Stuck bullets when cycling?

[adrenalinejunkie]

I decided to cycle some of my .223 reloads through my AR just to make sure that they do cycle (with the safety on and finger away from the trigger of course-just had to add that haha), and most did, but some got stuck and it took a considerable amount of force to pull the charging handle back to eject these rounds. I examined them, and they don't seem to have any difference from the factory ammo I cycled through it to compare (I used XM-193 because it was the same length) and the reloads that cycle fine. I'm right within spec (maximum OAL is 2.260 and i'm at 2.258, and maximum case length is 1.760 and i'm around 1.756). There are no dents and there is no residual walnut media on them. I'm stumped. Anyone have any ideas?

I'm using a 55gr FMJ bullet and Lake City brass if that helps.

[NotEnufGarage]

Try seating your bullets a little deeper. COAL of around 2.175 to 2.200 is common for 55gr and lighter bullets. Measure a factory M193 for comparison.

Full mag length of 2.260" is not usually needed until you get up to 69 or 77 grain bullets.

[adrenalinejunkie]

Try seating your bullets a little deeper. COAL of around 2.175 to 2.200 is common for 55gr and lighter bullets. Measure a factory M193 for comparison.

Thanks for the info. My factory M193's are right around the same length though. My american eagle and PMC are much shorter, but the problem is that my bullets have cannelures, and my seating depth brings it right to the upper edge of it. Seating it any deeper will bury the cannelure. Also, my OAL is uniform for all of my bullets, but it only happens with some of them. So confused. Would I be able to seat it and crimp above the cannelure with the same results? I've heard not to do that.

[NotEnufGarage]

Did you trim your brass?

[scarville]

Did you do a full length resize on the brass?

[rsrocket1]

Take one of those "sticky" rounds and color it completely with a magic marker. Cycle it again and look to see where the marker rubs off.

Chances are that it will be a the shoulder. If that's the case, you probably did not get the case all the way into the die when you were full length resizing. You must ensure the shell holder touches the die at the top of the stroke and you can't fit a piece of paper between the two.

It's also sort of dangerous to cycle rounds in an AR at home with the firing pin in the bolt because of the danger of slam firing. Take a look at the primers of the rounds you cycled. Is there a tiny dent? That's the free floating firing pin hitting it. You are almost 100% safe (otherwise you'd be blasting away every time you close the bolt at the range too), but even if it's a one in a million chance, you don't want that happening at home.

[adrenalinejunkie]

Yup I trimmed the brass and did a full length resize. I make sure to push the lever all the way down but I might have missed one. I'll pull the bullet and redo it just to be safe. And rsocket1 I did do it with the firing pin in and there are tiny dents. I actually thought about that right after I looked at the primers haha thanks for the advice. I'll pull the firing pin next time I do that.

[rsrocket1]

So where were the rub points?

If they are all the way down the case, you may need to get a small base resizing die.

You could also mike a factory round and mike your rounds to see if the case needs to be narrower than what your f/l resizing die gets you.

[adrenalinejunkie]

I have no idea- i'll strip it down to just the upper, drop one in lightly and check. What's mike? And most of my reloads that I tried seem to work- it just happens with a select few. Possibly I didn't push them far enough into the die but again I consciously try to do that for each one.

[adrenalinejunkie]

Alright so I pulled the firing pin and tried it again, and the bolt isn't closing fully (but it's almost all the way closed). I'm guessing it's towards the head of the case. I was sure I pressed them all fully into the resizing die but I guess I didn't for some of them. I'll pull the 2 bullets I found so far and start them over. I hope there aren't too many more. How should I discharge the primers safely? Or can I resize with the primer still in since the holder has a hole around the primer?

[jonzer77]

Yup I trimmed the brass and did a full length resize. I make sure to push the lever all the way down but I might have missed one. I'll pull the bullet and redo it just to be safe. And rsocket1 I did do it with the firing pin in and there are tiny dents. I actually thought about that right after I looked at the primers haha thanks for the advice. I'll pull the firing pin next time I do that.

Did you trim and then do a full size resize? You should resize and then trim the brass to 1.750 and hopefully that helps.

[adrenalinejunkie]

Nope I resized and then trimmed. The sheet that came with my dies said 1.760 max so i'm trying to stay as close to there as possible for the longest case life. The other ones that I made seem to be fine, just a few get stuck. I'm guessing they didn't size all the way down so the problem would be at the head rather than the neck. If the problem persists i'll start trimming it lower, thanks for the tip.

[mif_slim]

Well, seems like your die isnt set properly. Turn your die 1/4-1/2 more turn and try it, it should fully resize the brass. When your not sizing the brass all the way down, the base of the brass which is expanded will be off spec, your shoulder and all will look the same as a in-spec brass but the base will be off in the .00x. That too has to be sized. Try it and see if the problem goes away.

[adrenalinejunkie]

Well, seems like your die isnt set properly. Turn your die 1/4-1/2 more turn and try it, it should fully resize the brass. When your not sizing the brass all the way down, the base of the brass which is expanded will be off spec, your shoulder and all will look the same as a in-spec brass but the base will be off in the .00x. That too has to be sized. Try it and see if the problem goes away.

Thanks for the response. I'll re-check my die just to make sure. What's weird for me though is that most of the brass cycles fine. Just a few are getting stuck. I'll continue to make a conscious effort to push the lever all the way down.

[IntoForever]

"Mic" as in use a micrometer to measure the lengths.
He did the resize then trim in correct order and set the die exactly as instructions.
Only things I can think of at this time is to check the bullets on the ones that were stuck and see if there are marks on it from the barrel. That would tell you the curvature is different and the bullet needs to be set back more. I learned that the hard way with flat point on my .45
AND check the base of the shell and see if there are rub marks from the chamber. Hopefully you didn't short-stroke a few pieces. If you still have probs, text me, I can bring over one of my AR's to check.