progressive reloadingI have loaded

[jwr_747]

I have loaded a ton of pistol rounds on my Dillon 550.How much trouble is it to load 223 rounds on the Dillon ?? Looks like the lubed cases would put a kink in the process.. thanks...jwr

 

[edfardos]

roughly 60% of pistol speed imho,

edfardos

 

[NeuseRvrRat]

i resize on a single stage, then tumble, then prime, charge, seat, and sometimes crimp on the 550. this works well for me as long as i use a powder that meters well. H335 does the trick.

i've got a buddy who tumbles first, then lubes by spraying lanolin/alcohol in a ziploc and tossing his brass around in there. he then does all processes on his 550, then tumbles the loaded ammo to remove the lube. this works well for him.

i simply prefer the smooth operation of the 550 without resizing. for my straight-walled handgun ammo, i do everything on the 550.

 

[bobinoregon]

I size cases and then tumble to remove lube. When loading on the 550 I seat the primer and rotate to the powder die, basically it's the usual way without a case in the first station for the sizing stroke. works for me.

 

[Hondo 60]

How much trouble is it to load 223 rounds on the Dillon ?? Looks like the lubed cases would put a kink in the process..

No trouble, but I don't do the operation all in one.

I deprime/size - trim as needed - chamfer if needed, tumble, then
charge
seat & crimp

 

[morrow]

You need to run rifle brass, or any brass that's known to stretch, through a progressive press twice.
First time you run it through and size/deprime only.
After that off the press (or on the press if you have the Dillon press mounted trimmer, but that's a whole different story) you measure to see if you need to trim or not. Also remove any crimped primer pockets.
Then the second time on the press you prime, powder, bullet, seat, crimp, etc.

 

[NeuseRvrRat]

You need to run rifle brass, or any brass that's known to stretch, through a progressive press twice.

not necessarily.

you can run a few through the sizer and then measure. if they don't need trimming, then you could do it in one pass.

 

[MRH]

As with just about any brass, you need to have the pieces at the correct length. Once that's out of the way, loading rifle brass is only slightly slower than pistol. I either roll my .223 (and other) on a lube pad, or finger lube with Imperial Sizing Wax. Then load away. After loading, I wipe off the lube, or if I want to get fancy, tumble them to remove the lube. I've used a Dillon 550 to reload rifle ammo for years.

 

[Bentley4700]

I load quite a bit of .223 on my Dillon. The dillon trimmer is worth it's weight in gold if you are doing bulk. I lube first. Then the first run I size/deprime on station 1 then trim on station 3 (trims so clean there is no need for chamfer/debur). Then I tumble to remove lube. Then swage. Then the second go round I have a universal deprimer in station 1 to clear flash hole, charge with H355 (meters like a dream). Seat on station 3, crimp on station 4. I love my Dillon.

 

[morrow]

not necessarily.

you can run a few through the sizer and then measure. if they don't need trimming, then you could do it in one pass.

This is only true if you are 100% sure that every single piece of brass in your reloading batch is the exact same batch from your previous batch which you trimmed. Most people aren't that 100% sure to do that. I sure am not. 1 single piece of too long brass can cause major problems. Check ALL brass that can stretch to see if needs to be trimmed before loading, EVERY TIME!