Reloading rifle caliber in quantity - what do you do?

[shoen1200]

223/5.56 case prep -what are you willing to do?

I have been reloading for handgun calibers for @ 5yrs and rifle for 3yrs.

The handgun cartridges have been in quantity using a progressive press.
Other than clean the handgun cases they go right into the progressive press and nice accurate ammo flows out the other end at over 300+ rounds and hour.

I have been reloading rifle calibers (300 savage and 30-06) in small quantities on a single stage press. I rarely shoot either caliber more than 40rnds in a range trip – usually more like 10rnds to 20rnds. So slow rate of reloading was not a big issue.

But a Stag AR-15 changed that. It is a lot of fun. Since I had been going thru so much commercial stuff I figured I had better start reloading.

But I feel like I am going insane prepping so many cases.

I clean all brass in a tumbler.

For each case I lube and resize, clean primer pocket, clean off all lube used during resizing and trim case length.

I spent @ 3hrs for just 450 cases!

I had planned to work up a decent load in quantity for playing and a separate load in small batches for 100 to 300yrd accuracy shooting.

Seems like a progressive press speed is negated by case prep for a rifle caliber.

What do you guys do for quantity reloading of 223/5.56 cases to avoid insanity?

Please let me know.

Thanks

 

[Mikee Loxxer]

Just 3 hours for 450 cases! I wish I was that fast.

 

[Birdhunter1]

That's what I was thinking too, my brass prep also includes a tv/movie, bar stool, bench and maybe a nice stiff drink on the table as well. In other words I do it in batches while keeping my mind somewhat entertained on something else.

 

[Walkalong]

Just 3 hours for 450 cases!

If you approach it correctly, it's 3 hours of therapy. No need to pay a shrink.

I have never timed anything I have done reloading. If it is something I don't really care for, I try to find a better, faster way. Then I just try to enjoy it anyway.

 

[JackOfAllTradesMasterAtNone]

For plinkin loads I wouldn't think that you need to spend so much time on your brass. There's certainly no reason to tumble them every loading. Nor cleaning primer pockets. But, if you feel better, and you're doing the pockets by hand, there's one tool that's a big help. One of those motorized stations will save your wrist and speed things up a bit. Also, find what your AR will reliably shoot. You need a GO-NoGo guage for what you'll accept for case length. You probably don't need to trim every round.

Next, do things in batches and get more brass so you always have a large quantity in various stage on hand.

.223 on a semi-progressive/progessive would be the way I would load them.

-Steve

 

[ar10]

I loaded all my 308's, 1150, in two days, but I took a lot of breaks, (working in the yard, working on the truck, cleaning house). I use nothing but single stage, one is a Hornady, the main press, and the other is the 30.00 Lee single stage.
I have both next to each other.
Before I do anything I run them through the tumbler for about 20 min then I lube all of them with the RCBS lube and pad, dumping them in a "lube bag". I use the Lee to de-prime then the Hornady to size. after that run them through the tumbler for polishing, (the tumbler holds about 1000 cases), for about 2hrs. I then put all the cases in homemade blocks that hold 200 cases.(I drilled them so the cases fit upside down as well as right side up). I load the primers in all of them using a hand primer. this is where the blocks come in handy. I put the cases with the neck up. I put the powder in and on each 5th or 10th I weigh the load. The blocks work great because I can run the entire block under the powder dispenser.
The final part is seating, (hornady) and crimping, (Lee).
because my rifle is a semi-auto I need a very small crimp to keep the cases from catching.

 

[rcmodel]

I did 1,200 .223 cases in one big batch in two days working part time on them.
On a single-stage press.

Power tools is the key.

* Size & tumble them all.
* Swage the primer pockets.
* Inspect for cracks while doing that.
* Put a Lee Case trimmer in the little Lathe and trim.
* Put a chamfer tool in the little lathe and debur.
* Prime.
* Load.
* Tumble finished ammo again.
* Package in 50 round zip-lock bags.


rc

 

[Slamfire]

Case prep for rifles takes a lot more time.

Some folks are using the X dies and claim they don't need to trim. I don't know, still have my old dies.

I do an ammo box at a time. I tumble clean, deprime (to get all the media out of the primer pockets). I use an extra thumbler tumbler barrel and tumble the brass and a patch saturated with lube. Then I size. Then I trim wet. Then I wash the RCBS water soluble lube in a plastic tub and let the stuff dry in the sun, or in the oven at "warm".

For rifle ammo, I hand prime and inspect to ensure that the primer is below the case head.

Once I have a filled ammo can of sized, trimmed, primed brass, then I can use my Dillion 550B to dump the powder and seat the bullet.

Yes, it takes forever.

I have friends with Dillion 650's or 1050, the press has a trimmer on top. They crank out ammo fast.

 

[ants]

Depends upon chamber, depends upon primer pocket.

Chamber dimensions in my AR rifles becomes the important factor in trimming. All my chambers happen to have a rather long leade before the rifling, so they can handle long necks with no problem. That generally cuts the trimming task to zero.

I don't ream/swage pockets that don't need it (crimped pockets get set aside during inspection and I prep them separately when I have more time). So I can gather a few hundred or a thousand cleaned and inspected cases, then run them through the 4 or 5 station progressive: size/deprime, prime, charge, seat, and crimp without stopping.

 

[NavArch]

Pardon My Ignorance

rcmodel - I've just been doing pistol reloading so far (put off by the extra steps tied up in bottleneck cases), but I didn't see the usual lube and clean steps, or were they implied in your "load" step?

Thanks

 

[rcmodel]

but I didn't see the usual lube and clean steps,

Step #1.

* Size & tumble them all.

That right there implies lubing them to size them, and tumbling them to get the lube back off.

rc

 

[gvnwst]

Not meaning to hijack the thread, but if you resize the cases and then tumble them....well, how do you do this with a progressive press? They go straight from the resizing die to powder and so on, right?

 

[rcmodel]

If I had a progressive press, which I don't:

I'd still re-size in a single stage press, and do all the case prep work, inspection, etc., before loading them on the progressive.

I want to see what I'm putting powder & bullets in before I do it.

But that's just me.

Besides, I reload almost all GI brass, and the crimped primer pocket has to be delt with the first time too.

rc

 

[Rembrandt]

I found single stage operations took too long....invested in a power case trimmer w/3-way cutter, primer swag, and progressive loader dedicated only to .223......after all, it's 2009, figured it's time to use all the technological advantages the industry has to offer instead of using equipment from the 1920's.

Reloading large volumes of .223 on a single stage is like a farmer trying to compete today with a "B" John Deere.

 

[ants]

I like the panelling, Rembrandt.

What's the little screen above the monitor?

 

[dmazur]

Not meaning to hijack the thread, but if you resize the cases and then tumble them....well, how do you do this with a progressive press? They go straight from the resizing die to powder and so on, right?

I have a Dillon 550B and I use it for rifle calibers as well as pistol. For a manual indexing press like the 550B it's pretty simple. You just treat the first station like a single stage press. You lube, then resize/remprime, remove the brass for cleaning off lube (and checking headspace length & overall length for trim), then resume operations at the press. I usually do this in batches of 100, which matches the primer tube capacity (approximately).

The only difference is, after inserting the brass at station 1, index the shellplate before pulling the handle. This skips the first station and then does powder at station 2, bullet at station 3, optional crimp die at station 4, then it falls in the completed round bin.

I believe you can do the same thing with auto-indexing progressives, but you need to defeat the indexing somehow...

 

[jmorris]

I run them on through a 650 with a carbide size/deprime die then trim.





After than I run them through this machine.
http://s121.photobucket.com/albums/o213/jmorrismetal/?action=view&current=1050.flv





.

 

[lgbloader]

Listen, I understand that 223 cases can be a bummer. In fact, processing my 223 batches of brass is my least favorite things as far as handloading is concerned because it can turn into a chore.

I also size/deprime on a single stage and retumble, then I go throught the steps of processing the brass. Once the brass is where I want it to be, I run them through the 550b for assembly. I use Dillon Carbide sizer and Redding Comp seater and crimp die. I found the medium between single stage and progressive can work to your advantage but unless you are Jmorris, how fast do you really want to go??

I forgot to mention that I have purchased the X-die for 223 and am thinking to change my 550b tool head to the following:

Station 1: RCBS X-Die
Station 2: Charge with Powder
Statioin 3: Redding Comp Seater
Station 4: Redding Crimp

If anyone has experience with this exact set up, feel free to PM me (I don't want to HiJack). I am still a bit skeptical about using the X-die. Hard to change something that has worked for so long, you know what I mean??

RC, 1200 rounds in 2 days part time with a single stage is just killing it. My salute, Mate.

LGB

 

[Walkalong]

well, how do you do this with a progressive press?

I install the sizer die only in my Projector and run all the cases through the press. Walla, sized cases. For rifle, I then tumble them, trim if needed, & deburr and chamfer if I trimmed. Then I prime them with my RCBS hand primer. Then I put all the dies, except the sizer die, in my Projector, and I load them all.