Trim to length progressive press

[bearstatearmory.com]

I'm looking at buying a 650 for my 223 but how would I trim the case length to verify it's within SAAMI specs? This will be fired in my AR.

[M27]

http://m.dillonprecision.com/mcontent/p/9/pid/23636/catid/8/Dillon__039_s_Rapid_Trim_1200B_Case_Trimmer

This would be the fastest and easiest.

[XDRoX]

There's no way to "progressively" do it. That trimmer posted above is great, but it won't fit on your 650 with everything else so that you can load start to finish.

Your best bet it to buy a $35 Lee press and put it on the bench with that Dillon trimmer.

[bearstatearmory.com]

I have a single stage press and load everything by hand right now. So my thought was, if I get a 650 how can I effectively do 223. You see people doing it on youtube all the time and they aren't re-sizing and triming before hand?

[damndave]

If you are shooting them out of an AR, you should be FL resizing after shooting as well as trimming. There is no real way to do it all-in-one progressively on a 650 without taking out the other dies and using the 1200B Case Trimmer. The most "progressive" it will get is after the case prep is done where you can just run it through.

[joelogic]

Let's say you trimmed to 1.735" on your first loading so on your second loading you wouldn't nessecarily need to trim. You could size and load in the same run just like for pistol.

Unless you are worried about a consistent crimp even once fired is usually within max length.

[Bunsen]

I use a 650 with spray lube and run them through with the FL sizing die and trimmer as well as swaging the primer pocket. Then I tumble them in old media and run it through again for neck sizing and loading. I neck size because sometimes they can get damaged necks tumbling or in my case storage and I have the extra position. It is pretty easy to run them through twice and a ton faster than what I was doing before with a single stage.

[XDRoX]

As follows is the most efficient way to load 223.
-trim on a dillon trimmer once
-load on a progressive using the RCBS X-die

If you don't know what an X-die is, it allows you to not trim brass once and then never again.

Also I always take a little heat for saying this, but trimming is way over rated. You really don't need to trim. Especially if you only shoot your brass 5 or 6 times which is usually all it will last anyway. I've yet to see a gun blow up because someone forgot to trim the brass.

[AAShooter]

This series of videos might help:

[bubbapug1]

Don't listen to the BS.

I use a RCBS case lube decapping die on station #1, and a dillon case trimmer/sizing die on station 3 on my dillon 550. Its perfect. I put out a trimmed, sized, decapped piece of brass each pull of the handle. Its super fast too.

The case trimming die is actually a sizing die too. It holds the brass perfectly square. the length variance is in the 0.0001 neighborhood...

A dillon 1050 actually can decrimp too...maybe something you might want. the only issue with the dillon is it doesn't chamfer and bevel the case mouth, but with a diamond wheel you could modify the carbide bit to do so in one step - Trim, chamfer, bevel. The bevel really helps on bigger heavier bullets when it comes to not scraping the jacket. It makes a difference at 1000 yards.

It can be done on a 650 even easier as you have more space to mount the trimmer motor.

[Agustav]

Also I always take a little heat for saying this, but trimming is way over rated. You really don't need to trim. Especially if you only shoot your brass 5 or 6 times which is usually all it will last anyway. I've yet to see a gun blow up because someone forgot to trim the brass.

Probably wont have a chance to blow up your gun before it starts to jam up your gun or cause pressure to rise if you force the bolt close and crimp the ammo.

Trimming is just good reloading practice when you reload for semi... However, don't need to be really exact unless you are reloading for precision.

BTW, 5-6 times is just barely broken in for some brass

[bearstatearmory.com]

2 new pieces of equipment I've added to my bench is a 650 and a RCBS power trim unit. I'm planning (for the time being) to full length re-size on my single stage press, then trim on my RCBS unit, then run it through the 650. Thoughts?

[ExtremeX]

I was going to recommend the CTS trimmer, but sounds like you already got a trimmer. CTS is pretty awesome, and fast since you can just use a portable drill.

[Wrangler John]

2 new pieces of equipment I've added to my bench is a 650 and a RCBS power trim unit. I'm planning (for the time being) to full length re-size on my single stage press, then trim on my RCBS unit, then run it through the 650. Thoughts?

That's the way I do it. Progressive presses are fine for folks that don't clean primer pockets or trim before loading, or for plinking and handgun practice ammo, but in my case I need very accurate rifle ammo and that means cleaning primer pockets (after initial uniforming of pocket depth and flash hole of new brass) then trimming. So everything goes through a single stage press for sizing (full length, neck bushing or F.L. bushing die, depending on cartridge and rifle) primer pockets are cleaned and then cases are trimmed chamfered and tumbled. Cases are then primed by hand or run through the RCBS progressive that uses APS strip primers. It doesn't take long to run a 1000 rounds through the progressive using it to finish loading. I even process brass and stockpile it in bins for future use.

It's all about personal choice and what works for you. There really isn't a perfect regimen, some use Wilson dies and an arbor press, some use hand presses, some load at the shooting bench. I have a friend that wore white cotton gloves to assemble Weatherby loads for an Alaskan hunt, he didn't want fingerprints on the components that could tarnish his polished brass. Silly? Maybe, but he came back with a huge brown bear from Kodiak Island, so who am I to criticize? He also took a trophy Dall ram and a mountain goat with that gloved ammo. So you know if he had missed after not wearing gloves, he would have blamed the bad juju of not wearing gloves. So go ahead and experiment, that's the fun part of self-education.

[shooterbill]

I run my 223 through my single stage to resize and decap. Tumble the lube off. I load by headstamp, so my dies are set to that brass. They are usually close enough in length that I don't need to trim.