Getting a lotta jams where you can't pull the slide back

[0to60]

I'm getting a lot of rounds that feed into the chamber ok, but they seem like they're maybe too large to go all the way in. They jam themselves in there so good that its almost IMPOSSIBLE to pull the slide back to eject them.

They're all happening with LSWCs from a very popular company on this forum, and its happening in both .40 (Glock 23) and 9mm (Beretta M9). I haven't noticed it with any bullet designs other than the LSWCs.

Is there something I can do to fix this?

 

[Blue68f100]

Do a plunk test to see it the round fits your chamber. Check to see if your OAL is too long and getting into the lands. Then make sure you are remove all of the flare.

Did you slug your barrel for proper sizing?

 

[rcmodel]

Yes, for sure you can fix it.

Color one that sticks with a black magic marker and chamber it.

When you get it back out, what is shiny brass or lead is what is tight.

It is either going to be one of two things though.

1. You are seating the LSWC too long, and they are jamming into the rifling leade when fully chambered.

or
2. You are not taper-crimping enough, and the case mouth is hanging in the chamber.

Set your seating/crimp die to crimp:
* 9mm .376" measured at the case mouth.
* .40 S&W .421" measured at the case mouth.

One or the other, or both will fix your problem.

rc

 

[Sam1911]

Yup. The "plunk test" will get that sorted out for you.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=506678

Your OAL is just a bit too long.

 

[0to60]

What's weird is that out of a batch of 100 rounds, I'll get maybe 2-3 of these. The rest all work fine. If it were an OAL or crimping issue, I'd imagine I would be seeing it on all the rounds.

When I try the plunk test or use a case gauge, the problem rounds definitely don't fit.

I almost think this is a seating issue. Like, the bullet isn't getting seated perfectly straight and it causes the case to bulge on one side.

 

[Sam1911]

Take the batch that isn't working and adjust your seat die just a touch farther down, and run them through. Then plunk-test them. Did that fix the problem?

If yes, go ahead and make your future loads with the die set like that. It will prevent the handful of oddball "tolerance stacking" issues that are causing a few to hang up.

If no, try a little deeper. Within a few hundredths you should see the problem disappear. If not, then you might have some other issue.

 

[noylj]

Do the magic marker test.
Remove the barrel. Paint the bullet and case with black magic marker.
Drop round in chamber and rotate back-and-forth
Look for scratches in the paint.
Scratches on bullet--COL is too long
Scratche at case mouth--need more "crimp"
Scratches on case at base of bullet--usually due to improper or no case expansion (just case mouth flaring) causing bullet to seat crooked and push out where case wall is thinnest. Check for proper expansion (case ID should be 0.001-0.002" smaller than bullet diameter after proper case expansion)
Scratches near extractor groove--case has slight bulge that wasn't sized out or bulged was "ironed out" to a raised ridge going about half way around the case.
Fix the problem and let us know.

 

[Blue68f100]

You maybe short stroking the ram.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

What they said above but what Sam said I think is closer to your problem.

If you are resizing shells that were shot hard from an unsupported chamber the case will have a slight budge just above the rim, you will have exactly what you described. I've had that problem, I discovered that my resizing die wasn't down against my shell plate on my LNL-AP. Its really hard to see how close the die is on that particular press.

After I made sure the resizing die was down where it belongs (touching the shell plate with the ram completely up) that problem went away and it has never came back.

Good luck