What primers do I use???

Does your brass have a crimp? It sounds like you didn't remove the crimp which will cause what you are discribing. Military 5.56/.223 brass most times has a crimp to prevent the primer from backing out in the field.

If you’re loading in 5.56 cases, as was stated above you’ll probably have a crimp in the primer pocket you’ll have to remove in order to seat the new primer fully.

Commercial 223 cases usually won’t have the crimp.

Any reloading equipment retailer should have a primer pocket decrimping tool you can buy to solve the issue.

Stay safe.

As far as the resizing part, do you have your resizing die screwed in the press far enough that the ram touches it when it's clear up? You should actually put a case on your shell holder and raise it into the case and you should not see daylight between the die bottom and the shell holder.

For 5.55 and .223, you should use Small Rifle Primers. It sounds like something's wrong with your tools or brass prep process.

Which manual have you read the instruction in?

Education is the key, experience is the teacher. Forums are great, lots of experienced teachers here, but there’s no substitute for books.
Read. Read,Read.

Post a picture of the head stamp of the ammo in question. A picture is worth a thousand words.

Outdoorsman556, I suggest you do some reading on the elementary principles of brass prep and reloading in general

I always take a small wood drill bit and scrape out the place where your primer seats in the casing.If I dont do that I end up wasting a lot of brass and primers.I dont beleive its just military Brass, casings I have reloaded before I also have to scrape out.Maybe its just that I use a Hornady AP. It time consuming,But you will have to do it to seat your 223 primers good. Dont really have the issue with other calibers

CCI #41 primers

If shooting in a AR with a floating Firing Pin CCI #41 is spec. I have found that Rem 7 1/2 work without any problem. If in a bolt gun most any will work.

The #41 (Mil Spec primer) is basically a Mag primer with a different anvil so it's not as sensitive.

Not that it is the correct way to do it but i use small pistol magnum primers in my 223 ammo. Make sure you work up your loads if you try this. Try some of your sized brass in your rifle before reloading it to see if it is sized enough. Also if your brsss is too long or the crimp is too low you could be collapsing the shoulder and the round will not chamber. Compare a factory round with your bad reloads with your calipers. Things should become obvious then.

Outdoorsman556 said:

Thankyou that really helps I did not know that 5.56 uses a crimp in the primers thankyou for the Info and as for the sizing die I have it screwed down all the but I found that if I take my final crimp die down an extra half turn that pretty much took care of the issue

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As a new reloader be sure to only use published data to the letter and follow the manufacturers instructions for setting up your tools. A seemingly minor drift from specification can result in catastrophic failure and injury.

Using a non standard tool for scraping primer pockets seems innocent enough but couple that with using non standard primers (SMP) and gas leak of 50,000 psi could make for a bad day!

Bullet crimp is critical to overall performance and accuracy. Get a digital caliper for accurately setting crimp to specification. You'll thank me later!

And yes I'm a certified reloading instructor!

All the best,

JJFitch said:

Bullet crimp is critical to overall performance and accuracy. Get a digital caliper for accurately setting crimp to specification. You'll thank me later!

And yes I'm a certified reloading instructor!

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You're telling this guy to crimp 223 rounds? I assure you that bullet crimp is not critical to 223 accuracy or performance. I never crimp those.

Grumulkin said:

You're telling this guy to crimp 223 rounds? I assure you that bullet crimp is not critical to 223 accuracy or performance. I never crimp those.

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No, we are talking about the military crimp in the primer pocket.

Look at this picture of crimped and uncrimped.

Walkalong said:

No one crimps ammo loaded for any serious competition.

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See post #14!

"CRIMP" WAS A POOR CHOICE OF VERNACULAR!

"CRIMPING TO SPECIFICATION" MEANS RESTORING THE CASE MOUTH TO ORIGINAL SIZE (Calipers!) AND REMOVING THE SLIGHT CASE MOUTH BELL AFTER SEATING THE BULLET.

CASE NECK TENSION IS A NECESSARY STEP IN ACCURACY BUT LOADING FOR ACCURACY IS A TOPIC FOR ANOTHER THREAD!

Smiles,

JJFitch said:

See post #14!

"CRIMP" WAS A POOR CHOICE OF VERNACULAR!

"CRIMPING TO SPECIFICATION" MEANS RESTORING THE CASE MOUTH TO ORIGINAL SIZE (Calipers!) AND REMOVING THE SLIGHT CASE MOUTH BELL AFTER SEATING THE BULLET.

CASE NECK TENSION IS A NECESSARY STEP IN ACCURACY BUT LOADING FOR ACCURACY IS A TOPIC FOR ANOTHER THREAD!

Smiles,

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1. Crimp was a poor choice of words. Bullets and primers can be crimped; cases are resized.

2. To date I have NEVER used calipers to be sure the case mouth has been resized to the appropriate dimension. Removing "the slight case mouth bell" is an operation that is RARELY needed if the case has been resized correctly to begin with.

3. I know there are some who are very compulsive about getting case neck tension right. About 99.5% of shooters don't need to worry about that; I never have and guess what? I get accuracy that many would envy. One of the guys I knew years ago when shooting bench rest would use the same 5 cases for each round, reloading between rounds and seating the bullets with his fingers. His groups were better than anyone else's.

Outdoorsman556 said:

I have started reloading 223 and 556 recently and I have been having issues with the primers I use small rifle primers but when I push them into the casing using the priming tool they do not sit flush and if I can push them in far enough to be flush the crinkle inside the primer pocket other than that the only other issue I have is that I resize the entire casing when I reload them yet when I put them in the rifle they get stuck in the chamber and will not come out

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Take a small wood bit and scrape the sides and bottom of the primer pocket, I have a Hornady AP and have to do that for my 223 brass, (civilian brass). It bites, hope that helps. I tossed a lot of brass and jacked up primers before I learned

I always wet tumble after de-priming to get the primer pockets clean as a whistle. This make sure the primers seat great. If you have military brass, they can have problems. I have still not seen pictures of the primer pockets from the OP. Even military 5.56 brass I can usually prime just fine without swaging the primer pocket. Just depends on how much it was crimped in there before. But we tumbling seems to round that part out to make it easier if it was military brass.

Just my observations at least. Your mileage may vary.