Phil3 said:
bigedp51 said:
The Wilson case gauge is a commercial SAAMI gauge and your firing .223 cases in a longer and fatter military chamber that is NOT a SAAMI commercial dimension chamber. My .223 cases fired in my AR expand outward more (too fat) and do not fit the gauge until they are resized.
I'm not firing 223 cases in a longer and fatter military chamber. The chamber in the barrel I bought from Krieger was specifically chambered in 223 and NOT a military chambering. According to Krieger (to the best of my recollection), the chamber is to minimum SAAMI specs. I have a call into Krieger to confirm the reamer used.
I looked at the Hornady case gauge, and if we are talking about the same thing, the tool is device that clips on the caliper blade with caliber specific inserts. If so, I already have the same thing from Sinclair. I opted for the Wilson case gauge to mostly confirm my own should setback using the Sinclair tool and to see how far out from SAAMI specs the fired cartridge might be.
Phil
You asked this question.
Phil3 said:
I am a little perplexed by "I do not have a problem with .223 cases fitting the Wilson gauge when fired in my .223 bolt action with a smaller diameter chamber". I never expected the fired case to fit the Wilson. Am I off track here?
Phil
I fired a "softer" commercial case in my 5.56 chamber and it was too "fat" to fit in a Wilson case gauge after it was fired. "NORMALLY" a fired case will fit in a Wilson case gauge "IF" fired in a SAAMI chamber. What I should have added before was my fired Lake City cases fit in the Wilson case gauge because military brass is harder in the base to withstand higher pressures and larger diameter chambers.
"YOU" asked a question, and I gave an answer of "WHY" the case fired in "MY" military chamber did not fit in "MY" Wilson gauge. YOU stated you never expected a fired case to fit the Wilson gauge. If you don't measure a fired case how will you know how much shorter to make the resized case? The Wilson gauge is a before and after resizing comparator gauge.
What fits in your chamber and Wilson gauge will be up to you, loading commercial cases to the AR 15s higher pressures "might" cause problems. You might need small base dies with your Winchester cases to fit your smaller than normal Krieger chamber. (it could be .0025 smaller in diameter)
Also if your AR is over gassed and most are, when the bolt starts moving to the rear there is still pressure in the barrel. This pressure as the bolt moves to the rear can cause the shoulder of the case to move forward. Meaning your fired cases might be longer than your chamber and you will get a false reading of fired case length in the Wilson gauge. This might cause you to not bump the shoulder back far enough and cause chambering problems.
You need to know how long your chamber is to the shoulder datum point to resize your fired cases "SMALLER" than your chamber. Normally you measure a fired case so you will know how much shorter to make the resized case so it will chamber reliably.