Been reloading 556/223 for a couple of months now, after loading 45 ACP for 8 months or so. No real problems with 45 ACP but I have noticed a problem (?) with my 556 brass.
I bought 1000 pieces of new, uncrimped Lake City 556 brass to load. I sized all of the brass, trimmed it all, and passed each piece through a Lyman max case gauge before loading any of the brass. As I expected, nearly all of the new, sized brass (except for a handful) slipped easily into the case gauge, and fell out of the inverted gauge.
After loading and firing several hundred rounds using the LC brass, I am finding that after one firing, the cleaned and sized brass often will no longer fit into the gauge. Some of the cases will insert all the way to the rim and stop, as though the diameter of the rim has increased.
I thought that maybe an over-pressure load might be flattening the rim of the case, but I am loading at the very low end of the Lyman/Hornady load data, and do not see any signs of over-pressure on the primers or brass (no excessively flattened, mushroomed, or pierced primers, no ejector or extractor marks on the case head, no signs of imminent (or incipient) case head separation).
Any thoughts on what might be causing this condition?...and is this something I even need to fret about?
I bought 1000 pieces of new, uncrimped Lake City 556 brass to load. I sized all of the brass, trimmed it all, and passed each piece through a Lyman max case gauge before loading any of the brass. As I expected, nearly all of the new, sized brass (except for a handful) slipped easily into the case gauge, and fell out of the inverted gauge.
After loading and firing several hundred rounds using the LC brass, I am finding that after one firing, the cleaned and sized brass often will no longer fit into the gauge. Some of the cases will insert all the way to the rim and stop, as though the diameter of the rim has increased.
I thought that maybe an over-pressure load might be flattening the rim of the case, but I am loading at the very low end of the Lyman/Hornady load data, and do not see any signs of over-pressure on the primers or brass (no excessively flattened, mushroomed, or pierced primers, no ejector or extractor marks on the case head, no signs of imminent (or incipient) case head separation).
Any thoughts on what might be causing this condition?...and is this something I even need to fret about?