Rifle Case Prep Education

[harleymac1]

I have been reloading 9mm for a few years and decided to start reloading .223. I was hoping to get some education from some of you who have been doing this for awhile. I was hoping to find tips, tricks and best practices here. Also, I welcome suggestions on equipment for trimming, swaging, and deburring processes. Thanks in advance for the knowledge about to be shared here.

 

[Loganwildman]

I have a couple single station presses that I use for case prep of rifle cases. First, I run them through the vibratory tumbler, then size/deprime in one press. After that, clean again, (just picked up a Franklin arsonal liquid tumbler as it will do a much better job removing the case lube). Next I 100% check for length and trim any long ones with a Lee shell holder in a cordless drill, and a lee case trimmer. After that I am setting up the second press to swage the primer pockets if its fired brass that is new to me, followed by deburring any that I trimmed.
Once i get this time consuming stuff done, I load up the hopper on my Dillon xl650 and start cranking them out after getting the powder and seating die set for the bullet I am going to use.

One thing I'll warn you about... After loading 9mm, and being used to the # of rounds you can get out of a pound of powder, you'll shed a tear or two when you see how many .223 a pound of powder gets you lol

 

[Bill2905]

I do bottleneck cartridge work on one single stage press. I was using a Lee turret press in single stage mode but recently acquired a Redding Big Boss 2 press.

I have not reloaded any 223 brass with crimped primers. I have deprimed and swaged the primer pockets on a pile of these but haven't done any reloading of them yet.

For 223, I started with new Starline brass and continue to use them. I deprime the fired cases with a Lee decapping die before cleaning. It's not necessary and adds an extra step but I do it.

I have settled on wet cleaning with pins using a Harbor Freight rock tumbler but I also will use a vibratory cleaner with treated corn cob. The wet cleaning produces no dust or grit. If I was shooting higher volumes like with an AR, I would get a larger wet tumbler or just use the vibratory cleaner.

I size with a basic Lee full length sizing die. Been looking at upgrading to a Forster die but haven't gone there yet. I adjust the die to bump the shoulder about 0.002 to avoid overworking the brass.

After sizing, I check all cases to be sure they do not exceed the 1.760 max length spec. For precision work or if I have nothing better to do, I will trim all cases down to 1.750 using a Wilson case trimmer. I then chamfer the inside and outside of the case mouths using a simple Wilson chamfering tool followed by a few twists on a green Scotchbrite pad.

I prime cases using an old Lee hand priming tool. I'm not sure what direction I will go if/when it finally gives out on me.

I manually weigh powder charges on an old RCBS 5-0-2 scale or use a RCBS Chargemaster Lite if I don't want to stare at the scale.

I seat 223 bullets using a Hornady New Dimension seating die with a microjust seating stem.

223 is pretty easy to load and a good cartridge to cut your teeth on bottleneck reloading. Lots of load data and lots of free advice exist for this cartridge.

 

[sugarcreekbrass]

Pretty similar as above. I wet tumble first. I put cases in a gallon freezer bag and spray One Shot, then shake them up. I size on a single stage. I then trim, deburr, and chamfer on a FA case prep center and trimmer. Max case length is 1.760". Since this is just range ammo, I don't care if cases are exactly the same. I set the trimmer for 1.757". I put every piece in the trimmer and the short one quickly gets passed. That step speeds things up a little for me since I don't have to trim as many if I set it down to 1.750". I then swage on the single stage. After all of this I run the brass in the wet tumbler again to get the lube off and clean up primer pockets a bit. I hand prime the cases. I tried using the primer system on my LCT, but always have issues with 5.56 brass. Everything else is done on the Lee. The auto drum does a good job dropping powder.

 

[brian_a_mcmillen]

Well, this is what has worked well for me. First I inspect all of the cases and look for splits, blown out primers, excessive dents, etc. Then I wash and dry the brass. From there, I lube, full-length size and decap and follow up with trimming for length. Then I clean the primer pockets and check to see if they need a crimp removed. If the brass is military, it will..... After all of this, now you’re ready to wash again and polish and then load. I spend 80% of my reloading time with case preparation!

 

[Loganwildman]

. I hand prime the cases. I tried using the primer system on my LCT, but always have issues with 5.56 brass. Everything else is done on the Lee. The auto drum does a good job dropping powder.

I used to hand prime with a Lee hand primer until I was priming a batch and one went off. I still do not know what caused it, but it was the last time I used the lee. It is still in the box..

 

[sugarcreekbrass]

I use the RCBS. Never had any go off. I've had a few times where crimps didn't completely remove so a primer gets stuck or I've had one I didn't catch go in sideways. Both cases I can stick an Allen key in the case and tap the primer out. Even doing that I have never had one go off.

 

[Michigan Slim]

Well, this is what has worked well for me. First I inspect all of the cases and look for splits, blown out primers, excessive dents, etc. Then I wash and dry the brass. From there, I lube, full-length size and decap and follow up with trimming for length. Then I clean the primer pockets and check to see if they need a crimp removed. If the brass is military, it will..... After all of this, now you’re ready to wash again and polish and then load. I spend 80% of my reloading time with case preparation!

I've trimmed, swaged, chamfered, and cleaned so much 5.56 brass this week I have blisters. When it's all loaded up I'm going to dump it on the floor and make a brass angel in the middle of my den. Lol

 

[Loganwildman]

I use the RCBS. Never had any go off. I've had a few times where crimps didn't completely remove so a primer gets stuck or I've had one I didn't catch go in sideways. Both cases I can stick an Allen key in the case and tap the primer out. Even doing that I have never had one go off.

That was the only time I've had one go off, Scared the S$#t out of me.. lol What are you using to swage the primer pockets?

 

[VERT]

Best way to load .223 is find someone who sells or processes brass. Take that clean, sized, swaged and trimmed brass and load it up!

So that isn't an option?
1) Clean brass, wet or dry tumble
2) Lube Brass with Hornady one shot
3) decap and size brass - I actually do this in two steps with universal decapping die because I kept breaking bins in my sizing die.
4) Use my Frankford Arsenal trimmer to trim, Chamfer, debur and ream primer pockets.
5) Continue to load like I would anything else. My Dillon 550 is setup as follows. 1st station - Universal Decapper (In case I tumble brass again after trimming), 2nd station - Powder, 3rd Station - Seat the bullet, 4th Station - Crimp Die

 

[red_zr24x4]

Sizing is done on a RCBS single stage
I use one of these to trim- https://www.indianagunowners.com/threads/poor-mans-giraud-trimmer.430680/#post-6947816
Depending on how many I have to load I'll either used the powder drop and load on the same single stage or I'll set up the 550

 

[sugarcreekbrass]

That was the only time I've had one go off, Scared the S$#t out of me.. lol What are you using to swage the primer pockets?

https://www.rcbs.com/case-processing/accessories/primer-pocket-swager-combo-2/16-9481.html