reloaded 223 not feeding all the way the chamber

[elevenbravo556]

Greetings,
I recently bought a complete upper from Radical Arms, initial range trip was not as successful i had hope for.
I experienced "failing to feed" several times, the bolt will not go all the way in and it will take alot of force to extract the round out of the chamber? Any idea...pls help.

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[2ndtimer]

Are these rounds you have loaded yourself, or by someone else? Sounds like they may not be sufficiently resized. Are the cases full length resized? To the point of "cam over" in the press? (Screw the sizing die all the way down until touches the shell holder , then raise the handle of the press and screw the sizing die down another 1/4 turn or so). If that doesn't work, Iit may be that you have a tight chamber and may need a small base sizing die.
If these are factory reloads, contact the manufacturer snd see what they say.

 

[usagi]

get a loaded round check gauge.

http://www.sheridanengineering.com/index-1.htm

PROTIP: Most gauges only measure length, not any other dimension. if it passes a sheridan check it WILL chamber. if it passes a L.E. wilson or other case gauge not cut with a chamber finishing reamer, it "might" chamber or it might not.

most likely you are not bumping the shoulder back enough. 2ndtimer's advice is sound.

the other possibility is the case needs to be trimmed, but for once fired brass that is unlikely.

 

[elevenbravo556]

Are these rounds you have loaded yourself, or by someone else? Sounds like they may not be sufficiently resized. Are the cases full length resized? To the point of "cam over" in the press? (Screw the sizing die all the way down until touches the shell holder , then raise the handle of the press and screw the sizing die down another 1/4 turn or so). If that doesn't work, Iit may be that you have a tight chamber and may need a small base sizing die.
If these are factory reloads, contact the manufacturer snd see what they say.

Are these rounds you have loaded yourself, or by someone else? Sounds like they may not be sufficiently resized. Are the cases full length resized? To the point of "cam over" in the press? (Screw the sizing die all the way down until touches the shell holder , then raise the handle of the press and screw the sizing die down another 1/4 turn or so). If that doesn't work, Iit may be that you have a tight chamber and may need a small base sizing die.
If these are factory reloads, contact the manufacturer snd see what they say.

Thank you for the advice...I reloaded the rounds that I was using at that time. I forgot to mention that I fire my Bushmaster with a 16" barrel with the same rounds that day and no malfunction at all. I have ordered a case gauge and will reload a fresh batch of rounds with once fired brass. I will trim and double check the COL...I'll post the results asap...again thanks for all the advice.

 

[Garg]

Two things I do when building a new upper.
1.) I drill out the gas port a little bit. Just one size bigger.
2.) I take a chamber brush attached to a drill, and ream out the chamber area for a few minutes.

Call me crazy, but doing these two things has yielded consistently good running uppers.

If the bushy runs the ammo with no problem, I would try the chamber brush trick.

 

[FOWELKILLER]

i had this same problem with my ar when i first started reloading,it turned out to be my laziness of not checking the oal of the case,after i started trimming the cases problem solved.but mine and my wifes ar's were both having this problem that day.my guess is head space.keep em trimmed

 

[oli700]

Two things I do when building a new upper.
1.) I drill out the gas port a little bit. Just one size bigger.

considering most barrels come over gassed these days you must have some extra jumpy guns

 

[Garg]

considering most barrels come over gassed these days you must have some extra jumpy guns

Not at all. They run like tops. The only thing extra gassey around here is me, on Taco night

 

[oli700]

I am sure they run, and run hard.
I'm probably not breaking news to you but when you introduce un-needed gas to the AR platform it runs the BCG too fast, It will run fine but you are stressing bolt lugs as the rifle is trying to unlock too fast.......unless you started with an under gassed rifle.

Most of all theses "newer" barrel makers in the last 5 years are flooding the market with barrels that come with a bigger than necessary gas port to make things run with a wide variety of buffer weights and end user set ups .......kind of a guarantee to run.
If you were to drill out , lets say a Ballistic Advantage, you would ruin the port that is tuned for that particular gas system length and dwell time.......
I can build a pistol that shoots as soft as a well done mid length and its all based on the right amount of gas and the dwell time after the projo passes the port........anyway I used to make barrels for a living, I'm glad it works for you but that is the first time I ever heard that and don't want new builders to think this is "OK".......happy building

 

[Garg]

One size up on a precision set of bits is extremely small.
I have actually had the reverse experience with the last few barrels. Under gassed IMO. Would not cycle the action properly. One size up one the drill set has fixed them.
But yes I agree. You should check for proper function BEFORE you modify any part. And then, do it VERY carefully.

 

[elevenbravo556]

thank you all for the inputs on my inquiry. i will repost as soon as i tweak my reloads to see if that would solve the issue.

 

[Mark W.]

OK well all this crap about gas ports aside. Back to the actual problem the OP asked about.

Look at your brass that got stuck are there scuff marks on the sides of the case near the base? If so then the case hasn't been sized small enough for your chamber.

If the shoulder of the brass has any dimples or looks even the slightest bit deformed you have a head spacing problem with the new gun.

If the edge of the cases at the neck have any damage you can have a OAL problem

Rounds for a semi auto rifle should be full length resized if being used in more then one chamber. It only takes a .001" of an inch to make a round to big to seat. And as a chamber gets dirty and hot that can be amplified.

 

[oli700]

If the shoulder of the brass has any dimples or looks even the slightest bit deformed you have a head spacing problem with the new gun.

BS

 

[Garg]

 

[oli700]

dimples in the shoulder can come from a number of things from too much lube during the resizing to trying to crimp a case that's a couple thousands too long.....I have only seen one AR with headspace issues and it simply didn't go into full battery , no dimples on the shoulder . AR head space problems on an AR are as rare as hens teeth.....might be 1 in 500.

 

[Mark W.]

Sorry I have absolutely no experience with an AR-15 having never even shot one of the things. I was just going on my 46 years of experience reloading ammo. I sure you know best I shouldn't have included all the possible things for the OP to look for.

 

[oli700]

You have about 20 yeas reloading on me, I have about 7 years barrel manufacturing on you ........ you did get the thread back on track and for that I thank you , sorry OP didn't mean to derail your thread and make your dad mad at me

 

[Garg]

I didn't mean to derail the OP either.
Reading his posts through, the two take a way's I got were:
The "ammo" runs fine in a known good working AR - The Bushmaster
The "ammo" does not run fine in a NEW AR upper, from Radical arms. (never heard of them, but I don't get out much)
Should you try a brand NEW AR upper using home reloads to test it? Probably not.
Is it MORE likely that a NEW upper may have an issue than "ammo" that runs fine in another AR?
Probably Yes.
OP, Good luck in finding your issue.

 

[oli700]

too many variables to say for sure without rifle and ammo in hand .

If its the rifle chances are the chamber needs the reamer sent through it one more time.

If its chrome lined it could be inconsistencies in plating....if your reloads ran great in a non chrome chamber on the lose side of tolerance, then you took the same reloads ,they might not run great in a chrome lined chamber manufactured on the tight side of tolerance

If you tune reloads for a 556 chamber they might not chamber great in a tight tolerance 223 chamber AR as the lede if different for the two....you can even have 10 556 chambered barrels from different companies and all of them can have a different lede

If he shot all the cases through his old rifle and the chamber on the new rifle is any tighter than the base of the case might not let the cartridge fully seat in the chamber ....sometimes a small base sizing die will cure it sometimes not

It can be many things, all he needs to do is pick a place to start and use the process of elimination

As far as all the offish topic stuff it is still good info for a person building, running or reloading for an AR15 like the OP.....any information pertaining to his chosen firearm is worth hearing.....I'm sure it took all of 3 minutes to wade through the bog of off topic info

 

[elevenbravo556]

All comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated. I am waiting for a case gauge to come in. i have purchased a 100 once fired brass that i will be trimming and reloading just to test the feeding issue. by the way who makes the small base sizing dies just in case i need one?