223 seating issue.

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SC_Dave

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Nov 20, 2012
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Hickory, NC
I noticed this rounded shoulder today. Almost a slight flare if you will. It's not there per the calipers prior to seating so it's occurring when seating the bullet.
5GdISMhh.jpg

Yet, it passes the Wilson case gauge. ????
Oqdlcg4h.jpg

Thoughts please...
 
As Troy and Shimit up said, back it off just a bit. I like to set my dies by bringing them down until this happens, then backing it off until it doesn't. That round should still be fireable in a 5.56 chamber. The annular ring on your bullet is another indicator off too much pressure.
 
Back off the crimp just a hair, too much pressure on the case mouth.

Yep. Only time I ever had 223 that would not chamber was when I unintentionally crimped. Very hard to see and discover with calipers. Frustrating for sure. That was the last and only time I crimped bottleneck brass (40 some years ago). I surely would crimp if I had a tubular magazine rifle, but I don't have one.
 
UPDATE: Re-set the die for no crimp and adjusted the seater pin to seat to the center of the cannelure which gave me a COL of 2.48. Loaded 23 rounds and checked each one. All good, problem solved. Thanks all!!
David
 
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Are you seating and crimping in the same operation with the same die? If so, this often leads to some sort of problems. With that sort of setup, case length is crucial in terms of the seating and crimping operation occurring at the same time. It can lead to too much crimp being applied before the bullet is completely seated. My solution was to get a crimp die. For 5.56/.223, I use a Lee die. The collet die that doesn't care how long the case is.

For bolt guns, I don't crimp at all. For semi autos, I use a medium crimp.
 
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