Remington 700 .223 chambering reloads problem

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matt29375

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Hi, I just bought a rem 700 adl in a .223 and I am trying to reload some once fired lake city brass. My issue is that after a full length resize, trim, tumble and load, the 5.56 lake city wont actually fit in my chamber. Is it even possible that my chamber wont fit a 5.56 even after a full resize and trim? The empty brass alone wont even chamber. However I have a couple rounds of other surplus 5.56 ammo that fits fine. Dont know if its just lake city stuff or a remington thing(first remington I've owned). Any help you guys could give is appreciated as I have 1k+ lake city I'm sitting on. Thanks
 
If you've shot the rifle with factory loads, then I'd say the chamber is fine. If you haven't shot it with factory loads, then do so. If they won't chamber, then your rifle needs to go back to Remington. If you can shoot factory loads, that would likely mean that your reloads aren't fine. Will FL resized brass (not loaded) fit in the chamber? If not, your resizing is in question. If they will fit, then resizing is Ok. If resizing is Ok, then your loaded rounds have to be the problem.
 
Sounds like the brass is not getting sized enough.
Continue turning the die into the press until the bolt will close on it.

Wrap a piece of masking tape around your die.
Make marks on the tape every 1mm.
As you turn the die down, each time you pass a 1mm tick mark, you have adjusted the die down another 0.001".
Make small adjustments, perhaps 0.002" at a time while checking for proper fit of the sized cases in the gun until you get to the right adjustment.
 
Hi, I just bought a rem 700 adl in a .223 and I am trying to reload some once fired lake city brass. My issue is that after a full length resize, trim, tumble and load, the 5.56 lake city wont actually fit in my chamber. Is it even possible that my chamber wont fit a 5.56 even after a full resize and trim? The empty brass alone wont even chamber. However I have a couple rounds of other surplus 5.56 ammo that fits fine. Dont know if its just lake city stuff or a remington thing(first remington I've owned). Any help you guys could give is appreciated as I have 1k+ lake city I'm sitting on. Thanks
Click to expand...

The brass is no good pm me and I'll send you my address:)!!!! For your safety of course.

If however you want to keep them,;) post a pic of a sized case and unloaded you may have the die set incorrectly. What is you trimmed COL, Type of Die's? any 5.56 round will fit into the .223 chamber but due to pressures it is a no-no once fired 5.56 brass when resized properly will fit into any .223.
 
Sometimes the expander pulls the neck forward on very soft brass. This can happen on fully anealed brass. Lube the inside of the neck even if you have a carbide expander.
 
Once the brass is sized, in a .223 die, it's all the same on the outside regardless of what the headstamp is. Probably not fully resizing the cases.
 
The expander can pull the sholder forward if the brass is soft and/or there is insufficient lube on the expander ball.
 
Remove the expander from the die, relube a case that will not fit, run it back in the die without changing your setting, see if ot fits.
 
I have a Remington 223 VS, and I had the same problem, The chamber is so tight, if you did not use cases shot in the same rifle, a regular sizer would not do it. Don't even think about shooting 5.56 ammo in it, in most semi autos it will not be an issue, but I almost blew mine up shooting 55 grain Guatamalan surplus. My T/C 223 barrel would not even chamber factory 5.56 ammo.

I had the same issue with a 243, on sizing the expander ball would pull back the neck. I solved the issue by sizing once with the ball and then again without.

Just checked my VS wiith some of my 69 Nosler NM AR loads, either my reloading is getting better or the chamber grew, because they fit fine.
 
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When I say it the brass wont fit(Just to clarify) the bolt will go all the way forward but it wont move when you try to lock it down. Basically the bolt wont close down the way it should. if it makes any difference
 
Id suggest just getting a couple of hundred round bulk packs of commercial .223 cases, and skip the military brass. The military stuff is more trouble than its worth, and its usually shorter lived.

A lot of times too, the once fired military stuff was shot out of MG's, which have more generous chambers, which can make sizing the brass more more of an issue.

The commercial stuff is a lot easier to work with. Lasts a good bit longer, no messing with primer pockets, annealing the necks, stuck cases, and you dont have to download it.
 
I would think that that would show on either the bullet or the neck on the cases that were removed.

A Sharpie to the bullet, neck and shoulder should clear that up pretty quick.
 
matt29375 said:
When I say it the brass wont fit(Just to clarify) the bolt will go all the way forward but it wont move when you try to lock it down. Basically the bolt wont close down the way it should. if it makes any difference
Click to expand...

This is exactly what happens when you do not push the case shoulder down enough during sizing.

Most people don't realize that the reloading press frame stretches during sizing.
So, you may have adjusted the die down to touch the shell holder when there was no brass in the shell holder, but when you put a piece of brass in the shell holder and size it, the die is no longer touching the shell holder.
You can verify this by putting a flashlight behind the press, aiming at the spot where the die and shell holder should meet.
Then run the press ram up and look through the gap while sizing a case.

The solution is to screw the die down some more until you are sizing the brass enough.

If you wrap a piece of masking tape around your sizing die and make pencil/pen marks every 1mm around the die, that will give you a scale to use when adjusting the die down more.
As you turn the die down, each 1mm mark will represent 0.001" more sizing.
I recommend adjusting 0.002" down at a time until your bolt will close easily on the test piece of brass.
Then stay at that setting and size a few more cases to test.
If all goes well, lock down that adjustment.
 
As brass gets reloaded several times, it gets less malleable and often dies need to be turned in a little. Cases shot in a different rifle may also require more sizing.

I once bought a set of 6mm Rem dies from a reputable manufacturer that were actually warped at the factory during heat-treating. Loaded rounds rolled across a table resulted in bullet noses going around in a circle. Rounds didn't chamber. The die was returned and the new one was fine, but now I always roll my first reloads from a new die set.
 
He solved his problem. I asked him to post it here to stop the speculation. All he needed was lube on the inside of the necks.
 
Littleherb,

The case was sized correctly but then ruined by drawing the dry expander ball back through the neck. That in effect pulls the case out of spec. If it will bend one way it will bend the other way. The "out" stroke is as important as the in stroke, his problem was in the out stroke.
 
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