Reloading for a semi

Smokinyotes said:
I’m all to familiar with the Raven 9 breaking firing pins. I’m currently waiting for 1 now. My 223 worked without a hiccup with factory Hornady ammo and my Handloads using new Lapua brass. At first I tried the Hornady brass reloaded and had some light strikes and ftf. At first I thought maybe the Hornady brass had deeper primer pockets causing the issue but then it is doing the same thing with the resized Lapua brass. When I never had a issue when the brass was new lt made me wonder if it was a head space issue.
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Back in the good days we had AR15's, the majority of brand names made everything to spec, tolerances were tight, all my fired brass out of several different rifles were 2 thou over Sammi Min, everything got full sized and went bang and was accurate as possible.
#### we have to deal with today like these Ravens is another story, not sure I heard a real good review of them, always something breaking or out of spec.
The method to size for these has been mentioned, you got long headspace or firing pin protrusion is too short for FL sized cases. It can be dealt with, but I'd rather sell the gun.
 
So to recap, you bought new brass, loaded it without resizing, and it all worked. Then, you resized it, and now 1/3 won't fire?

I've never had a problem with full length resized brass working in my colt ar-15.
 
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Do you have another 223 rifle you can shoot this ammo in?

If so you could see if it runs without issue (which eliminates the ammo as the issue - or not) and it would also blow the cases back to fired dimensions so you can reuse them after sizing the correct amount.

Incidentally I watched a Ultimate Reloader video today and he mentioned that for bolt guns he bumps back 0.002" & for semis he aims for 0.004" to 0.005".
 
Grizzlypeg said:
So to recap, you bought new brass, loaded it without resizing, and it all worked. Then, you resized it, and now 1/3 won't fire?

I've never had a problem with full length resized brass working in my colt ar-15.
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Yes that’s correct. 100 new Lapua brass- no issues, factory Hornady ammo o issues. Even cheap American eagle FMJ no issues. The problem started after I resized the brass.
 
Sniffer said:
Do you have another 223 rifle you can shoot this ammo in?

If so you could see if it runs without issue (which eliminates the ammo as the issue - or not) and it would also blow the cases back to fired dimensions so you can reuse them after sizing the correct amount.

Incidentally I watched a Ultimate Reloader video today and he mentioned that for bolt guns he bumps back 0.002" & for semis he aims for 0.004" to 0.005".
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I do have another 223 but it’s in jail right now. I’m sure as long as the base to shoulder meets or exceeds the base to shoulder length of 1.453” they would probably function fine.
 
Smokinyotes said:
Have you measured base to shoulder? What kind of die? I’m using an RCBS.
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I wouldn't be convinced that two people can compare their base to shoulder measurement, when using different tools. It's certainly accurate for measuring your before and after changes, but to compare between two different setups, I wouldn't count on it being apples to apples.
 
Light primer strike can either be due to too much or too little shoulder bump (or headspace in relation to your case). By your description I'm guessing your case shoulder is too far out. Do you have a hard time extracting the cartridges that have a light primer strike? If so then that likely indicates shoulder is too far out.

I used to use normal FL die touching the shell holder, but have light primer strikes and round stuck in the chamber.

Now I use RCBS small base die for all my 223 semis and check every case against a case gauge. There's always a few cases out of 1000 that won't fit no matter how much I size them. I don't care about brass life as they get lost within 1 or 2 firings anyway, but I absolutely need the rifle to run every time in a semi.
 
It is arguably ''sloppier" than using other dies but SB dies have never, ever let me down. I started using them for all my pumps and semis well over a decade ago. I have never owned case gauges and never will I somehow manage to find the ####ty pieces through visual inspection or as a stoppage during process. If I haven't had an issue it would find by now I won't have much use for one.
 
Smokinyotes said:
Have you measured base to shoulder? What kind of die? I’m using an RCBS.
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No I haven’t measured base to shoulder.
I’m using RCBS as well.
Dies are set up to have a slight cam over.
All brass are FL sized and then trimmed to same length.
60 grain nosler BTs and H322
10 round group out of my Raven
Less the bullet diameter
 

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Is your rifle factory fitted from Lockhart or built from a builder's kit?

What trigger are you running?

My .223 rifle is a builder's kit.
I've tried a Geissele SR two stage and it was no bueno.
The carrier clearance was far too tight with the hammer - so much so the carrier would not cycle and it was galling the top of the hammer.
I tried a few mil-spec ones with no joy before coming to the conclusion that the dimensional tolerances of the upper and lower receivers were out of whack.
I took material out of the underside of the carrier and am running a modified Triggertech Competition trigger.

It was like dealing with NEA all over again....

I've personally never felt the need to use small base dies, but to each their own.
If the brass chambers, your primer pockets are not deformed, and your primers are ok, and you've checked the ammo in other rifles, you need to look at the rifle from stem to stern starting with bolt lock up and firing pin protrusion.

my 2 cents.
 
I would be surprised that FL sizing or even SB sizing can bump the shoulder back far enough to prevent ignition, as long as the chamber is of proper dimensions and barrel properly fitted. I guess if you are only loading for that one rifle you can just partial size and test fitment of the brass as you go.
 
beltfed said:
Is your rifle factory fitted from Lockhart or built from a builder's kit?

What trigger are you running?

My .223 rifle is a builder's kit.
I've tried a Geissele SR two stage and it was no bueno.
The carrier clearance was far too tight with the hammer - so much so the carrier would not cycle and it was galling the top of the hammer.
I tried a few mil-spec ones with no joy before coming to the conclusion that the dimensional tolerances of the upper and lower receivers were out of whack.
I took material out of the underside of the carrier and am running a modified Triggertech Competition trigger.

It was like dealing with NEA all over again....

I've personally never felt the need to use small base dies, but to each their own.
If the brass chambers, your primer pockets are not deformed, and your primers are ok, and you've checked the ammo in other rifles, you need to look at the rifle from stem to stern starting with bolt lock up and firing pin protrusion.

my 2 cents.
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It is a factory platinum complete rifle with triggertech competition trigger.
 
Gatehouse said:
I would be surprised that FL sizing or even SB sizing can bump the shoulder back far enough to prevent ignition, as long as the chamber is of proper dimensions and barrel properly fitted.
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I would find this pretty surprising too, though given the quality of the post-OIC Canadian semi-auto rifles it wouldn't be surprising to find that the chamber was slightly longer than spec or the barrel not fitted properly.

In addition to trying factory ammo in your rifle, if you are FL sizing and not at max load maybe try your reloads in another semi-auto rifle and see if there's issues.
 
you could use a case headspace gauge to help you determine whether you are overworking your brass. they are machined to SAAMI spec and simulate min/max case dimensions, but this is not a guarantee that you won't have excessive headspace when you chamber a round. from your description the case shoulder has been excessively set back and now it seats too deep in the chamber. the case length may be correct, but the case neck might be protruding beyond the chamber into the leade of the barrel, depending on how precise the chamber has been cut. if your load is really hot the case neck may not have enough room to safely expand and release the bullet. given that you have already fired a few rounds that is not an issue now but I hope you understand the point I am trying to make.
 
I took 10 brass tonight and resized them so the head to shoulder is 1.455”. Trimmed to min spec chamfered, cleaned the necks and primer pockets and reloaded. I’m going to shoot them off and if they all work fine this is how I will leave my die set.
 
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