What am I doing wrong?

[Germz]

Range pickup brass .223 remington.

Tumbled, lubed, Full length sized, trimmed to 1.745 - 1750" (lee cutter cuts a little too much sometimes, deburred and chamferred, tumbled, seated bullet FMJBT and cartridge OAL 2.200 - 2.21 (Hornady 9th edition guidance)"

powder and primer irrelevant in this scenario.
I produced 150 rounds. For QA selected 20% at random, 3 different times.

I'd say HALF my rounds do not chamber as nicely as factory loads in my AR15.

they fit so snug that it is ridiculously hard to extract and the charging handle cannot be pulled back. Also, some rounds cause the bolt lugs to not lock..and I have to use the forward assist (which I have never had to do with factory ammo).

I have had some rounds fail to extract as well, as they tight in the chamber which then leads to double feeds.

what am I doing wrong?

[XDRoX]

Your sizing die isn't down far enough. About once a month I answer this same question on forums and I'm right 99% of the time. The die has to be as low as possible. Every thousandth helps.

If your die is already all the way down then you may need to buy an RCBS small base die. Most the time this fix is really just for guys that don't have the regular die all the way down. Although I have seen some AR's that really require small base dies. They are not common though.

[C3nt3rMa55]

Wtf?

You used the same oal I have been reloading too for over 2 years without issue. Why not try measuring factory round dimensions and see how yours compare? Or get a case guage and check your rounds with that. Maybe you have a tight chamber and a small base die set could help.


How did you set up your sizing die?

[bigger hammer]

For full length resizing, the kind that many semiautos prefer, I was taught to set up the resizing die by running the ram all the way up and then tightening the die so that it rested snugly against the shellholder. Then back it off 1/8 of a turn, just enough to allow the ram a full range of motion.

Are you sure that you're getting a full throw of the press handle?

Sometimes with bigger cases and/or lesser presses, there are issues of the press "stretching" a bit, but that rarely happens with 5.56.

[gemoose23]

Check your dies.. sizing..

Another test is measure your produced .223 with Saami Specs: (I would double check your neck measurements, my favorite)

http://www.saami.org/pubresources/cc_drawings/Rifle/223%20Remington.pdf

which will probably result in moving your sizing dies....

Post a picture of your die and ram in up position.

[troysland]

Case gauge after resizing and adjust your resizing die accordingly.
GOOD

NO GOOD

[tiller]

Buy a case gauge! Problem solved!

[Germz]

Wtf?

You used the same oal I have been reloading too for over 2 years without issue. Why not try measuring factory round dimensions and see how yours compare? Or get a case guage and check your rounds with that. Maybe you have a tight chamber and a small base die set could help.


How did you set up your sizing die?

per the RCBS manual. says to run a cartridge all the way up, screw in the die until you feel it touch the mouth of the case, lower the case and back the die up one full turn.

I'm going to try screwing it down further and see how those chamber.

[Bigtls1]

per the RCBS manual. says to run a cartridge all the way up, screw in the die until you feel it touch the mouth of the case, lower the case and back the die up one full turn.

I'm going to try screwing it down further and see how those chamber.

As XdroX said, this is probably your issue. Had the same thing happen to me. Just bring the die a bit down further and it should work fine. Good luck!

[ocabj]

For a non-carbide die (e.g. rifle full length), you're supposed to raise the ram up, screw down the resizing die until it hits the shellholder, lower then ram, then screw *DOWN* the resizing die another quarter turn or so. This means the ram is camming into the die. This ensures you resize the body fully.

With a carbide die, you set the die so it barely kisses the shellholder or screw it back up so it's maybe a business card thickness away from the shellholder. This is because the carbide can chip or crack if it impacts the press ram.

[M27]

per the RCBS manual. says to run a cartridge all the way up, screw in the die until you feel it touch the mouth of the case, lower the case and back the die up one full turn.

I'm going to try screwing it down further and see how those chamber.

I think those are the directions for your crimp die not your sizeing die.

[JagerDog]

per the RCBS manual. says to run a cartridge all the way up, screw in the die until you feel it touch the mouth of the case, lower the case and back the die up one full turn.

I'm going to try screwing it down further and see how those chamber.

I think those are the directions for your crimp die not your sizeing die.

^^^^this (bullet seating with no crimp).

[C3nt3rMa55]

per the RCBS manual. says to run a cartridge all the way up, screw in the die until you feel it touch the mouth of the case, lower the case and back the die up one full turn.

I'm going to try screwing it down further and see how those chamber.

Negative the rcbs instruction say to adjust the die down to touch and then a little more so the press cams over.

Later on you can adjust the amount of shoulder bump by backing the die up but your not there yet, you also need additional measuring devices for that aswell.setting the die per rcbs instructions is a surefire way to get your cases properly sized, latter on you can set the die for minimal shoulder bump which reduces the work on the case and minimizes having to constantly trim cases.

[mark501w]

Complete sizing for your auto loaded is needed. Lower arm all the way,turn die to touch shell holder add a little more for camming over to make up for press stretching while sizing. Don't be affraid to size your case so your auto loader functions properly.

[pdq_wizzard]

For a non-carbide die (e.g. rifle full length), you're supposed to raise the ram up, screw down the resizing die until it hits the shellholder, lower then ram, then screw *DOWN* the resizing die another quarter turn or so. This means the ram is camming into the die. This ensures you resize the body fully.

With a carbide die, you set the die so it barely kisses the shellholder or screw it back up so it's maybe a business card thickness away from the shellholder. This is because the carbide can chip or crack if it impacts the press ram.

^^^ This

read the part in the instructions "sizing with steel sizer dies"
set the die 1/8 to 1/4 of a turn LOWER into the press frame, when set right the handle will "pop" as the press "cams over"