.223/5.56 Specific Reloading Advice Needed

[xounlistedxox]

I have been reloading for a little over a year now and have learned to make perfectly reliable and safe ammo in most common pistol calibers such as .38/.357, 9mm, .40, 10mm, and .45. It's safe to safe I have a handle on the basics.

I have a Dillon RL 550B Press and I have set it up to reload .223/5.56. I purchased the Dillon 3 piece die set and have everything else I need to make some ammo(brass, primers, powder, bullets, case lube/kit, etc) I followed the instructions for setting up the dies to the letter and can now make rounds to specification from the Lyman Manual and I have cycled some rounds through my rifles and they seem to feed just fine this way.

I'm going to be running this ammo through several different AR's from 14.5-16" Barrels all of them chrome plated bore/chambers.

I'm aware of the PMC and other type of brass that require a little additional work with the reamer, so I have decided to start off with the ready to go now brass that I have which is Remington Peters, and Winchester for the most part.

My question is for those of you who have been doing this a lot longer than I have because I know I have a lot to learn. Are there any tips you could give to make it easier for the first time rifle reloader? I.E. anything to make more reliable rounds for semi-auto rifles etc...

Any advice will be much appreciated! Thanks In Advance

[WyoDuner]

For .223 I personally use a Lee Factory Crimp die to avoid bullet set-back. Is it absolutely necessary? No, but it is a good ideal for autoloaders.

You must full length resize your brass each time after firing for use in an autoloader otherwise chances are good that you will get stuck cases in your rifles chamber.

Reloading crimped brass requires removal of crimp. A primer pocket swager is the easiest way but there are other methods too.

Depending on your powder and bullet combination, you may end up with compressed loads - the powder fills up to or into the neck. Not a big deal, and it is OK to compress the powder but I would suggest working up to that point from lower loads. Varget, H4895 and other extruded powders, especially with lighter bullets, will be compressed anywhere near max loads.

Max COL is 2.260" which is a magazine limitation. Personally, I make mine 2.250" to facilitate slightly easier loading and a little "wiggle room" for magazine fit.

That's about all I can think of right now.

[xounlistedxox]

Thanks for the tips!

I'm using Hodgdon blc2(25g) powder which doesn't compress, so I'm in good shape there. 55g fmjbt

The Dillon 3 die set came with a full case resizing die.

I set them for 2.20" because thats what length American Eagle factory ammo is with a 55g projectile and ive shot it for years with no problem.

Is the .223 cartridge sensitive to powder/bullet seating depth ratios? So far with my reloading experience the most sensitive cartridge I have ran into was .45acp. I can notice a differece in felt recoil with as little as .1g of powder charge.

[waterworld]

If this is your first foray into rifle reloading may I make a suggestion? I have reloaded so far about 400 rounds of 30.06 and so far prepped close to a thousand rounds of .223 cases. (no primers or they would be bullets). In spite of the fact that I use a progressive press (RCBS) I don’t use that feature. I invested in a lube die and I was very pleased with how much it shortened the time to prep cases.

I am very disappointed in how repeatable the powder measure on the press is. For the over 1000 .45 I have loaded that are for paper and plinking it is ok. For my 30.06 however I hand measured every round.

Just some of my thoughts

[xounlistedxox]

I appreciate any advice given for sure thank you.

I used to have an rcbs rock chucker with the piggyback II progressive conversion kit for it and I would have to agree that press was very inconsistent on it's powder charge. The Dillon is a very different story. I set it up to feed 25g of powder and it does that within in +-.1g of powder charge every time. I check after every 20 rounds made and I check it five times in a row, so I have a lot of faith in this press's ability to do it right.

I was in the same situation as you last week. I had 5,000 bullets, 8lbs of powder, plenty of brass, and everything to make it all, but no primers. Fortunately I found some and now I'm ready to rock.

I will have to lube cases with my case lube kit cause the dillon press only has 4 stations and they are already occupied.

[waterworld]

Do you tumble your brass?

[xounlistedxox]

Yes I have two tumblers that can hold about 200 rounds each. My brass has been tumbled for nearly 6 months already. I've been piecing this thing together all this time. I use Turbo Brite polish and man does that stuff work good!

[waterworld]

How interesting! What I do is decap, size, trim case, then I tumble. I do this to take care of any burs that may occur during case trim, also because it helps (very little) with primer pocket. Perhaps I should be tumbling first at least on pistol stuff. Also I have been using just corn cob.

So far with the RCBS on my 30.06 I see powder throw variations of up to +-.3G so as I said I hand measure.

[ronas]

The Dillon is a very different story. I set it up to feed 25g of powder and it does that within in +-.1g of powder charge every time.

I have the same experience with Dillon on the consistant powder charges too. I think some of that has to do with spherical powers that work much better with the powder measures than the extruded powders.

I was going to get some Varget but decided to try some BCL-2 instead. I've used 748 exclusively for 223 for 15 years. Hopefully BCL-2 from Powder Valley will get here in a few days.

[waterworld]

I am anxious to try ball powder on .223 and see if it throws better I have heard it will it is just not available around me at present so I bought a pound of Hodgdon H322 for the .223 Its all I could find. I use IMR 4895 for the 30.06 and IMR 700X for my .45

[WyoDuner]

I also will be using BL-C(2). It was in stock which is a plus these days and from what I can see from looking at load data, it should be a good powder for smaller .223 rounds.

I had been using H4895 which worked well but can't find that right now.

I tumble before anything else and use some metal polish mixed with walnut media.

Also, FWIW, I wear a latex glove on the hand that handles the brass and bullet because after awhile the brass gets discolered from the oils and perspiration on your hands.

[xounlistedxox]

I just picked up some IMR 4320 which is a larger granule powder than the blc2 that I'm currently using so I'll let you know if the Dillon press maintains it precise level of measurement with this powder type as well

[cassius]

reloading .223 for semi-auto rifles you need to pay particular attention to proper case dimensioning, getting the case shoulder driven back where it should be for proper headspacing. That and proper trimming or brass length is key for proper feeding.
You should get and use case gages to validate your sizing operations. Calipers aren't really enough with bottle-necked rifle cartridges.

If you are trying for benchrest precision you may want to measure each powder charge (along with a large list of other fiddly behaviours). But if you want ammo for enjoying on the range on a day with friends or family or teaching new shooters, the accuracy of the powder measure in a progressive press is more than sufficient. The key to the best possible consistency is keeping a consistent stroke in operation, and a small bit of 'dwell time' at both ends of the stroke, particularly with long-grain extruded powders. You can't just fling the powder transfer bar back and forth at maximum speed and get any reasonable consistency. This becomes even more important with larger capacity rifle cartridges. Just a heartbeat will do.

lastly on the 700x in .45acp, it works ok, is a bit dirty, and even with 'standard' loadings you'll find plenty of unburnt powder flakes on your forearms. Its burnrate is just too slow. It's better suited for light loadings with heavy bullets (to give it more of a chance to burn completely), or in shotguns. Bullseye, Unique, Win231 all work better for .45, IMO.

[xounlistedxox]

I'm loading .223 for less expensive target shooting ammo 100 yards and under, so it doesn't need to be super accurate, but it does need to function well. I have a digital caliper and have been able to make rounds that are spec from the Lyman book and they function by feeding them manually without problem. one of my friends is going to go shoot some of them today to make sure they work.
I've noticed so far that the cases from my once fired brass are still shorter than spec from the lyman book... should I still trim them?

[cassius]

I wouldn't. Time will come when you'll need to (as the rounds continue to elongate over repeated firings), to return them to case length spec, and you might as well leave that bit of brass there until it really needs to go. Some will argue for trimming regardless to make everything uniform, and so bullet crimps are equally applied, but those things all matter more to benchrest shooters and your expressed needs don't really require those behaviours.