dave545 15 Posted January 24, 2013 Hey guys in all of this craziness i have decided im going to reload some .223 and 5.56 loads however the plates are crazy expensive right now upwards of 120$ as well as the dies themselves. I did just find some lee dies for 36$ shipped and they have a bunch in stock its a ebay seller heres the link http://www.ebay.com/itm/390530266250?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2648 So to the point of this post. if you have the dies for .223 you can use a 9mm or .380 shell plate and it will work when you are reloading .223 rounds. It is a tad bit loose but it works great in a pinch so if you guys want to save some money and not pay almost 4x the price for plates here is the way. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
leadunderpressure 52 Posted January 25, 2013 That shouldn't be any issue. The case heads are the same. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JonF 79 Posted January 25, 2013 On my hornady plates, a 9mm case will NOT fit a 223 plate as the groove in the 9mm is too small. OTOH, a 223 shell WILL fit a 9mm shell plate, however, its a VERY SLOPPY fit and therein lies a potential danger: if you have a shell with abnormal resistance extracting from the resizing die, you run the risk of the plate slipping off the rim and leaving a stuck case which is a real shitty situation. Get the proper plates if at all possible. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites