223 trouble

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a j cave

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:( I am having a problem I have not seen before. Fire formed brass will rechamber in my rifle fine, not much bolt resistance. Resized shell will not chamber as easily. All measurements I do show the resized shell as smaller (as should be). what am I missing? :confused: thanks for any ideas
 
Also check for signs of the bullet contacting the lands. This may signal that you are seating them too long.
 
What rifle? FL resized or neck? This loaded ammo or just the case? And what yomomma and Pr589 say if it's loaded.
 
If you are referring to just the resized case, it is possible that expander ball drag is pulling the shoulder forward a bit.
 
When full length resizing the only direction brass can move is straight up inside the die, and it is possibly to resize the case and make longer than its fired length.

Look at the exaggerated example below and look closely at the blue, red and green dotted lines. The key words are shoulder setback or shoulder bump, meaning "pushing" the shoulder of the case back to allow easy chambering.

shouldersetback_zps59bf1b04.jpg


We live in a plus and minus manufacturing world and if your die is making hard contact with the shell holder and may not bump the shoulder far enough. Try adjusting the die downward and then check to see how the case chambers.

All the .223/5.56 dies below will resize my cases by different amounts in base diameter and shoulder setback. It up to you to adjust the pluses and minuses until they null themselves out. (adjusting the die up and down)

dies003_zpsf9af9a52.jpg
 
tiriaq said:
If you are referring to just the resized case, it is possible that expander ball drag is pulling the shoulder forward a bit.
Click to expand...

Good call tiriaq and if I may, lubing the inside of the neck helps prevent this.

Saddam Hussein's cat also noticed the same type of neck/shoulder stretching. :evil:

image001_zps438c9233.gif
 
If it's empty resized cases not fitting, run the ram all the way up and look and see if you can see daylight between the shell plate and the bottom on the die. If you can, lower the ram, turn the die in 1/8-1/4 turn more and retry.
 
With loaded ammo & resized brass. OAL & COAL are within limits. fireformed brass is better than resized brass. FL sizing. All Win brass. I think I am going to fireform some more & then try reload them. Just the hard chambering has me stumped, usually too long or not pushed back but FL pushes back they are not too long. Hard to close bolt even with no bullet in resized shell.
 
a j cave said:
With loaded ammo & resized brass. OAL & COAL are within limits. fireformed brass is better than resized brass. FL sizing. All Win brass. I think I am going to fireform some more & then try reload them. Just the hard chambering has me stumped, usually too long or not pushed back but FL pushes back they are not too long. Hard to close bolt even with no bullet in resized shell.
Click to expand...

Then it is most likely that the expander ball pulling the shoulders back out....you need someone with a case comparator
 
Factory ammo chambers perfectly? Either your expander ball is pulling the shoulders back as others pointed out or you're not bumping back the shoulders enough (which I'm leaning towards). You verified that there is no daylight between your die and shell plate when there is a case in the press and the ram all the way up? You can always lay a sheet of 400 grit sandpaper on a flat surface and remove very minute amounts of material off the top of the shell plate. Pickup a case guage or case comparator if you don't already have one.
 
I looked through my shell holders and found a very old RCBS marked 222. It was a little thinner and I was able to bump back the shoulder a couple thou. It now chambers well. :) I hope to get out yet today & see if I can now hit anything. Thanks all, Aj.
 
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