handloaded 5.56 ammo not extracting

[JEVapa]

I think you may have been riding the bolt forward and not engaging the extractor properly. But that's just my guess. I'd take a random sample of about 20% of your reloads, 5 rounds in a mag, and shoot them and see how they do.

 

[Camo]

many times, reloaded .223 will be too long and will need to be trimmed. It does exactly what you are describing.

This is my thought

 

[dennishoddy]

The base of the cartridge (not the rim) did not get resized. 223/556 is notorious for it. That last little bit of case at the base is too fat for the chamber and is getting stuck. This same issue can cause some out of battery issues if it gets too far backed off. You literally need as much of the case as you can get in your sizing die as possible. Screw your sizing die down until it is in contact with your case holder. Look out for slop in your press that might be cheating you out of .001". I highly recommend an ammo checker to avoid this issue.

Bingo! we have a winner. I had the same issue as the OP with .223 rounds.
A phone call to the RCBS tech support told me the instructions that come with the dies says to bring the loader handle fully down, screw the die until it touches the plate or shell holder, then raise the handle and screw the die in 1/8 turn.
The Tech support guy told me to screw the die 1/4 turn vs the 1/8 turn and it fixed all of my issues. Reloads run fine now.
I was having some of the same issues in my .243 WSSM AR not coming into battery by a tiny bit, getting a "click" when pulling the trigger.
Screwed the die down an additional 1/8 turn on top of the already 1/8 turn and it all runs good now.
No more grenading the rifle to get the round out of the chamber.

 

[CroatGoat]

Thank you all so much! I'm gonna try screwing the die down a bit further on some brass tonight and seeing if that doesn't fix it! Should I pull the rounds i already loaded, or shoot them off one at a time if they will still go into battery? (would still be useful to use them to check and see where my loads are going accuracy/ velocity/ drop wise

 

[dennishoddy]

Thank you all so much! I'm gonna try screwing the die down a bit further on some brass tonight and seeing if that doesn't fix it! Should I pull the rounds i already loaded, or shoot them off one at a time if they will still go into battery? (would still be useful to use them to check and see where my loads are going accuracy/ velocity/ drop wise

Try the die trick first to see if that clears up your problem. If it does, I'd pull the bullets and start over with resizing.

 

[mr ed]

Google "adjusting a sizing die".

 

[GC7]

Bingo! we have a winner. I had the same issue as the OP with .223 rounds.
A phone call to the RCBS tech support told me the instructions that come with the dies says to bring the loader handle fully down, screw the die until it touches the plate or shell holder, then raise the handle and screw the die in 1/8 turn.
The Tech support guy told me to screw the die 1/4 turn vs the 1/8 turn and it fixed all of my issues. Reloads run fine now.
I was having some of the same issues in my .243 WSSM AR not coming into battery by a tiny bit, getting a "click" when pulling the trigger.
Screwed the die down an additional 1/8 turn on top of the already 1/8 turn and it all runs good now.
No more grenading the rifle to get the round out of the chamber.

After all these years I finally understand why some dies want the extra turn and others don't! Makes perfect sense.