need some advise on HP bullet feeding ond OAL

S

Shurshot

New member
Hopefully reloaders can help me with this. I wasn't sure if this was the right place to post this question.

I own a few different .223 rifles but most are ARs. I was looking for some good ammo to settle in on that would cover all rifles. to make a long story short, I ended up buying 1000 rounds of HSM 55 gr HPBT (Gameking).

Here is the problem. I went to the range today and had a couple rounds fail to feed, and in the process it shoved the bullet almost all the way to the neck of the brass. I took out the last dozen or so left in the box and could see that some of the rounds were visibly longer than others in the same box.

there was a gentleman there who claimed to be an expert on ARs from 14 years in the military that told me hollow point ammo won't work in an AR but I have another AR that shoots 75 gr HPs all day long without an issue so I found it hard to swallow that one unless it is specific to that gun somehow.

so, can I setup a press to an exceptable OAL and use it to make all the bullets the same length and will that fix the issue? Or do I need to do something different and give up on HPs in this rifle? I will be a while shooting 1000 rounds in my bolt gun.

I should note that the AR I am using works flawless with all the SP and FMJ rounds I have used in it.
 
That is one of my favorite bullets. I have shot it in a dozen different AR's and never had a problem. I load them to an over all length of 2.22 and have at it. I think you will be fine seating them all to the same length and then maybe throwing a light crimp on them with a Lee factory crimp die. I think the "expert" at the range is a little less than what he claims to be. Maybe that bullet has problems in that specific gun, but to say that AR's can't shoot HP's is ridiculous. One concern I woul have though is the quality of a box of ammo that came with bullets that are visably seated to different depths.
 
Originally Posted By: ShurshotHopefully reloaders can help me with this. I wasn't sure if this was the right place to post this question.

I own a few different .223 rifles but most are ARs. I was looking for some good ammo to settle in on that would cover all rifles. to make a long story short, I ended up buying 1000 rounds of HSM 55 gr HPBT (Gameking).

Here is the problem. I went to the range today and had a couple rounds fail to feed, and in the process it shoved the bullet almost all the way to the neck of the brass. I took out the last dozen or so left in the box and could see that some of the rounds were visibly longer than others in the same box.

there was a gentleman there who claimed to be an expert on ARs from 14 years in the military that told me hollow point ammo won't work in an AR but I have another AR that shoots 75 gr HPs all day long without an issue so I found it hard to swallow that one unless it is specific to that gun somehow.

so, can I setup a press to an exceptable OAL and use it to make all the bullets the same length and will that fix the issue? Or do I need to do something different and give up on HPs in this rifle? I will be a while shooting 1000 rounds in my bolt gun.

I should note that the AR I am using works flawless with all the SP and FMJ rounds I have used in it.

HSM ammo sucks...

You should have no problem shooting HPs.

.
 
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all my rifles shoot the HSM ammo just fine, no problem at all with accuracy in any of them. I was trying to find something more suitable for hunting which is why I was trying to find some HP ammo.

I guess I will try to seat them all to the same depth making an OAL of 2.255 from what I have read. or at least 50 rounds to test with. I really hate to have use all this up in my bolt gun.

I have had all the dies and equipment for quite a while but they still sit in the boxes brand new. I have yet to reload a rifle shell but have everything I need to do it along with over 1000 rounds of new (.243) brass, bullets and primers and a few different types of powder. I have dies for .223, 22-250 and .243 so I guess I need to get my butt in gear. I figured I could seat the longer bullets a little deeper but wanted to check. thanks
 
Never had a problem with an AR and HP ammo. I usually just seat them so they will fit in the magazine and then go shoot.

Tom
 
Shurshot,,,,Sounds more like you may have a magazine problem than an ammo problem...Possibly the lips on the magazine need a little attention/tweaking or the spring/follower is not aligned right during the feed cycle...

Try a couple of different types/brands of magazines before abandoning the ammo...I have several older Colt magazines that are 'never fail' feeders with all kinds of ammo, C-Products is another brand that seems to work with all I've put through them...I've had problems in the past with polymer mags for some reason..
 
Originally Posted By: OldTurtleShurshot,,,,Sounds more like you may have a magazine problem than an ammo problem...Possibly the lips on the magazine need a little attention/tweaking or the spring/follower is not aligned right during the feed cycle...

Try a couple of different types/brands of magazines before abandoning the ammo...I have several older Colt magazines that are 'never fail' feeders with all kinds of ammo, C-Products is another brand that seems to work with all I've put through them...I've had problems in the past with polymer mags for some reason..



sounds like good advise, thanks. I do have several different magazines. they have always worked great with this rifle before as I have had it over 10 years. I do have a couple brand new pmags I can try.

I may break the caliper out of the package and hand select some of the shorter rounds and try to run them through a new mag and if I have no problems I'll try the longer ones. sounds like a plan, thanks!
 
Another thing to consider is some of the AR's have issues with different types of ogives. Some that are a higher ogive do get stuck in AR's from time to time.
 
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