550b for 223?

[skargoh]

Just a note, the sticky at the top of this forum says not to post load data in this forum. I'm new here, but I just thought I'd mention it.

[Powder Finger]

Ok guys I don't mean to drift the thread but I have a few questions, I am new reloading for .223/5.56 military specs DPMS AR15. Loading on a 550B RCBS resizing/depriming w/Dillon seating and crimp die. My supplies are Hornady V-Max 55gr. #22271, H335 powder, Remington 6 1/2 SmRfl primers. I put my calipers to my mag and it measures 2.260-2.263 hornadys reloading manual calls for 2.250 and when I put them in my mag they look and feel like the C.O.A.L is to long ~ gets caught up in the mag. I seated the bullet to2.230 & it seems to be fine no hang ups. I loaded the mags up with dummy rounds and seem to cycle fine and ejects perfectly except the drop in test. I drop the bullet in but it will not fall out when I turn my rifle upper around to see if the round falls out but no go, I can push the bolt in as im assembling it and it grabs the round with no problem from the barrel,taper crimp is .251-.253 shoulder is .355.. My question is is my C.O.A.L& crimp sufficient enough? And I'm using H335 will 20gr. Be a good starting point for this powder? Thanks in advance

Or will this get more help if I start my own post on this topic?

for mag fed rounds you need to set your OAL to your shortest front 2 back mag and allow maybe .010 wiggle room.

not sure I follow what the "drop test" is ?

Sorry Powder Finger, the "drop test" i would drop them in the barrel and see if it will drop in with no help from myself as it falls into the barrel. I beleave i got it with as much crimp as i can give it(taper) im not trying to give it much.My dummy rounds cycles fine by hand when i pull the bolt back, im just not sure if it will be wise to try my loads with a 2.230 C.O.A.L my hornady manual calls for a COAL 2.250. thanks for your reply andim still stuck in limbo with this one

sorry, I kind of lost track of this question.

the 2.230-2.250 should not cause a problem but you can back off a tenth or three on the powder then work-up just to be safe.

the crimp would not be where I would look for the "drop" problem, I don't even crimp AR ammo.

If I follow whats happening ........ you can drop a loaded round in the chamber and it goes full in, but will not fall out with gravity?

[MARKAVELI]

Ok guys I don't mean to drift the thread but I have a few questions, I am new reloading for .223/5.56 military specs DPMS AR15. Loading on a 550B RCBS resizing/depriming w/Dillon seating and crimp die. My supplies are Hornady V-Max 55gr. #22271, H335 powder, Remington 6 1/2 SmRfl primers. I put my calipers to my mag and it measures 2.260-2.263 hornadys reloading manual calls for 2.250 and when I put them in my mag they look and feel like the C.O.A.L is to long ~ gets caught up in the mag. I seated the bullet to2.230 & it seems to be fine no hang ups. I loaded the mags up with dummy rounds and seem to cycle fine and ejects perfectly except the drop in test. I drop the bullet in but it will not fall out when I turn my rifle upper around to see if the round falls out but no go, I can push the bolt in as im assembling it and it grabs the round with no problem from the barrel,taper crimp is .251-.253 shoulder is .355.. My question is is my C.O.A.L& crimp sufficient enough? And I'm using H335 will 20gr. Be a good starting point for this powder? Thanks in advance

Or will this get more help if I start my own post on this topic?

for mag fed rounds you need to set your OAL to your shortest front 2 back mag and allow maybe .010 wiggle room.

not sure I follow what the "drop test" is ?

Sorry Powder Finger, the "drop test" i would drop them in the barrel and see if it will drop in with no help from myself as it falls into the barrel. I beleave i got it with as much crimp as i can give it(taper) im not trying to give it much.My dummy rounds cycles fine by hand when i pull the bolt back, im just not sure if it will be wise to try my loads with a 2.230 C.O.A.L my hornady manual calls for a COAL 2.250. thanks for your reply andim still stuck in limbo with this one

sorry, I kind of lost track of this question.

the 2.230-2.250 should not cause a problem but you can back off a tenth or three on the powder then work-up just to be safe.

the crimp would not be where I would look for the "drop" problem, I don't even crimp AR ammo.

If I follow whats happening ........ you can drop a loaded round in the chamber and it goes full in, but will not fall out with gravity?

No problem P Fingers, that is correct I can drop in but it doesn't fall out early when I tip over to fall out. When I pull the charging handle back to chamber a round it does chamber and when I pull the charging rod it ejects the (dummy) round with no problem.. Am I being to anal?

[Powder Finger]

Ok guys I don't mean to drift the thread but I have a few questions, I am new reloading for .223/5.56 military specs DPMS AR15. Loading on a 550B RCBS resizing/depriming w/Dillon seating and crimp die. My supplies are Hornady V-Max 55gr. #22271, H335 powder, Remington 6 1/2 SmRfl primers. I put my calipers to my mag and it measures 2.260-2.263 hornadys reloading manual calls for 2.250 and when I put them in my mag they look and feel like the C.O.A.L is to long ~ gets caught up in the mag. I seated the bullet to2.230 & it seems to be fine no hang ups. I loaded the mags up with dummy rounds and seem to cycle fine and ejects perfectly except the drop in test. I drop the bullet in but it will not fall out when I turn my rifle upper around to see if the round falls out but no go, I can push the bolt in as im assembling it and it grabs the round with no problem from the barrel,taper crimp is .251-.253 shoulder is .355.. My question is is my C.O.A.L& crimp sufficient enough? And I'm using H335 will 20gr. Be a good starting point for this powder? Thanks in advance

Or will this get more help if I start my own post on this topic?

for mag fed rounds you need to set your OAL to your shortest front 2 back mag and allow maybe .010 wiggle room.

not sure I follow what the "drop test" is ?

Sorry Powder Finger, the "drop test" i would drop them in the barrel and see if it will drop in with no help from myself as it falls into the barrel. I beleave i got it with as much crimp as i can give it(taper) im not trying to give it much.My dummy rounds cycles fine by hand when i pull the bolt back, im just not sure if it will be wise to try my loads with a 2.230 C.O.A.L my hornady manual calls for a COAL 2.250. thanks for your reply andim still stuck in limbo with this one

sorry, I kind of lost track of this question.

the 2.230-2.250 should not cause a problem but you can back off a tenth or three on the powder then work-up just to be safe.

the crimp would not be where I would look for the "drop" problem, I don't even crimp AR ammo.

If I follow whats happening ........ you can drop a loaded round in the chamber and it goes full in, but will not fall out with gravity?

No problem P Fingers, that is correct I can drop in but it doesn't fall out early when I tip over to fall out. When I pull the charging handle back to chamber a round it does chamber and when I pull the charging rod it ejects the (dummy) round with no problem.. Am I being to anal?

Maybe. But It should normally come out on it's own.

just narrow it down.

with out using loaded ammo see if it happens with:

new brass

sized once fired (from your gun) from new brass

chamber clean?

brass too long?

tight chamber? (might have come through with a min chamber),(may need a small base die)

etc........

[MARKAVELI]

Ok guys I don't mean to drift the thread but I have a few questions, I am new reloading for .223/5.56 military specs DPMS AR15. Loading on a 550B RCBS resizing/depriming w/Dillon seating and crimp die. My supplies are Hornady V-Max 55gr. #22271, H335 powder, Remington 6 1/2 SmRfl primers. I put my calipers to my mag and it measures 2.260-2.263 hornadys reloading manual calls for 2.250 and when I put them in my mag they look and feel like the C.O.A.L is to long ~ gets caught up in the mag. I seated the bullet to2.230 & it seems to be fine no hang ups. I loaded the mags up with dummy rounds and seem to cycle fine and ejects perfectly except the drop in test. I drop the bullet in but it will not fall out when I turn my rifle upper around to see if the round falls out but no go, I can push the bolt in as im assembling it and it grabs the round with no problem from the barrel,taper crimp is .251-.253 shoulder is .355.. My question is is my C.O.A.L& crimp sufficient enough? And I'm using H335 will 20gr. Be a good starting point for this powder? Thanks in advance

Or will this get more help if I start my own post on this topic?

for mag fed rounds you need to set your OAL to your shortest front 2 back mag and allow maybe .010 wiggle room.

not sure I follow what the "drop test" is ?

Sorry Powder Finger, the "drop test" i would drop them in the barrel and see if it will drop in with no help from myself as it falls into the barrel. I beleave i got it with as much crimp as i can give it(taper) im not trying to give it much.My dummy rounds cycles fine by hand when i pull the bolt back, im just not sure if it will be wise to try my loads with a 2.230 C.O.A.L my hornady manual calls for a COAL 2.250. thanks for your reply andim still stuck in limbo with this one

You shouldn't have a problem with your COAL at 2.230. I have reloaded close to 2000 rounds since i started this post. (I now use the 550 with dillon dies, AA2230 powder, Winchester primers, and Horndady 55gr FMJ's) In the beginning I had been reloading mine to 2.250 and they shot great. I now prefer loading mine to 2.240. You'll get good results with both though. Will your shell chamber fine if it's empty? Your crimping problem could be a sizing problem. Is it a full length sizing die or a neck sizing die? You could have bulged cases. I've seen a few other forums where they were having close to the same problem.

Thanks for the reply arguner, yes it does and yes it's a full sizer die.

[iLuv2Shoot]

I use a 550 for my .223

The powder measure works great with ball powder. It doesn't like Varget very much. I use Reloader 15 and it works pretty well.

I wouldn't limit myself to ball powder.

IMHO crimping a .223 is completely unnecessary. I don't do it. But I'm shooting a 15lb service rifle with 77gr bullets. There's not enough recoil to cause a problem. YMMV.

Darren

I don't crimp mine either. I skipped crimping for my single-fire loads that were over mag length. Then the first few times I pulled them, I had to give a pretty good whack. Then I thought I'd see what happens to OAL in NON-crimped mag length loads under forces of recoil. So I loaded a 20 rnd mag full-up, fired 3 shots, measured the OAL of the next 3....they were unchanged. I re-magged those 3 back and shot them, pulled out the next 3 from the mag and measured those for OAL...unchanged. You get the idea by now. So now, I just skip crimping altogether. So far so good after about 1500 rds in a a few months. Also, I just resize my necks instead of full length. Of course, this is on my fireformed brass in my only AR upper. However, after 5 firings, I do FL resize as a 'just in case' to prevent a stuck case or FTF...just when I can least afford it. I'm not saying i recommend anyone do this, but the old "always FL resize and crimp for all autoloaders" just isn't the case. That said, I shoot my AR for sport and not for self defense purposes.... I hope.

- Dave