I've been thinking about ways to minimize some of the processing steps associated with reloading 223, or any other bottle neck cartridge. I'm talking about practicing/ plinking loads for an AR, not high precision bench rest ammo.
I have a Lee Classic turret press. Right now I lube, size/ deprime, trim long cases, deburr, remove primer pocket crimps, clean primer pockets, and re tumble all as separate pre processing steps. I then reload by priming, charging, and seating the bullet on the lct. Pretty standard I think.
I'm considering trying a slightly different setup using an Rcbs lube die and an Rcbs X-die fitted with a forster carbide expander. It wouldbe set up like this:
Lube die
Size die (prime at bottom of the stroke)
Charge case
Seat bullet
Yes, I would still need to remove primer pocket crimps and trim cases, but with the xdie you'd only need to do that once with each batch of brass. I,d skip primer pocket cleaning.
Anyone already loading like this? I'd think progressive press users would be looking for max efficiency, and already ahead of the curve on this.
I have a Lee Classic turret press. Right now I lube, size/ deprime, trim long cases, deburr, remove primer pocket crimps, clean primer pockets, and re tumble all as separate pre processing steps. I then reload by priming, charging, and seating the bullet on the lct. Pretty standard I think.
I'm considering trying a slightly different setup using an Rcbs lube die and an Rcbs X-die fitted with a forster carbide expander. It wouldbe set up like this:
Lube die
Size die (prime at bottom of the stroke)
Charge case
Seat bullet
Yes, I would still need to remove primer pocket crimps and trim cases, but with the xdie you'd only need to do that once with each batch of brass. I,d skip primer pocket cleaning.
Anyone already loading like this? I'd think progressive press users would be looking for max efficiency, and already ahead of the curve on this.