Recently bought a Sportll and took it to the range today for the first time. Had mounted a scope and so took about 30 rounds to get it on paper and zeroed. I initially shot Remington .223 55 gr FMJ with no problems. Tried firing some ammo I had loaded and this is where the problem occurred. The ammo would not fully chamber and the bolt would not close all the way even using assist. I had to hit the charging handle hard to extract the round. These rounds were all PPU brass fired once. I fully resized them with RCBS dies, trimmed the cases and cleaned and tumbled them. This happened with 2 different rounds. The first was Hornady 55gr FMJ with a COAL of 2.230. The other was a Sierra 65 gr GameKing SBT with a COAL of 2.260. I have been reloading for over 15 years and never had a round that would not chamber. I also have a 1971 Colt SP1 and bot rounds chambers with no problems in it. Anybody got any ideas on what is going and what I should do?

I cant speak for the 65gr Sierra GameKing but I do load the 55gr Hornady
FMJ at 2.220 in my Sport without any chambering trouble.
2.244 is what my 69gr SMK loads measure.
It may be you just need to shorten up a little in your COAL, not withstanding any problems with your cases.
Jim

Do you have a case gauge? If so, do the loaded rounds fit the gauge correctly?

(Presuming it's a single stage press) Is the press handle "camming over" when the sizing operation is getting done?

OR

Loading press "cam over" is necessary only when resized brass or a loaded cartridge will not fit a case gauge freely. A case gauge is a must for 100% reliable feeding and extraction. If sized brass and loaded cartridge fits the gauge, it will work fine as long as OAL of loaded round is not too long. 2.26" OAL should work fine, but that's about max. I try to load slightly shorter to account for the small but measureable variance in overall lengths of the bullets.

Measure,measure,and measure again. Let us know your results. My friend had a similar problem with a AR10 and bought special dies I believe. Post in the reloading section will probably get you more help.

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Hue 68 noli me tangere

I found out (the hard way) that many AR's require the use of small based dies on reloaded fodder in order to run reliably. ( Something that was out there on the net but I had missed.) Once I switched to a SB sizing die, my problems were cured.

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Dave

There is a remote possibility you'll need small base size die, but unlikely. Before you purchase one, get the case gauge, something you'll need anyway. If your present size die won't size sufficiently for the case to enter the case gauge, then look at a small base sizer.

I don't own a case gauge, but over the last 38 years have loaded and shot thousands of rounds of 223 using a standard (not small base) RCBS die through two different Ruger Mini-14s and two different ARs without a single failure of any kind so I'm not sure how much of a "must" one really is.

Have you compared (both visually and by measurement) the fired cases with the ones that would not chamber?

Have you "painted" the rounds that would not chamber using a Sharpie or similar markers and then attempted to chamber it and found out where it is hanging up?

If so, what were the results?

At this stage, several possibilities present themselves:

• The full-length die is not resizing the case sufficiently
• The die is not properly adjusted to set the case shoulder back sufficiently
• The case neck was partially collapsed during reloading
• Case length is too long.

That's why the comparative analysis of the cases that did chamber and fire with those that didn't along with the Sharpie test is relevant.

The instructions RCBS sent along with my dies specifies the die be inserted into the press until the bottom of the die contacts the shell holder and then the die turned in a specified amount until the press cams over.

Since the manufacturer of the die said adjusting it so the press cams over is required and dies adjusted this way have produced ammunition that has worked flawlessly in four different semi-automatic rifles over the last 38 years, I will continue to follow those directions.

Thanks to all of you who replied to my thread. Some additional information for you is that my press is a single stage RCBS rock chucker. When I adjust my sizer die I adjust the die so that it just touches the shell plate and then lower the shell plate and lower the die and additional quarter turn so that I get cam over. I do not have a case gauge presently but I am going to order one. I have taken measurements and, based on your suggestion,did the sharpie trick on two of the cartridges. The SAMMI measurement for the bottom of the case body just above the extractor groove is .3759. The factory ammo runs .373-.374 and the reloads are running .375-.377. The sharpie showed probable contact just in front of the top of the shoulder and on the body just above the extractor groove. Based on what I have seen I went ahead tonight and ordered the RCBS small base sizer die. I talked to technical support at Smith and Wesson today but they see no point in returning the rifle to them. They told me if I returned it they would shoot several rounds of factory ammo to see what was happening and since I am not having a problem with factory ammo there is nothing they could do. He told me they don't even talk about reloaded ammo. I'll see what happens when I use the small base die.

Yep, makes sense... works fine with factory ammo, not a problem with the rifle. Obviously an issue with the reloads.

Are you crimping the bullet in the case? Crimping will sometimes cause the neck to swell and cause chambering problems.

Given your measurements of the reloaded cases it's also possible that your die is out of spec. I've loaded of thousands of .223 using standard RCBS dies and shot them through a number of AR's, including three separate match rifles, and never needed a small base die.