Home Forums Hunting & Shooting AR and Tactical Rifles .223 Reloads get stuck in my AR???'s

I have a Smith & Wesson M&P-15 AR 5.56 Nato 1/7 twist.

I tried shooting some reloads through it...Winchester brass, Nosler 50 gr BT. When I pull the charge bar back and chamber a load, all I get is a click, sometimes nothing. THEN I can't extract the unfired round with out pounding on the chargebar.

What's going on?

Common problem. You need to run the brass through a small base die to ensure proper FL resize. Redding makes one.

I'm no expert but I'd say small base dies are probably in order.

Was the brass FL resized?

No I'm pretty sure I ran it through a neck sizer only. The reloads were originally for a 223 Kimber Montana.

That is the problem. Full length resize and that should fix the problem. A small bsae sizer die probably isn't necessary.

screw your die in a 1/4 turn at the time, size the brass until it does not get stuck, no need to load a bullet to try it, just make sure it is trimmed. You die is not into the press far enough and is not sizing the brass all the way. You don't need small base dies, I have reloaded 1000's of 223 cartridges with regular dies... and seen the exact phenomena on this and other cartridges.

Make sure you aren't smashing the neck down into the case and bulging the shoulder

I've had the same thing happen with a brand new AR pistol upper. The reload rounds fired fine in my other ARs and in my friends AR that was with me. Factory ammo would fire fine in that AR pistol upper, but none of my reloads would fire or extract.

Over the course of a couple trips to the range I ended up shooting about 200 rounds of factory ammo through that pistol upper to break it in and then went back to my reloads. They have all worked flawlessly since.

I've NEVER seen an AR need small base dies. Ever. But anything is possible.

First your brass needs to be sized to your chamber. What is your chamber reading? How much are you sizing it? IE neck size it better come ONLY from that chamber and even then it could be fun at times.

Better to bushing neck/FL size them about .002 to .003 under fired size...

I've also never seen a chamber that needed 223 brass to be trimmed.... but do pay attention to that just in case...

Jeff, there isn't any difference between a .223 SB die and any other random 223 die. They both size to the same dimensions within a tolerance. You can find regular dies that size smaller than a SB die.

It's due to fireforming in the Kimbers chamber and then neck or partial sizing.

Small base die will fix your existing brass or you can start new and keep the respective brass segregated.

If you want to share the brass between the two you will need small base dies.




Travis

Not sure about those small base dies. I share brass among about 5 different 223/556 and just FL size with standard RCBS dies.

I agree with the others, you need to set up your die to resize your cases. Along with a FL die set (skip the small base, it's not mecessary), get a headspace comparator to use with a set of calipers to set your die up with. You have no idea how much you are sizing without one. Set your dies up to bump the shoulder back .002"-.004" and you should be good to go.

I'm guessing you no longer have the Montana, and you don't want to chuck the brass.

Really bad advice. If you use a small base die, and don't adjust the damn thing properly, IE the brass going through has a longer shoulder to base (datum line length), you'll get wedged brass just like you're getting now. Mashing the ass-end of the case down more isn't solving the problem. Like Rost said, a SB die is never needed except maybe if it is surplus range pickup that has gone through a hot SAW.

Like Rost said, obtain the tooling to actually measure the datum length of your brass, after its fired and after it is sized. I like to shoot for resized brass 0.005 shorter than the chamber.

Pretty much.

Good idea to fire some factory loads in the AR in question, and measure the fired cases with this and a caliper:

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/47...space-gage-5-bushing-set-with-comparator

Once you have the measurement of the shoulder location of a fired case, adjust your sizer die so it is setting back the shoulder ~.002-.003". Then you should have good accuracy and reliability.

I've never needed small base dies, in several AR's, of both the -15 and -10 variety.

Thats dumb. SB are SUPPOSED to size the base diameter smaller for easier chambering.

If the 223 SB are not doing that, then its false advertising.

Like I said I have never seen a 223 SB or owned one.

In a M1A I have SB 308 size dies produce ammo thast more accurate.. sample of one.

Sometimes multiple rifles can share brass without issue. Matter of fact, lots of times they can.

But when they can't, you need a small base die.




Travis

I'll bet you $20 a SB die fixes his problem.



Travis