Cases sticking in chamberes; Think I'm doing something wrong

[badshot338]

I have two lots of ammo that I have loaded in the last couple years that I have been having a lot of problems with. They are all 5.56 loads. One is an M855 clone (62 gr. steel core penetrators in LC brass) and the other is a MK 262 mod 1 clone (77 gr SMK in LC brass). All of the brass is once fired military brass. I never had any issues with them out of my last batch of AR rifles but I recently built some higher grade AR rifles with some tighter chamberesand now I am having trouble with them not chambering completely. The bolts don't seem to go completely into battery at times and when I need to eject a non-spent cartridge, they are REALLY stuck. I did some experimentation to find out where the cartridges are making too much contact by drawing a line with s felt marker up the side of the brass case and chambering the round. The ones that loaded and ejected without incident left no noticable marks on the ink. However, the ones that were hard to eject had the ink on the shoulders displaced and rubbed off. This left me to the conclusion that I failed to knock the shoulders back far enough. If this was a couple hundred I would just shoot through it or junk it depending on how bad it was but we are talking about several thousand rounds here. I was wondering if it would be dangerous to pull the de-capping rod out of a sezing die and resize them down a bit more but I don't know if thats safe or not.

I am wondering what all of your thoughts on this are and if you have any better recommendations.

 

[former naval person]

Get a small base body die. You can bump the shoulders and size the body without touching the primers. Use a non petroleum lube so you don't ruin the primers. Lanolin works well.

 

[FCS]

Get a body die, Redding also makes a small base body die if needed. If you use a standard FL sizer die you'll probably stick the loaded round in die. Dimension of neck in die is undersized and you currently have a bullet in there, guess it might just give you a really uniform "crimp".

Redding FL S die would work also, just make sure you take bushing out first.

 

[ksthomas]

Ditto with the two previous posters, good advice from both. Not exactly "safe" advice that you'll find being recommended in any of the loading manuals, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. And yes, I've been there and done that. I wound up using a Redding body die, and very carefully running all my rounds through this at Camp Perry one year, many, many years ago. Not an experience I care to repeat, which is why I've become so adamant about using (and recommending) case gages to set up dies and check your loaded ammo as it's coming off the press. Believe me, it's better to find a problem sitting at the loading bench than it is while you're on the line at the Nationals. I recommend a S/B die when loading for ARs (or any other gas guns, for that matter) as a matter of routine. No, most guns don't truly "need" these, but it stops a lot of problems before you ever need to run into them, and it's just a good standard practice, and will keep Murphy away from your firing point.

One other thing I may suggest, which you can now probably see my reasoning for; the forward assist. On all my competition guns, I remove the pawls, which renders them useless. They won't engage the bolt carrier, and won't push it further into the chamber when you encounter a sticky round, and that's precisely what I want. Think of it as a FUBAR button. If you wind up with a sticking round in the chamber (a sometimes encounterd SNAFU), one good whack on the forward assist shoots that situation right past TARFU and clean into deep FUBAR territory, where it's now going to take an armorer, a cleaning rod, obscene language (from both the armorer, and you as you watch what he's doing to your rifle) and some very nasty treatment to get that now thoroughly jammed round back out of the chamber. Trust me, it's easier to get an incumbent politician out of office than an oversize round out of a chamber once you've involved the forward assist. Just a little something to think about.

 

[FLIGHT762]

I just did this a couple of weeks ago. I found a bag of 223 ammo in the bottom of a box I loaded up in the 80's and forgotten about for a long time. The ammo was not properly resized and would stick in the chamber of my AR-15. I took a Redding body die I have and resized the batch up, properly bumping the shoulders and the ammo is now useable. This ammo was loaded before I learned about using a case gauge to properly set your F/L die with ammo that will chamber easily.

The Redding body die is a great tool. I have a couple of them.

Some sort of case gauge is needed to set up your F/L sizer. You can do it the old fashioned way, but it takes time to do it and it's hit and miss. A case gauge will give you your proper readings immediately. Even a simple Dillon/Wilson drop in gauge will work. I prefer the Hornady or Sinclair bump gauges because I like seeing the numbers on my digital caliper.

 

[NoFail]

I use Hornady head space gauge to set the die. I now bump shoulders .003-.004" for my gas gun. I have a Dillon case gauge I use on every single case after its sized. This ensures me the cartridge will chamber no problem. As I am sizing cases ill occasionally check a case with the Hornady head space gauge to make sure nothing has changed. But I've gotten a feel for that just by using the dillon drop in gauge.

Sizing die is a Forster FL. I haven't required a small base die.

 

[badshot338]

I didn't even think about the small base die. I have had one collecting dust on my shelf for a while. Looks like it's time to get the die out and get some work done. Thanks for the help!

 

[seanh]

I know it sounds like a duh issue but be careful when re-sizing loaded ammo....I've had primers go off. This is only happened a few times in the thousands of rounds I've loaded...all due to not paying attention, rushing the job, etc. In my case, there was no powder or bullet, so no big deal. Just need to be aware of primer depth, trash in the case holder, etc.

follow "common sense" practice and you'll be fine.

 

[gixxer822]

I use Hornady head space gauge to set the die. I now bump shoulders .003-.004" for my gas gun. I have a Dillon case gauge I use on every single case after its sized. This ensures me the cartridge will chamber no problem. As I am sizing cases ill occasionally check a case with the Hornady head space gauge to make sure nothing has changed. But I've gotten a feel for that just by using the dillon drop in gauge.

Sizing die is a Forster FL. I haven't required a small base die.

Right there. Case gauges are well worth the investment. It'll tell you so many things

 

[Deadshot2]

I USED to have this problem with a few .223 cartridges. Had a case gauge and they all fit just fine. Cases would stick just as described and in order to remove them I had to pull hard on the charging handle while smacking the butt on the ground (just like in the manual).

I then discovered that this issue was being caused by trying to crimp with the seating die, at the same time the bullet was seated. With some cases, either thicker material in the neck or different lengths, the crimp process caused a bulge to appear near the shoulder/case wall junction.

Problem went TOTALLY away when I backed off the seating die and added a Lee Factory Crimp (collet style) die to my press.

I have yet to ever need a small based die and have not had this stuck case/failure to go into battery problem in the last 10k rounds or so, in any of my 3 AR's.