458 socom reloading issue. i am tearing my hair out please help!?

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bhhacker

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I am writing this hoping someone can help me because i am pulling my dang hair out over here trying to figure out what the problem is. I have researched on here and nothing is quite fitting what im experiencing so here goes...

I have a new 10.5 Radical Firearms upper. I have owned a 458 socom in the past (a 16in RA upper) and successfully reloaded for it in the past. I have hornady dies.

I loaded up 25 rounds for my new toy, loaded the rifle, pulled the charging handle and let er fly. It would not fully go into battery and had to leave the range in order to finally free the bolt. It was stuck. Big time. like piece of wood and mallet bad.

Heres the thing. It slides into and out of the barrel easily. It does not slide in, then you have to push it in, then it gets stuck if that makes sense. the brass is new brass that i used imperial sizing wax on and it is measured at 1.575. i am shooting 300gr jhp at an OAL of 2.025 with 40 grains of reloader 7.

I took a piece of new brass, lubed and sized it. Measured this one and got 1.575. I then put it in the barrel. It slides in and out just fine. I put it in the barrel, let the charging handle fly and then it appears to go into full battery. BUT i have a bear of a time getting the charging handle back. This is not a smooth extraction and something appears to be hung up. I can 50% of the time get it out by pulling the CH otherwise i have to push it out with a dowel


So, if its just the brass and its the correct length and still having issues, im not doing something dumb with this and its something with the upper? I live in Juneau, Alaska and went to the store to get some commercial ammo because if that works then of course im the dummy but they had none so i am a little SOL. You guys got any thoughts? Its driving me crazy having to deal with this.
 
Brass too long, brass not sized all the way, measure the oal of the reload that half chambered make sure it's still in spec cause it could be too long and hitting lands. I noticed with my hornady 45-70 dies they are tight even with wax so make sure the die is bottom out on the shell holder when sized. Sometimes it feels like it's done but 1/8" still to go.
 
Make sure bullet isn't seated crooked bulging case making it chamber rough. Just grasping at straws here but never know.
 
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Your brass length is at max length trim to is 1.570. measure case diameter case should be .538 at base and .530 at shoulder.

Get some factory ammo and if it fits compare to your brass.
 
Half a step ahead of you. It looks like there's a complete bare ring at shoulder after loading in barrel, letting change fly home, and then using a dowel to push it back out IMG_20180102_182418.jpg IMG_20180102_182402.jpg
 
I size brass just enough (upper only or opened up) I can hook it under the extractor and compress it against the ejector (to align with the Bore) then slide the carrier down and have the bolt lock up, with the carrier in the same position relative to the back of the upper as if it were empty.

If it won’t lock up, you need to bump the shoulder back a tad more.

Once you have a case going into and out of the chamber without slamming it home with the inertia of the spring & buffer pushing the bolt carrier home, move on to bullet seating.

If everything is ok with the case, if you stick a bullet in the case and a problem comes up, at least you have eliminated the sizing process.
 
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Case length base to start of shoulder 1.187 or less. It seems like it's trying to push shoulder back when you chamber it.
 
If your bullet is in spec, your problem lies with the barrel. Something wasn’t machined or reamed correctly. Also, make sure there isn’t a piece of brass in the chamber that they left in there from test firing also. My brother just had this problem with his AR.
 
ok now to maybe ask a dumb question. How do i set the shoulder back?
Click to expand...

You lower the die to the shell plate more.

If it is contacting the shell, plate now you can see if you have a different shell plate that has a thinner extractor claw. You can also run a shim (like a feeder gauge) between the bottom of the case, so it rides higher in the shell holder.

I have had some dies that required machining for them to work but you indicated your ammunition has worked in another rifle of the same caliber.

This would point me in the direction of the post above that suggested testing with factory ammo, if that doesn’t work, your not causing the problem, it’s the upper/bolt.
 
I have put the die in contact with the shell about as much as i can without using a wrench or something on it. With the 6 that i made before cracking a beer and giving up for the evening it gave me a 50% success rate. All would close into battery, but only 3 would eject by hand. Still with some hesitancy but it worked. I am headed to another store tomorrow to see if the store stuff is giving me trouble
 
The 458 SOCOM is a very picky round when it comes to sizing. It apears that you are not pushing the shoulder back far enough. Like already said you to lower the sizing die or raise the brass to make it go deeper into the sizing die. When these came out everyone had there on idea as to what spec was. Troy at Tromix was the one who came up with this round and produced the first barrels and uppers. His spec is whats being accepted as std. With that said there were may who made sizing dies but only 1 or 2 got it right. Redding is the one I went with for all of the reviews showed there was right. I would recommend getting the Sheridian Case gauge for this round. I have one, and if the sized brass catches any at all my bold will not close. Far as I know all 458 SOCOM brass needs to be sized when new. Starline recommends this for their brass.

Does new factory brass chambers? If so there is a problem with your setup. If not the head spacing is not correct if machined to spec.

Here is a like to the 458 SOCOM Forum http://458socomforums.com/ You will finds lots of info on this site.

It also sounds like the bullet may be sticking into the rifling too. I will have to pull my notes to see what I used on my SOCOM. I do recall with some bullet profiles I was able to get int the lands.
 
Checked my notes I'm at a 2.050" OAL with Hornady 300gr HP.

Also this round is very difficult to crimp without buckling the short shoulder. SO if your crimping back off your seating die so it does not.
 
Do you have a case gauge? A case gauge is a very useful tool in diagnosis situations like this. If it gauges easily, but doesn't chamber, then suspicion turns to either the gun's chamber or the interaction of the bullet's ogive and rifling. If it won't gauge, then you have a loading problem.
 
Hmm I’m have never reloaded this cartridge but I find it interesting enough that I’m tagging this thread to follow the progress.
On a side note, I feel that full sizing the brass should be mentioned. AR’s in general make me nervous when the idea of reloading and the the bolt not locking up all the way when firing (out of battery ignition)
 
Today i got a hold of some commercial 458 ammo. It went into battery but had same issue with bolt and CH sticking. I have sent an email to RA customer service. Hopefully i will hear back from them soon.


I was completely mystified at this and having had success before in the past loading this, it was driving me nuts. I am somewhat relieved it was the upper itself and not an "id10t error"
 
It also sounds like the bullet may be sticking into the rifling too.
Click to expand...

That is a possibility and why I suggested in #10 he eliminate the sizing process first by using a case only to verify everything was ok. Then move on to a loaded round.

No need to guess, just use process of elimination, from the start.
 
bhhacker said:
I took a piece of new brass, lubed and sized it. Measured this one and got 1.575. I then put it in the barrel. It slides in and out just fine. I put it in the barrel, let the charging handle fly and then it appears to go into full battery. BUT i have a bear of a time getting the charging handle back. This is not a smooth extraction and something appears to be hung up. I can 50% of the time get it out by pulling the CH otherwise i have to push it out with a dowel
Click to expand...

bhhacker said:
So, if its just the brass and its the correct length and still having issues, im not doing something dumb with this and its something with the upper?
Click to expand...

Bhhacker did follow process of elimination just didn't trust results, who expects a bad barrel, and asked for second opinion.

The factory ammo verified something wrong with his barrel.
 
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