Made a HUGE mistake

[cj1026]

Ok so I loaded up some .223 rounds for the old Ar. Went out to the range yesterday to shoot them. Well I had a little problem. Some of the rounds would not load all the way and some would stick in the chamber a little. So I put them up and shot my .308 the rest of the day. Well today I figured out what I did. I didn't size the necks properly. I didn't have the die screwed down enough. So now I have a lot of rounds that won't feed in my Ar.
If I pull the bullets, pour out the powder, can I push out a live primer with the deccaping die???? Or would I be asking for trouble? I have plenty more primers so if I have to cut my loses on these thats fine.

[f4tweet]

Yes you can. Wear safety glasses and do it slowly. I have done it many times.

[cj1026]

Glad to know I'm not the only one.

[jandmtv]

Invest in a case gauge! I learned that the hard way.

[cj1026]

Yeah this sucks. I hate doing stupid stuff.

[jmzhwells]

Can u remove the de priming pin from your die? If you can then u can save a step. Just pull, resize, put powder and bullet back in.

[bohoki]

wow ive never heard of such a thing happening

you sure you didn't forget to trim them?

[thebloodsonthewall]

I did that same thing today with my 308 reloads. I learned from doing pistol calibers to make sure the rounds chamber properly so I caught it early on. I only had about 13 rounds loaded.

[bohoki]

I did that same thing today with my 308 reloads. I learned from doing pistol calibers to make sure the rounds chamber properly so I caught it early on. I only had about 13 rounds loaded.

how does it happen that you dont notice the shellholder touch the die?

and wouldnt the bullet feel really loose in the mouth right before seating stroke?

[gottarollwithit]

Man, i saw your thread title and i thought you blew your gun/hands to pieces. I still remember that nasty pic that's floating around here of the guy w/o fingers and withi knuckle bones showing.

But regardless, you'll be able to fix this one at least. After i make my first few rounds with new die adjustments, i always manually run a few through the gun. That way you know that there's a good chance that it'll feed properly come range time.

[rayra]

(shrug) happens.
You'll need a kinetic bullet puller / hammer.
And if you remove your depriming pin from your resizing die and are careful with reapplying lube to your cases, you can resize them without discarding or damaging your already emplaced primers.

And spend $18 on a case gauge to prevent a prevent a repeat.

[CSACANNONEER]

You don't have to remove the primers whe resizing. Just remove the decapping pin instead. Damn, I just noticed rayra beat me to this. But, you don't need a kinetic bullet puller. You can remove the bullets with a collet type puller if you have one. Either type of puller should work well for you.

[dw1784]

how does it happen that you dont notice the shellholder touch the die?

and wouldnt the bullet feel really loose in the mouth right before seating stroke?

because all rifles have different chamber dimensions. That's why you should get a gage to measure your rifle's chamber and adjust the dies to match. Your brass will last longer too because it's not getting over worked with each re-sizing. All you need is to bump it a few thousandth. I have 3 308 bolt guns, a PSS, a Howa and a Israeli mauser. The brass will work without resizing in that order, with PSS having the shortest and tightest chamber and onwards to the mauser with the sloppiest dimensions.

[CSACANNONEER]

because all rifles have different chamber dimensions. That's why you should get a gage to measure your rifle's chamber and adjust the dies to match. Your brass will last longer too because it's not getting over worked with each re-sizing. All you need is to bump it a few thousandth. I have 3 308 bolt guns, a PSS, a Howa and a Israeli mauser. The brass will work without resizing in that order, with PSS having the shortest and tightest chamber and onwards to the mauser with the sloppiest dimensions.

Even two of the same model rifles with consequtive serial numbers will have slightly different dimensions and may even shoot best with different powders and/or bullets.

[Turbinator]

Totally agree on the case gauge. Much better, IMHO, than chambering live rounds at home.

Turby