Difficulty Factor: Straight Case vs Bottleneck

[DaisyCutter]

I've been reloading my .44 Mags now for 6 months on my hand-me-down turret press. I started there because I perceived a good safety margin in the big Ruger revolvers. My handloads have always gone *bang* fine, but admittedly my last batch was a superior product to my first one. Now that I'm squared away, I'm looking at reloading a 2nd caliber.

I have reloadable brass for .40SW and .223. My .40s are Glocks and would need (IMO) upgraded barrels. My .223 is an AR, and I'm thinking of maybe getting a bolt action .223 as well.

Assuming my skill and intelligence level is sufficient to load .44 Mag, would there be any reason to fear the .223's (1) botlenecked case and the (2) autofeeding nature of the rifles I shoot it in?

 

[NeuseRvrRat]

no and no

the biggest difference is the need to lube for resizing and lack of an expanding step. just read your manual, do your research, and you'll be fine.

 

[56hawk]

Lubing and trimming is a real pain for bottleneck cartridges. Also with any autoloader the ammo has to be tuned to the gun. I think ARs are pretty forgiving to burn rate, but some semi autos like the M1 Garand require a pretty narrow band to operate correctly.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

I never found that bottle neck cartridges were any harder to load than straight cased shells were, they are just different in their requirements.

+1 on the lubbing of bottle necks, there is more to learn with them then the standard straight case loads, but we all do it everyday.

+1 on doing the research on how to tackle these, they have different characteristics then straight cased shells but if you are diligent in learning how, you won't have any more of a learning curve than you did when you started with straight cases.

In fact it should be easier, your not learning from scratch.

 

[1KPerDay]

Not any more difficult, just a lot more work. If that makes sense.

 

[T Bran]

Actually I find loading bottle necked cartridges a breeze and have been hesitant to begin loading strait walled if that eases your mind any.

At the moment I have an extreme surplus of .40 [as in I count them by 50 cal ammo can] if this ever runs out I will be in the same predicament but backwards.

Pick a good lube like Imperial sizing wax,this will save you some real headaches, and always check your legnth after sizing. Loading for an autoloader you will need to full legnth size your brass for reliability.

For your future bolt gun you can get away with neck sizing which will extend the life of your brass. You do not need a necksizing die as your FL die can be set up to necksize or partial FL.

Have fun.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

For your AR's you will mostly start out loading for bulk, as you learn your AR rifle from reloading for it, you will also learn the difference of loading for bulk and reliabilility to reloading for accuracy and reliability.

To me the bolt action has a lot more learning curve than the AR if you are loading strickly for bulk. There are people that probably diagree with me on this.

To learn both together would be supreeme for both worlds.

With the .223 you need to learn about free bore and headspacing with the bottle neck cartridges, for either rifle, because they head space on the bottle neck of the case instead of the rim of the shell as with .357 mags or the case mouth, as with the 40 S&W and most other semi-auto pistols.

.223 autos usually need to be full length resized where in bolt actions, you usually need only to neck size the cases. Two different kinds of actions, two different principles on achieving the same thing. Accuracy and reliability.

Dig into the research, you'll find it's not a whole other issue, but just an extension of the original.

You will need to learn both if you are going to load for these two different actions.

Again, we do it every day. Do some reading and don't be afraid of it.

We've all had to start somewhere.

 

[Nushif]

My biggest concern would be brass life.

I can't say I've thrown entirely too many cases away when I reload my straight walled bullets, but from what I hear (I know, right?) the brass only lasts about four or five reloading cycles?

Is there any truth to that?

 

[1KPerDay]

IF you're shooting it through a semi-auto and you have to full-length resize and bump the shoulder back a bit each time, yes.

IF you only neck size for bolt guns they can last much longer.

 

[NeuseRvrRat]

don't get the poor guy all wrapped around the axle over the FL, neck sizing, shoulder bumping debates just yet. you might scare him away. his reloading manuals will lay it out in a manner that will allow him to make safe, reliable ammo.

 

[flyskater]

bottleneck cases and lead with a BHN of less than 15 is a pain to load as the bullet don't always load straight. I can load jacketed bullets and bottleneck by the thousands all day without a hiccup.

 

[Brian10]

If by difficult you mean time spent, then yes, bottle necked cartridges are a lot more difficult. Resizing first, trimming, lubing, and then de-lubing adds to the process. For straight wall pistol cases, they run pretty quick through my progressive press.

 

[tyeo098]

Make sure you lube, or they will berate you and call you incompetent...

I went from loading 9mm to 223.
23.2gr 846 or 22.5gr Varget under a 55gr Hornady. Does well. If only I could shoot better

Just be ready to either spend a lot of time picking tumbler media out of the cases or switch media.
I switched to rice. Much easier than corn cobb on the bottleneck cases.

 

[cfullgraf]

My biggest concern would be brass life.

I can't say I've thrown entirely too many cases away when I reload my straight walled bullets, but from what I hear (I know, right?) the brass only lasts about four or five reloading cycles?

Is there any truth to that?

For most hand gun cases, 45 Colt, 45 ACP, 9x19, 38 Super, 357 Magnum and others, I shoot the cases until they fail. Either the mouth splits or the bodies split or I lose them.

I have lost count of the number of times I have reloaded them.

Rifle cases are a different story.

My AR cases are tossed when the primer pockets get too loose, 4-6 reloading. My M1 Garand cases have been reloaded 7 or 8 times and are still good to go.

22 Hornet lasts me 4 or 5 loadings before the head separates. They do a little better if I neck size them.

My 223 Remington bolt rifle cases last a long time. I frequently shoot cases a few times in the ARs then move them to the bolt rifle. Unfortunately, the bolt rifle is easy on cases and I generate more cases than I can consume.

And the list goes on. I am sure you get the ides. There is not hard and fast case life.

 

[jmorris]

For bolt guns if all of your brass comes from your (the same) gun neck size and it's almost the same as your pistol loads. Semi auto or brass from other guns and you get into the lube, trim work. Also do yourself a big favor and get a casegauge, takes all of the guess work out of it.

 

[Nushif]

My AR cases are tossed when the primer pockets get too loose, 4-6 reloading. My M1 Garand cases have been reloaded 7 or 8 times and are still good to go.

22 Hornet lasts me 4 or 5 loadings before the head separates./QUOTE]

Yeah, those numbers are not nearly high enough for me, to this guy (meaning a cheap plinking ammo reloader) the only time I should have to throw out a case is because it split or because I dinged it up too bad loading or stepping on it. 8)

 

[SlowFuse]

It seems T Bran and I are in the same boat. I load bottle necked rifle cartridges but haven't ventured into straight walled pistol and rifle cases. I usually seem to take the hard way around things but that's another story. Trimming and lubing, to me, are the most important steps regarding prep work. Obviously the most important thing to keep an eye on is when you start dropping powder. As long as you stay focused and study up, you should be fine loading any cartridges. It just depends on how much time you're willing to devote. I started with rifle cartridges because I figured I would see more cost savings overall, and because for pistol plinking I'm usually doing 9mm. Didn't see much savings there... Good luck either way you go.

 

[DaisyCutter]

Maybe I'll get the bolt rifle first and just focus on handloading for it. The turret press seems ideally suited for that, versus the high volume high capacity AR.

Thank you for the reassurance gentlemen.

 

[kutter]

I started out loading for bottleneck pistol cartidge, so between that and .223, I did not know there was a way to reload without lube. Now, they got those new fangled carbide dies, whoever heard of such a thing...Ok, not really.

Buy a good trimmer, I use a Wilson, I want a Girreaud(sp). I lose brass before it wears out on my 556. It is an easter egg hunt everytime I shoot that thing.

 

[cfullgraf]

I started out loading for bottleneck pistol cartidge, so between that and .223, I did not know there was a way to reload without lube. Now, they got those new fangled carbide dies, whoever heard of such a thing...Ok, not really.

Just a note, those "new fangled" bottle neck carbide resizing dies still require lubricant. The few bottle neck carbide dies that are out there are made for high volume loaders that need to extend the life of their dies.

Hand gun, straight walled cases can resized in carbide dies without lubricant although there are a few that still lubricate them.

 

[jmorris]

Now, they got those new fangled carbide dies, whoever heard of such a thing...Ok, not really.

You have to lube with carbide rifle dies too, the only way I size rifle cases without lube is neck size only but I only do that for bolt guns.

 

[Stormin.40]

I had the same reservations as the OP. I reload for 40 S&W, .38 Special and 45-70 (Black Powder), all straight walled cases and all pretty easy. I will start shortly reloading for a Remington 760 (pump action) and figured I would need to full lenght size for this action, its chambered in 30-06.

I suppose I just need to jump in and start like I did a few years ago with straight walled cases and then black powder cartridges.

 

[FROGO207]

It's not a bad as you think guys. Bottle neck cases are different that's all. I think that the most important things are the lubing and trimming as mentioned and the need for more thorough inspection of the brass each time looking for all the usual ills of fired brass as well as case head separation/primer pocket issues. I do agree that case life will be shorter also but it will depend on the amount of working your brass is done and how hot your loads are as to how much it ends up shortening it's life.

 

[dragon813gt]

It's not any more difficult. Bottleneck cases just require more steps to reload. For a real fun time start reloading bottleneck pistol cartridges.


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[T Bran]

I tried neck sizing for my 760 in 30-06 and though they would chamber 90% of the time easily I wont ever do that again its that last 10% that gets you.

You hear about folks who have to pogo their AR type rifles to extract stuck cases well I for one think they learned it from we the foolish who tried to cut corners on a pump.

A pump rifle does not have nearly enough mechanical advantage to force a tight case to chamber reliably. I guess as a suffix I should add that mine doesnt YRMV.