.223 reloads hard to eject [ar-15..by hand] ?

[yarbsea]

So I put together my first batch of .223

I hand-cycled them through my ar-15, and about 30% are hard to manually eject...i.e. it takes alot of effort [or more than the rest] to pull the charging handle back and eject them...

Is something setup wrong? They were sized correctly, and I measured the hard-to-eject ones and everything checked out!

[M ammo]

So I put together my first batch of .223

I hand-cycled them through my ar-15, and about 30% are hard to manually eject...i.e. it takes alot of effort [or more than the rest] to pull the charging handle back and eject them...

Is something setup wrong? They were sized correctly, and I measured the hard-to-eject ones and everything checked out!

Trim your brass..

if you did that,,, trim it more.

Jim M ammo

[D.Hayden]

Check them (before chammbering) with a good case guage (like the JP) - do they drop in?

[yarbsea]

Check them (before chammbering) with a good case guage (like the JP) - do they drop in?

yea, they check good (far as I can tell) in the dillon case gauge

[RiggerJJ]

either the bullet is engaging the rifling (which I doubt) or the shoulder of the case is too tight in the chamber. (trim length could also come into play)

the Dillon case guage has go/no go guages on both ends, make sure you are reading it right.

Make sure the full length die is really down far enough, if that isn't it, I remedied my similar problem with a neck sizing die just before the powder die. Remove the decapper/expander from the neck die and set it to bump the shoulder just enough so it will chamber and eject easily.

jj

Edited May 26, 2009 by RiggerJJ

[JoshF]

Who's barrel is it? Also do you know the chamber type?

[Mickster]

I had the exact same problem with different AR's. Screwed the die all the way down till it touched the shell holder and with mixed range pickup brass some would come out easily and some wouldn't.

Some people don't like to use small base sizing dies but I switched to one and the problem went away. That might work for you too.

[fastshooter03]

Do you size once or twice? I size then spin 180degrees then size again. I find it helps the headspace be more consistent with some of the "machine gun" brass being bigger than stuff out of my rifle.

Good lube always feels good too

Nick

[kaiserb]

So I put together my first batch of .223

I hand-cycled them through my ar-15, and about 30% are hard to manually eject...i.e. it takes alot of effort [or more than the rest] to pull the charging handle back and eject them...

Is something setup wrong? They were sized correctly, and I measured the hard-to-eject ones and everything checked out!

Trim your brass..

if you did that,,, trim it more.

Jim M ammo

+1 I had this issue with a CMMG. The culprit each time was brass that exceeded 1.760 length. I now trim all 223 for that weapon at 1.755 and the problem is solved.

[Religious Shooter]

You can take the rounds that are hard to extract and mark them up with a sharpie or other marker. Mark the entire head, the case mouth and the entire bottle neck area. Mark also the bottom of the case. That's where the problem(s) usually lay.

Chamber them (in a safe manner/place) and extract them. Look where there are high spots and that should tell you where your problem is.

If there are high spots on the bullet head... consider shortening your COAL.

If there are high spots on the case mouth... trim it more.

Etc.

[RiggerJJ]

are you using case lube when sizing? it is a must!

jj

[Garrett]

I ran into the exact same issue. I tried small base dies with no improvement.

My problem was traced back to the neck / shoulder area. Make sure you trim all of your cases, and don't over-crimp.

Also, try lubing the expander ball. If it doesn't slide freely, it will grab and stretch the neck as you pull the case out of the sizing die. I usually just give it a quick squirt up into the die every 10 or 12 cases.

[shooterready]

To much crimp will buckle the case near the radius of the shoulder during seating/crimping. Check the shoulder OD after seat/crimp.

[yarbsea]

To much crimp will buckle the case near the radius of the shoulder during seating/crimping. Check the shoulder OD after seat/crimp.

All fixed.

For whatever reason, I dropped some factory ammo into the dillon case gauge, and noticed that it sat ALOT lower than the ammo I was making, and was even a bit (or at least appeared to be a bit) below the lower marking...

so anyway, I adjusted the sizing die to match the factory ammo and now it's smooth as glass, shoots great..ejects great..win!

[Mattog22]

To much crimp will buckle the case near the radius of the shoulder during seating/crimping. Check the shoulder OD after seat/crimp.

All fixed.

For whatever reason, I dropped some factory ammo into the dillon case gauge, and noticed that it sat ALOT lower than the ammo I was making, and was even a bit (or at least appeared to be a bit) below the lower marking...

so anyway, I adjusted the sizing die to match the factory ammo and now it's smooth as glass, shoots great..ejects great..win!

I had the exact same problem and ended up with the same solution. I had to screw down my sizing die about 3/4 of a turn more. It overcams now and cycling by hand is smooth as butter.

[Orbit]

Hello Friends,

 

Orbit again for another inquiries:

 

I bought a new 10.5" 5.56x45 complete upper and i tested it in our local firing range. The results are as follows:

1. First shot didn't ejected and damaged the next round

2. Found the extractor in the BCG move backward and I cannot check it due to the fact that the cam pin is stucked until now.

3. Doing manual loading and unloading of factory ammo, the manual ejection have some resistance.

4. I've used another BCG, the rifle fired and the brass ejected but the said empty cases just fell 2 to 3 ft in 1 to 2 o'clock position

5. Using the same BCG to other rifle, the spent cases were thrown 6 to 7 feet away in 3 o'clock position

 

I am thinking that the alternative BCG was getting a hard time pulling the spent case from the above anomaly in item 4.

Seeing the pic as attached, I am thinking that their is a burr inside the chamber near the neck and tip causing a deep small dent, creating a resistence in pulling out spent cases.

 

Please let me know your thought

 

Edited September 30, 2019 by Orbit

[CPD7119]

Kind of hard to follow but I'll take a swing. I've got a couple questions.

 

1. The first round didn't eject after firing and damaged the second round. How was the second round damaged?

2. The extractor moved backward. Do you mean the extractor is now permanently bent backwards? 

 

4. If you brass is ejecting forward the gun might be over gassed which isn't uncommon with 10.5 uppers. My 10.5 suppressed upper is way over gassed and does the same thing.

 

5. Was the other rifle you shot the BCG in a 10.5 or a different gas system, midlength or rifle length? If so that would account for why it was ejecting properly.

 

How do the headstamps of the fired rounds look? Are the primers flat? Is there an impression from ejector on the base of the case?

[Orbit]

37 minutes ago, CPD7119 said:

Kind of hard to follow but I'll take a swing. I've got a couple questions.

 

1. The first round didn't eject after firing and damaged the second round. How was the second round damaged?

2. The extractor moved backward. Do you mean the extractor is now permanently bent backwards? 

 

4. If you brass is ejecting forward the gun might be over gassed which isn't uncommon with 10.5 uppers. My 10.5 suppressed upper is way over gassed and does the same thing.

 

5. Was the other rifle you shot the BCG in a 10.5 or a different gas system, midlength or rifle length? If so that would account for why it was ejecting properly.

 

How do the headstamps of the fired rounds look? Are the primers flat? Is there an impression from ejector on the base of the case?

Hello,

 

1. The second round was damaged because it followed the first one that didn’t ejected

2. I dont know if it was bent or just move backward as i cannot open or disassemble the bcg due to the cam pin is stucked. Suspecting that the extractor pin is broke or damaged

3. My friend and I bought the same 10.5” upper and used same ammo. My friend’s spent case were thrown 3 o’clock 6 to 7 ft, mine is 2 to 3 ft in 1-2 o’clock

5. The back-up bcg came from a DDM4 14.5”

 

To answer the last questions here are some pics. We were using factory ammo 55g FMJ  american eagle or federal (on sale in a plastic bag of 1000pcs) and some 5.56x45 62g

 

 

 

 

 

[Orbit]

The pics are here

[Orbit]

Another pic

11 minutes ago, Orbit said:

 

Cant load the other pics

 

 

Edited September 30, 2019 by Orbit

[bigedp51]

A resized case fired in a semi-auto should be .003 to .005 smaller in diameter than its fired diameter. This allows the case body to spring back from the chamber walls and extract reliably.

 

Also the case shoulder should be bumped back .003 to .006, this allows the bolt to rotate freely because the rear of the case is not pushing on the bolt face.

 

Try using a small base die that reduces the case body diameter more if your problem is not related to the amount of shoulder bump.

 

Below examples of Forster .308/7.62 dies, and dies and chambers vary in size and Lake City cases are made of harder brass and can spring back more after sizing. And you can reduce the amount of brass spring back by pausing at the top of the ram stroke for 4 or 5 seconds using a standard die.

 

I buy once fired Lake City 5.56 and 7.62 brass and size them with a small base die to return the cases to SAAMI minimum dimensions for the first firing in my chamber.

 

Edited September 30, 2019 by bigedp51

[CPD7119]

23 hours ago, Orbit said:

Another pic

Cant load the other pics

 

 

Can you post a picture of your bcg?

[CPD7119]

7 hours ago, bigedp51 said:

A resized case fired in a semi-auto should be .003 to .005 smaller in diameter than its fired diameter. This allows the case body to spring back from the chamber walls and extract reliably.

 

Also the case shoulder should be bumped back .003 to .006, this allows the bolt to rotate freely because the rear of the case is not pushing on the bolt face.

 

Try using a small base die that reduces the case body diameter more if your problem is not related to the amount of shoulder bump.

 

Below examples of Forster .308/7.62 dies, and dies and chambers vary in size and Lake City cases are made of harder brass and can spring back more after sizing. And you can reduce the amount of brass spring back by pausing at the top of the ram stroke for 4 or 5 seconds using a standard die.

 

I buy once fired Lake City 5.56 and 7.62 brass and size them with a small base die to return the cases to SAAMI minimum dimensions for the first firing in my chamber.

 

I think he was shooting factory ammo.

[Orbit]

19 hours ago, CPD7119 said:

I think he was shooting factory ammo.

 

Yes, I am shooting factory load as mentioned. Still planning for reloading of 223 rem using dillon.

[CPD7119]

21 hours ago, Orbit said:

 

Yes, I am shooting factory load as mentioned. Still planning for reloading of 223 rem using dillon.

Can You post a picture of your BCG?