I had recently started loading up .223 for my AR. Certainly it's nothing like the straight-walled pistol brass I've reloaded earlier, but I've managed to get my groove after a couple of tribulations.
My first whoopsie was getting a piece of brass stuck in my die, due to improperly positioning the stem of the seating die. I needed to find a friend with an anvil to get it un-stuck. That certainly humbled me, and just to be safe in the future, I had ordered an L.E Wilson Headspace Gauge for .223. It's been a lifesaver ever since I got it, and I wouldn't have known how close I got to some real trouble without it.
Partially out of fear of sticking a case, I had tuned the seating stem and the sizing die to the point where I was just neck sizing, only really ensuring that I could allow for a snug fit of the bullet during the seating step.
I continued adjustment according to the all-knowing headspace gauge, at first, it had told me I was doing something seriously wrong. As it turns out, it was the stem again, which had ballooned the back of the case mouth to the point it was not fitting in the gauge at all. Thankfully, it was a quick fix.
While that issue was fixed, I had the majority of rounds plunk just fine in the headspace gauge, but I had started to see a pattern. Any of the brass I had on hand which did not headspace perfectly after I had prepared it had trouble headspacing after I had loaded it. This was not to an extent that I first deemed a problem, as the brass went from Sticking halfway out of the guage to the point where I could feel the rim at the top of the headspace gauge. I felt that it wasn't an issue until I had finally tuned my die perfectly for full length sizing.
It took a lot of tuning, case lubing, and sacrificing about a dozen cases, but I had finally tuned my sizing die for full length sizing, allowing for a perfect plunk every time no matter how well the brass fit before in the headspace gauge.
While I can now load with piece of mind, now I must think hard about the approximately 60 rounds or so, maybe more that stick a teeny bit out of the headspace gauge that are now in my inventory. Just to be extra safe, I am going to headspace gauge ALL the rounds that I have loaded earlier, and separate any that stick out of the gauge even the smallest amount.
When I took my first batch to the range that may have had rounds that were slightly out of spec, one jammed my AR a bit, and the bullet showed marks from the rifling.
I'd anticipate that slightly out of headspace rounds would likely cause issues such as the above in the future.
Should I just pull down the offending rounds? Or, should they run just fine in my AR and get their time to be re-sized after they have been fired?