Enlighten me with .223

[activsean]

Greetings to all, hope you had a good weekend. I am loading 223 for use in an AR 15. Using a Dillon 550 with their carbide dies. 22 grains of H335, 55 gr fmj w/c, Wolf SR 223/5.56 primers with assorted brass, mostly lake city. Three issues...out of 100 rounds, 85 went off without a hitch, 5 or so had a delay between trigger push and ignition. Another 5 or so would not feed into the chamber and were very difficult to manually extract. An additional 5 or so loaded but did not go bang. I suspect that these primers might be junk. Failure to feed problem may have been due to dirty chamber or a dry action. I am new to loading rifle cartridges. Any suggestions would be welcome.

 

[rcmodel]

1. Your 22.0 grain load of H335 is 1.0 grain below Hodgdon recommended Starting Load with a 55 grain bullet. Why did you use that powder charge??

2. Sort you brass by headstamp and address sizing issues one brand at a time. Some cases are harder to size then others.

3. Set your sizing die down tight against the shell holder, then lower the ram and screw it down an additional 1/8 turn or so.
That springs / pre-loads the press so the case truly gets sized after press spring and linkage slop is taken up.

4. Primers were not fully seated all the way in the primer pockets.

5. Why are you testing your first rifle handloads in a rifle that may have been too dirty chamber or a dry action????

rc

 

[kingmt]

RC pretty much covered it except 22gn although light sounds like a good load to me.

 

[ngnrd]

I don't think the powder charge is out of line. Hornady #8 lists 20.8gr of H335 on the low end of their data for 55gr bullets (including their FMJ w/c) using Winchester brass and primers.

I can't comment about the quality of Wolf primers, as I don't have any experience with them.

 

[TBH]

I like to stick to one brand of brass. No cheap junk.
It's hard to not seat the primers all the way with a 550. Are you running the handle back all the way? Smooth and steady strokes. If you are new to a progressive press, load one at a time so you can monitor every step.
I have never used Wolf primers, are they old? Try CCI 450 if you can find them.

 

[45lcshooter]

Different brass head stamp has totally different characteristics to one an another. Yes same caliber but totally different in weight, size, and shape.

I would never load with assorted head stamp brass. Everything is head stamped so if something goes wrong I don't need to wonder if it was the brass or not because all the brass is head stamped and trimmed and chamfered all the same.

I've known guys who have used Wolf and the other off brand of primers, they said they much rather drink gasoline than use them primers again. Strong words, I've never used Wolf or off brand primers because of them saying that, they said they have had so many FTF. I'll stick with my Remington and CCI primers. Ive loaded thousands and thousands of round and fired them and never had a FTF with reloaded ammo with good components.

On the up side. 22gr for 55gr is a good load.

Hope you can get primers that actually go bang.

 

[Match10]

Wolf primers....

 

[kerreckt]

I have shot about 35k Wolf primers with 2 failures. Just lucky, I guess.

 

[Hondo 60]

I'll bet different headstamps are causing some of your issues.

Another 5 or so would not feed into the chamber and were very difficult to manually extract.

You probably over crimped & bulged the shoulder.

An additional 5 or so loaded but did not go bang.

On the ones that didn't go bang, did you try them a 2nd time?

 

[Reefinmike]

I'll bet different headstamps are causing some of your issues.



You probably over crimped & bulged the shoulder.


On the ones that didn't go bang, did you try them a 2nd time?

+1 on the bulged shoulder leading to chambering problems. I had a few chambering problems in my first 100 223 reloads. went back and figured out that you dont really need to crimp the stuff at all.

 

[highbrow]

Wolf primers and ball powder do not always get along well.

 

[activsean]

All good stuff! Thank you for your assistance.

 

[kingmt]

I've shot a lot of Wolf primers with ball powders. I don't have problems.

 

[kerreckt]

About all I shoot in my bolt action and AR .223's are Wolf primers and WC844. I use 25gr. of WC844 with Wolf primers and 62 grain bullet in the AR and various loads with Wolf primer for the bolt action. The bolt action loads are in the 40-52 grain bullet range because of its 1/12 twist. I have had very good success but visually inspect each reload to make sure that the primers are seated properly....slightly below flush.

 

[X-Rap]

I would shoot some more and check individual headstamps for proper function. I have never used wolf primers but would also advise to try some other brand if you find no differences in brand.
Scrub that chamber. Has this rifle had similar issues with other reloads? I had a specific AR that had a tight chamber and was not as reliable as my others, all it took was a trip to the gunsmith and it shoots anything I feed it now.
The load while light IMO should be plenty adequate to function properly but I would work it up some and you might find a sweet spot around 25 gr.

 

[lakecitybrass]

If you have a Bill Wylde chamber (not a CLE chamber) and the brass is sized uniformly, the Wolf primers are likely not an issue, in my opinion. I have used Wolf small rifle magnums and Wolf small rifle .223 primers with no problems in an AR.

I would strongly advise you to buy a Wilson case gauge and use it. Midway or Brownells sells them and they cost about $20. That tool can tell you immediately if the brass is going to work or at least whether it will chamber.
John