Newbie .223 case prep

[Nozzano22]

I am wading into the world of reloading .223 now that I have the AR bug.

I have reloaded several thousand rounds of 9mm and 40 S&W so I have the basics down.

My question is what is needed for case prep. I plan to shoot less than 2,000 per year and am currently buying Federal Lake City M193. I have ideas on powder and bullets and dies, what I am trying to figure out is case prep.

I load on the Hornady LNL so no Dillon power die option. I do not mind manual steps and really do not want to lay down $400 for a Giraurd trimmer.

So what is available to;

Trim - Lyman, Wilson, etc? (can the wilson do trim, debur, chamfer and swag primer pockets?),

Chamfer and debur - just pick up the lyman hand tools?

Primer pocket crimp removal? Dillon swager? anything cheaper? Hornady? Lee?

Looking for a good place to start with decent equipment, keeping in mind I will likely reload no more than 2,000 per year. I plan on using the RCBS X die so trimming should be a one time process.

Thanks for some suggestions,

Mike

[drkphibr]

Compared to pistol brass, rifle brass prep has quite a few more steps. Since everyone has different preferences, I can outline how I started, what I've found works or doesn't.

I didn't know what my .223 volume would be, so I started inexpensively with a number of Lee products.

1. Lee case trimmer with ball grip - $7
2. Lee .223 case length gage - $5
3. Lee chamfer and debur tool - $4
4. Lee case trimmer and lock stud - $6
4. Lee primer pocket cleaner - $4

This setup allowed me to mount the lock stud in my drill to size, debur and chamfer ea piece of brass (after I had full length resized it if a range pick up or just a neck resize if it was shot from my rifle).

It was a basic, low volume and inexpensive method that got me started.

On big brass pick up or heavy shooting days, the brass added up. I wanted a way to not have to unnecessarily put each piece of brass in the drill to verify with the case length gage/ball grip.

So I picked up a L.E. Wilson headspace gage ($25) to check each resized piece of brass to minimize my drill/cutting time.

That worked fine for a period of time. Then I wanted to find something to better leverage my drill (sometimes the brass comes out of the Lee lock stud plus you have to screw in/out ea piece of brass, which is time consuming in the hundreds of rounds scenario).

Was going to go down the Forster path until I found the WFT (world's finest trimmer - basically a Forster solution on steriods). For .223, this trimmer is about $75 shipped.

So, instead of locking in a piece of brass, trimming it, chamfering it and then deburring it, I will trim all my pieces of brass at once. That meant my chamfuring and deburring method had to change as well, so I picked up:

1. L.E. Wilson chamfer and deburing tool (x2) - $15 ea
2. Possum Hollow chamfer and deburring tool power adapter (x2) - $10 ea

This allows me to permanently mount each end of the 2 chamfer and deburring tools into the Possum Hollow adapter (I read about the set screw stripping if you kept changing the debur/chamfer cutter in the same adapter). Blue Loctited each one.

So now, I can QUICKLY process all my .223 brass in bulk steps of:

1. Trimming them all at once
2. Deburring them all at once
3. Chamfering them all at once

This may sound like spending unnecessary $ to bulk process vs. doing each of the above steps individually to each piece of brass. Trimming, chamfering and deburring each piece of brass separately is quite time consuming and prone to slips, especially with mounting the brass to the lock stud and using the ball cutter.

If the see the videos on youtube on wft and the Possum Hollow methods, you'll see what I mean.

I didn't start out high end, just the opposite actually. Over time I sought to increase my efficiency and looked for better ways of doing things. That equated to spending a bit of $ up front (the reloading way!) so processing large amounts of .223 no longer means an afternoon of trimming, deburring and chamfering.

It works for me, by YMMV. Good luck.

[Dark Mod]

I second the the worlds finest trimmer, although you can definatley get away with the lee trimmers if you had to. The WFT indexes off the case shoulder i believe which should give you a more acurate trim.

You can get the dillon primer pocket swager, but if you just sort by headstamp or dont buy crimped brass its not an issue.

[Low-Pressure]

1. Lee case trimmer with ball grip - $7
2. Lee .223 case length gage - $5
3. Lee chamfer and debur tool - $4
4. Lee case trimmer and lock stud - $6
4. Lee primer pocket cleaner - $4

This is what I use.

[finyllw]

I asked around and had way too many people tell me not to waste my time, buy a Dillon primer Swager. I got lucky, a buddy of mine found one in a garage sale, got it for $50. Glad I got it. I don't have to sort all the brass. I deprime and size, check length, swage, the reload. Yes it takes a while, but so far I am very happy with the results. The loads seem to be very accurate, haven't had a FTF, and I still have all my digits. I just purchased a chrono, so now I can dial them in a little better.

[drkphibr]

I asked around and had way too many people tell me not to waste my time, buy a Dillon primer Swager. I got lucky, a buddy of mine found one in a garage sale, got it for $50. Glad I got it. I don't have to sort all the brass. I deprime and size, check length, swage, the reload. Yes it takes a while, but so far I am very happy with the results. The loads seem to be very accurate, haven't had a FTF, and I still have all my digits. I just purchased a chrono, so now I can dial them in a little better.

I saw a video on how to make the RCBS pocket swager work with a Lee Classic Turret. I took his idea and did the same thing with some improvements/modifications, so now I can swage on my press as easily as I decap. RCBS swager was ~$40.

[Wrangler John]

.223 Loading

Here's a better plan - purchase new commercial Winchester brass, it has been proven to outlast all other including military, including Lapua. If you want nice European brass with the annealing color then try Privi-Partisan brass from Serbia here:

http://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/product/productId/12628

Now we have eliminated the need to swage primer pockets. I use thousands of rounds per year testing loads and "hunting" ground squirrels. Both Winchester and Privi brass are very capable of shooting groups down in the .2's with minimal work in a bolt action. I do not load used or salvaged brass as these have an unknown history.

Any commercial full length die set will do fine, LEE equipment may not have the "prestige" that the shades of green offer, but it does the job for less and should last a lifetime. I use Lee dies for certain calibers and they are totally satisfactory. The LEE factory crimp die is a wonder for certain calibers.

I have RCBS, Forster and Hornady trimmers, along with a bunch of custom trim dies, The Hornady works the easiest, but requires Hornady shell holders with the larger primer clearance hole. There isn't anything mysterious or more precise needed for trimming - even the length is variable, it doesn't make much difference on bottle necked cases as long as it's less than maximum. The exception is if you use the LEE Factory Crimp die - set the OAL to the recommended trim-to-length. Over trimming rimless pistol cases will create headspace problems - measure them carefully.

Any of the chamfering tools will work, I use a Wilson that dates back to the 1970's and is still going. I also use a tungsten carbide Sinclair chamfering tool for VLD boat tail bullets. Lyman products are good, they've been in business for a long time - back to black powder days.

Do not plan on the RCBS X-Die being the end all they claim to be, brass will redistribute over time and require a F.L. sizing occasionally with trimming. If your AR fails to chamber brass after a while you may need a small base F.L. die to refresh the brass.

I also recommend an inexpensive tumbler - here's what I use: http://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/...roductId/10431 Tumble the brass before sizing, and after sizing, decapping and cleaning the primer pockets, then load. Don't size brass that has dropped in the dirt or rolled around the firing line - the grit will harm your die. use plain corncob media and some brass polish. http://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/...roductId/10443 and http://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/...productId/5373

Be sure to lube the inside of the necks before sizing, the expander button will stretch the neck if not lubed. http://www.midwayusa.com/product/892...ion-media-1-oz Any of the case lubes will work for F.L. sizing, just keep them out of the interior, exception being http://www.midwayusa.com/product/116...shot-case-lube. I recommend spraying the inside of the sizing die before first use with this product. You may not need to use the Imperial product if using Hornady One-Shot.

Finally, think about a dial caliper, a flash hole deburring tool, and a primer pocket uniformer. http://www.sinclairintl.com/.aspx/ci...%20hole%20tool http://www.sinclairintl.com/.aspx/ci...cket_uniformer In preparing brass for a first loading, deburr the flash hole, then cut the primer pocket to a uniform depth (yes even Lapua brass needs this). The tool also cleans primer pockets after depriming. Use the tool mounted in a hand drill to save effort. This only needs to be done once. You want the primers to seated at the same depth each time about .004" below the case head. This is important to insure the bolt closes and the bolt slamming into battery doesn't ignite a high primer early. Also, I recommend Remington 7-1/2 BR primers as they were designed for the AR-15 when it first came on the market in 1965.

[bruceflinch]

RCBS makes a primer pocket swager for a single stage.
My plan is like drkphilbr's.

[rsrocket1]

Calipers and the RCBS press mounted swager are your friends. Why? Because you can lock the calipers in one spot and sort through all your deprimed and resized brass to see how many really need to be trimmed. I find that many times, only 10-25% need to be trimmed.

Secondly, when I come across a load of brass, I first check which ones need to be swaged. I grab a handful of brass and check the primer pockets with the RCBS swager, if it easily fits into the primer pocket, it doesn't need swaging. Often times only a few need to be swaged and the rest don't. Secondly, if it's all my own fired brass, I know I don't need to swage them again.

That saves a lot of trimming and swaging.

[Justintoxicated]

the hornady lathe style trimmer can do all sorts of sizes but requires hornady shell holders which you already have. Works great can can be very percise.

I use the RCBS swager die, it was cheap and does the job, works fine for 223 but once you get to really tightly crimped primers it takes some force to release the brass. The dillon setup is better, but the RCBS will work fine if your on a budget. I like the sinclair primer pocket uniformers or cleaning and uniforming all my brass, especially the crimped pieces.

I trim everything, because I load for accuracy, but you only have to swage once

[Full Clip]

Calipers and the RCBS press mounted swager are your friends. Why? Because you can lock the calipers in one spot and sort through all your deprimed and resized brass to see how many really need to be trimmed. I find that many times, only 10-25% need to be trimmed.

Secondly, when I come across a load of brass, I first check which ones need to be swaged. I grab a handful of brass and check the primer pockets with the RCBS swager, if it easily fits into the primer pocket, it doesn't need swaging. Often times only a few need to be swaged and the rest don't. Secondly, if it's all my own fired brass, I know I don't need to swage them again.

That saves a lot of trimming and swaging.

I do the same, then save up my brass that needs the extra processing steps and do them all in one big batch.

[bohoki]

after 1000 cases spining out of the lee shellholder i went with the possum hollow trimmer and power adapter which also works with most deburing tools

the lee stuff was cheap and the debur from them no longer deburs the outside for me so i retired that stuff

[Fyathyrio]

I chose Possum Hollow trimmers with power adapters, then got all fancy with existing tools I had laying around. For smaller batches I prefer this method, I find it's easier then setting up the Dillon power trimmer...which can easily be done on a Hornady LnL press as that's what I use.

Pics and vids of Possum Hollow in action.

[GeoffLinder]

Buy once fired 100% processed brass from Top Brass or brassmanbrass.com and load it without processing for the first couple of times.

http://www.topbrass-inc.com/reloading-supplies/product_details.php?category_id=2&item_id=2

http://store.brassmanbrass.com/servlet/-strse-Rifle-Brass--dsh--Once-Fired-Processed/Categories

Range pick or commercial brass will require some processing and processing means specialized tools.

Rifle brass needs to be inspected, cleaned, inspected again, re-sized and de-primed, trimmed if needed and crimped primer pockets swaged or reamed if needed. Then it can be reloaded.

100% processed once fired brass from the places I posted above can be loaded at least twice before you need to do much processing.

Hope this helps.

[Nozzano22]

Thanks for all the info.

I am going to start slow and buy the basic hand tools and a Lyman trimmer with power adaptor. I am going to pick up a case gauge and my brother is handing down some Hornady dies so I scored there.

I figure I have a few weeks worth of processing but I just bought a case of Lake City M193 so I have plenty of live rounds to keep me shooting.

Now off to Natchez to place an order. I am sure I will eventually pick up a power case prep station but for now it will be a box of brass in my lap while I watch TV.

As always this is a great place to get info,


Mike