reloaded 223 not feeding all the way the chamber

[oli700]

RCBS is my go to for reloading....I know they make one....I bet others do but I'm not sure.Its all personal preference.
Usually if you load with full length die your good, but there are exceptions. IMO you should do all the free stuff first lol.
Other than at this point its my opinion that you should buy around 50 or 60 good factory rounds for your testing to eliminate potential problems with the firearm.
Don't need the best rounds but at least a good US made round like some fed M193 or the like....after that go after your reloads

 

[2ndtimer]

Oli makes a good point. Have you tried some factory ammo in the problematic upper? Did they run ok? If you haven't, go ahead and drop $20 or so on a couple boxes of Federal American Eagle or Privi Partizan and see if it runs okay. If it doesn't, then you may need to return the upper and have it checked out. If the factory ammo runs okay, then it sounds like an issue with your sizing or case length. Good Luck.

 

[elevenbravo556]

That's exactly what i was planning to do, I'll get some factory rounds and test fire the upper with them.

 

[Papercidal]

You can get one of these hornady headspace gauge setups http://www.hornady.com/store/Lock-N-Load-Headspace-Kit-With-Body-1-Each/
or do like I did and just buy the body and the one or bushings you need (about 15$ At sportsmans if I recall corectly) this will allow you to measure how far the shoulder of the case has stretched in the chamber (and how far you need to size it back) you will need to push the shoulder back about 2-3 thousandth for it to feed and fire in your chamber. If you are planning on using your ammo in multiple Guns you can either size them all down to factory spec or just to 2-3 thousandth shorter than brass fired in the tightest chamber.

There is a bit more to setting up rifle sizing dies than pistol and in order to push the shoulder back enough on my press I had to take about 3 thousandths off of the bottom of the die to allow it to screw down enough.

 

[elevenbravo556]

You can get one of these hornady headspace gauge setups http://www.hornady.com/store/Lock-N-Load-Headspace-Kit-With-Body-1-Each/
or do like I did and just buy the body and the one or bushings you need (about 15$ At sportsmans if I recall corectly) this will allow you to measure how far the shoulder of the case has stretched in the chamber (and how far you need to size it back) you will need to push the shoulder back about 2-3 thousandth for it to feed and fire in your chamber. If you are planning on using your ammo in multiple Guns you can either size them all down to factory spec or just to 2-3 thousandth shorter than brass fired in the tightest chamber.

There is a bit more to setting up rifle sizing dies than pistol and in order to push the shoulder back enough on my press I had to take about 3 thousandths off of the bottom of the die to allow it to screw down enough.

So when you said "take about 3 thousandths off the bottom of the die" you meant grind it off?

 

[jluck]

If you find you did not bump the shoulder back far enough (common problem with novice reloaders for the AR especially), There is a shoulder bumping die for loaded ammo. I know a guy who had a thousand or more rounds loaded up that didn't fit in his AR's when he was done. got the die I mentioned, ran them all through it and was golden.

 

[elevenbravo556]

where can i get the shoulder bumping die?

 

[rick benjamin]

Could 11Bravo post a pic of the barrel roll mark?

 

[Papercidal]

So when you said "take about 3 thousandths off the bottom of the die" you meant grind it off?

Yes I just backed the de capping pin out the top of the die about 3/4" and chucked it into a drill (a press would be ideal) and put the base of the die flat on the surface of a diamond sharpening stone and ran it on slow speed taking just a little off the bottom of the die allowing me to turn it a little further down Toward the shell plate. It still cams over a little bit but no longer racks the shell plate as much (dillon 650).

 

[AMProducts]

umm... before you start grinding your dies you might want to take some time out and make a few dummy rounds to actually check for function.

The AR, despite what anyone says is not that delicate an instrument, in many cases an off-the-shelf AR is a fully functional combat rifle, sans the "fun" setting.

So in going through this thread, I didn't catch what dies you were using to do your reloads. Generally, I think you probably want to go with a RCBS small-base die, or a dillon die (dillons are always cut small). Since making this change myself, I have had zero issues with tens of thousands of rounds worth of reloads.

 

[rick benjamin]

Before grinding dies, before oversizing gas port holes.
Buy one box of commercial loads.
Run them through your Radical upper.

 

[rick benjamin]

It appears that Radical Firearms purchases their barrels from E.R. Shaw

 

[mccullogh]

RCBS makes them.

Which chamber is it ?

I'd suggest trying a couple of different factory rounds. If there is a problem with the upper and you need to do a return it will go much smoother if you start your story off with factory ammo failures rather than reloads.

 

[elevenbravo556]

Thank you all for the input, im expecting the case gauge tomorrow