trouble reloading .223

[Nailgunner]

reloading .223 some of the casings are very hard to cycle through the die, some won't cycle at all without me pushing so hard it will get stuck
. I lube them all the same way, random brands doesn't seem to matter. I've had several stuck cases. On average 2 out of 10 don't pass the go no go gauge. I welcome any advice.

[AlinMi]

What lube are you using?

[BJK]

Where did you get the brass? Was it fired in a machinegun?

There are ways to size all the way down to the rim but the machine required isn't cheap. I have a Case Pro 100 that will do it and it's fine (fast enough) for what I do. I don't even know if they're made anymore. There is a circular rollsizer now and I don't even want to know what they cost.

[Nailgunner]

I'm using RCBS lube with the RCBS case lube pad. I've watch a Youtube video that says to anneal the casing to soften it up. I think I'll try that, also a headspace gauge, maybe I've got my die set up wrong. Got casings from a gun and knife show, they said it was one time fired.

[AlinMi]

Try this. Lube your case, run it up till it feels hard, relube case and try it again.

I have Redding die wax I use on hard to size cases, rub on with finger tips and the size like butter.

[BJK]

I'm using RCBS lube with the RCBS case lube pad. I've watch a Youtube video that says to anneal the casing to soften it up. I think I'll try that, also a headspace gauge, maybe I've got my die set up wrong. Got casings from a gun and knife show, they said it was one time fired.

The reason I asked, if they were fired out of a machine gun they can exhibit what you describe. "Once fired" just means that and doesn't mean it's actually reloadable or what it was fired in. The seller probably didn't lie. From the sound of the problem you might have scrap. Or maybe find a processor who can run it through their rollsizer. They'll probably charge a minor fee. BTW, I don't size brass for others with mine and I'm not looking to start.

Can you mic' a few spots on the case body? You should find a SAAMI drawing on line. That should tell you quite alot.

It's OK to anneal the case mouth and shoulder but DO NOT anneal the case head and body and that's where your issue is with the brass I would think. If you do anneal the proper area (mouth and shoulder) lots of folks bring it to a red hot state. That's FAR too hot. It just needs to get to a "straw" color and no hotter. And the color shouldn't be allowed to creep much beyond the shoulder. To make sure I don't anneal the critical area I deprime my brass and use the old school method of putting them in a tray of water so that the rim and body can't possibly get annealed. Then I tip each one over immediately after the color creeps to where I want it to be. But again that's not going to help the problem you're having.

[20X11]

Run a batch WITHOUT the decapping pin assembly. ( Remove the entire decapping rod from your die) If there are no problems, you know you have your decapping rod set too"high".

[exexex]

Good info in above posts. Some other thoughts:

Do you have other cases from different source to try? Buy some factory ammo and shoot a few of them and try sizing those. If these won't size then you have a serious problem with reloading process somewhere. Could be bad or wrong dies (did you get 222 dies instead of 223?). Getting cases that won't even allow full press pull and getting stuck sounds like something is really off.

When you say 'pass the go-no-go gauge' I assume you mean the case gauge (usually a cylinder with a hole in the middle). When you say it 'does not pass', what do you mean? How far does the case stick out from the top of the gauge (one that should have a small cutout band across it)? If it almost fits, there are 'base dies' in 223 that will size a bit lower on the case that might help.

Sometimes the 'rims' of the cases get chewed up bad enough to keep them from pressing into the case gauge. Sometimes the burrs causing this are small enough to get off by sticking the 'wrong' end ('rim') of the case into the case gauge and rotating a few times to knock off the small burrs.

[Nailgunner]

Thank you all for your advice I will try these solutions and let you know my results.