Hello all! I am also new to reloading, but not brand new. I stated about a year ago out of necessity reloading custom subsonic cartridges for supressor use. I recently bought a 300BLK and now am tying my hand at making 300BLK from .223. I have got making the cases down pat. I am able to run complete brass threw the chamber of my rifle without an issue. HOWEVER, when I make a complete cartridge I stated to run into sticking rounds that are hard to cycle. I smoked a dummy round and found that the bullet itself is sticking, so much so that a tiny ring of brass has been scraped off and hangs on the side of the round. I would appreciate if someone would point me in the right direction and tell me what I am doing wrong. Thank you! I have attached a picture of what is going on.
Need Help with Fat Bullet
- Thread starter psualumni
- Start date
Aguila Blanca
Staff
This was appended to an eight-year old thread. I took the liberty of splitting it out to its own thread.
Aguila Blanca
Staff
While we wait for other responses, can you provide more information?
- You formed the brass from .223. What are the ID and OD of the neck?
- Whose bullets are you using?
- What's the OD of the bullet?
- What's your cartridge overall length?
First blush I don't begin to see a normal bullet there. Looks pretty crude.
Second is it looks to be way too big for the chamber and there is a lot of ripping and tearing going on pushing a shaved piece down towards the base.
Either its the wrong bullet (large than .308) or its not a 300 chamber.
Second is it looks to be way too big for the chamber and there is a lot of ripping and tearing going on pushing a shaved piece down towards the base.
Either its the wrong bullet (large than .308) or its not a 300 chamber.
Well I would hope its a 30 caliber bullet. It a Berry's 300 AAC 220gr (.308) Blackout Spire Point. I made the brass from Federal head stamp .223. Case OD at neck is .319. ID is .308. Brass is .011 thick. Bullet OD is .306. OAL is 2.150 as recommended by Berry's website. 99.9% sure the rifle is chambered in 300BLK as that is what Smith and Wesson stamped it, and I have ran a box of factory Federal with no problems.
The only way to harden copper and it's alloys is by working it. This happens in the process of forming jackets from stamped cups, as is done for conventional jacketed bullets. It does not happen when you electroplate copper onto lead, so the copper you have on those bullets is much softer than normal bullet jackets. It can, as you discovered, be shaved by a sharp case mouth, especially if that brass has been hardened by expansion and not annealed, or if it hasn't been chamfered and then had the newly sharp chamfered edges dulled.
Probably the easiest thing to do is buy a Lyman M-die and use it to expand a short step in the case mouth to let the bullet slip in past any sharp edges. The step is then closed by light contact with the crimp shoulder in your seating die at the end of the seating stroke. You may find coating the bullets with moly or hBN makes this all easier.
Probably the easiest thing to do is buy a Lyman M-die and use it to expand a short step in the case mouth to let the bullet slip in past any sharp edges. The step is then closed by light contact with the crimp shoulder in your seating die at the end of the seating stroke. You may find coating the bullets with moly or hBN makes this all easier.
Are you saying that when the round was loaded into the rifle the case pushed forward and shaved copper off of the bullet? Does my rifle have a tight chamber and not not like these projectiles? When I pressed the bullet into the case there was no shaving in the die while in the press. I understand that I hardened the case when I resided it for 300BLK from .223 and did not heat treat it first. I have seen this done numerous times before by others that advised annealing was not needed.
If the cases load fine and do not stick obviously that would point to a problem with the projectile. Are these bullets just junk? I tried shortening the OAL and still sticking. I just don't understand what is rubbing, thus shaving the bullet like that, and in turn, cause sticking.
If the cases load fine and do not stick obviously that would point to a problem with the projectile. Are these bullets just junk? I tried shortening the OAL and still sticking. I just don't understand what is rubbing, thus shaving the bullet like that, and in turn, cause sticking.
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Numbers don't add up. Brass neck OD 0.319", wall thickness 0.011". The brass neck ID can't possibly be 0.308".
A 30 cal bullet shouldn't have diameter of 0.306".
Try again please.
-TL
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Aguila Blanca
Staff
As Tangolima commented, your numbers don't add up.Tangolima said:
Berry's web site says their .300 Blackout bullets are .308" in diameter. I've been loading Berry's handgun bullets for years, and I've never found them to vary from the specified diameter by more than .0005, so I'm really curious about that .306: measurement.
Are those case neck dimensions you provided before or after running the expander into the case mouth? What brand of dies are you using? If you would, please remove the expander plug from that die and measure the OD of the expander.
Just to be sure I understand the problem here -- you're saying that the bullets loaded and crimped okay, without shaving lead -- and when you chambered them the bullet was pushed into the case and shaved the copper plating? If that's the case, it may simply be that the 2.150" C.O.A.L. is too long for your rifle. The ogive is hitting the rifling and being pushed back, and you have enough crimp to dig into the plating.
If that's an accurate summary, before you buy anything try loading a few of those bullets to a C.O.A.L. of 2.100" and a few at 2.050" (reduce the powder charge if you're above the starting load). Back off on your crimp just a bit.
Let us know if they chamber.
Also OD is .330 I was just a dumbass on that one. Yes they seat in the press just fine. When I chamber a round the copper is getting chafed on the bullet, and I have sticking. I hope a too long OAL is all that is to blame. These are subsonic rounds so there is plenty of room to shorten the OAL (minimum powder). I will try that next, thank you! I am not using a crimp. I was told if the bullet has plenty of wall tension and it does not move in the case, you don't need a crimp for rounds to be fed threw a Modern Sporting Rifle.
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big al hunter
New member
That appears that you either have a small bullet or the caliper was not zeroed. Without the bullet in the caliper close it until the blades of the caliper touch each other. Note the measurement it reads. Then push the "0" button to make sure it is reading zero.
The other possibility is that it is not calibrated correctly. Do you have another brand of bullets that you can measure to check calibration? Digital measuring devices can lie to you when the calibration is off.
Aguila Blanca
Staff
I don't see how a properly sized case could shave the plating off an undersized bullet when there's no crimp.
Did you chamfer the inside edges of the case mouths?
Big Al beat me to it on zeroing the caliper. I bought one, many years ago. Tried to use it once, and went right back to my dial calipers -- they don't lie to me, and they don't eat batteries.
Did you chamfer the inside edges of the case mouths?
Big Al beat me to it on zeroing the caliper. I bought one, many years ago. Tried to use it once, and went right back to my dial calipers -- they don't lie to me, and they don't eat batteries.
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I zero the calipers first thing before I use them, as I was taught. I just measured another Berry's and it came in at .308. I measured a Speer and it came in at .3075. Guess that was just a small bullet. Only the best Chinese rebranded RCBS tool tool, so I have no doubt its off a little.
I trimmed the cases and then deburred inside and out with carbide tools on case prep center.
Thanks everyone for the advice I've received already!
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I trimmed the cases and then deburred inside and out with carbide tools on case prep center.
Thanks everyone for the advice I've received already!
Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk