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Shoulder bump problem

C.E.Smith043

I have about 200 rounds of loaded .223 Rem ammo that i later discovered i didnt set the shoulder back far enough for my AR-15. Some will chamber but some will stick and not completely chamber. Im guessing they need about another .002 or .003" bump.

I have a Redding body die. Is there any foreseeable problem with bumping the shoulder back on this already loaded ammo? I know its probably not advised for safety concerns but will it introduce any problems in the accuracy or pressure department?

This is not ammo loaded for a match, just stuff i shoot towards feral hogs.
 
I wouldn't do it for safety reasons , the odds of it firing probably aren't high , but it's not a chance I am willing to take.... Pull the bullets , resizing and reuse the powder etc.... If you were to have one go off , is it worth the $50,000 hospital bill over 100 rounds of .223...?

Just my opinion....I could be wrong here , but it sounds like you need to go to a small base die if they are sticking in the chamber...
 
I have done this before but be very careful, wear kevlar gloves and goggles with face shield. but I have done it very carefully and i was skeeerrrrdddd...I only done like 10....... and from then on done very careful measurements always chamber a few to always make sure when loading to be on the safe side
 
Rsadams said:
I wouldn't do it for safety reasons , the odds of it firing probably aren't high , but it's not a chance I am willing to take.... Pull the bullets , resizing and reuse the powder etc.... If you were to have one go off , is it worth the $50,000 hospital bill over 100 rounds of .223...?

Just my opinion....I could be wrong here , but it sounds like you need to go to a small base die if they are sticking in the chamber...
Click to expand...
^^^^^^this
 
C.E.Smith043 said:
I have about 200 rounds of loaded .223 Rem ammo that i later discovered i didnt set the shoulder back far enough for my AR-15. Some will chamber but some will stick and not completely chamber. Im guessing they need about another .002 or .003" bump.

I have a Redding body die. Is there any foreseeable problem with bumping the shoulder back on this already loaded ammo? I know its probably not advised for safety concerns but will it introduce any problems in the accuracy or pressure department?

This is not ammo loaded for a match, just stuff i shoot towards feral hogs.
Click to expand...
maybe they will work in another rifle best bet
 
C.E.Smith043 said:
I have about 200 rounds of loaded .223 Rem ammo that i later discovered i didnt set the shoulder back far enough for my AR-15. Some will chamber but some will stick and not completely chamber. Im guessing they need about another .002 or .003" bump.

I have a Redding body die. Is there any foreseeable problem with bumping the shoulder back on this already loaded ammo? I know its probably not advised for safety concerns but will it introduce any problems in the accuracy or pressure department?

This is not ammo loaded for a match, just stuff i shoot towards feral hogs.
Click to expand...
My answer to your question is that although it is not likely to explode, there is risk involved in sizing a loaded round in a body die. Pull the bullets, size the cases, reuse the components as feasible, and move on.

However, before you reload any more rounds, you need to measure the distance from the datum (shoulder) to the case head, before and after sizing. Additionally, check the deck height of the shell holder, it should be 0.125 inches.

As you discovered, some cases have more ability to resist full length sizing, resulting in certain cases being too long to chamber. Others will chamber even while being too long.

A while back, I went through the same thing. After trial and error, I replaced a shell holder that was too short, set the sizing die to cam over, and obtained a Wilson Case Gage.

Cheers,
 
Bumping the shoulder of loaded rounds is a dangerous proposition even though
it has been done.

What you have here-----if using a mounted press----is a very short chamber
surrounded by a cast metal press------all about belly high.

The odds are very much in your favor if you do this setback but the off-odds
can do a lot of damage and injury.

Are you willing to risk a belly full metal for a bit of convenience ?

A. Weldy
 
Thanks so much for the replies everyone. I tried these in my bolt action and they will chamber fine, some have slight resistance but nothing that shouldn't work. I will just use them in my bolt action.

I did discover the reason this happened was because I wasn't setting up my die properly. At the time I put these rounds together, I adjusted the die to where it left a small amount of daylight between the base of the die and the shell holder. Well, it turned out that it worked for some of them but not for all of them. Now that I've seated the die completely down against the shell holder with a slight cam over everything chambers perfectly.

I also took measurements with a headspace gauge so that I have some actual measurements to go off of next time. Thanks again for the help.
 
No way on loaded Ammo .. One life one Face.

As stated Pull it down start over AR Small Base Die . One other point Trim your Brass to the Min.
Most AR's with Match type Chambers hate Long brass.
 
I have to agree with another poster , why is this even being discussed...? Just for the sake of argument..? It's very simple , if you want to chance loosing some fingers or an eye or even being killed doing this over $30-$40 worth of reloads , then we are grown ups and go for it... I would NOT do it... Break them down , get the proper dies etc .003 should be fine.. There's plenty of people in this world missing fingers or eyes or dead over stuff like this..

Pictures of primer tubes stuck in ceilings , fingers stitched up and missing meat and finger nails all can be found right here on this board over primers that shouldn't have gone off... It only takes that one time out of thousands to be a life defining moment... The odds of it going off I would say are slim but not none.... Step right up and spin the wheel of fate....
 
How would squeezing a base /body down set round off? Not talking shoulder bump ,just base and body?
 
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