I am currently reloading 223 with once fired military brass. I have a dillon 550 reloader, dillon dies and a dillon sizing gauge. I am loading 60grain vmax bullets , using winchester 748 pwder 25.5 grains, and cci magnum primers. excellent groups but i am having some problems. not all of the ammo will feed into my new rifle. I have a friend that uses a rock river 223 and it is feeding everything that we reload. does anyone know if dpms rifles have very tight tollerances. That is my question. I wanted a battle rifle not a pickie eater.

Welcome aboard The Nut Gatornavy. Grab a beer mate, pull up a stump and sit awhile.

You must be ex service from the way you have "ordered" your info mate.

Unfortunately I am not familiar with the DPMS as we are not allowed semi autos out here in Australia, but there are plenty here who are, so take the weight off mate and someone will be along shortly.

Cheers, Vince

Try getting a hold of a small base sizing die. Sometimes a full Length sizing die still doesn't size down the case enough to feed reliably in a semi-automatic. The small base dies were designed to increase the ability for proper feeding into the chamber. RCBS makes the small base dies I believe.

Dimitri

Check neck wall thickness. Many mil. cases have overly thick case neck walls. These require neck turning. Also be critical of minimum case length. .223's grow fast.

yes to supermember Vince (bloat) I am prior service. ten years, also 12 years as a lawdog. saddens me that the wild Ausies lost so much gun rights. I think I still have the artilce in my gun room when all of that happened. Was that in 1995. Nevertheless our necks are next on the chopping block i'm afraid. thanks for the welcome aboard package. thanks for the infor Mr. Dimitri supermember, I am checking into the small base. I'm not so much worried about to the minute accuracy as I am reliability. so far I've slapped on a red dot and i'm hitting the steel plate at 200 yards with double taps. The plate is about 18 inches in circumfrance. I maybe taking the rifle to a gunsmith before this is all over and have the tollerance adjusted. I want a rifle to eat anything I have to put in it. like an ak or sks. thanks also rookie. i'm a newbee too. Just don't look up the view isn't to pretty. Hey gotta start somewhere right.

Gator, I have a DPMS "Lo Pro" and had some problems with it chambering my handloads. I found that I had set the seating/crimping die set where it was just starting to crimp the un-cannelured bullets, causing an almost imperceptible bulge at the shoulder. However, those rounds would chamber in my Mini-14. It may be that the DPMS has a tighter chamber but I don’t know for sure. Have you asked this question in the forums on AR15.com? Those guys might be more helpful on AR stuff.

I'd be careful of adjusting my rifle before I tried using factory stuff, doesn't do any good to blame a gun if there is a diminsion thats off. Mic your reloads before they are fired and see how close to sammi you are especially the ones that aren't feeding, a quick fix may to go ahead and trim all of them to a minimum diminsion especially if accuracy of the benchrest kind isn't your goal. If you're using mil stuff you're already de burring primer holes right? I like you're approach to whats expected of an a.r. you're doing it right with that plate at 200. if you're trimming your necks already do you de burr the inside and outside? Either one could cause a bulge in neck dia. after you push a boattail in there. Not to much could be done with a rifle that has a tight chamber any way. Also an a.r. isn't broken in til you get at least 1000 through it before that the carrier is still polishing the bolt. Just c.l.p. the crap out of it and shoot it.

gatornavy wrote:

thanks for the infor Mr. Dimitri supermember, I am checking into the small base. I'm not so much worried about to the minute accuracy as I am reliability.

Then the small base dies will work well, they resize all the way down below where the bolt extractor grove is on the brass unlike most full length sizing that do not go down as far. Which allows them to fit into tight chambers easier in semi-automatics.

Still Gator, you do not need to refer to me as a super member, or anything fancy like that. One day, after many posts you'll become a super member too.

Dimitri

I agree with fnuser, if it’s new it might just need a break-in period !!!

I’m also willing to bet your buddies Rock River has a tighter chamber.

Is your friends Rock River a .223 or a 5.56mm nato? Iknow, they're supposed to be the same but they're not. The .223 can only shoot .223 spec ammo where as the 5.56mm can shoot either one, .223 or 5.56mm nato.

Rock River uses a hybrid chambering. Which allows just enough jump to the leade/throat to relieve the pressure of military ammunition in a tight civilian chamber. The specific style they use is the "Wylde" which I believe is the most common one out there.

Dimitri

what kind of AR is it ?

okay i'm not a normal 223 guy i am a 30calman (m14a1 springfield armory "THE DON") type of shooter, When the Godfather is called all business will be handled at the expense of others 400 meters away hoorah. , where do i find out if it is a 223 or 5.56nato' is it stamped on the barrel, I have a one in 9 twist dpms rifle with a1 sights, light barrel, colapsable stock, and bushnell 4 dot option red dot, with carry handle mount. I will check into the small sizing dies thanks. hey vince surplusrifle.com great infor for bolt guns. I am going to ar15.com after my honeydo list is done. Thanks pumpkinslinger, Dimitri, and the rest of the boyz. Chow.

Gator, my DPMS is stamped on the left side of the lower receiver, "CAL .223 - 5.56MM". If you know which model yours is you can check DPMS' website to see if it's under the ".223" list or the "5.56mm" list. Mine is on the "5.56mm" list.

hello sportsfans, just a quick update for those of you who care. I took all of the bad ammo that i have reloaded and pulled all of the bullets, salvaged most of the powder, and recovered the primers. Went to cabella's and bought some new fresh virgin brass, this is expensive stuff, but guess what, It reloads flawlessly, did the old chamber check with the case gauge and the ar chamber itself and all feeds well. lesson learned don't pick up the bad brass at the range. most of the problem upon further observation was at the bottom of the cases, looked like they were bulged a little. I threw about sixty casing away out of 100. best brass I have found is from topbrass.com just have to wait a long time for it to come in, they are way behind. They have great combo packages for 308 and 223. Oh by the way I found on the receiver of my rifle where it says 223/5.56 nato . to fnuser, yes I was deburing inside and out, and cleaning the primer hole, and resizing the primer hole. thanks for all of the info, men. tomorrow will be proof day at the range, rain or shine lead goes down range.