[DS12]

Well that's it - I'm getting stuck rounds in my AR.

Using regular dillon Carbide dies on a dillon 650, have 1 slot open was wondering what resizing dies I should be using?

Rounds won't fully chamber and will get stuck, have to pry it open with a freakin' crowbar to get the bolt to eject the round damn near!

Thanks for any help everyone, you guys are great!

[redwoods]

Here is what I would do....

1. Shoot some factory rounds out of the gun. If they jam, its the gun, if not, its the reloads.
2. Clean bolt of gun and chamber using an AR15 chamber brush on the chamber.
3. Make sure all lube is off of AR15 round. I size on a single stage press then retumble to get lube off.
4. Make sure your bullets are not too long, they may be getting caught on the rifling.

Randy of the Redwoods

[M.E.Anglin]

make sure your AR is chambered for 5.56 and not .223

[jaredr]

sounds like you may be new to reloading bottleneck rifle cartridges. what you're seeing is (most likely) caused by your reloaded rounds not being resized sufficiently - the rounds expand slightly on firing and if you do not resize and push the shoulder back, then the cartridge will not completely chamber when you drop the bolt and the (now slightly too far forward neck will jam into the throat causing the cartridge to stick.

Randy's suggestion above of just trying some factory rounds to check and make sure it isn't the gun is not a bad idea, but ultimately you need a headspace gauge to check your reloads (or at least your resized cartridge cases) and make sure that you've resized them sufficiently to fit in a SAMMI-spec chamber. The 650 owners manual has a good section on how to use a headspace gauge (not being a smartass - it's not entirely intuitive). take a look and post if you have some questions. also, if you do a search on .223 resizing, you'll probably find some hits as well.

-jared

[DS12]

Thanks for the replies everyone - I've fired over 10k rounds of factory ammo through this one so it's the reloads - the reloads did the same thing to all my other AR's as well.

Any suggestions on resizing dies or are the stock Dillon Dies sufficient?

[Fullauto_Shooter]

For resizing, I've had excellent luck with the RCBS Small-Base X-Die; it's specifically designed for AR type rifles.

Are you trimming your cases prior to reloading - if not, that may be your problem.

Of the 10K factory rounds you fired, how many (if any) were Wolf lacquered case? I knew a guy who shot a bunch of that crap and got his AR chamber all gummed up over time.

Final suggestion is to get a Dillon .223 case gauge and gauge every round before you fire - since I started case gauging 99% of my functioning problems have gone away because I discover any out of spec rounds at the bench and not the line.

[DougCarden]

Good advice, I went through the same thing.
Get a Dillon or JP case gauge. IF it fits it will go bang, period.
Second, when you set your sizing die. Hold the ram down and put the die down until it wont go any farther. Then turn the die down another half a turn. It will "cam" against the shellplate, but might give you what you need to bump the shoulder the little kiss you need.
I ended up buying a Redding small base die and never looked back, as I get some brass that has been shot in somo looser chambers.
Be patient, use Dillon case lube, wipe it off and try it in the case gauge, experiment. There is a learning curve....

Good luck,
DougC

[calishootr]

+1 to 'over boring or over camming' on the die to getthe last smidge of case to re-size....also a very good idea is a case guage like it was said before, if it drops in the guage, it will 99% shoot in the rifle...

[Sterling White]

A case that is a fraction over the specified overall length will get stuck. Could be a simple fix...check your case lengths.

[lt259]

One other problem I've had with rifle case sizing that had the same symptoms as you describe was caused by my expander ball. I had the die set and all was working fine with thin wall comm. brass but when I would use thick wall lake city or other brass the headspace would be to long and stick in the chamber or case gage. What my problem was that after the shoulder was set back and the expander ball was pulled back out of the case it would stick and pull the shoulder out of spec again. I was able to ID this problem by sizing some cases after removing the expander ball from die and case and chamber checking them. I now size with redding F.L. dies that have changable neck bushings. I use one neck size for thin wall and one for thick wall. The casue is with thick wall brass the inside diameter is made small so there is more resistance when pulling the expander back out of the case. You can also help this problem with case lube on the inside of the neck.

Tom

[Merlin Orr]

Sterling White, on Oct 21 2009, 03:14 PM, said:

A case that is a fraction over the specified overall length will get stuck. Could be a simple fix...check your case lengths.

There you have it... Most likely. Either from not trimming or as related by It259.......

[photog]

Had this same issue. Its a trim length problem. each rifle is slightly different. If the rifle is in tolerance, then you have to do a better job of re-sizing the case. I kept trimming back the case a little more till the rounds worked in my rifle. Too short is bad, too long is bad. Too short, the rounds don't reach the rifiling till after lots of time (and increase pressure in the case and then don't seal well), too long the cases get stuck.

[Sam]

Quote

A case that is a fraction over the specified overall length will get stuck. Could be a simple fix...check your case lengths.

+1 on that experience.

[SkyScrapin]

M.E.Anglin, on Oct 20 2009, 07:05 PM, said:

make sure your AR is chambered for 5.56 and not .223

In addition to this, if it's chambered in 223 Wylde then your chamber will accept both 5.56 nato and .223 Remington. Will your rifle chamber a round without any external forces such as bumping the bolt? If so, I would definitely say it has to do with your load. What powder, velocity, primer signs are you getting?

Preston

[usp45ss]

I had the same problem when I originally started loading 223 on my 550. I had adjusted my sizing die down until it had just contacted the shellplate. The problem is that the shellplate had a certian amount of "give" to it before it would compress fully down against the base of the ram. Another 1/4 to 1/2 turn down on the sizer and magically everything works great. I needed the little extra to "cam" over like the other guys.

[LPatterson]

lt259, on Oct 21 2009, 07:31 PM, said:

One other problem I've had with rifle case sizing that had the same symptoms as you describe was caused by my expander ball. I had the die set and all was working fine with thin wall comm. brass but when I would use thick wall lake city or other brass the headspace would be to long and stick in the chamber or case gage. What my problem was that after the shoulder was set back and the expander ball was pulled back out of the case it would stick and pull the shoulder out of spec again. I was able to ID this problem by sizing some cases after removing the expander ball from die and case and chamber checking them. I now size with redding F.L. dies that have changable neck bushings. I use one neck size for thin wall and one for thick wall. The casue is with thick wall brass the inside diameter is made small so there is more resistance when pulling the expander back out of the case. You can also help this problem with case lube on the inside of the neck.

Tom

It is also possible to use white powdered graphite inside the neck then the cases don't need to be retumbled like they do when using case lube. Though tumbling/vibrating is the easiest way to remove lube it sometimes causes media to get in the flash hole, larger media can also cake inside the case with too much lube.