Doing my first run of .233 for TnE and I have a real big problem with the projectile listed above.  After loading 1 round start to finish I had a hunch that something was not right.  Pushed down on the bullet with my thumb and *PLUMP* bullet falls into case...  Of all the weights and types of projectile I've loaded so far, these little bastards seem to not want to stay put.  There's no cannelure or anything on them, they've got a flat base and are much smaller than a 62gr FMJBT.  Anyway, no matter how low I set my case mouth (compression?  seat? sizer? I don't know what to call it...) or how high I load these bullets they just will not stay put.  There's a good 1/8th of an inch of completely flat surface area near the base of the bullet, but I've got nothing.  I've been told time and time again that there is no need to crimp .223 loads, but I'm starting not to believe that at all.  I've got about 20 failed rounds now from all the tweak and tests and I'm at the end of my rope here.  Do I need to crimp?  Why is everything else working except these guys?

The amount of force needed to induce bullet setback is about 3-5 lbs resting...  That seems WAY too low to me.  My other rounds are very, very stout.

Rounds were at first loaded to speer's published data, including COAL, since then I've deviated just to see if things get better.  They don't, no matter what I do.

Loading on a Hornady LnL AP.  Lee FL sizing die with expander ball/depriming pin combo, hornady neck tension die, hornady AP powder drop, Hornady bullet seating die.
PMC .223 brass, winchester primer, and H-335 powder, not that that matters, but yknow.  Someone wants to know.

Loading for a Colt M4A3 and an FN dissi.

I've successfully loaded...  9mm, .357magnum, 7.62x39, and .308WIN.  This is the first time I've run into an issue like this...

Measurement them, maybe undersized?

Measurements match up with American Eagle 55gr FMJBT unshot brass and unshot 55gr fmjBT PMC....  EXCEPT for 2 thousandths of an inch RIGHT AFTER the shoulder, before the case mouth,which isn't grasping the bullet anyway....  I've got nothing.

You didn't get the bullets made for .22 Hornet which are .223 in diameter instead of the proper .224 did you? Measure bullet diameter.

They say .22cal (.224) on the box.  I'll measure right now though.

Skip the neck tension die and see what happens. I glossed right over that first time 'round.

Son of a bitch!

Just measured 10 of them.  All .223 at the widest point and will slide through my micrometer at the measurement locked it.  What do I do now?

Armscor 62GR FMJBT



Speer......










I want my money back.  Speer is supposed to be one of those OMFGBBQ MATCH AMMO companies, but they're being beaten by...ARMSCOR....?

Slow down and take a breath.

Contact speer.  May be a mixup at plant and they might take care of you.

Look for product number on box and post it.

Product # 4705

Sent an email to Speer just now.  1813 18DEC2014.

Now we play the waiting game.

Contact Speer directly. I'm sure they will take care of you. You probably aren't the only one that's going to call them. The bright side is what would have happened if you just put them in your stash with no intention to load them right away. 10 years later...

I was just thinking that.  A solid reminder to check, double check, then recheck everything you do.  Reloading can be fun and safe, but stuff like this CAN AND WILL happen.  I thank you for the suggestion to measure them.  I'm just too complacent I suppose, my god.  I've only been loading for a little over a year and this could have gone really bad.

I once ordered some 9mm bullets that were 115grn (fmj).

These were the old "match master" ones that came in a clear plastic bag with "115 grn" hand written on it.

What the bag contained however were 124grn bullets.

Undersized bullets aside, What is this and why do you use it?

hornady neck tension die

So, after FL resizing, I keep a shoulder type resizing die with the expander ball removed as a fail-safe, if it slides easily on the second pull, the RCBS/LEE FL resizer is doing its job. If there is resistance, the case thickness was probably such that the expander ball in the first stage has made the case mouth too wide, a problem I have encountered in the past.  To counteract this effect, I have done the aforementioned.  Different? Yes. Unnecessary? Possibly.

Speer will replace them without problems. Simply contact them by phone or email and reference this post. They'll want the bad bullets back in return. They'll compensate/pay for shipping.

Plan B, you can buy another expander ball (.220") or spin sand a standard diameter expander ball smaller ti increase neck tension. The ammo will feed and function fine, accuracy may suffer some but I doubt you'll see a really disappointing drop in accuracy.

There's also the Lee Factory Crimp die.  But yeah, get Speer to replace them.

Speer themselves say crimping .223 is not needed.  I'd hate to have to alter my setup just so I can load these most likely faulty projectiles.  Decreasing the expander a couple thousandths might just be the ticket so I don't have to have my fail-safe die...