Scratched Projectile? .223 Reloads

[3lsmc7]

Hey Guys,

I was wondering if I could get some help/advice with my first batch of .223 reloads?

I have been reloading 9mm/.45ACP for about a year or so now but this is my first attempt at doing .223. I started out doing a search but didn't really come up with anything that was really useful...

So basically the jist of it is that I made a couple dummy rounds with FL sized LC brass and some Bullethead 55gr FMJs at OAL ~2.255" (+- 0.003). Chambering the round doesn't seem to be a problem, but when I try to extract the round it is almost impossible and requires quite a bit of effort. With the round fully ejected I find that the bullet/projectile is scratched and it looks spiral? Which leads me to believe that it is jamming/rubbing against the rifling? Am I doing something wrong? Out of the 5 dummy rounds only 1 round (OAL 2.253") seems to feed/eject with no problems but the other 4 have issues (OAL varies from 2.251"-2.254")

The brass is trimmed to ~1.748"-1.755". I also checked them with a Wilson Case Gauge and seems to be OK? Although I may not know if I'm reading the case gauge right? My understanding is that the brass neck shouldn't extend pass the highest ridge of the gauge but shouldn't be lower than the lowest ridge? At 1.750" it seems to be lower than the lowest ridge? I'm not sure if that makes sense? I might be babbling now...

Well I included a pic or two of what I'm talking about... Any help you guys can provided will be appreciated!! I am loading for ARs, one with a .223 wylde (Lilja-Nordic 16" SS barrel) chamber and another with the standard 5.56 NATO chamber (PSA 14.7" barrel) Thanks in Advance!!

[Sleighter]

Tagged

[JoefromPA]

Only thing i could say is maybe your rifle just doesn't like that OAL. I know mine acted the same way, and still does sometimes while hand cycling. I load mine at 2.248, and that's the top of the length it'll cycle reliably.

[J-Rat]

It looks like the feed ramp on the rifle is causing this. Look in the chamber at the fluted ramp. It's nothing to worry about. Mine does this also. If I do my part the rifle will shoot .5 @ 100.

[3lsmc7]

Only thing i could say is maybe your rifle just doesn't like that OAL. I know mine acted the same way, and still does sometimes while hand cycling. I load mine at 2.248, and that's the top of the length it'll cycle reliably.

Yeah, I was thinking that it may be due to the OAL and the bullet may be protruding a little too long for the chamber causing it to "jam" up. I will try a shorter OAL but my worry is pressure concerns once I drop powder.

It looks like the feed ramp on the rifle is causing this. Look in the chamber at the fluted ramp. It's nothing to worry about. Mine does this also. If I do my part the rifle will shoot .5 @ 100.

I was wondering that as well but I'm thinking that it shouldn't be that difficult to release/eject by hand? I mean my factory ammo is pretty much butter smooth feeding/ejecting by hand.

[J-Rat]

Yeah, I was thinking that it may be due to the OAL and the bullet may be protruding a little too long for the chamber causing it to "jam" up. I will try a shorter OAL but my worry is pressure concerns once I drop powder.



I was wondering that as well but I'm thinking that it shouldn't be that difficult to release/eject by hand? I mean my factory ammo is pretty much butter smooth feeding/ejecting by hand.

even when you full length re-size your brass the back of the case by the shell holder is still bigger than factory new. thus the tight bolt to eject by hand. Nothing to worry about. I would say you should always use a full length or small base die for semi-auto rifle reloading.

[3lsmc7]

even when you full length re-size your brass the back of the case by the shell holder is still bigger than factory new. thus the tight bolt to eject by hand. Nothing to worry about. I would say you should always use a full length or small base die for semi-auto rifle reloading.

I was wondering about that as well and it makes sense for the hard extraction by hand. What about the scratched bullets? Is that normal? I seated the bullets further for an OAL of around 2.245" and slowly cycled the rounds in and noticed that it was in fact the feed ramp on the barrel extension that was scratching the bullets. Is that OK? Would that be a problem for accuracy? I mainly want to load for plinking (HD if I need to). Not expecting match grade but maybe 1-2" @ 100; since I shoot iron sights.

[Diabolus]

Those scratches are normal in this platform and shouldn't be an issue on accuracy considering it will be repeatable and no way to prevent it.

Have you used an OAL guage yet to determine where exactly your lands are in those two bbls?

[gau17]

They are fine. Cannelure looks like its in the correct space. Your feed ramps are probably sharp. They should get smoother after a few rounds down range.

[jonzer77]

I had the same problem when I was reloading 6.8 and they still fired but they were a pain to manually eject. What I did was I adjusted my resizing die and it got rid of the problem completely. I lifted the ram up all the way to the top and instead of just lowering the resizing die until it hit the bottom of the shell plate, I lowered the ram and turned the sizing die another quarter turn. When I did that, it sized that last part of the case that had expanded and it made them easier to eject.

As for the scratches, like others have said, that is just the bullet hitting the feed ramps and it is normal.

[johnny1290]

Scratches won't affect accuracy. At least not with your shooting! ;-)

serioulsy though I've seen tests and they don't get any differences from benchresting

[3lsmc7]

Hey guys,

Thanks for all the replies! For now I guess I will not worry about the scratches as it seem everyone is in agreement to it being the feed ramp and I'm inclined to think so as well.

Those scratches are normal in this platform and shouldn't be an issue on accuracy considering it will be repeatable and no way to prevent it.

Have you used an OAL guage yet to determine where exactly your lands are in those two bbls?

As far as the OAL gauge, I haven't gotten that far into reloading for .223 and it seems a bit more than I want to do right now as I am not shooting for "match" accuracy per se but will definitely get one such as the Hornady model. Thank you for you help!!

[FLIGHT762]

Chambering the round doesn't seem to be a problem, but when I try to extract the round it is almost impossible and requires quite a bit of effort.

I was wondering that as well but I'm thinking that it shouldn't be that difficult to release/eject by hand? I mean my factory ammo is pretty much butter smooth feeding/ejecting by hand.

I was wondering about that as well and it makes sense for the hard extraction by hand.

Your problem of hard extraction may have nothing to do with your COL. It may have everything to do with you not having your die bumping the shoulders back enough of your fired cases during F/L resizing. You may only need to turn your F/L sizing die in another 1/8-1/4 turn.

If you don't have a gauge to determine the amount of sizing you're doing, you are just guessing. You can do it by trial and error. I had it happen to me many years ago and a 1/4 turn did the trick.

Your dummy/test cases should extract as well as factory cases.

[3lsmc7]

If you don't have a gauge to determine the amount of sizing you're doing, you are just guessing. You can do it by trial and error. I had it happen to me many years ago and a 1/4 turn did the trick.

I keep forgetting to mention it but during my initial set up of my dies; I did set up the sizing die as mentioned but maybe I need to redo it or go another 1/8-1/4 turn? I will try that and see if that doesn't solve the whole hard extraction issue.

I'm assuming you mean a OAL length gauge such as the Hornady? I already have Wilson case gauge and they seem to be within the specs of the case gauge.

[FLIGHT762]

If you have a drop in Wilson type gauge, that should work as long as you set your die up to the minimum, bottom step in the gauge. If the case rim sits above the bottom of the step, you probably need a bit more bump.

You refer to the Hornady OAL gauge. That is not the gauge to determine headspace or shoulder bump. Hornady makes three gauges in the lock and load series. An OAL gauge to determine maximum bullet length to the lands using a modified case, a bullet comparator to determine length of the bullet @ the ogive and a headspace/ bump gauge using a gauge to measure the headspace @ the datum line on the case.

The headspace bump gauge is used to measure the amount of bump/resizing you're setting you F/L die for. What's nice about the Hornady headspace gauge is when using it with a digital set of calipers, you can see the exact numbers you are resizing.