Unfired .223 reloads required a huge amount of effort to extract. What happened?

[IMtheNRA]

I was working on load development yesterday and had an annoying issue with two of the test rounds.

I chambered two consecutive rounds, and attempted to extract them without firing. It took an enormous amount of effort by two people to get them out. The bolt was locked in battery and did not want to budge.

I inspected the cartridges, and they seemed dimensionally similar to the rest, so I can't see any obvious problems.

Two observations: these are both nickel plated RP cases, and they were resized in a Hornady full length die while the rest of my reloads were Lapua brass and they were sized in a RCBS X die.

The bullet is the Sierra Match King, 69-gr, COAL 2.258-2.265, with COAL variation probably due to the surprisingly irregular bullet tips. Seated with a Redding Competition die. No crimp. Rifle used is a JP CTR-02 with a Wylde chamber.

I did not fire these rounds, of course. Just to make sure, I rechambered one of the sticky rounds and of course, I got the same results. So whatever the irregularity is, it did not get "ironed out" by the rifle's chamber.

I realize these two "sticky" cartridges must be dimensionally different from the rest, but I can't find anything wrong with them! Any ideas?

 

[rcmodel]

"Color" them completely with a black Magic Marker.
Chamber them.

Where the black rubs off is what is tight.

Most likely, they didn't get full length sized due to improper die adjustment.

Or, you crimped them in the seating die and buckled the shoulders imperceptibly.

rc

 

[R.W.Dale]

If this is anything other than a bolt action what you describe is typical of cases not getting FL resized.

Did you "cam over" your shellholder over against the die base by a 1/4 turn

 

[IMtheNRA]

Well, I did cam over with the X-Die, but not with the Hornady. I'll check Hornady's instructions again, but I don't think they call for turning the die in any more after it contacts the shellholder, like RCBS instructs the user.

These cases came from the Hornady FL sizing die, so the problem must be with the way I set it up.

I don't think that Redding Competition seater die even has a crimping feature.

 

[R.W.Dale]

Camming your press over is done for the press'es sake and not the dies. What you're doing is removing any standing gap caused by deflection of the presses frame. Even the sturdiest presses can have a suprising amount of upward flex

 

[Remo-99]

You may have a tight chamber(minimal tolerances), if so then resizing the cases 'completely' should cure this.
Like RC and Krochus suggest - ensure the press is camming over for proper die adjustment. This also takes up the 'play' from the press linkages etc. so the case fully enters the die.