Wanted Posted April 17, 2011 Share Posted April 17, 2011 I have been shooting Hornady 55gr. soft points and shooting them with a OAL of 2.20 without issue. I have some Hornady 55gr FMJ. I loaded some dummy rounds to the cannalure 2.25 and the bolt goes forward into battery it sticks. I have to pull the charging handel like heck ro get it to eject. I use a case gauge and they all fit perfectly. The guns are a POF 415 and a S&W Mp-15. Any help would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanted Posted April 18, 2011 Author Share Posted April 18, 2011 A little follow up. I removed the upper and bolt. Dropped one in the chamber and inserted the bolt back in. The upper would not seat at the rear. Too long? But Ihave loaded other rounds to these specs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anachronism Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 It sounds like you need to trim your brass. Case length is critical in ARs, I've never seen an AR that tolerated excess case length. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Religious Shooter Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 My first guess is the cases weren't sized enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiggerJJ Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 Could be the case, as in over-size for the chamber, or the bullet curve is blunter on the new bullets reaching the lands of the rifling. Blacken a round with majic marker, including the case and bullet, chamber it by dropping the bolt on it, remove it, and look for scaring on the blackening... jj Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanted Posted April 18, 2011 Author Share Posted April 18, 2011 I'll try blacking the case and checking. The this is, I've shot a couple thousand of the soft points and never touched the dies. Cases were all trimmed to 1.750 and all pass the case cage. I've tried shorting the OAL from 2.250 to 2.220. Sometimes the first chamber, then when I cycle the second it will sometimes hang up from the mag and not chamber. When I do get it to chamber, it's h*** getting the charging handel back. Tried two mags. Pmag and steel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanted Posted April 20, 2011 Author Share Posted April 20, 2011 Sorry, I've been busy with work and getting ready for a camping trip. I blackend a cartridge as suggested.There was a noticeable gouge on the sholder it also failed to chamber from the mag, so there were scratches on the bullet. Does this help? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanted Posted April 20, 2011 Author Share Posted April 20, 2011 I tried an empty case. Same thing. I check demensions with a manual. If anything some specs are under. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OPENB Posted April 20, 2011 Share Posted April 20, 2011 The empty you tried, I assume it was resized. If it won't chamber, your sizing die is out of adjustment. Needs to bump the shoulder back a little more. You're not using collet dies that size the neck only are you? They don't work for a semi auto. Once you get the resized case to chamber, if you still have problems chambering a loaded case, it's the bullet touching the rifling. But since you are loading to the cannalure, I bet it's the shoulder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chills1994 Posted April 20, 2011 Share Posted April 20, 2011 take the upper off. take the bolt/BCG and charging handle out. while holding the upper in one hand with the muzzle point or resting on the floor, insert one of your soft point rounds by hand into the chamber. make a mental note of where the headstamp area ends up at. you'll probably need a flashlight. now do the same thing with one of those FMJ rounds. again, take note of where the headstamp end of the case ends up at. notice any differences between the two? AFAIK, then, there can only be two causes: 1. like mentioned earlier the ogive area of the bullet is hitting the rifling first. 2. somehow when you are seating the FMJ bullets, you are also pushing the cases's shoulders back, so there actually is a bump or ridge. you could also check that with a good straightedge (machinist's square) holding it against the case. then look for light coming through a gap between the case and the straightedge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiggerJJ Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 Sorry, I've been busy with work and getting ready for a camping trip. I blackend a cartridge as suggested.There was a noticeable gouge on the sholder it also failed to chamber from the mag, so there were scratches on the bullet. Does this help? reset your sizing die, its not sizing correctly for your chamber. jj Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanted Posted April 24, 2011 Author Share Posted April 24, 2011 That is correct. I've been out of town. I checked my notes and I broke a decapping pin last year. So I did reset my dies at some point. I turned them down and they started working. I still need to fine tune but thank God for notes. Sorry all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whistlepig Posted May 1, 2011 Share Posted May 1, 2011 I know the problem has been solved, but keep in mind it would be very difficult to load a 55 gr bullet to a length that is magazine tolerant and would come anywhere near the rifling. As far as the blackened cartridge marks go, an AR chambers a round pretty roughly. marks are not that unusual Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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