bullet stuck in barrel

[emmie]

i was shooting a handi rifle 223cal,with hand loads.  primer snaped,but powder did not ignight.   bullet now stuck in barrel in the throat area.
  all suggestion on how to get it out wlecomed.
  also,when i removed case from chamber the powder was all compressed into a pellet,don't know why this happened.
had fired 22 rds,before this,from same loading set.
   load was 223/55grfmj--23gr/aa2200 powder--cci primer.

  thank you for your time--emmie

[CJ]

Since its in the throat its pretty easy fix. A little penetrating oil like Kroil and a one piece cleaning rod and tap it out. Preferably in a padded vise, but it can be done between the knees very carefully. Thats the easy part. I have not loaded .223 in a long time, and am assuming you did NOT start with a compressed load. Several of my manuals are buried right now, but 2 I could get at do not list aa2200. As far as the powder goes could be damp, {but you had no problem with the other rounds} long car trips or other excessive vibration {loaded rounds next to a case cleaner} can compact powder, not usually a problem but with a weak or contaminated primer could cause what you are seeing.

[gunnut69]

The only thing I can think of would be oil migration.  Do you you a modern gunoil on the rifle.  Some of these will penetrate cartridge seals and lump the powder..  Even just sprayed over the weapon and wiped off some of these oils can cause probelms.  Always unload before wiping down and never spray any oil directly on a weapon.  Spray on a cloth and wipe the weapon down.  Not sure about AA2200 but most modern smokeless powders are not terribly affected by moisture.  The will absorb moisture but I've never witnessed clumping.  I've seen tests where powders were left exposed to air and various humidity levels with only a moderate change in weight to volume ratios.  Immersion would of course have more of an effect!  I'm betting on oil contamination causing the clumping before the round was fired and the primer not being able to ignite the resulting clump...  Check some of the other loaded rounds..  How old were the reloads?  A very interesting quandry...