.223 cast problems...again...I thought I fixed this...

[sukivel]

Ok, in a nutshell I am using an NOE 22-55 clone mould and loading for my AR. I previously loaded some of these gas checked/aloxed boolits and had lots of problems until I found out I was stretching the shoulder out when pulling the case out of my sizing die. I then bought a case gauge...and resized a few of those(with the decapping pin out), and they passed the case gauge and then shot well.

That was some time ago and now I am pc'ing everything and I loaded some up, and they passed the case gauge test. Loaded them into the gun and a couple fired but most did not! On my pc was distinct marks from the lands. It appears that the cartridge was not fully chambered since the primer had no markings whatsoever...but it passed the case gauge?!?!?!

I'm almost going to quit reloading for my AR. I think I can get the ammo to work but it takes way too much time to get to that point...

Any ideas?

[Dusty Bannister]

When you powder coated the bullets, you increased the bullet diameter. You also changed how the bullet nose engaged the lands in the throat. Maybe seat just a little deeper? A chamber gauge is made to a specification. Perhaps your barrel chamber is just enough different to foul up the cartridge fit?
Dusty

[Rcmaveric]

Measure your chambers seating depth and check your throat diameter. Case gauges only check head space of the cartridge. It wont detect issues with seating depthe and or bullet size.

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[Strtspdlx]

What your having is a oal issue which is common primarily because cast bullets dont alaays follow the profiles of jacketed bullets. I run into it in nearly every cast load i run. My advice would be to take a case and resize, split rhe neck then drill out the primer pocket so you can push the bullet into the lands. Make sure theres no burrs and the fits the case gauge, question do case gauges have rifling?. Anyhow make sure the bullet slides freely in the case and measure what your oal should be. Or load up a dummy round and keep shortening it up until it chambers, but you wont know how far off the lands you are. It may be important to know how far off the lands you are.

[BUCKEYE BANDIT]

http://www.accurateshooter.com/gear-reviews/hornady-oal-gauge-and-comparator/

[Hamish]

Case gauges are nice, but it's not YOUR chamber.

[Grmps]

PC goes on from .001 to .005 in thickness depending on the color and manufacturer. Find the thinnest PC and nock all the excess off when your coating and see what happens.

You could ask smoke what his thinnest coating PC is. I would guess clear

[Drew P]

In addition to excellent advice above I’d like to suggest considering hitek coating in place of PC. It goes on thinner. Also the Sheridan chamber gauges can reveal problems that standard case gauges cannot. Did you know that case gauges are made with straight drill bits not chamber reamers? That’s a big difference to me, so I only use Sheridan gauges.
There are also bullet molds made to be powder coated, and I believe some of those have smaller dia bullets to account for the coating.

[sukivel]

http://www.accurateshooter.com/gear-reviews/hornady-oal-gauge-and-comparator/

I always wondered what this thing did...


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[sukivel]

What your having is a oal issue which is common primarily because cast bullets dont alaays follow the profiles of jacketed bullets. I run into it in nearly every cast load i run. My advice would be to take a case and resize, split rhe neck then drill out the primer pocket so you can push the bullet into the lands. Make sure theres no burrs and the fits the case gauge, question do case gauges have rifling?. Anyhow make sure the bullet slides freely in the case and measure what your oal should be. Or load up a dummy round and keep shortening it up until it chambers, but you wont know how far off the lands you are. It may be important to know how far off the lands you are.

I will do this the first chance I get.



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[sukivel]

All good advice to this point, hopefully tonight I will get time to look at these things.


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[HangFireW8]

You can take an old primer, remove the anvil, bang out the firing pin dimple with a flat faced punch, and seat it it a marked empty dummy case with your cast pc boolit. Make a few dud primers like that.

Then you can safely debug your AR firing issue. When the dimple comes back after pulling the trigger, you fixed it.

[sukivel]

I took several measurements of my cast reloads, and some Tula rounds. My reloads were larger in diameter all the way down by .002-.005. They plunked into the case gauge well but would not chamber or shoot.

So, like last time with my cast loads, I ran them through my Lee sizer with the decapper out. Then my measurements were .002-.003 less than the Tula. Then I loaded the same 3 rounds, that would not shoot before, and shot a decent group out of my AR flawlessly.

A few years ago I sized and trimmed all of my .223. I went back and measured those against some just fired. Those measurements were smaller than just fired, but larger than my reloads before their second sizing?!???

It has been too long but I first wondered if I forgot to size them...but they are smaller and missing primers/been sized. I mean I’m forgetful sometimes, but I don’t think I skipped sizing them.

So... I sized them on a Lee C press. I load everything on my Lyman or 550. If you set sizing depth according to the die then the press shouldn’t matter.

I guess for now I can resize all of my brass, but how did I get here in the first place?!?


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[Rcmaveric]

Make sure the sizer die contacts the shell holder.

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[sureYnot]

I guess for now I can resize all of my brass, but how did I get here in the first place?!?

I used to use the Lee case lube and it created a buildup in the bottom of my sizing die, that I didn't notice. This caused the cases to not go fully into the die. I got to resize a coffee can full of brass.

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[sukivel]

Make sure the sizer die contacts the shell holder.

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I’m getting good cam-over now, but of course don’t remember from when I initially sized them.


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[sukivel]

I used to use the Lee case lube and it created a buildup in the bottom of my sizing die, that I didn't notice. This caused the cases to not go fully into the die. I got to resize a coffee can full of brass.

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Maybe...


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[Dieselhorses]

I powder coat "once". Size "once". I do not use gas checks. Cases decapped/sized at same time, then trimmed to 1.75". De-burr/flare necks slightly and seat 55 gr COAL to 2.1" then factory crimp. I know every gun is different but for the cheap AR (Windham) I have, it works pretty good with no leading. My AR prefers H4895 but sometimes W748.