223 range brass will not fit into shellholder. Why not?

223 range brass will not fit into shellholder. Why not?

I got some 223 Remington range brass that is Hornady. Based on what I see in the gun racks during cease fire it was probably fired in a AR15.

Lots of the cases will not fit in the shell holder. It is a Lee number 4 shell holder. I cannot get the brass to enter the shellholder.

But they will fit in the Lee number 19, which is meant for 40S&W.

My .223 Remington rifle is a bolt action Savage 16. I took the bolt out to see if the brass would fit the bolt face.

Yeah, it fit fine.

I have looked at the brass. I do not see any dents or bends in it.
Is it ok to go ahead and use this brass? Why won't it fit the shellholder?

no sure which brand of shellholder that is but .223 fit in A Lyman #26 a Hornady #16 and a RCBS #10 and A Redding #10 not sure what the lee Number is? I think it is also a #10 Not sure of that # 4?

#4 is correct it may be that the brass is chewed up where the extractor pull it out and there is a bur on it and it wont fit in the shell holder i get this alot on lc brass most of the time if you just turn it while you push it in it will go with no problem. thats all i got sorry

Nicnac wrote:no sure which brand of shellholder that is but .223 fit in A Lyman #26 a Hornady #16 and a RCBS #10 and A Redding #10 not sure what the lee Number is? I think it is also a #10 Not sure of that # 4?

I do have a Lyman 26. I tried and it worked great on the brass that the Lee 4 would not hold. So, you are correct, it is not the brass, it is the shellholder. Thanks!

I've had this problem with various range brass....usually caused by overcharged loads or the type of weapon it was fired in. MG's are extremely rough on brass....

I'm glad you had a spare shell holder that worked.....like I've said before...not all shell holders are the same.

I love Hornady brass...good find!

Hornady brass for the 223 base is a little larger use a 380 shell holder.

B W M wrote:Hornady brass for the 223 base is a little larger use a 380 shell holder.

223 and 380 use the same shell holder to start with....a little larger would be a 9mm shell holder.

Yes you are wright.

I have reloaded thousands of rounds of 5.56mm from range/mil surplus brass. I just thought I would throw this out there.
I have run across many many "bellied" brass that was shot from and open breach SAW. The Small Base (SB) dies take this out well (as long as you have them lubed properly, or they'll kick your ass). I've also seen/talked to/helped correct a guy that bought some reloaded .223 rounds from a guy in Tyler Texas that didn't know what he was doing. He loaded .223 by the book but didn't know about brass with "bellies". So he sold them with the best of intentions but the rounds would jam half way in the chamber. He would have known this if he ran his own reloads. I guess it's just the times we are in. I pulled all the bullets, saved the powder, resized the primed brass with a SB die (without the deprimer), and reloaded all the rounds with him there with me. We had a good time, he learned something, I made a good friend, and we had a blast letting some fly at my range afterwards.
This is the point I wanted to make here.... I have run across some military and reloaded factory brass that would not go into my RCBS #10 shell holder. After checking the rim and measuring everything I was ready to scrap the brass and get on with loading I noticed a small raised dimple on the head stamp. One would think that it should be an indention but it was a raised circle. I had seen this before but could not figure out how in the hell it happened in a .223/5.56 round. I have seen this while reloading .50 BMG rounds shot from a semi auto Barrett. Seems that an over pressured round will have enough force to push itself into the ejector so the ejector spring compresses and the brass tries to follow it into the hole. Imagine the bolt face, it has an extractor in the groove of the brass, and then there is the ejector pin that is compressed while the bolt in battery. Then the round ignites and the pressure is exerted across the bolt face. Apparently it has enough force to push brass into the ejector hole further compressing the ejector spring making a raised circle in the head stamp of the brass, thereby not letting it fit into a shell holder, but more importantly increasing the overall length of the brass in just that area and not letting the reloaded round lock into battery for the next shot with that brass. Example: I turn the brass so it slides down the channel of the shell holder so it gets deprimed and resized, then, since my trimmer indexes off the shoulder of the case, it could be trimmed to proper length (or so I think), then again I rotate the case so it slides down the same channel in the shell holder to get the bullet seated. Even if I checked with my calipers to ensure the correct overall length is correct, unless my caliper sits on the raised dimple it would show correct. Even if my calipers were on the raised dimple and it showed that it was too long, I would be inclined to just seat it deeper. However when the round went into the chamber and the shoulder was seated correctly, the bolt would not fully close because the raised dimple would be holding the head away from the bolt face.
Sorry to be soooo long, but something to think about....
Kind of windy for my first post but I like the shit out of this forum. You are my kind of people!! ....and Mo, I want a couple of your Yote calls... hook up with me brother!!