Newbie reload question

[msd]

Yea I need to, Just wish I wasnt in college 4 days a week, lol . Are there any classes in the southern indiana area?

Also after doing some reading, it appears that a few guys dont like to use the Auto-Disk Powder Measure that comes with it for various reasons, How do you guys load your powder?

How far are you from Princeton?
If you're close, I'd be more than happy to help you get started and show you the things I've learned in 23 yrs of reloading.

Pm me if your interested.

Right now I'm off on medical leave pretty much all this month and maybe some of Dec. I got all the time on my hands.

 

[kludge]

Also why is it when one of the die's is used it makes it to were the bullet will fall into the case, am I doing something wrong with it?

Which die? Describe your setup process. If the bullet drops into the case it sounds like the neck is not being resized properly.

The Collet die squeezes the brass over a mandrel to get the neck back to the proper size to hold the bullet. The adjustment necessary will depend on the thickness of the brass.

The FL sizing die has an expander ball on the decapping pin. The expander ball is usually a couple thousandths smaller than the bullet. When you lower the lever it will go into the fired case and decap the brass. The case will then go into the sizer and get smushed back to normal size, except the neck will be smushed a bit more than necessary (because brass thickness varies). Then when you raise the lever, the expander ball will be pulled back through the neck and expand it to the right size to hold the bullet.

 

[sgreen3]

Its what I belive to be the collet die.... I had it out of adjust ment and didnt pull the handel hard enough. For plinking ammo would the neck "collet" die what I need to use, an for more of precision load I should use the full body die?

If possible if some one could list out what die I should use for what application i.e necking die for Such an such, Full length die for such an such, would be most helpfull to get an idea. Thanks

 

[msd]

You use the neck sizing die for bolt actions. Full length can be used for bolt or AR style.
Of course there's liable to be someone who says you can use the neck sizer on an AR, and it might be true, but i've always just full lengthed on AR's.

Neck sizers will save your brass, by being able to get more reloads from each case.
Every so often, maybe 3-4 reloads you need to full length resize the cases.

What are you using? Bolt action or AR?

 

[sgreen3]

the .223 is going in my AR, But woul like to aventually work up to a custom .223 for the long range AR thats in my avaitar. But for now just plinking ammo for my other AR's

 

[shibumiseeker]

the .223 is going in my AR, But woul like to aventually work up to a custom .223 for the long range AR thats in my avaitar. But for now just plinking ammo for my other AR's

Then you need to full-length resize each time.

 

[sgreen3]

Ok For all AR ammo use the Full length?

 

[shibumiseeker]

Ok For all AR ammo use the Full length?

Yep, AR and any semi-auto. Otherwise your ammo may not chamber properly as the shoulder lengthens.

With a bolt action rifle your best accuracy and case life is with neck sizing. You ONLY need to full length resize brass for bolt actions rifles when/if it becomes hard to chamber or extract.

Neck sizing increases brass life by 5-6x. I generally get 40-60 loadings for .223 in my bolt action. The failure mode is neck splitting. With full length resizing in either bolt action or semiauto the failure mode is about 1/3 neck splits and 2/3 case seperation.

 

[sgreen3]

Great Info, Thanks shibumiseeker