I miss the easy days of reloading when I simple cleaned my brass and then ran in all through my progressive press. Reloading the 223 for my AR with a single stage press has been fun but a lot of time.
The case prep is the first new step that eats into my time. I loaded only 30 rounds today just to make sure everything would cycle well in my AR. That meant I had to do some extra steps that I didn't with my handguns. While it is basically the same as when I reloaded the 25-06 and 30-06, I added having to deal with the military crimp. The other large difference was that I am now looking at loading a few thousand rifle rounds compared at just a couple of hundred for the hunting rifles.
My first step after cleaning the cases was to lube the brass. I like using a RCBS pad and their liquid pump lube. This is a simple enough process then I used the RCBS neck brush with a little lube on it to clean the necks.
Running the brass though my Lee Single Stage Press was a simple process. Just make sure to screw the die down to the top of the ram. Then let pressure off the ram and give it an extra turn of just about 1/2 of a turn. This seems to work better than the 1/4 to 1/3 extra turn. Put your shell holder in the ram and within a very short time all 30 cases were sized and deprimmed.
This time instead of using my RCBS case trimmer I decided to use the Lee 223 case trimmer. It is a small hand help device that includes a cutter, case length gauge, lock stud and shell holder. The tip of this case length gauge goes through the flash hole and when you mount the lock stud on a drill you can fly through the case trimming part even faster than the lathe style trimmer from RCBS. You can leave the shell in the lock stud after trimming then simple do the chamfering after trimming each shell. I use one of those two side Lyman deburring tools.
This is still a slow process but one that I feel is a must and this is about the best way I have found to automate the process when you are going to have to do more than 100 cases.
Now came getting rid of that military crimp and there is no way to get around this step. At first I started off with the Lyman hand held Primer Pocket Reamer. This was getting me no where, the case is so small it is hard to hold and then turn the handle of the cutter. It took for ever to do the first ones. So I sat back thinking there had to be a better way. Then I unscrewed the cutter head and mounted in my hand held drill. This worked much better and I gained some speed, though it is still a one time pain in the neck.
It took me about an hour to finish the resizing and case prep for these 30 cases. Now that I know how to do it I am sure I can do this a little faster though.
I had some 55 gr Hornady bullets and RL 7 on hand so I decided to use these to make up my firsts load. In addition I had Remington 7 1/2 small rifle bench rest primers. From doing some research I found that these are the primers you want to use if you are using Remington primers.
I started off using my RCBS hand held primer but after the second primer they kept moving sideways and would try to prime this way. After trying to solve this problem I gave up and went to my Lee hand held primer which worked like a charm. All the primers were seated just below the base and this doesn't take that much time to seat all the primers. I might try to figure out why the RCBS would work tomorrow.
Now I was ready to start loading. I used the RCBS UNIFLOW POWDER MEASURE with a baffle that I had installed. For these rounds I ended up AFTER TESTING using 20.3grs of RL-7. The powder measure was right on with the first 10 test drops of powder. So I started to drop powder in the cases.
I used the RCBS seating/crimping die and after some experimentation I settled on an OAL of 2.56 which worked for my magazine and gun. I crimped these a little more than I crimped other rifle rounds. The bullets didn't have the little ring around the bullet. ( I forget what that is called right now) I just set the crimp and test it by trying to push the bullet in the shell case by pushing the tip on a table. When I think I have it right I pull the bullet to check how far it bites into the bullet. I like a crimp that is going to work with as little damage to the bullet as possible. The important thing is that the bullet can't move while feeding or from the rifle recoil.
My actual process involves loading powder then seating & crimping a bullet for each round. I find this is pretty fast and makes it harder to do a double charge.
After reloading all of the rounds I cleaned everyone then check the primers and measured the OAL on each of them to see how the quality of my reloading was. I found everything as perfect. Remember your primer must be seated lower then the base of the case.
It may have taken me around 2 hours just to develop this load and complete my first 30 rounds. However working up a load is an important part of the process. I start at the minimum recommended powder testing rounds and making little adjustments from that base line for my rifle.
I will note it took me about 5 minutes after the final check to step out the door and unload these rounds.
I was happy with the results, each round chambered showing I didn't have to buy the small base die so that was a plus. All 30 rounds feed through the gun and each case did not show any signs of high pressure. I did some slow firing and fast firing to test the feeding. (NOTE - these bullets had a lead tip that I do not recommend using in the AR, I had them on hand but the tips do take a beating.
In conclusion I will be moving the 223 production over to my Dillon 650. The single stage production is just a little slower for making bulk numbers of 223 rounds. I will look for ways to improve my case prep time they may mean trying the Dillon Super Swage 600. I like using the Lee hand trimmer but may try using the RCBS trimmer with the three way head that cuts and does the deburring at the same time.
I feel the single stage does just fine but when loading more than a few hundred of these just for hunting a progressive press make sense when you look at reloading in the thousands for this caliber. I may use a Dillon but any progressive press would do just fine. I plan on using two heads, one for the desizing/decapping part and then the second head for seating primers then powder bullet seating and crimping.
@ This was just a fast overview of how I reload the 223 for the AR. I may have skipped over some safety tips. Please make sure to use published loads and then start at the lowest load info and work up your loads. There is some conflicting info at their on what primers to use in the AR due to slam firing. For that reason I didn't use regular Remington small rifle primers. I suggest you review that issue and make up your own mind.
I hope this very brief overview helps some of you that are thinking about loading for the AR understand some of the process.
The case prep is the first new step that eats into my time. I loaded only 30 rounds today just to make sure everything would cycle well in my AR. That meant I had to do some extra steps that I didn't with my handguns. While it is basically the same as when I reloaded the 25-06 and 30-06, I added having to deal with the military crimp. The other large difference was that I am now looking at loading a few thousand rifle rounds compared at just a couple of hundred for the hunting rifles.
My first step after cleaning the cases was to lube the brass. I like using a RCBS pad and their liquid pump lube. This is a simple enough process then I used the RCBS neck brush with a little lube on it to clean the necks.
Running the brass though my Lee Single Stage Press was a simple process. Just make sure to screw the die down to the top of the ram. Then let pressure off the ram and give it an extra turn of just about 1/2 of a turn. This seems to work better than the 1/4 to 1/3 extra turn. Put your shell holder in the ram and within a very short time all 30 cases were sized and deprimmed.
This time instead of using my RCBS case trimmer I decided to use the Lee 223 case trimmer. It is a small hand help device that includes a cutter, case length gauge, lock stud and shell holder. The tip of this case length gauge goes through the flash hole and when you mount the lock stud on a drill you can fly through the case trimming part even faster than the lathe style trimmer from RCBS. You can leave the shell in the lock stud after trimming then simple do the chamfering after trimming each shell. I use one of those two side Lyman deburring tools.
This is still a slow process but one that I feel is a must and this is about the best way I have found to automate the process when you are going to have to do more than 100 cases.
Now came getting rid of that military crimp and there is no way to get around this step. At first I started off with the Lyman hand held Primer Pocket Reamer. This was getting me no where, the case is so small it is hard to hold and then turn the handle of the cutter. It took for ever to do the first ones. So I sat back thinking there had to be a better way. Then I unscrewed the cutter head and mounted in my hand held drill. This worked much better and I gained some speed, though it is still a one time pain in the neck.
It took me about an hour to finish the resizing and case prep for these 30 cases. Now that I know how to do it I am sure I can do this a little faster though.
I had some 55 gr Hornady bullets and RL 7 on hand so I decided to use these to make up my firsts load. In addition I had Remington 7 1/2 small rifle bench rest primers. From doing some research I found that these are the primers you want to use if you are using Remington primers.
I started off using my RCBS hand held primer but after the second primer they kept moving sideways and would try to prime this way. After trying to solve this problem I gave up and went to my Lee hand held primer which worked like a charm. All the primers were seated just below the base and this doesn't take that much time to seat all the primers. I might try to figure out why the RCBS would work tomorrow.
Now I was ready to start loading. I used the RCBS UNIFLOW POWDER MEASURE with a baffle that I had installed. For these rounds I ended up AFTER TESTING using 20.3grs of RL-7. The powder measure was right on with the first 10 test drops of powder. So I started to drop powder in the cases.
I used the RCBS seating/crimping die and after some experimentation I settled on an OAL of 2.56 which worked for my magazine and gun. I crimped these a little more than I crimped other rifle rounds. The bullets didn't have the little ring around the bullet. ( I forget what that is called right now) I just set the crimp and test it by trying to push the bullet in the shell case by pushing the tip on a table. When I think I have it right I pull the bullet to check how far it bites into the bullet. I like a crimp that is going to work with as little damage to the bullet as possible. The important thing is that the bullet can't move while feeding or from the rifle recoil.
My actual process involves loading powder then seating & crimping a bullet for each round. I find this is pretty fast and makes it harder to do a double charge.
After reloading all of the rounds I cleaned everyone then check the primers and measured the OAL on each of them to see how the quality of my reloading was. I found everything as perfect. Remember your primer must be seated lower then the base of the case.
It may have taken me around 2 hours just to develop this load and complete my first 30 rounds. However working up a load is an important part of the process. I start at the minimum recommended powder testing rounds and making little adjustments from that base line for my rifle.
I will note it took me about 5 minutes after the final check to step out the door and unload these rounds.
I was happy with the results, each round chambered showing I didn't have to buy the small base die so that was a plus. All 30 rounds feed through the gun and each case did not show any signs of high pressure. I did some slow firing and fast firing to test the feeding. (NOTE - these bullets had a lead tip that I do not recommend using in the AR, I had them on hand but the tips do take a beating.
In conclusion I will be moving the 223 production over to my Dillon 650. The single stage production is just a little slower for making bulk numbers of 223 rounds. I will look for ways to improve my case prep time they may mean trying the Dillon Super Swage 600. I like using the Lee hand trimmer but may try using the RCBS trimmer with the three way head that cuts and does the deburring at the same time.
I feel the single stage does just fine but when loading more than a few hundred of these just for hunting a progressive press make sense when you look at reloading in the thousands for this caliber. I may use a Dillon but any progressive press would do just fine. I plan on using two heads, one for the desizing/decapping part and then the second head for seating primers then powder bullet seating and crimping.
@ This was just a fast overview of how I reload the 223 for the AR. I may have skipped over some safety tips. Please make sure to use published loads and then start at the lowest load info and work up your loads. There is some conflicting info at their on what primers to use in the AR due to slam firing. For that reason I didn't use regular Remington small rifle primers. I suggest you review that issue and make up your own mind.
I hope this very brief overview helps some of you that are thinking about loading for the AR understand some of the process.