.223 brass prep ideas with the RL1200

[howiepa]

I'm planning out my Dillon XL650 purchase(s) and am having a small concern about brass prep. My old press, the Hornady LnL, did not enjoy having the primer slide the least bit dirty so I took to decapping off-press with a Harvey Deprimer. This works out well as I can deprime while watching TV. A surprising amount of gunk comes out of the primer pocket. With the 650 I'd like to go back to on-press prep, if only to make use of the RL1200 case trimmer in one of the 5 stations (a Lee decapper would be first). However, I hear that the RL1200 case trim dies do some resizing. Is this accurate?

Ideally I'd prefer to only run the brass through a wet tumble once, preferably after being decapped/deprimed so I can have clean primer pockets. If the RL1200 die resizes it would be resizing a dirty case unless I decap, tumble, then run through the RL1200, which mostly defeats the purpose of doing things on the press in the first place.

Suggestions?

 

[Tom488]

You can set up your trim die to trim only, and not re-size, by just leaving it a little high in your tool head - just like you would set up a re-sizing/decapping die to decap, but not re-size.

There is enough "room" in the trim die to allow the case to not re-size, but still have the neck sticking up enough to trim it back to proper length.

 

[medalguy]

I tumble brass "clean" then deprime with the RCBS Universal depriming die. Next it goes into the Rockchucker/1200 combo to size/trim, and yes, it does fully resize. Next into a good polishing tumbler to clean primer pockets as well as they can be cleaned with cob. Swage pockets if required. The next step is to prime with an RCBS bench mounted autoprime tool which I greatly prefer because I can feel the primer bottom out. I don't get that feeling with a 650.

Only after these steps do I go to the press to charge/seat/crimp. Yes that's several extra steps, but I haven't (yet) had a failure to fire because of a high primer, and all my ammo fits all my 5.56 and 7.62 weapons.

 

[1idcat]

I use a Dillon 1200 for .223 on my LNLAP. Love it.

Bottleneck cases need to be processed in two passes.



I use a LNLAP, but my procedure for .223 is the same as your 650 would use.



First pass:

1. I dump the brass in the tumbler for 20 minutes or so, to clean off the range dirt.

2. Lube the cases using Lanolin/Isopropyl Alcohol in a 1/12 mixture. I put a hundred or so in a gallon ziplok bag, and spray a few pumps. Dump out on paper, and let sit for a minute to let the Isohol evaporate.

3. Run through the LNLAP press set up as follows:

4. Station 1 has Universal Decapper die.

5. Station 3 has Dillon 1200 sizer/trimmer. This is adjusted to FL size and trim to length every case. The 1200 trims the case mouth very squarely. For FMJ plinking bullets no chamfer is required, but I do chamfer for precision ammo.

6. Station 5 has Redding FL size die, backed out to not size, only expand using carbide expander.

7. Back into the tumber to remove the case lube.



Then I inspect the cases, deburr flash holes, deburr case mouths, if needed. I'll often stop here and store the prepped cases until ready to load.



Second pass:



1. Run through the LNLAP press set up as follows:

2. Station 1 has a Universal Decapping die, just to make sure the flash hole is clear.

3. Station 2 has my powder measure.

4. Station 3 has the Powder Cop die.

5. Station 4 has the bullet seating die. No crimp here.

6. Station 5 has the Lee FCD, if used. No crimp unless the bullet has a canelure, ie., FMJs.

7. Shoot.

8. Repeat.