Bulk processing .223 on a Dillon RL1100

I have nearly the same setup on a Dillon 750, but I use all Dillon Die sets. I also swage with a standalone Dillon 600 instead of using a die for this purpose. I swage ALL .223 brass...the vast majority have crimped primers anyway. I also opt for the One Shot because the Dillon lube leaves a bunch on the finished brass and it becomes a dust magnet.

I use range brass, de-primed with the Dillon universal de-primer and then wet tumbled. The come out looking fantastic.

Good luck with the new equipment!

Sounds about right, I use Dillon lube and post load tumble for about 15min in corncob to knock the lube off.

I do roughly the same thing on my 1050...except that I resize and deprime in the same Dillon .223 sizing die in station 1. Since the holder/base for the trimmer is also a sizing die, I wanted to do the majority of the resizing upstream of the trimmer.

A note: I've always used lanolin/alcohol lube for .223 cases. However, I recently moved my 1050 and the rest of the rifle case prep operation into an unheated garage. Its not freezing out there, but this time of year it is probably 20F cooler than indoors where I used to do this. I've found that I had to shift to lanolin that is more liquid at cooler temperatures (liquid lanolin), put a little more lanolin for a given volume of alcohol, and tumble in walnut shells for a couple of hours rather than maybe 30 minutes to remove the excess lanolin. No big issues, but a of couple minor tweaks.

I set mine the same, the brass will have spring back and all you need the trim die to do is keep it from spinning as it is cut.

I do it that way because my size die is carbide and my trim dies are not.

Here's a question that slightly on topic. Case lube. I've watched all these videos where people are churning out 223 like an assembly line...but lube never comes up. That I've seen, 223 takes a fair amount of it not to jam in the sizing die, this means fairly messy work. If you're running on something with a case hopper, does that mean you have to pre lube, then dump in the hopper? If so, I'm guessing that wouldn't take long to gum up the hoper of the case feed tube.

Second, like someone said, I have to clean the brass after resizing...on something like a 1050, does that mean cleaning the loaded rounds after they're spit out? Someone also mentioned Dillon lube, which is solid stuff buy it super sticky when applied, I actually stopped using it because if makes such a mess.

This one has always confused me.

lordpaxman said:

Thanks for the info. I know you’ve said you had the carbide die but it still requires lube. I only opted for the steel dies.


That’s how I do pistol and will be doing rifle. The trick to not being messy is to only use enough to not stick cases, which is trial and error. If the lube is carried by a solvent, allow adequate time for the solvent to flash off. You could individually lube each case, with something like imperial wax, but I’m not spending the time to do that. I’ll try one shot first and see how it goes. Lanolin works, I just wanted to avoid the post processing step to remove it.
This method of brass processing is two step- get the brass ready for components first and second, load it. I wouldn’t tumble the loaded rounds.

Click to expand...

I currently resize 223 on a Lee die, and it may be part of the problem, but I've seen that it takes a strong amount of case lube to made sure it doesn't jam. I typically use Dillon spray on, but after jamming a few cases using it, I switched to Lee cream lube. It works just fine but my god, is it messy. Now I'm using imperial lube and it is superb...but cleaning it off is a pain.

Going through that is the primary reason why I do not bulk load 223...it's been a pain in the rear thus far.

Typetwelve said:

Here's a question that slightly on topic. Case lube. I've watched all these videos where people are churning out 223 like an assembly line...but lube never comes up. That I've seen, 223 takes a fair amount of it not to jam in the sizing die, this means fairly messy work. If you're running on something with a case hopper, does that mean you have to pre lube, then dump in the hopper? If so, I'm guessing that wouldn't take long to gum up the hoper of the case feed tube.

Second, like someone said, I have to clean the brass after resizing...on something like a 1050, does that mean cleaning the loaded rounds after they're spit out? Someone also mentioned Dillon lube, which is solid stuff buy it super sticky when applied, I actually stopped using it because if makes such a mess.

This one has always confused me.

Click to expand...

I either use frankford arsenal spray on case lube, or homemade case lube(about 12:1 99% isopropyl alcohol:liquid lanolin). First, I toss the brass in the oven for 5 ish minutes at 250 degrees(or do this as I am drying them after tumbling). Then, I toss the brass into a gallon ziplock bag(fill about 2/3 full to allow room for shaking). Spray 10 or so sprays of lube into the bag, then blow as much air into the bag to keep the bag as inflated as possible to give room for movement. Shake/agitate the bag for a minute or so to get the brass rubbing all over each other. Open the bag while still warm, and let the lube evaporate. Throw in hopper. Size/trim, and then let it drop into a container. Throw the container in the tumbler for 15-20 minutes to remove lube, then run it just like normal.

lordpaxman said:

Interesting. Given they’re both sizing operations, do you attempt to keep them exactly the same or is the trimmer a few thousandths more?

Click to expand...

jmorris said:

all you need the trim die to do is keep it from spinning as it is cut.

Click to expand...

For me, the issue was mostly one of easy setup. If you do the bulk of the sizing operation upstream of the trimmer, then setting the trimmer holder/base is easy; with the press handle down, twist the holder/base down until it touches the shoulder of a properly sized case, then 1/16 of a turn more, and lock it in place. That isn't enough to do any permanent sizing (the brass won't be plastically deformed in this step), but it is enough to hold the case in place during trimming.

Then, from this fixed base, you can set your trim length.

Another, smaller consideration has to do with how excess lube is handled in the trimmer holder/bases. On my 300 BO and 30 carbine holder/bases, there is no weep hole to allow excess lube to escape. The 30-'06 holder/base does have one. I don't recall whether the .223 does or not. I just wanted to give excess lube the best chance to escape through the weep hole in my sizing/depriming dies.

Typetwelve said:

Here's a question that slightly on topic. Case lube. I've watched all these videos where people are churning out 223 like an assembly line...but lube never comes up. That I've seen, 223 takes a fair amount of it not to jam in the sizing die, this means fairly messy work. If you're running on something with a case hopper, does that mean you have to pre lube, then dump in the hopper? If so, I'm guessing that wouldn't take long to gum up the hoper of the case feed tube.

Second, like someone said, I have to clean the brass after resizing...on something like a 1050, does that mean cleaning the loaded rounds after they're spit out? Someone also mentioned Dillon lube, which is solid stuff buy it super sticky when applied, I actually stopped using it because if makes such a mess.

This one has always confused me.

Click to expand...

Most people with progressive presses like the 1050 or 1100 do case prep of rifle brass in a first run through the machine. That does require lubing the cases (and if you're working in a cold environment, perhaps warming them up), and then dumping them into the hopper. After the the prep steps, the lube is removed. This does leave some lanolin in the hopper, drop tube, etc. A quick wipe down is enough to remove much of the lanolin...you don't have to get it all.

Then, the cases are loaded on a second pass.

For pistol cases, the only lube I use is a quick blast of OneShot before dumping the cases into the hopper. It isn't absolutely necessary, but I've found that it helps to smooth out operation of the press and helps keep powder from bouncing out of the cases and onto the case holder and ram head.

For my general plinking 223R ammo I use my LNL-AP w/brass feeder. What I do is clean out the hopper real good before I dump One Shot lubed cases into the hopper. Since OS is a wax it is not sticky once the carrier has flashed off. Then proceed to size the brass. I do my trimming off the press using a drill mounted 3-way cutter. One all the brass prep is complete it goes in bins ready to load when needed.

RCBS makes a Lube die so you can lube the brass in the station prior to sizing. But your press must be able to handle spent primers in the station used. Most AP can only handle spent primers in station 1.

lordpaxman said:

So I bit the bullet, crossed over to the dark side and Santa arrived early this year. The RL1100 is currently set up to load 9mm, and I’m populating another toolhead to process .223.
1 - case
2 - Universal deprime
3 - swage
4 - NA
5 - NA
6 - RT1500
7 - NA
8 - Lyman M die

This seems to be a pretty standard setup for bulk processing, and I just wanted to hear from others who have a similar setup if there are any obvious problems or gotchas. I have about 10K range brass to process and it’ll be used in 3gun and target, no PRS. I don’t plan to separate by headstamp, for either processing or subsequent loading. I haven’t decided if I want to use Dillon lube or One shot as I don’t really want to remove Dillon lube (or homemade lanolin spray) as a post operation. Comments please!

Click to expand...

This is pretty much how I bulk prep my 223 brass and it has worked for a long time now. I just need a bullet feeder for the loading toolhead to make it go a bit faster.