I got the round out (and my fingers are still sore) I measured it with my caliper at .374 inches. The NRA Handloading book gives the measure for the case, just above the extractor grove, as .3759. I also have a chamber block made by EGW that I bought from Brownells. It has 7 "chambers" in the block for 5.56mm. Chamber one will accept 99 out of 100 reloaded rounds. Chamber two will reject 60% of rounds accepted by chamber one. All the rounds measure, as I have said, at .374. My rifle has, up until now, fired and cycled every round I have put through it. The round that stuck was number 39 that I had fired that day. And after the first 30 rounds I stopped shooting and spent a good fifteen minutes to pick up brass. ( I always leave the range with more brass than I shoot.)

This rifle has functioned completely on days I have fired 6 to 8 full magazines with no problems. And no cooling time more than five minutes as I mover false walls to set up different training ideas.

So, please, someone who has more knowledge than I do give me some good advice as to what measuring to do as I reload my magazines. I do not want to destroy my rifle.

Thanks in advance.

sounds like a sizing issue

 

[epags]

I do not see that anyone mentioned the possibility that that round did not get crimped (at least enough) to eliminate the flare created during the powder charging phase. The OP did say it stuck going into the chamber.

 

[muleskinner1]

in an attempt to stop questions.
the problem is there is NO SUCH CHAMBER as both 223 and 556.
in the USA it is not a real issue. see my previous post.

Your reply of (in an attempt to stop questions) leaves something to be desired, in other words B.S.

 

[longtubeman]

I have had same thing happen with a 16" barrel from the same place I got my 24" bull barrel. Both are match barrels. 16" will not shoot any thing but new brass. It's a tight chamber, used brass will only go in about 80%, then stick. New brass goes in fine, so that's what it gets. I usuly keep brass sepret for different guns, for best, safe use.

 

[redneckdan]

Do you have a picture of the case that stuck? Scuffing should show where it jammed, ie base, neck, etc. Are you measuring shoulder setback and headspace?

Sounds like you might have gotten a piece of brass that was not fired in your gun and was fired in a larger chamber. I small base all once fired 5.56 before in goes in a bolt gun and every sizing on AR brass.

Acquired a dpms for my wife a couple years back that would not chamber any reloads and some factory ammo. 5.56 reamer fixed that nonsense.

 

[lyle2231]

I had one of my reloads get stuck going in to the chamber of my rifle. When I got the round out (and my fingers are still sore) I measured it with my caliper at .374 inches. The NRA Handloading book gives the measure for the case, just above the extractor grove, as .3759. I also have a chamber block made by EGW that I bought from Brownells. It has 7 "chambers" in the block for 5.56mm. Chamber one will accept 99 out of 100 reloaded rounds. Chamber two will reject 60% of rounds accepted by chamber one. All the rounds measure, as I have said, at .374. My rifle has, up until now, fired and cycled every round I have put through it. The round that stuck was number 39 that I had fired that day. And after the first 30 rounds I stopped shooting and spent a good fifteen minutes to pick up brass. ( I always leave the range with more brass than I shoot.)

This rifle has functioned completely on days I have fired 6 to 8 full magazines with no problems. And no cooling time more than five minutes as I mover false walls to set up different training ideas.

So, please, someone who has more knowledge than I do give me some good advice as to what measuring to do as I reload my magazines. I do not want to destroy my rifle.

Thanks in advance.

I had one of my reloads get stuck going in to the chamber of my rifle. When I got the round out (and my fingers are still sore) I measured it with my caliper at .374 inches. The NRA Handloading book gives the measure for the case, just above the extractor grove, as .3759. I also have a chamber block made by EGW that I bought from Brownells. It has 7 "chambers" in the block for 5.56mm. Chamber one will accept 99 out of 100 reloaded rounds. Chamber two will reject 60% of rounds accepted by chamber one. All the rounds measure, as I have said, at .374. My rifle has, up until now, fired and cycled every round I have put through it. The round that stuck was number 39 that I had fired that day. And after the first 30 rounds I stopped shooting and spent a good fifteen minutes to pick up brass. ( I always leave the range with more brass than I shoot.)

This rifle has functioned completely on days I have fired 6 to 8 full magazines with no problems. And no cooling time more than five minutes as I mover false walls to set up different training ideas.

So, please, someone who has more knowledge than I do give me some good advice as to what measuring to do as I reload my magazines. I do not want to destroy my rifle.

Thanks in advance.

I've witnessed jams caused by small shreds of brass caused by reloads. Seen jackets from different bullets caused by some anomaly. It's just an acceptable occurance for using a gas gun.

 

[DanRPhD]

First, I pick up brass on a range used for classes. Since all students MUST use factory ammo I feel safe in picking them up. Second, it is a sizing problem. The question I have to answer is to trust my chamber block or my caliper.

I have, for now, decided to use the chamber block and if it shows a problem then use my caliper. Since I have an abundance of brass ditching a few cases will not be a problem.

For those who do not like my load, you have your opinion and I have mine. I like having just one powder for my rifle loads and IMR 4064 suits me. The .223 reloads are light but for practice rounds they work great. As I am working on rifle to handgun transition right now, full power rounds would be a waist.

Thanks to all who took the time to read my thread and comment on it.

 

[lyle2231]

First, I pick up brass on a range used for classes. Since all students MUST use factory ammo I feel safe in picking them up. Second, it is a sizing problem. The question I have to answer is to trust my chamber block or my caliper.

I have, for now, decided to use the chamber block and if it shows a problem then use my caliper. Since I have an abundance of brass ditching a few cases will not be a problem.

For those who do not like my load, you have your opinion and I have mine. I like having just one powder for my rifle loads and IMR 4064 suits me. The .223 reloads are light but for practice rounds they work great. As I am working on rifle to handgun transition right now, full power rounds would be a waist.

Thanks to all who took the time to read my thread and comment on it.

I've gone to the RCBS case micrometer to set up my sizing die. I feel it's necessary when reusing pick up brass.

 

[MachV]

To answer one question= use the block as it checks the round as a whole and not one measurment. Calipers are usefull but

If your picking up range brass wierd things can happen. The most common for me has been too long of case and it bulges the case when you seat the bullet or chamber the round. I set the seating die to hit case that is over spec that way I either catch it thenor it will not fully chamber. The thought is to keep the chamber from crimping the bullet ?

 

[budlight]

When I first got into AR's I bought and picked up range brass. I used a single stage press to resize all my brass before throwing it into my wet steel rod tumbler.

I was using all RCBS shell holders and full length resizer. Well after reloading. I had feed jams and had to use a rod to pound the stuck shells out. All measurements seemed within spec. So I bought Precision .223 dies with the same results. After beating my head and building another AR Wylde barrel with the same results. I started thinking what if the shell holder base is too tall not setting the case shoulder back. So I ordered another shell holder and a precision Dillion case gauge.

Sure enough the RCBS shell holders were too tall. I calipered the holders and found them to be different in height by .002. So I took the shorter one and machined off an addition couble of thou. Which set the shoulders back more. That cured the feed problems and they fit perfectly in the dillion case gauge.

So I just machined all my shell holders down and they all have worked for 1000's upon 1000's of rounds since in the past 10 years.

I called RCBS and told them that they were selling bad shell holders that were resizing wrong and they seemed to have never done anything about it!

 

[MOOSE39465]

I was buying once fired brass until I run into this problem. Try virgin brass and I think it will run more smoothly. If you do pick up brass have it annealed so memory is eliminated.

 

[Timeout]

First, I pick up brass on a range used for classes. Since all students MUST use factory ammo I feel safe in picking them up. Second, it is a sizing problem. The question I have to answer is to trust my chamber block or my caliper.

I have, for now, decided to use the chamber block and if it shows a problem then use my caliper. Since I have an abundance of brass ditching a few cases will not be a problem.

For those who do not like my load, you have your opinion and I have mine. I like having just one powder for my rifle loads and IMR 4064 suits me. The .223 reloads are light but for practice rounds they work great. As I am working on rifle to handgun transition right now, full power rounds would be a waist.

Thanks to all who took the time to read my thread and comment on it.

I can't comment on the chamber block you mentioned because I have never seen or used one. I have used some Wilson chamber gauges and they do have their place. I can tell you that a caliper is not a sufficient measuring device for measuring the cartridge case diameter. For that you need a quality 0-1" micrometer. You should also get a bump guage tool to check the case length from the base to the shoulder. This is the only way to set your sizing die up properly. Another issue may be the fact that different brass will have varying neck thicknesses. This shouldn't be a problem with any standard chambers, but best to know for certain that you have proper clearance at the neck on your loaded rounds. You could simply use a 0-1" micrometer and measure the OD of your loaded cartridge necks. Are you checking the overall length of the fired brass and trimming when needed? Just making a SWAG here, but I'm thinking you have some brass that needs ran through a small base die. Hope this helps.

 

[budlight]

Once fired brass with out annealing is not a problem when you correct the length of the shell holder bases

 

[MOOSE39465]

Once fired brass with out annealing is not a problem when you correct the length of the shell holder bases

I'm sorry but I have to disagree. Only because of personal experience.