Thinking about reloading 223...

[350skylark]

So up to now I have only loaded 45 and 44 special. I have maybe loaded around 8,000 mostly 45 acp. I'm planning on starting 9mm very soon and am now thinking about 223. I reload on a Dillon 550b and would be using Dillon dies. Is case prep that bad? Do you have to resize brass and can someone just give me a quick run down on the process?

[Joezamboni]

Considering the costvalue my time and I save the reloading for accurate projectiles.

[350skylark]

Kind of what I was thinking, but with what's going on in the future I would still like to have an idea of it's worth investing in

[milotrain]

I use a dillon 550b to make my match 223. Here is how I do it.

Case Prep:
• De-prime fired brass with a universal decapper on a single stage, or as the only die on station one of the 550 depending on what I feel like doing.
• Tumble the fired brass.
• Size the fired brass either on a single stage or the 550. if it's range brass then I use the 550 with station 1 setup as the dillon die and station 2 setup with a RCBS small base die.
• If this is practice ammo I will sort with a locked out dial caliper at some acceptable OAL length of the brass. The cases that don't fit between the jaws get trimmed. If you have a fancy/fast trimmer then just trim it all, or if you want match brass trim it all.
• Tumble the brass to get the lube off it.
/Case Prep


Loading:
• Station 1 is a lyman M die (can be skipped if you don't feel like it)
• Station 2 is a Dillon powder system
• Station 3 is a Redding Competition Seater die with micrometer
• Station 4 is NOT a crimp die, it is unneeded.
• Fill the primer tube and get busy.
/Loading


NOTES:
• If the brass is yours the Dillon die is a good sizer. I have had problems getting it to size range brass enough to fit in some of my tighter match chambers.
• I have a case prep tool head and a loading tool head to do 223 brass. While it seems like it wouldn't save you time to size or deprime on the 550 you save time by not having to take the case out of the press. That alone is worth doing "single stage" actions on the 550.
• I don't use a powder check die because I want bullets in my left hand and cases in my right, if I had to do both cases and bullets with my right hand I'd be a lot slower.
• I make match ammo at $0.37 a round or there about. I can beat that by buying crappy ammo, but I can't buy good ammo for anywhere near that. I don't shoot crappy ammo so for me it's perfect.

[alexisjohnson]

Its worth it for match rounds (you might shoot 50 or 100 max at a time so its not a big deal) but its not worth it for plinking rounds.

Right now you can order a case of 223 for about 310 dollars. To make your own...you're looking at about 210 dollars (thats assuming you have the brass). thats about a savings of 110 bucks.

But when you look at the time you have to put in cleaning, decrimping, lubing, and trimming, its simply not worth it.

Once the ammo ban hits though...that will change the equation because i can see prices and the hassle going through the roof.

Match ammo will run you from 1 dollar a round to 1.50 for the 223 and you can make your own at around 40 cents each. That is a phenomenal amount of savings...

[Joezamboni]

[350skylark]

I guess I'm mostly looking at it for the future with all the laws that are coming up. And when is the last time you ever saw ammo go down in price other than after the last panic. I don't think ammo is ever going to get any cheaper, especially if they are going to make you pay fees for id cards and background checks.

Going back to reloading, is there a reason you don't tumble, then lube size and decap, and then do the rest? And in terms of trimming the case, that has to be done every time and has to be done after resizing it sounds like? Like you can't prep all the brass at once and then run through the Dillon like you would pistol rounds?

[MrElectric03]

I've read many posts lately about the cost of loading .223 and 9mm. Seems like you are planning for the future. Personally I load all of my own ammo except for .22 rimfire and 12ga and I plan on adding a shotgun press in the near future. If we end up with another shortage soon which I fear we will, you will want to have the tooling and recipie to make your own. Personally if I can load it for the same as I can buy it, I'll load it all day long.

Granted I've spent a lot on my setup but I really enjoy reloading, almost as much as I enjoy shooting. My old process was to deprime, size, trim, and debur the neck in one pass through my xl650, then tumble to clean and remove case lube, then I'd store the brass. When loading it would get swagged if needed, primed, charged, seated and crimped. Next week my 1050 will arrive so I'll probably move the loading process to the 1050 and still prep on my 650.

[stand125]

The key to cas prep with 223 is pre prepping the cases in bulk. I spent about two weeks and about 1 hour a night to size, trim and prime 1000 cases. Now I can just drop powder and bullet and be done. I usually only load about 50 rounds per trip.

I buy my components in bulk so I got my 223 down to 13.6 cpr so as much as I hate case prep it is totally worth it to me

[ar15robert]

I use a single stage.My process is tumble the range brass to clean it up resize and deprime,trim each piece of brass,retumble for longer time this will give it a good cleaning and clean the primer pockets too.

After its done and clean i will prime the brass then put into a bag for later when i decide to load them.

I like to trim all the brass to equal length because i crimp all my plinker rounds with 55fmj.And different length brass will have some some tighter and others not crimped.My match stuff i dont crimp but still trim each piece of brass.

[ar15robert]

The key to cas prep with 223 is pre prepping the cases in bulk. I spent about two weeks and about 1 hour a night to size, trim and prime 1000 cases. Now I can just drop powder and bullet and be done. I usually only load about 50 rounds per trip.

I buy my components in bulk so I got my 223 down to 13.6 cpr so as much as I hate case prep it is totally worth it to me

The way i do as well but maybe not as many and as much time i may prep 200-300 a week and thats what takes the most time is the prep but not bad when you break it down like this.

I got a hand primer so i can sit on the recliner watch tv and prime brass.

[Divernhunter]

You do not need to trim/chamfer every time.
I use a single stage for my rifle cartridges and a Dillon 650 for 9mm/45ACP. I batch process my brass and always have some ready for powder/bullet. I will size about 500-1500 at a time. Then trim. Then chamfer and hand prime while watching TV. Pack them away in 1 gallon baggies with info as to what was done in my plastic tubs. When I want to load just pull them out and it is powder and bullets to go.
I do not crimp any of mine and they work just fine in bolt actions, single shot or my AR.

[McGuiver]

Thinking about reloading 223...

Its worth it for match rounds (you might shoot 50 or 100 max at a time so its not a big deal) but its not worth it for plinking rounds.



Right now you can order a case of 223 for about 310 dollars. To make your own...you're looking at about 210 dollars (thats assuming you have the brass). thats about a savings of 110 bucks.



But when you look at the time you have to put in cleaning, decrimping, lubing, and trimming, its simply not worth it.



Once the ammo ban hits though...that will change the equation because i can see prices and the hassle going through the roof.



Match ammo will run you from 1 dollar a round to 1.50 for the 223 and you can make your own at around 40 cents each. That is a phenomenal amount of savings...

The last batch of 1k rounds of 223 I just loaded cost me $167 dollars loaded. I already had my own brass.

Here was my cost break down below... (16.7 cents per round)

Powder (CFE223) - $0.074

Primers (CCI #41) - $0.04

Bullets (frangible 50gr) - $0.053

You have to buy in bulk if you want to save. I got 8 pounds of CFE223 for $174.24 dollars shipped.

Check out https://www.americanreloading.com/en/ . They have some good deals when they include a discount and free shipping.




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[McGuiver]

Thinking about reloading 223...

The key to cas prep with 223 is pre prepping the cases in bulk. I spent about two weeks and about 1 hour a night to size, trim and prime 1000 cases. Now I can just drop powder and bullet and be done. I usually only load about 50 rounds per trip.

I buy my components in bulk so I got my 223 down to 13.6 cpr so as much as I hate case prep it is totally worth it to me

I also spend about an hour a day on case prep. I then prime them and put them in a 2 gallon bucket. When I need some more 223 to shoot, I can crank out 500 an hour on my Dillon 450. All I need to do is drop powder, place bullet, seat bullet, and lightly crimp the bullet. These then have a COL spread of about 0.003" over 500 rounds when measured with an ogive comparator. No bad for plinking ammo. I like my Dillon 450 because it is more rigid then a 550 frame. It has a solid head, and 550 has a fast swap out head that has play in it.

Only thing that slows me down is filling the powder hopper back up.

I can get about 290 rounds per pound of CFE 223 with my frangible bullets.






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[wbunning]

Like some of the above guys indicate, right now .223 factory ammo is readily available and relatively inexpensive so I'm shooting that and keeping the cases while slowly building up supplies of the other components for when things get tight again. Handgun ammo I shoot almost entirely re-loads. I can do those up for considerably less than factory, plus it's a fun hobby.