RELOADING .223 (Video Tutorial)

[damilfman]

^^^ thats probably cheaper than uniquetek's timer

http://www.uniquetek.com/site/696296/product/T1263

[joelogic]

Thanks for the heads up on Unique-Tek, I ordered the toolhead clamp kit and the 2x powder hopper with baffle.

[RaymondMillbrae]

Cool, Joe.

When you get it, give us your initial opinion...as well as a follow-up AFTER a few hundered rounds have been rolled.

That extra long powder measure/tube is the bomb for rolling your own rifle rounds, as the powder disappearo's really quick.

The powder baffle is also really nice. You should request that they install it before sending it out to you, just to be on the safe side.

I installed my own powder baffles, but I left little marks on all my powder measures/tubes. (No biggie). I immediately noticed a much more consistent powder throw, even when I intentionally let my powder measure get to almost a quarter full.

The powder will also throw a touch "heavier" when the powder baffle is installed...so a little tweeking of the powder charge will be needed.

Enjoy!

In Christ: Raymond

[joelogic]

Well, Raymond did such a good job showing people how to reloading .223, I hope I can add some value. I try to stick to the rule of only upgrading if I can actually make something work better or more reliably. With the stock powder hopper I would get about 225 rounds of .223 produced before I had to top off the hopper. Yes I have the low powder indicator but it still messes with my flow when loading in volume. Usually when I am ready to load I fill 5 primer pickup tubes, set my 5 gal bucket of brass next to me, grab a bulk box of bullets, and start cranking away. This hopper should do 500 rounds. This report is just my intial take on the 2x hopper. My second review will come once Raymond drop off my powder. ( )
First, I was surprised by how big it was and that it was a little flimsy. The plastic is much thinner than the stock hopper. We will have to see after 10 years if that even matters. The instructions say you have to modify the low powder rod if you want it to work properly but with the new hopper and a longer rod it may touch the ceiling. I will report on that once I buy a longer threaded rod.

[joelogic]

The stock tube comes with a baffle so I guess it only makes sense to use a baffle with the new hopper. I am not interested in trying without it just to see what happens.





One thing that was exciting was that UniqueTek said that this tube would not discolor like the factory tube. Which is great because I like my press to look pretty. (Said with Sarcasm)

[joelogic]

I will update this posting once I get some more powder. As an additional note I also picked up the "Bin-Dam". Pretty cool little piece of aluminum. At about 90 rounds the bin would start to overflow and occasionally drop a round on the floor. I set my press to the end of the bench with the akro bin floating in the air to maximize bench space. Those with the bin supported may not care for this thing but I am sure I will find it handy. As a note anyone with tin shears could make one of these but it probably wouldnt look as nice.

[RaymondMillbrae]

Cool, Joe.

Glad you did a follow-up.

By the way, with the XL650, you don't really need the Low Powder Sensor. I know folks will say that the powder sensor adds a bit of "weight" to the powder, hence giving it even pressure/flow. But your new "Powder Baffle" will give you a very consistent flow. On top of that, for the low powder warning, the Low Powder Sensor is redundant when used in conjunction with the powder check station.

Just for the heck of it (if you have some time), try adjusting your powder charge and rolling a few rounds with your new 2X powder tube filled-up. Then try emptying the tube to about 1/4 full, and try rolling a few more rounds. See if there is a degredation in the powder consistency with the powder baffle.

And in closing, your 8-pound jug of powder should be in on Monday. I will let you guys know as soon as it arrives.

In Christ: Raymond

PS: Just some food for thought: With .223 rounds, the bin can be filled-up nicely with no adverse effects. (.223 rounds are not too heavy). But you DO NOT want to fill up the bin to the top with .45 ACP rounds. Pistol rounds are a lot heavier, and the BIN MOUNT is kinda flimsy. If you bend the BIN MOUNT, you will notice that it is attached to the metal CHUTE that guides the completed rounds into the bin. And if your CHUTE gets bent, then it will rotate under your CASE INSERT SLIDE AND CAM, and will get smashed when you pull/push your lever. (Don't ask me how I know this). If this happens, you are going to have a bear of a time trying to tweek it to work correctly.

[RaymondMillbrae]

OK, folks...

I have been communicating with a fellow shooter, and he was curious as to the actual "consistency/tightness" of the boolits COL when the Dillon press modifications have been done.

Below is the actual response I sent him a few minutes ago.

I thought it might be a beneficial "read" for some of yall.

In Christ: Raymond




OK,

lets start from the beginning:

1) Not all brass is the same. (Neck thickness, internal dimensions, case/neck hardness, etc...). So if you want consistency, you need to use THE SAME MANUFACTURERS BRASS when comparing COL. And even then, not all manufacturers brass is from the same batch. (I only use LC brass for my match .223 ammo).

2) When I measure my brass, it is "miked" to my chamber. This is done by measuring the boolit length to the OGIVE. (Read up on where this specific point is, and why you measure to there when miking brass). Once I have the boolit length to the ogive (it is fitted to my carbines chamber)...THEN you can measure it's overall length.

3) My boolits are sized to be 25/1000" off the rifling of my barrel. They shot the tightest groups at these lengths, and also retained their relibility in feeding. (Don't want reliability failures during a multi-gun match).

Below are 10 random rounds I just picked-up and measured for you:


2.225"
2.225"
2.225"
2.223"
2.224"
2.225"
2.224"
2.225"
2.225"
2.225"


I wish I had video-taped it for you, so you could see that it was TRUELY random, and I am not fudging any numbers. But as you can see, the COL is very consistent. I attribute the variances in length due to:

1) My sloppyness in pulling through the stroke
2) The slight differences between the LC brass cases themselves
3) How many times the cases have been fired, which will effect the "hardness" of the case mouths/openings.

And that's the rest of the story.

In Christ: Raymond

[Breadfan]

Great work

[RaymondMillbrae]

Thank you, Breadfan.

I'm glad it is helping shooters out.

We make our own bread as well. Love the smell of our place afterwards.

In Christ: Raymond

[RaymondMillbrae]

Thanks, folks.

I just sent out my first check to Calguns.net for their percentage of the DVD sales...as promised.

Thanks for supporting this shooter, and thanks for supporting a great forum.

Glad it's helping folks out.

In Christ: Raymond

[RaymondMillbrae]

OK, shooters,

I just finished rolling 900-rounds of .45 ACP, and am now switching everything over for my .223 practice loads.

So as I was taking a break in between caliber reloads, I remembered the post that Joe made about the "Bin Dam" he purchased from Unique-Tek. (I like cool tools). And in regards to the Bin Dam, I made a comment about it being great for lighter boolits like .223 rounds, but to be very careful with the heavier boolits, like the venerable .45 ACP.

Anyhoo....since the thought came to mind, I decided to share a tip I've been meaning to give yall. (Not that my tips are any good anyways).

So with no further adieu...on with the show...

In Christ: Raymond


Look at the picture below. Notice that the chute/bin mount are one solid piece. And as a matter of fact, as some shooters have found out (me included), it is made of not too sturdy metal.





Below is another picture of the chute/bin mount. Notice that when all is good in "Reload Land," that the chute is perfectly verticle. (As noted by the metal rod held in my Vanna White hands).





But yall know how Godzilla-Like we are - and how we looooove to load that boolit bin full of boolits. Well, add a Bin Dam to the ammo bin (or a credit card like moi), and now we can REALLY pack boolits in that boolit bin, right? Well...it's OK for lighter boolits like the .223's. But if we stack that puppy full of .45 ACP rounds, look how heavy it can get. (And it's not even topped-off in this picture).





Below we can see the end result of overloading the boolit bin. If the boolit bin is weighed down too much, the bin mounts will start to bend downward. And since the bin mount is one piece with the boolit chute...well...the boolit chute will also start to lean. (At the same angle as the steel rod I am holding). And as the boolit chute starts to lean downward, it leans directly underneath the whole platform assembly. And when you push the lever bringing the whole platform right on top of the boolit chute...well...alll I can say is, "Catastrophy"! This has happened to a few folks - myself included - and is a hairy bear to bend back in shape to get it working again.





Continued below

[RaymondMillbrae]

cont...

So what did I do to cure this problem?

Well, after discarding my Sherlock Holmes hat and pipe, I went to the scrap metal bin and recovered a nice piece of steel. I cut and bent a piece of steel, filed it down to remove all the sharp edges, drilled and counter-sunk two stategically placed screw holes, and finished with a quick coat of black paint.

Wa-La! Below is the end result.





This bin brace is great to give the boolit bin support from below, and will not move a millimeter when the boolit bin is completely full of .45 ACP.

Now I can go stir crazy and fill that puppy up to it's bursting point with nary a worry of bending the chute/bin mount. (Yup...I've tried. Wouldn't you)?!

Anyhoo, below are a few more pictures for you to check it out.

I know this brace is made for my specific set-up, but I'm sure you can use the same concept to design a simple one for yourselves. Maybe even attach it directly to your table/bench top. (Even as simple as a 2x2 piece of wood standing erectly).

Anyhoo...enjoy folks!!

In Christ: Raymond

PS: Some of yall may be wondering, "What in Tar-Nations is that tubing with a .223 round in it"?! Well, it is there to prevent the blasted primers from "water sliding" off onto my office floor. The .223 round is there because the tubing is too large. (Yea...I know that's a sad excuse). One of these days I will get off my lazy booty and purchase a small, perfectly fitted, piece of tubing to fit on there. But in the meantime, the .223 boolit looks cool under there.

[SkyStorm82]

I actually ordered two of those black bowls that is used with your Lyman tumbler because of you talking about it so much on your videos....

I think they were about 5 bucks each or so. Any you're right, they are handy.

[RaymondMillbrae]

I actually ordered two of those black bowls that is used with your Lyman tumbler because of you talking about it so much on your videos.... I think they were about 5 bucks each or so. Any you're right, they are handy.

They are great, aren't they?

I'm using mine to hold my finished .223 rounds as we speak...err...write.

I didn't know you could order them individually. Where did you order them from?

In Christ: Raymond