help with why my brass wont work

[lovdasnow]

hey guys. I have been shooting and reloading about 50 pieces of brass. well, the other day i bought 200 from a guy on here, and was prepping them and they don't fit in my gun.

I resized/ deprimed them, and trimmed to 1.355 and deburred everything.
Most of the empty casings won't even chamber into the shilen barreled rem 700. If they do go in, they have to be pushed out with a cleaning rod as they stick in the chamber. everything measures the same that i know of.

the necks of the new brass are close to .330, and the old brass is .326. do i need to buy a neck turner and turn them down? i would try that if i had one, but i don't. should a .330 neck fit in my chamber?

hope this makes sense, and i would appreciate any info you have for me.
thanks again, jon

[HUNTER2]

Measure the other brass before and after firing. That will answer the neck question.

[lovdasnow]

ok, before is .326, and after is .333. so that means that it isn't the necks then, right??

so now what? the dimensions seem to be pretty much the same on the brass that fits and the brass that doesn't. the only difference that i could find was the necks, but that doesn't seem like it's the problem.

something obvious that i'm missing??

thanks again

[Alleycat]

If it is formed military brass it probably needs to be ran through a small base die.

[Hoser]

Is it a SSK chambered barrel?

Is the brass formed from 223, 5.56 (GI) or 221 Fireball?

[lovdasnow]

SSK did not build the gun.

it's a mixure of LC, HC, RP headstamp. seems to be a lot of military brass.

small base die? hmm, i'm going to have to plead ignorance on this one. does that actually reduce the base thickness?

hmm, still not sure. where or what do i buy for a small base die?

thanks and i really appreciate your input!

[larr 300]

i have a question for you, did you full length size or neck size the brass?

[lovdasnow]

full length

[Hoser]

Did the die touch the shell holder and cam over when you resized them?

Try a sized case without the bullet and see how that works. If it wont go in, it isnt the neck thickness.

Mark up the bottom 1/2 of the with a black sharpie and try to close the bolt. That should tell you where its rubbing/binding.

If all that doesent work, let me know. I will send you some brass I made up. I hate to see a grown man cry.

[Alleycat]

Military brass is thicker and sometimes the guns chamber it was ran through is a little sloppy. Even if you full length size, the base will spring back out of specification.http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=205445 You should also segregated your brass by head stamp.

[lovdasnow]

guys, thanks again for your help, and the generous offer for other brass.

ok, i have adjusted the sizing die all over the place. from it touching the shell holder to having it adjusted too high and everywhere in between.

nothing worked. i sharpied the brass and it looks like it's rubbing right in the middle of the case. not sure what to do from here, except buy new brass and get rid of this. it seems a lot of the brass i bought was mixed military headstamped, and that is causing the problem.

thanks guys. does anyone want to trade 200 of these for 100 of the same headstamp, commercial brass? ;)

thanks

[Artful]

Do you have 223 small base die or 222 reloading die or know someone who does? how about 380?

223 die should reduce from .377 base to .350 at shoulder 1.44 inches from base. -

222 die should reduce from .377 base to .358 at shoulder 1.25 inches from base

221 fireball die should be .377 base to .361 at shoulder 1.07 inches from base.

380 ACP will do a reduction to .372.

can you do some measurements exactly how far from the base your brass is bulged and by how much?

[Hoser]

I have some brass I will send you.

PM sent.

[lovdasnow]

artful, i don't have any of the dies you mentioned, so I don't believe that I will be able to go that route.

hoser, wow, what an offer, thanks a lot, and pm replied to. thanks .

I'll keep you guys posted when i get it figured out.

[Hoser]

artful, i don't have any of the dies you mentioned, so I don't believe that I will be able to go that route.

hoser, wow, what an offer, thanks a lot, and pm replied to. thanks .

I'll keep you guys posted when i get it figured out.

So that brass worked out well and the gun is running 100% now?

[Scalce]

You sure it is not the shoulder?

I have an issue with some mill brass where it doesn't want to chamber when it is first formed because the shoulder is more of a radius than a steep shoulder.

It doesn't matter if you undersize or oversize with your FL dies as the radius will still stop it from chambering.

At one point I oversized so much that the extractor was slipping off and it still wouldn't chamber right.

I can now get most to chamber the first time and fire so the shoulder is created.

I don't have issues after that.

Both tp555 and Marty from Teppu Jutsu have mentioned this to me or posted about it here.

[thehouseproduct]

You sure it is not the shoulder?

I have an issue with some mill brass where it doesn't want to chamber when it is first formed because the shoulder is more of a radius than a steep shoulder.

It doesn't matter if you undersize or oversize with your FL dies as the radius will still stop it from chambering.

At one point I oversized so much that the extractor was slipping off and it still wouldn't chamber right.

I can now get most to chamber the first time and fire so the shoulder is created.

I don't have issues after that.

Both tp555 and Marty from Teppu Jutsu have mentioned this to me or posted about it here.

So how do you address that issue?

[Scalce]

So how do you address that issue?

I changed a few things about my initial forming process.

1. I started using only Imperial Sizing Wax to form the cases.
2. I found the sweet spot of where commercial brass chambers properly in my chamber gauge and I stick with that setting even for milsurp.
3. I changed my forming steps to:
a. initially FL size the 223/556 brass with the decapping/expander rod removed instead of the neck sizing die and then I chop off the top of the case.
b. setup my neck sizing die to only resize 90% of the neck which also knocks out the primer in the process.
5. then trim to 1.355" and do all my case prep steps as necessary.

I have found that this allows me to chamber LC brass but it is still tight in the shoulder area. I had maybe 2 out of 100 that did not chamber completely so I need to pull those down and see what the deal is.

Once I have fire formed the brass, the following sizing and chambering are just as smooth as using commercial brass.

[Hoser]

You sure it is not the shoulder?

I have an issue with some mill brass where it doesn't want to chamber when it is first formed because the shoulder is more of a radius than a steep shoulder.

I think that is the first time I have ever heard the whisper as being described as having a steep shoulder.

I must be lucky, I have not had any issues forming brass from 221, 222, 223 and 5.56. I use the Redding dies and CH4D die for the Dillon trimmer.

[Scalce]

I think that is the first time I have ever heard the whisper as being described as having a steep shoulder.

I must be lucky, I have not had any issues forming brass from 221, 222, 223 and 5.56. I use the Redding dies and CH4D die for the Dillon trimmer.

Sorry I meant more sharp at the edge and not steep as in the angle.

Brainfart

What barrel do you have and what reamer was used on it?

[lovdasnow]

HOSER.

thanks so much for brass, and sorry i have not been on here more. the sight wouldn't work for me for a long time.

the brass is great, no issues at all. I still don't really know what was wrong with the old stuff, but i did try some different things that didn't work.

i passed the other 200 pieces that i had to another guy for free that wanted to try it. it worked fine for him in a AR15, so maybe my bolt gun had a tighter chamber?

anyway, thanks again!!!