Reloads won't lock up & cases stuck on extraction

[shotslow]

I use a RCBS small base resize die for .223 Rem reloads. I have a DPMS flattop carbine upper in 5.52 Nato and a Bushmaster Varmiter in .223 Rem. The DPMS has no dust cover and no forward assist. (I'm cheap) I have fired 100 or so reloaded rounds out of both uppers at the range sighting in the rifle. At my first 3 Gun match, the .223 Rem failed to seat and lock up in the DPMS carbine. I could not extract them. They let me switch to the Bushmaster upper & continue the other stages. The Bushmaster Varmiter has a small chamber, it is accurate. I was using the same ammution as before. It lasted for one stage. On the second stage at the end, I could not get the last case to extract. Any suggestions on what is going on???

To reiterate, the reloads I have been shooting in both uppers worked fine at the range, but at the competition - wouldn't go in, wouldn't come out.

Everybody else had no problems with their AR15s.

[Dan Sierpina]

I use a RCBS small base resize die for .223 Rem reloads. I have a DPMS flattop carbine upper in 5.52 Nato and a Bushmaster Varmiter in .223 Rem. The DPMS has no dust cover and no forward assist. (I'm cheap) I have fired 100 or so reloaded rounds out of both uppers at the range sighting in the rifle. At my first 3 Gun match, the .223 Rem failed to seat and lock up in the DPMS carbine. I could not extract them. They let me switch to the Bushmaster upper & continue the other stages. The Bushmaster Varmiter has a small chamber, it is accurate. I was using the same ammution as before. It lasted for one stage. On the second stage at the end, I could not get the last case to extract. Any suggestions on what is going on???

To reiterate, the reloads I have been shooting in both uppers worked fine at the range, but at the competition - wouldn't go in, wouldn't come out.

Everybody else had no problems with their AR15s.

Has the brass been trimmed? If the case is too long, it's possible to deform the case at the shoulder, making it mushroomed, and failure to chamber or extract is the common symptom.

This is from personal experience.

[DinosaurMikeGolf]

Is your die a full length small base resizing die? If not, the cases may have a slight bulge just above the web that is causing the cases to stick in the chamber.

Edited April 24, 2012 by DinosaurMikeGolf

[Mush from PA.]

IMHO, Either not trimmed correctly or you crushed the case in seating/crimping the bullet.

[shotslow]

As stated, I use a small base RCBS sizer die. It is a full length die. It does not make sense to have a small base neck die. I seat and crimp the bullet is two different operations using a Lee crimp die. The brass is once fired law enforcement bras that I have removed the crimp from the primmer pocket. I did not trim.

I will inspect and measure the cartridges and brass. I used a gauge for the sized brass. I will check again.

Thank you for the replies

[DinosaurMikeGolf]

As stated, I use a small base RCBS sizer die. It is a full length die. It does not make sense to have a small base neck die. I seat and crimp the bullet is two different operations using a Lee crimp die. The brass is once fired law enforcement bras that I have removed the crimp from the primmer pocket. I did not trim.

I will inspect and measure the cartridges and brass. I used a gauge for the sized brass. I will check again.

Thank you for the replies

Do you have a chamber gauge to check the sized cases? If not, I suggest the Evolution Gun Works (EGW) one for 5.56mm. EGW uses the actual chamber reamers to make the gauge. If the cases seat all the way (it will hold seven at a time), then the cases should chamber and extract.

[RH45]

From past experience, I'd guess the shoulder isn't bumped back enough.

[Ebbsnflows]

I'm having a very similar situation. Glad I found this post. Will examine the shoulders and see how they compare to factory (correctly functioning) ammo.

[RiggerJJ]

Trim, trim, trim, trim...!

(did I say trim?)

jj

[goat68]

True once fired brass tends to be long. Trim the suckers just make sure you don't trim too much or you will experiece case failure with half the brass stuck in the chamber and half extracting. I only had two cases do this to me this weekend. Good thing it was only practice.

[shotslow]

I got good news and bad news and bad news. The good news is I found stuff. The bad news is the stuff.

I checked everything. I resized and put the case thru my guage. Same as before. I checked that the ram was putting the shell holder up against the sizer die. I resized again. It is a Lee turret press. I found the shellholder was 1/8 inch from the die. So I set up the die in my RCBS Rock Crusher. Since these were primed cases, I took out the decapping unit. It was bent at a 60 degree angle. The RCBS press resizes to the top of the stroke. I will check the trim on these cases. I'll post the results.

Still haven't found out why the extraction failure.

[Aaron M]

if you have a bulge at the base of you case it could cause the case to stick in the chamber. Small base die should fix this but you might need to turn you die down further.

Edited May 8, 2012 by Aaron M

[Mike Morcillo]

You'll need the case gauge to check the brass after resizing. We're not talking straight wall pistol brass here. Head space is critical. Too much headspace and you'll get case head seperation. Too little headspace and the round won't chamber full and may be prone to out- of- battery detonation and hard extraction. Ounce of prevention.........

[ben b.]

I am also new to .223 loading this year, all pistol loading before. Have loaded about 3,000 .223 to date.

I had a similar problem in May. Ran about 800 rounds of my reloads thru with no problem while sighting in, chronoing ammo, testing different loads, testing POI at different ranges, etc. Then on the big match day, that gun had numerous failures to return to battery, hard to extract, etc. No clear pattern, sometimes it did it on a stage numerous times and sometimes it ran clean. Vexing, very vexing.

I think my problem was multi-part, after futzing about in the garage with that rifle and reloading press for several evenings. The gas tube was apparently touching the gas key which slowed forward movement a bit, which I fixed. The shoulders indeed seemed to be a bit forward, sometimes. The brass was purchased pre-processed and all trimmed to 1.740, but I was not resizing again. I bought a RCBS small body sizer, and ran the pre-processed brass thru my Hornady full length resizer AND the full body resizer. Often when doing this, the amount of resistance tells me that the brass needed more sizing and the shoulders are shiny, which indicates it is getting bumped back a bit. I also bought an EGW .223 case gage, which has helped catch a few messed-up necks but only about 1/200.

Edited June 18, 2012 by ben b.

[zero-down]

I got good news and bad news and bad news. The good news is I found stuff. The bad news is the stuff.

I checked everything. I resized and put the case thru my guage. Same as before. I checked that the ram was putting the shell holder up against the sizer die. I resized again. It is a Lee turret press. I found the shellholder was 1/8 inch from the die. So I set up the die in my RCBS Rock Crusher. Since these were primed cases, I took out the decapping unit. It was bent at a 60 degree angle. The RCBS press resizes to the top of the stroke. I will check the trim on these cases. I'll post the results.

Still haven't found out why the extraction failure.

Been there, done that. Here is what is happeneing. Since your sizing and decapping stem are bent it is offsetting the shoulder on the side it is bent towards. If you roll the cases on a table slowly I'll bet that the shoulder line is off just a bit. I've found that these cases can even make it through a case gauge but they stick like hell in the chamber. I had this happen with a set of dillon dies. Replace the stem and this will go away.

[jstone]

Small base die are not needed for reloading an ar15. They just overwork the brass and shorten its life. It sounds like op found the problem. Op you might want to check the 556 chamber on the DPMS they are known for tight chambers or marking a barrel with 556 when it actually has a 223 chamber.