Soda's ARvsMini14 and his reloads???

[Jamie Young]

The Earth trembled a few weeks ago when Soda got an AR. Soda tried out 500rds of Winchester 55gr ammo and didn't have any problems.

Last weekend I took my AR out with ALL of my 60gr HP, 62gr SCBT and 69gr HPBT ammo. Some of the ammo was crimped with a "Lee Factory Crimp" die and some of them were not crimped at all.

Last Sunday, I fired 3rds, and then the gun jammed. I noticed one of the rounds popped a primer. After that the gun failed to fire more than two consecutive rounds. I left the range only firing maybe 25rds.

Today I took My Mini 14 up to compare the AR with it (as far as feeding goes).

I loaded up 30rds, in My Mini 14, and blew threw all 30rds of crimped, and uncrimped 60gr-69gr bullets, with ZERO malfunctions.

I loaded up the same batch of reloads in the AR and had 3 failures. I wacked the forward assist for 2 of the malfunctions and then the rounds fired. The other jam had to be cleared.

I assume the reason I had such a hard time last weekend was that a piece of the blown primer must have gotten lodged in something. It's better since the gun has been cleaned, but why am I still having a feeding problem?

I don't think its a headspace issue because the gun fed 500rds of Winchester ammo without a single jam.


I tested some of the same reloads in another AR of the exact same model and didn't have any problems with that???

[griz]

A couple questions:

1. When the gun jams, what specifically happens?

2. Do you know why only one round popped a primer?

[Jamie Young]

The bolt doesn't lock up completely. I try and pull the trigger and it won't even "click."

I don't know why the primer popped. The brass was on its 3rd or 4th reload, so its possible it was just and worn out brass shell.

[Poodleshooter]

Possibilities:
-You didn't resize the case enough for the AR, but enough for the Mini. Not that likely, unless you have a homebuilt AR.
- You have a crappy magazine in the AR. Bad magazine feed lips slow bolt speed resulting in failure to lock up. This is especially likely if you can close the bolt with the forward assist. This option is my bet.
-Your reloads (all or just some) are too hot, causing the case to swell excessively(and blow primers), screwing up the extraction cycle. Still, that doesn't jive with the Mini functioning properly.

[griz]

First, I have minimal experience with AR’s so don’t count this as expert advice.

As PS said, it could be a load that doesn’t match up well with the AR but works OK in a possibly generous chamber of the Mini. Not sure why that particular AR would not feed them when another would. Some guns are quirky.

About the cases being potentially large. You can check them by placing one of the handloads directly into the chamber by hand. They should go in without resistance, compare them to factory loads if there is a question. I had one that had problems with regularly sized cases. When I switched to a small base die they worked fine.

[Joe Portale]

You need to resize your brass more. run the die down to the shell holder and give it between an eighth and quarter turn more. I had feeding problems with both my ARs in time past. One set was traced to a bad brand new die the other was I wasn't squishing the brass enough on the resize.

Sodapop, do this: Put a fired case into the reloading setup. Resize normally with a little extra turn. Seat a bullet. I found 2.260" works great FOR MY AR's . Try to chamber. Use the bolt release to let her fly. If the bolt doesn't go all the way forward, or the cartridge gets stuck you need to size more. Repeat this until you find the depth of the sizing die that works for your rifle. Just remember that you setting will be "touching the shell hold plus X more ".

If the dummy gets stuck and the bolt won't release, don't panic. Take a towel and drape it over the corner of the work bech. Hook the charging handle (lock release side) on the end of the table and give the rifle a sharp rap on the butt with the heel of your hand. It will pop loose. This method has less chance of marring the finish that hitting the charging handle with a soft face hammer.

Let us know how you fair.

[Steve Smith]

As others have said, I don' t think you're sizing it enough. A condition like yours increases your chanses of a slamfire, BTW.

I too am concerned abot the primer popping out. Were any of them really easy to put in?

What is your load?

[Joe Portale]

Yeah, I forgot also. How did you remove the crimp from the brass?

[Jamie Young]

These are all reloads I did about a year and a half ago. This is all brass I picked up at the range over the years and reloaded. It is all mixed brass. I used 26.1gr of WCC844 in the 62gr SCBT.

Like I said, its been awhile since I loaded this batch.

Steve-I picked up 2000rds of "processed" once fired brass from a place you suggested awhile ago. I forget the name of the place. Thats all I've been using lately. I've gone threw most of it once and haven't popped any primers.

The stuff I've been shooting threw the Mini 14 and AR is stuff I just want to get rid of. It is very accurate, but I guess I'll have to use it in my Mini 14. I think I only have about 300rds left. Then the rest of my ammo was reloaded with better brass, but probable not sized enough.

My Dillon is set up for .223 right now, so I'll try sizing the cases more. I think your all right about that.

[Jamie Young]

Is it ok to "re-size" all-ready crimped rounds?

[Joe Portale]

Sure you can resize already crimped brass. Pull the bullet, save the powder and bullet. Just remove the decapping pin from the sizing die. Lube and go for it.

I had to do that with about 300 rounds of .223 that I screwed up on a month or so ago. No problems what so ever.

[Jamie Young]

Well what about just pulling the de-capping pin out and................

[Steve Smith]

Soda, if I were you, I'd probably just toss or sell whatever I didn't want...its just not worth the hassle. Grab those cases from RVOW and just use them.


Don't crimp.