AR Sponsor
Posted: 7/22/2009 5:56:16 AM EDT
| Okay, this one's long winded. But I'm at my wit's end, and need help. Myself and a buddy bought ammo from a local guy that reloads professionally. He has industrial type machines and sells commercially. Never had a problem in the past. It is new or once fired LC brass. Ball powder. The 5.56 stuff has 55 grn soft point bullets. My buddy and I are having the same problem with 2 different ARs and a Barret M82 .50 cal. The problem is stuck cases in a hot chamber. We are both shooting 5.56 from the same lot. Both have barrels chambered for 5.56, neither are chrome lined. Both are extracting fine, always have a notch in the rim where the extractor grabbed and tried yanking. Usually when the chamber cools a little, all it takes is basically letting a cleaning rod gently fall on the case to remove it. Looking at the case after removing, it always has a black substance on the shoulder and or neck. No visible damage otherwise. Having the same problem with .50, only quite a bit more dramatic and stuck harder. Called the guy and he says he's changed nothing as far as how he cleans or loads the round. When I look in my chamber, it looks like there is a green tarnish in it. Seems like when I clean the chamber really well, I can get about 30 rnds through it trouble free. Any ideas? |
|
No prob. Obviosly I would tell no one to tumble loaded rounds (liability and all that shi..), But my personal experience is that I clean everything, I clean it before and after I decap it, and after I crimp it. the .50 may need to go back- just too big for the tumbler.
good luck 
|
|
Quoted:
If the cases have black deposits on them prior to firing, tumbling might help. If they only have the black crap on them after firing, I suggest giving your chambers a good cleaning. Cases appear clean before firing. I clean my chamber good and get a 30 rnd mag or so of reliable feeding before I get stuck cases. After the trouble starts, I check my chamber and that's when I find the deposits. Seems like something he's cleaning the cases with gets hot and melts, then when a round is left in the chamber and it cools, this substance is causing the case to stick. But it happens both ways. Sometimes they won't stick until it's left in a hot chamber and fired the next time, and sometimes I get a stuck case every other round while in a string of fire. Keep in mind, we are having the same problem with this ammo in another AR as well. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
If the cases have black deposits on them prior to firing, tumbling might help. If they only have the black crap on them after firing, I suggest giving your chambers a good cleaning. Cases appear clean before firing. I clean my chamber good and get a 30 rnd mag or so of reliable feeding before I get stuck cases. After the trouble starts, I check my chamber and that's when I find the deposits. Seems like something he's cleaning the cases with gets hot and melts, then when a round is left in the chamber and it cools, this substance is causing the case to stick. But it happens both ways. Sometimes they won't stick until it's left in a hot chamber and fired the next time, and sometimes I get a stuck case every other round while in a string of fire. Keep in mind, we are having the same problem with this ammo in another AR as well. If you think there's something on the ammo that's causing the problem, then tumble the ammo. It might help to put a couple capfuls of mineral spirits in your media when you tumble them. If it's sizing lube residue, the solvent will help remove it. |
|
Quoted:
Okay, this one's long winded. But I'm at my wit's end, and need help. Myself and a buddy bought ammo from a local guy that reloads professionally. He has industrial type machines and sells commercially. Never had a problem in the past. It is new or once fired LC brass. Ball powder. The 5.56 stuff has 55 grn soft point bullets. My buddy and I are having the same problem with 2 different ARs and a Barret M82 .50 cal. The problem is stuck cases in a hot chamber. We are both shooting 5.56 from the same lot. Both have barrels chambered for 5.56, neither are chrome lined. Both are extracting fine, always have a notch in the rim where the extractor grabbed and tried yanking. Usually when the chamber cools a little, all it takes is basically letting a cleaning rod gently fall on the case to remove it. Looking at the case after removing, it always has a black substance on the shoulder and or neck. No visible damage otherwise. Having the same problem with .50, only quite a bit more dramatic and stuck harder. Called the guy and he says he's changed nothing as far as how he cleans or loads the round. When I look in my chamber, it looks like there is a green tarnish in it. Seems like when I clean the chamber really well, I can get about 30 rnds through it trouble free. Any ideas? Had the same problem with a large batch from a friend that reloads with a Dillon 650xl turns out that the crimping die was set just a bit too loose, so the very tip of the bottle neck portion of the cartridge was sticking the cases in the chamber once once the rifle got warmed up. Both his rifle and mine yeilded the same results, his was non-chrome, mine was chrome. I didn't notice a large buildup in the guns, but since we had different types of ammo out there that day, we immediately noticed it was only on the reloads and stopped using them til we could determine the issue. Both guns ran fine uncleaned with other ammo. We were able to save the ammo by resetting the crimping die and recrimping all the ammo (about 2k rounds) It worked fine after that. Hope that helps your problem! |
|
First off, factory manufactures tumble finished ammo; it's why name brand ammo is shiny, and LC military ammo is not (LC is not tumbled brass and why you see the annealing/flame markings around the necks).
Now having said that, chances are your reloading guy is chemical washing the cases to clean them, not tumbling the brass. As stated, tumble some 5.56 you now have and see if that resolves the problem. On the 50 BMG, if you have a large tumbler, try a few rounds to see if that solves the problem as well. If this clears up the problem, then you now the problem, and your supplier needs to resolve the way he is cleaning the brass. Regarding your supplier, granted that chemical washing the cases is fine as a starter, they should be tumbled afterwards to really remove the final layer of solvent that may still be active on the case that did not wash away in the wash bath. It doesn't take anything fancy, and I have even seen cement mixers used (with the blades removed) for this final step to get the brass ready to be reloaded . |
| ETA: Talked to the guy again yesterday. He first said the problem was opposite, the cases are dry and need to be lightly lubed with WD40 or something similar. Then, he called back and changed his mind. Said that he had changed powder on that batch only and it was something he had never used before. Claims they are loaded for a bolt action (not sure what the difference is) and to bring them back and exchange for FMJ loaded ammo. Still mulling it over. I don't really want FMJ, that's why I had him load 55 grn SPs to begin with. Any suggestions? Why the hell would the powder matter between semi-auto or bolt gun? I reload on a small scale with single stage, and I just don't get it. |
|
Bolt action rifle can use slower burning powder, and although the max pressure has not changed, what has changed is the duration/dwell time of the burn. With slower burning powder and the longer burn duration, this increases the gas pulse on semi autos at unlock (over functioning) since the barrel pressure is higher at the gas ports.
If the powder used to reload the rounds is the issue, then you have no choice but to exchange the ammo for that reloaded for auto rifles. |
AR Sponsor