Resizing rifle brass

[Coal Dragger]

The RCBS small base die does a pretty decent job, I also have a Redding full length .223 sizing die that I used with no issues feeding several AR’s with NATO spec chambers. At least once the shoulder was adjusted to take away the excessive head space the XL650 allowed, the same dies had never given an issue on a Redding T7. The excess head space along with shortening case life, was causing some issues with primers backing out of the pockets. Adjusting the die properly to the case gauge solved that issue in short order, and no problems were encountered after that....with one exception.

Earlier this year I upgraded to a Dillon .223 size/trim die, and adjusted the die to the case gauge again. I then mounted an RT1500 case trimmer on it to speed up case prep. All Dillon rifle dies are small base dies, and my example has given no issues at all.... with one exception.

The exception was attempting to use Hornady one shot case lube with any of those dies on the progressive press. Sticky cases, cases not resizing consistently, almost stuck a few cases. That stuff is garbage. Which is too bad because it doesn’t leave a sticky residue all over the case, and would save me the need to clean brass a second time after case prep. So I went back to the Dillon spray lube which is lanolin suspended in alcohol, press runs with far less effort and cases resize the first time every time.

 

[Slamfire]

The exception was attempting to use Hornady one shot case lube with any of those dies on the progressive press. Sticky cases, cases not resizing consistently, almost stuck a few cases. That stuff is garbage. Which is too bad because it doesn’t leave a sticky residue all over the case, and would save me the need to clean brass a second time after case prep. So I went back to the Dillon spray lube which is lanolin suspended in alcohol, press runs with far less effort and cases resize the first time every time.

My sizing experiences have been dismal with wax lubes and spray on lubes. I have not tried Dillion's, I am very happy with RCBS water soluble. I tumble rifle cases with a patch saturated with RCBS water soluble in a spare thumler's tumbler barrel. I can lubricate over a hundred, probably more, 30-06 cases at a time, takes about 20 minutes of tumbling. I have to be careful not to add too much lube to the patch, there is a happy estimate that is just right. I do lubricate case necks, holding about five cases per handful, pushing the brush through the case necks and then dropping them into the thumler's tumbler barrel.

If I apply lube with my fingers, it is often with Imperial sizing wax. I have also tried Mink Oil shoe polish, I think it is a duplicate of Imperial sizing wax.

These lubricants work exceeding well with small base dies.

 

[1KPerDay]

A case gauge is mandatory when reloading for a semi-auto, don’t kid yourself. Spend $25 and get a case gauge.

I know for a fact that the Dillon XL650 will allow you to bump the shoulder back too much and give excessive headspace, I’ve experienced it.

Then I bought a case gauge and adjusted the small base die to render correct dimensions for safe reliable operation.

This. Advising someone loading for a semi auto, particularly those with floating firing pins, not to use a case gauge to verify proper case headspace is lunacy. At best you potentially overwork your brass and accelerate car head rupture. At worst you get a slamfire or OOB detonation. Buy and verify proper sizing with a case gauge.

Also some cases spring back more than others even among the same headstamp and batch. Assuming they are all good is asking for trouble. Verify. Be safe. Have fun.

 

[Coal Dragger]

My sizing experiences have been dismal with wax lubes and spray on lubes. I have not tried Dillion's, I am very happy with RCBS water soluble. I tumble rifle cases with a patch saturated with RCBS water soluble in a spare thumler's tumbler barrel. I can lubricate over a hundred, probably more, 30-06 cases at a time, takes about 20 minutes of tumbling. I have to be careful not to add too much lube to the patch, there is a happy estimate that is just right. I do lubricate case necks, holding about five cases per handful, pushing the brush through the case necks and then dropping them into the thumler's tumbler barrel.

If I apply lube with my fingers, it is often with Imperial sizing wax. I have also tried Mink Oil shoe polish, I think it is a duplicate of Imperial sizing wax.

These lubricants work exceeding well with small base dies.

The RCBS doesn’t sound like a bad product.

I take clean brass, place it in a tuperware tote about 30”X15” surface area in the bottom. Then using the pump bottle of Dillon lube give the brass a nice coating of lanolin solution, and hand mix it all the way around the case by shuffling the brass around in the bottom of the tote. Wait a few minutes for the alcohol to evaporate away.

Then load up the case feeder and turn it on, turn on the RT1500, and turn on my shop vac (Dillon trimmer and size/trim dies are made to work with a shop vac to suck brass shaving out as the system operates), put some ear plugs in and get to work.

At a reasonable pace I can de-cap, resize, and trim around 400-500 cases an hour with this setup.

Then the brass has to be cleaned again, I use a stainless steel media wet tumbler. The SS media conveniently cleans the primer pockets the second time around, and knocks off any burrs or trimming flash from case trimming so I don’t have to chamfer case mouths. As it turns out tumbling a second time is not the end of the world. I only have to swage primer pocket crimps out once so I do that after second cleaning if needed.

Due to the large size of the case trimmer I’m unable to mount a case neck expander die in the case prep toolhead. So station 1 on the final load toolhead I run a Lyman neck expander M die. I did have to adjust the case trimmer to account for the brass length shrinking just a smidge when the case neck is expanded. Once this adjustment was made to lengthen trim length to account for this my spot checks indicate the brass length after neck expansion is pretty consistent, so I don’t worry too much about it.