.223 reloading dies on Dillon 550B

[kestak]

Greetings,

I am in the process to buy a set of dies .223 remington for my dillon 550B.

I reload a bunch of pistol calibers but I am not as knowledgeable with the rifle dies.

I am loading EXCLUSIVELY .223 for precision shooting. I will trim, deburr, clean the pocket, make sure the flash hole is consistent, make sure the shoulder fits my rifle chamber, weight my brass, even kiss my brass if I have to.

The Dillon dies 3 set are 135$!!!! Doh.

Here, I am asking to the ones loading for precision here. Can you suggest me a set of dies that will do the job for .223? Do I need a 2 or 3 set dies? I have a 2 set for my 7.5 swiss but I do not reload it for precision shooting.

I read crimp is bad for precision but in a semni auto, I need to hold the bullet firmly still. Why the Dillon set is a tapper crimp and why would I use those dies if it is bad for precision?

I know my questions are kind of all over the place, but I think you understand what I mean to do.

Thank you

 

[Floppy_D]

I've made some fantastic groups with ammo loaded on a Dillon 450 (similiar to yours) and Lee dies (about $25). In my experience, 223 cases provide enough neck tension to hold the bullets in place without a crimp; the bullet is very light and there is plenty of neck tension.

The two die set works for me; I deprime one a single stage, then ream the pockets, trim, deburr and chamfer. From there I load on the Dillon with powder on stage 2, and bullet seater on stage 3 (stages 1 and 4 are empty).

Hope this helps!

 

[loadedround]

I load both 223 match and varmint ammo on my Dillon 550B, and just happen to be using a Redding FL two die set and have absolutely no problems in loading over several thousand rounds of ammo, both in 55 and 69 gr. I prefer Redding dies for their quality and precision and use them for all my rifle loads. It's just possible Redding makes the Dillon dies anyway and Dillon's cost more than twice as much. Dillon carbide dies are used in all my pistol loads however. Don't forget you will need a shell plate and powder funnel for the 223 cases. BTW, I have had no trouble seating and adding a very light crimp with my Redding Seating Die. You may add a separate crimp die to your loading sequence if you so desire, but I find it totally unnecessary. JMHO

 

[kestak]

Greetings,

I just found the lee pacesetters 3 dies for about 40$.

What 2 dies setup are you referring to? It looks like everywhere they are out of stock of almost all the 2 sets full lenght dies for almost all brands...

Thank you

 

[dave from mesa]

The Dillon dies 3 set are 135$

Aren't those the carbide dies?
Carbide or not you will still have to lube the cases.

 

[loadedround]

Kestak:
If you are directing your question to me then I'll try to answer it. Most standard rifle dies are sold in sets of two. First die full lengths resizes and decaps and the second die seats the bullet and crimps if desired. You still need to lube both the standard steel die and the carbide die. The carbide die just makes it a little easier to size the cases. If you shop around on the 'net you should be able to find a set of Hornady, RCBS or Redding dies for under 40 bucks. I do not like the Lee dies in my Dillon. I had two sets and had alignment problems with them so I got rid of them and replaced them with Redding dies. You probably will have many people tell you Lee dies are great in a Dillon, but my experience differs!

 

[lgbloader]

I mixed my dies up and came up with this for my 550B toolhead:

station 1: Dillon Carbide 223 REM die ( I still lube cases with 1 shot )
station 2: powder Die
Station 3: Redding Competition Seater die
Station 4: Redding Crimp die (if Needed)

* I have a RCBS X-Die for station 1 but I still have not used it.

LGB

 

[kestak]

Greetings,

Thank you all for your answers. It made a part of my questions answered.

Keep in mind, I'll reload for precision shooting. I still have two questions left:
1 - RCBS X-die, is it worth? If you use a normal full lenght die (I won't use a a neck zise die because I shoot semi-auto and not bolt action in 223) do you trim each time.
2 - Do you crimp? if yes, what kind of crimp do you use? I read at many places crimp is bad for precision shooting...

Funny thing, I know you need to lube with rifles cases (I reload 500 S&W and no lube = elbow tendinitis and putting your full wieght on the lever...hehehehehe).

Thank you

 

[loadedround]

Kestak:
Re your crimping question, I just use what is called a "kiss of crimp" which is adjusting my my crimping shoulder to just contact the case mouth after seating my bullet. Basically this is done oi insure the that the case mouth is perfectly concentric and any case mouth expansion is eliminated especially for firing in a semi auto rifle. Normally you do not crimp precision target rounds since they are usually loaded one at a time in a bolt action rifle.

 

[kestak]

Greetings,

What about the bullet backing up in the case in a semi-auto? Do you still do a "kiss crimp" and is it strong enough? I use a RRA CAR-15 and SIG 556.

Thank you