FL sized cases will not chamber

[bigedp51]

Is the brass commercial or military? All the same headstamp? (make)

Sorry but he answered this question earlier, so it would help if you read all the posting before asking questions that were already answered.

It is brass that has been fired in a few different rifles and includes range brass. Virtually all of the cases have been fired in other rifles, and will be fired in a few different rifles.

Bottom line he has mixed range pickup brass and he needs new brass or a small base die to fix his problem. And a Hornady cartridge case headspace gauge would tell the OP a great deal about his problem.

 

[chrismc]

Bottom line he has mixed range pickup brass and he needs new brass

^^^THIS - i agree 100%
Back in the day I picked and bought this stuff too - then realized its costing way more in time, grief (not knowing its history), and cost with all the dickering around trying to figure out whats wrong, or, wasted shots that mean nothing because of bad brass issues. Not a big deal or necessary for plinking, but if you're chasing accuracy, the chase is a tough one with brass that you don't know what its been thru. IMHO its cheaper to buy new from the start and keep the brass with one rifle - then you know all the facts. Been there, done that. Once I bought new brass, and prepped it all the same, the issues went away, and the groups got rather consistent.
I know guys that leave their ####e brass at the range cause they don't want it - it becomes someone else's headaches then....food for thought.
Just my opinion.

 

[bigedp51]

chrismc

I have no problem buying or picking up our American military Lake City Army Ammunition once fired brass because of its quality and its hardness in the base.

"BUT" it takes a small base die to return it to minimum body dimensions and also checking and bumping the shoulder back far enough.

The OP is fighting brass spring back from brass fired in other chambers. The good part of this is every problem is a learning experience when reloading.

 

[444shooter]

Sorry but he answered this question earlier, so it would help if you read all the posting before asking questions that were already answered.

No where does he state it is all commercial or military, so question is valid. It wasn't you I was asking either.

 

[chrismc]

chrismc

I have no problem buying or picking up our American military Lake City Army Ammunition once fired brass

If you know its once fired, then great! But my experience picking up range brass is that some may be once fired, others may be someone else's trash. Same as buying used brass from private deals - i have done that twice and got only half useable brass, buyer beware.

 

[bigedp51]

If you know its once fired, then great! But my experience picking up range brass is that some may be once fired, others may be someone else's trash. Same as buying used brass from private deals - i have done that twice and got only half useable brass, buyer beware.

If its once fired military brass it still has a crimped primer, even if its ordered online or range pickup. If its Remchester range pickup brass its a crap shoot and a unknown.

 

[bigedp51]

No where does he state it is all commercial or military, so question is valid. It wasn't you I was asking either.

I apologize if you took my reply the wrong way "BUT" the OP has to overcome his learning curve with range pickup brass, adjusting his dies, brass spring back, etc. This learning curve also includes sorting brass by headstamp, weight or internal volume when working up loads for accuracy. And right now the OP would be much better off if he just bought new brass and got rid of the mismatched brass he has. (or keep it if he has a machine gun and likes making noise)

All the once fired brass below was fired in a multitude of police AR15 rifles. And it had to be full length resized with a small base die with the die making hard contact with the shell holder (press cam over) to ensure it was going to chamber in the three different AR15 rifles I'm loading for.

On top of all this we live in a plus and minus manufacture world and no two chambers and reloading dies are the same. Example I have a standard Lee full length .223 die that resizes my cases smaller in diameter at the base than my Redding and RCBS small base dies do. This same Lee die will bump the shoulder back .009 shorter than a GO gauge and more than any other of the seven .223/5.56 dies I have.

 

[Chuckbuster]

Hi biged, and thanks for all the good info. I am aware that I will never achieve bench rest accuracy with my mix and match brass, and for the most part that's okay; which is why I keep the brass for my 700V separate from the rest. I am something of the "antichrist" for reloading purists in that I generally just load and go. I remember an article in the Hornady reloading manual(?) a few years ago in which a well known shooter/instructor simPly collected brass after a course, loaded it up and fired away. It made me chuckle as I tend to subscribe to such unholy behaviour!

In the case at hand, I am pursuing a satisfactory hunting accurate load for the rifle...which is what I have done for my Tikka. I also load plenty of ammo just to shoot out of one rifle or another with no particular accuracy goal in mind...just ammo to practice with. What I am learning too, it seems is that I have been "doing it wrong" all these years by doing my resizing as per the Lee instructions. And I have learned a little more about the behaviour of brass during the reloading process, also a good thing.

 

[Chuckbuster]

Is the brass commercial or military? All the same headstamp? (make)

The brass is mostly commercial with a few military thrown in for good measure. A good chunk of it is stuff I have fired, while others are range pick ups. But again, I can't even begin to say how many times a given case may have been reloaded. I tend to collect it until I have lots of empties and then recycle them into new ammo.

 

[bigedp51]

Chuckbuster

Just try separating the .308 cases by headstamp and remember military .308/7.62 cases are thicker in the base and have less case capacity. Meaning the military cases will have higher pressures than a commercial .308 case with the same powder charge.

I have Quickload reloading software that can generate chamber pressure figures and when using mixed .223/5.56 brass the chamber pressure can vary over 6,000 psi between different make cases.

Below is my AR15 .223/5.56 mixed brass practice load for 100 yards or less, and the case capacity varies between 30.6 and 28.0 grains of H2O. The top chart has the most case capacity and the bottom chart the least capacity and the chamber pressure is approximately 6,000 psi higher. Meaning my load of 25 grains of H335 is safe to use in any make case and not exceed the max chamber pressure of 55,000 psi. This again is a practice load and not made for bench rest accuracy and produces groups in the 2 1/2 inch range at 100 yards.

 

[444shooter]

No worries. As mentioned, always separate by headstamp. I never worry with pistol rounds like the 9mm, but always with rifle. With a round like the .308, since brass is quite easy to obtain, if it was me I would throw them way and buy new.

 

[Kryogen]

Headspace is your issue. I had the same issue with my 700 police 308 with lee dies. Its close to min spec for chamber. Even an rcbs small base die didnt work.

Had to grind the bottom of the die, to make it shorter so i could screw it in a bit more, and then i was able to fine tune it to just bump enough to fit my rifle. Of course it wasnt missing much, just a few mils. I have it locked in a forster die so now its set for this rifle and it wont move.