reloading 223

[stanimals2]

I loaded some 223 with 20.5 of 4198 and Hornady 50g Vmax to see how it would pattern, the min load was around 19.5 with the max being 21.5. I Remember thinking there was not much room for the bullet the powder was up to the neck. The rounds chambered hard and the brass came out with a flat spot in the neck. What caused the flat spot ? I also noticed the bullets were able to be pulled out of the round easily. I have a brand new set of lee dies and I noticed some of the rounds the bullet would fall out after they were set if you shook them hard. should I send the dies back to Midway ?

 

[Ky-ote]

I had a set of RCBS dies one time that had an "oversized" expander ball. If the bullet falls out that easy there is definitely a problem.
If you're are shooting a bolt action like the Rem700 that flat spot on the side of the neck is probably coming when you extract the spent brass and the extractor snaps the case to the right side of the gun when it clears the chamber. Many of my 223 have a minute flat spot from this. Just my 2cents.

 

[AWS]

If your Lee die is a collet die you might not be putting enought pressure on it or you mandrel is a little large. I had to polish the mandrel on a Lee collet in 243 and 223 to get a little more grip on the bullet. Also if your useing a collet die on once fired brass from a different gun it could be hard to chamber as the Lee collet die just resizes the neck.

AWS