I'm new to the whole world of reloading and got a used Hornady progressive press from my boss for half cheap. So I got the bare minimum stuff to be able to start reloading with it and did a few 556 shells and they are jamming up in my AR. ik it's not the gun because It shoots factory rounds perfectly fine. I reset my sizing die and it was a little bit tighter than it should of been and now they are coming out but I still have to rip them out by hand instead of it ejecting them smoothly like it should. Any ideas on what I should look at to fix it?

Is your resizing die a small base? That’s typically what is used in semi auto style guns.

Load is to hot if your using full length resizing die and have things adjusted so the case rim goes all the way up against the bottom of the die. try backing your load down a couple grains.

what resizing die do you have? full length, small base? Where did the brass com from? was it previously fired in that rifle or someone elses gun?

Had the same problem when I started here's my advice. Go buy yourself a Hornady body comparator kit. Buy some some factory loaded ammo , shoot 3-10 and measure all of them with the right comparator. Average out those measurements and that's what your chamber is doing to your brass. Now adjust your dies so your bumping your brass's shoulders back 3-5 thousands part what your your fired factory cases are fire forming to.

You know you brass is good with you can slip a resized piece in you bolt carrier and you can push your carrier into battery with the brass with next to no force

I have full length 223 dies. Andi want to be able to shoot 223 out of my 556 and vice versa so I'm loading it with cfe223 at 26.1 grains so I should have 3000 fps in my 223 and roughly 3150 in my 556 according to the book. All my brass has been shot out of my 556 with the exception of a few 223 shells that I haven't touched yet

I put put a empty unprimed casing in my gun and it doesn't jam so I. Guessing my bullet seater is alittle bit tight?

Have you measured for Max COAL/CBTO ? Also when you say jammed what exactly do you mean ? You talking like a double feed or like your round won't fully chamber ? Or are you getting it stuck and you have to mortar your charging handle to get it out ?

Johnnys Reloading bench is a GREAT source for beginner reloaders especially for the AR platform
[video:youtube]https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTTrjvDib94mGnOlwzzwOPCreXUiGp1dH[/video]
[video:youtube]https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTTrjvDib94ly8_5jqnedzK6bhXWzZyVl[/video]

What is COAL/CBTO? when it jams it goes pretty much the whole way Im but doesn't let the bolt to close 100% the whole way and to unjam it I have to break the gun down and pull the bolt back and almost completely out of the gun

If a sized case without the bullet goes in freely then you add the bullet and it gets stuck then your bullet is too long and your jamming your bullet into the lands is my guess. If this is the case you have mis measured, mis calculated or have missed a step in determining properly reloading within the specs.
I'm assuming it jamming before it's firing not after. Might read some books or watch some quality videos about properly sizing and measuring.

can you cycle them with the charging handle or do they hang up then also

or is it only when fired they fail to eject/extract

Forget all the above! If you are new buy a good reloading manual and read it. Will save a lot of problems, money, and possibly your life. Should be the first step before all others. My .02

Cartridge over all length and Cartridge base to ogive.

So I don't want to sound rude but, do you have a reloading manual? Where are you getting you data and info from ?
And yeeep sound like your round is too long, that or your cases shoulders aren't bumped back far enough. When I started with my AR in 5.56 I had the dumb luck of my dies being where the needd about out of the box. My grendel however was having problems you had and end up I wasn't buying my shoulder back far enough, even though I was filling my dies instructions.

Do yourself a favor and watch this guy. Experienced reloader and he's showing a newbie the ropes. Goes though about everything you'll need dto know about 5.56 /.223. he's very detailed. Some more advice. If your trying to make good ammo ( making something that goes bang and can hit a guy at 100yd is easy honestly making something that will stack bullets in the same hole....well) for AR's to a degree throw KISS out the window




[video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/live/3FC-KhYGCgY?feature=share[/video]

I have the Hornady reloading handbook that has all the specs for everything. I have gone through and read it and am doing everything the book says. I have been able to get 3 or 4 to shoot but every other one was jamming so I backed my seating die up and then they jammed everytime and when I tightened it up a little bit again it still jammed

It says my case length with the bullet should be 2.200 long. I have a digital caliper that I measure them with and they are all right about that length.

The loaded bullets jam when I rack them by hand or if I put a factory shell in them they jam too.

are you saying your gun jams if you put factory ammo in also?

Call someone from your local gun club and ask if there is an experienced reloader who could come look at your set up. Most gun clubs have that one guy who knows everything there is to know about just about everything.

are you trimming your brass length if so are you trimming it before or after you are resizing it
they make a manual called reloading for the AR
I reload a ton but don't reload for my AR all my spent 223 brass gets re stuffed for my bolt guns

I have only reloaded for a ar once, what the honady book said would not work I jad to get the ogive and seat my bullets quit a bit deeper then I would have in a bolt action. My gun would cycle and shoot fine but to un chamber a round I had to dang near take it a part when I got the round out I could see the marks on the bullet where it had been jammed in to the lands. Also are you crimping after you seat?

measure case length, your not jammed in the lands in a 5.56 if you are loaded to mag length. is your die set so you are camming over? any pressure signs? (flat primers, casehead expansion) if you don't know enough to know you just don't know, read the front part of your manual, then read it again. Then have an experienced reloader check your work!