New to reloading

[masterkwan]

Hello all -

I am a newbie who is starting to reload 223 to feed my hungry AR15. Bought a used Dillon 650 (could not pass up the deal) and trying to research on which brand primers, powders, and bullets to buy.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Looking to use once fired brass I've shot up or picked up at the range (mixed: Winchester, Lake City, and some Remington).

Would like to use 55gr bullet and heard Varget is pretty good powder.

Just going to use the ammo for plinking nothing for competition (maybe in the future).

Thanks all in advance.

[herbrock]

for reloads i use CCI400 and varget powder it works great with my ar. as for bullets you can buy them from http://www.goldenwestbrass.com/ or wideners.com 55gr lead core * good for outdoor ranges*. also make sure you fully resize your case before each reloads or you will have stuck cartridge in your chamber. btw im doing a GB right now for powders and primers through powdervalleyinc.com let me know if you need anything there. you can save some shipping and hazmat fee .

[masterkwan]

herbrock -

thanks for the info. I might be interested in the GB, how soon though were you looking to buy and do i need to pickup or will the supplies be shippped to me?

[herbrock]

herbrock -

thanks for the info. I might be interested in the GB, how soon though were you looking to buy and do i need to pickup or will the supplies be shippped to me?

here is the info http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/s...ad.php?t=81435

[anyracoon]

You might want to go with a ball powder like 355 or 748, meters better than Varget which is a stick powder. Buy your self a case gauge to check your ammo in, sure beats having a shell that won't feed properly.

[masterkwan]

Sorry for the stupid question, but what are the pros and cons of using ball vs stick powder? What is the difference?

[sargenv]

Put simply, ball powder meters more consistently than stick powder does. There are some shorter stick powders that meter well, but others like IMR 4895 can sometimes bind the powder measure.

[Fjold]

Off the top of my head,

Ball powders flow better through powder measures easier and typically measure more accurately, although the new "short cut" and "super short cut" extruded (stick) powders are better than the older extruded powders.

Ball powders pack easier in the case so if you are using large charges of slow burning powders you don't have to compress loads as much.

Many of the extruded powders are less temperature sensitive and easier to ignite.

Large amounts of ball powder sometines need magnum primers to burn efficiently.