Need judgement on a case

[CK_32]

Ok so my shoot trip is tomorrow morning and I've loaded up about 500 rounds of 223 for it.


Standard 55gr FMJ, IMR4895 powder.


Just for reassurance I figured why not shake every case and be 100% there is no empties (cause I did almost skip charging a few). So Im shaking and there is one that I hear nothing. A HAH! got one thank god.


So Im done shaking and listening to powder in all 499 of them. But something feels weird about this one. Im not quite 100% theres no powder. I have some XM and figure hey maybe its a (C) powder load.

Mind you all my loaded brass looks EXACTLY the same as the LC factory so I cant just look and see.


So I get the scale and a few other rounds with the same LC stamped brass. and zero it on 2 that I hear powder.

Zeroes at 176.0 gr to the T. Ok now the "empty case"


I expect to see it slam light. Nope. It wiggles slightly just slightly to the heavy side


Zeroes out at 176.6 gr exactly. So if anything its full. My other loads have plenty of case room, so this cant just be a compact charge but the weight is way too similar for a double charge...


Can anyone tell me if this is safe to shoot or not? I dont have a bullet puller and all bullets are crimped. If need be I can take it out with pliers but would prefer not to. I feel its safe due to the exact same weights of both loads. But why does one powder shake and the other not?

Yea yea I know its only $0.23 but we all know none of us like to waste a round if we don't have to. Especially since I dont see any major red flags accept the powder isnt shaking when I shake it..


Any guesses to wats up?

[CK_32]

And I dont load close to max. Im only at 24.5gr and max it I think 26.0gr.. Also the XM factory isnt a C load either it also shakes a little.


OAL: Normal case - 2.241

Quiet case - 2.234

I know thats kinda short but both are loaded to the crimp grooves in the FMJ bullets.





Should I just shoot this with no issues? Or is that kinda odd to you too?

[spamsucker]

if you're not sure, pull the bullet, dump the charge and investigate. No good ever came from whinin' over 30 cents or being lazy for the sake of 30 seconds.

[Dark Mod]

DONT SHOOT IT.

Just pull it man, if theres any doubt in your mind why take the risk, i dont know if youve ever had to clear a jacketed squib from halfway down a rifle before, but it sucks, and it will end the whole day of shooting with that gun.

[CK_32]

Pulled the bullet.


Weighed it out. Slightly lighter than 24.5 but some spilled out but wasn't far off.. Reseated and crimped the bullet. Now I hear it shake.. I'm still confused on what would case it the not shake before....

[hermosabeach]

On a different note- do you use a single stage press or a progressive press?

I learned reloading as a kid on a single stage press. My dad preferred to use loading blocks and would visually inspect the entire block of cases from above once they were charged with powder and before you seated and crimped a bullet.

He also insisted on powders that filled more than 50% of the case to prevent double charges.

With pistols I would charge 25 pieces of brass at once.
For rifle you would need to hit 4 or 5 powder charges as our measure would not hold enough for a rifle case. The charge then went into the sale and then we used a baby food spoon to add the last little bit to get the charge down to the 1/10 of grain. You then used a funnel to add the powder to the brass and then seat and crimp the projectile.

-- what ever set up you have figure out a process so that you are confident of your reloads and don't have to resort to shaking the case.

[mark501w]

You did the right thing by checking. Some of these small cases you just ca n't tell by shaking .

[spamsucker]

4895 is stick powder. It's possible for it to get into a configuration inside the case where there's no room for it to move around and where grains are pressing on each other and the bullet just right to get no movement. I don't use 4895 anymore but when I did it always filled the snot out of the case. Most of my loads had bullet touching powder.

[J-cat]

Reseated?

Did you resize the neck first?

[rsrocket1]

Reseated?

Did you resize the neck first?

You may not need to resize the neck because it wasn't blown open with 50kpsi pressure, at worst, it was just mechanically worked a little more. The neck tension should still be good.

Of course if you want to be sure, you could go through the whole lube, resize, prime/load/seat cycle again and reuse the primer if you want.

I don't use loading blocks when loading single stage. I prime all my brass and line up the tub full of brass, a powder measure, the press and a container for the finished rounds. I charge, visually inspect, seat, shake. No chance of a missed load and 25.0g H335 leaves just enough room to definitely feel a full charge shaking inside.

[thegiff]

The rule is that if you are ever unsure, set it aside. You can get a puller sometime in the future.

[diverwcw]

If you have questions, don't shoot it. If it's a case with no powder in it, the primer will provide just enough power to lodge the bullet in the bore. We all know what the result would be if you touched off another round after that.

Pull the bullet and inspect just to be sure.

[CK_32]

Thais for the replies.


And yes I'm on a single stage. I usually do one step at a time so I FL all 500, then prime 500, then trim the cases, then I do batches per 50 throwing charges an measure per 5 unless its a well throwing ball like h335 I throw and check per 10 and if it's spot in for 50 throws ill just check every 10. Then I seat, messure OAL, then crimp.


But sometimes i get in the groove and miss a case or catch my self about to. Another reason I shake check all after to make sure I didn't miss one or one feels off.

Also allows me to find the cases that didn't fully fit the FL die and have a loose bullet and need another crimp.


I've been loading 308 for a few years on match loads so I have the basics and my 308 to a science. But this is my first time loading bulk and for a auto gun so some steps are different, not ended or added from my usual 308 loading. So reloading this is new but old for me.

[milotrain]

The shake trick is very reliable for me but I will agree that I've pulled what I thought was an empty only to find it full. It's still very good practice and has absolutely saved me from having to rod out a squib.

In normal plinking squibs are annoying, in a rapid fire stage if you get caught up in it you may put a round right up in a squib's ***** and have a trip to the hospital on your hands.

I like to shake all my 223, just a good last check.

[Bastard]

if there is any doubt - don't shoot it.

if you don't have a bullet puller, get one - in the mean time, since you don't want to waste the round, who does, put it aside for till you get the puller. just make sure that you keep it seperate for everything else, you could also color it with a sharpie to make it stand out even more.