223 dies

Question:
I'm having trouble with a new ar15. The chamber seems tight? Which dies would work the best? rcbs regular dies are not working

Choices:
lee
redding
competition

 

mad mike I would first find out if you are truely resizing your brass. A Mo's gage or a RCBS precision Mic will allow this. Measures from the case base to datum line. Take an average of a reasonably sized sample. Now resize this sample brass, remeasure. You should find your brass some what shorter. There is great debate as to how much shorter. But I push my 223, for my ARs, to be at least .003" to .004" shorter than fired.
You may not need a new die just further adjustments.
Your expander may be pulling the shoulder forward as it pulls through the neck.
A different shell holder/die combination may allow proper sizing.
I also would recomend a L.E. Wilson chamber type cartridge gage to quality control check each finished round.
Semi autos need easy chambering cartridges. This can be a safety issue.
I've seen the aftermath of an out of battery discharge. Not too pretty for either the rifle or shooter.

muck

Might need a small base sizer die.

if you need a small base sizer in an ar i believe i'd run a reamer into it and enlarge the chamber a bit so regular loads would function. last thing i want is an ar that is fussy

quote:

Originally posted by butchloc:
if you need a small base sizer in an ar i believe i'd run a reamer into it and enlarge the chamber a bit so regular loads would function. last thing i want is an ar that is fussy

I got to agree with this post.......

That said.....I'm betting something else is wrong

Take your reloads to someone else with a .223 and see if that person's gun has trouble with them as well.

I'll only ask if factory rounds work without problems ?.

If they do , correct your reloads as necessary ,if not have A GunSmith look it over and decide what's up

before doing anything else . Did you clean your chamber with a chamber brush really well ?.

My choice
None of the above.
If you have RCBS dies you can send them in and they will exchange for small base dies that will work for what you are doing.

You should not need SB dies in a factory AR.

I ran into the same thing one time. RCBS small base dies didn't set the shoulder back any more than regular dies. I tried 4 different dies in total they all set the shoulder back within a thou.

My solution was to run a reamer with a shorter throat into the chamber and open up the headspace by .003".

In my opinion, if you are running other rifles of the same caliber you don't need one prima donna that uses "special" brass.

What AR-15 do you have?

When I got my RRA and started to reload for it, the first few peices that I had resized did not fit the chamber, nor the chamber for the colt or Remington r-15 that I had as well. (Using dillion press and dillion .223 die).

I then checked it in my bolt gun and noticed that the bolt would close hard.

I then realized that this die needed to be turned down a bit more again the ram. Once done the problem was solved.

If you are using the RCBS die and it isn't working, I would suggest that you buy the seaters that allow you to get a few more thousands sizing. I have a set for a 22-250 that my Dad needed for one of his remington's.

A small base die might be needed, but I really doubt that is the issue, and I would probably just get a new barrel before I reamed out the chamber, unless you have a buddy that would do it for a reasonable price.

Some times the expander ball pulls the shoulder out on the return stroke. Try resizing WITHOUT the decap assy and try chambering the case.
HTH

I have several 223s. One bolt action Mossberg would be very tight when closing the bolt. Even got one stuck.

Bought a Wilson case gage and found out that I was not sizing down quite far enough. I was using Lee dies, but don't think the brand made a difference. Now all my 223s fit all my ARs and Bolt guns.

The case gage is much easier to use than calipers.