Cool. Let me know if your reloads drop in and out easily. I bought an NEA 300BLK barrel and it is reamed pretty tight esp the leade. Factory ammo drop in and falls out with no probs. Reloads are a bit on the snug side and you need to push them out from the muzzle end and this after running them in a FCD die. Not sure if I have a dud barrel.
If factory ammo feeds and extracts fine then the issue is entirely in your reloads. There are three potential issues when it comes to reloading for the BLK.
1. Cases made from cut down 556 can suffer from excessive neck thickness.
2. Headspace from incorrect sizing die setup.
3. Bullets loaded too long causing the bullet to jam in the lands.
The two questions I'd ask you would be how exactly did you determine the leade is too short? By what standard would you judge a barrel to be "a dud?"
NEA wants me to send them my whole upper with the barrel attached to inspect it but I already swapped out for a DD barrel. My reloads drop in and out of the DD barrel and runs like a champ with zero malfunctions. I'd hate to have to break down my rig just to install their barrel to send it off to them for testing. If I was shooting factory ammo, it wouldn't bother me but I sure wish they'd just re-ream the fracking barrel and be done with it.
It is not possible to "re-ream" the barrel. A chamber reamer is a chamber reamer and running it in deeper isn't going to help but it could well cause excess headspace issues. The difference between a too short and a too long chamber is only .004" so there is not a lot of wiggle room in there. The neck dimension and leade dimension of the reamer are not adjustable and are set by the reamer manufacturer.
If you are reloading, it is a simple thing to adjust your sizing die to produce cases that properly fit the chamber. It is also just as easy to measure the distance to the lands and seat the bullets appropriately to fit the chamber and leade.
It is not possible to know what reamer DD is using without casting the chamber. They could be using something slightly different to accommodate brass made from cut down 556 cases or they could be running a slightly longer chamber by exceeding the NO GO dimension while staying within the FIELD dimension.
Regardless a reloader should always adjust the sizing die to fit the chamber they are loading for. If the chamber is longer then sizing cases down too far will eventually result in separated case heads and potential damage to the rifle. A split or separated case can damage the extractor and jam the bolt in battery.
FWIW I have 300 BLK barrels with chambers produced by three different reamers. One is an old 300-221 wildcat, the other is a Manson 300 BLK and the third is an NEA which I understand is a PT&G reamer. All those widely varying chambers will accept my reloads as well as factory ammo. You need to fire a few rounds and measure the headspace of the fired cases. Then set your sizing die to reduce the headspace by .002 - .003". Next, measure the distance to the lands in your barrel and then seat bullets to .010" shorter. Lastly, make sure the neck OD does not exceed the SAAMI spec. Then if your reloads won't fit the chamber, go complain to NEA. Until then you have no basis upon which to complain.
