So after the holidays and I save the cash I decided I am going to reload the 600+ 556/223 shells I have. I know I need a press but my knowledge ends there. Also I noticed some of the primers in my lakecity ammo are crimped. Also if anyone would be willing to show me the ropes it would be much appreciated..

 

Chris

Yes... learn young padawan.. Then come teach me when i get a press

Lmao I think im gunna order some bullets now if I can find them cheap. Rubber save ur brass

Lmao I think im gunna order some bullets now if I can find them cheap. Rubber save ur brass

 

Been saving for over a year now. Got a few ziplocks of .223 and .40. Go big or go home with a dillion progressive!

Ive been selling my brass. . Regret it now probably had another 400 rounds of 556/223 and even more 40

I would recomend getting a conventional (single stage) press. You can take your pick but I am happy with the RCBS rockchucker. RCBS sells a primers swaging die that works decent in a single stage press and is available at cheyanne mountain outfiters for about $25. You will need a case trimmer as well since after a loading or two they will be past the 1.76" trim point. I have tried a bunch of trimmers and settled on the WFT trimmer http://www.littlecro...ks.com/wft.html. The only trimmer that I truly believe is a piece of crap is the hornady cam lock trimmer. For components I recomend Salomons shooters supply in Farmingdale. That place has weird hours (or lack of hours) but you cant beat the price. If you go to salomons, bring cash, thats all they accept.

Ken

+1 on the Rockchucker and the Rcbs primer pocket swager. The Rockchucker was my first press and I still use it almost every weekend for rifle. Grab yourself a set of RCBS X dies for the .223. They work great

What about powder distribution and powder type? And brand of good bullets

This is perfect. I'm just tagging along. I was told to stay away from single stage presses. I was thinking Hornady lock N load press myself.

What about powder distribution and powder type? And brand of good bullets

 

Lets start from step 1 to final finished ammo.

 

Havent figured out your press type yet? Here's some differences: Single stage presses are great for slow production, highest quality target grade ammo whereas progressives will focus on speed of reloading and sacrifice some precision to do so (although with today's equipment and components, very high quality ammo can be made on progressives). One very important thing you need to custom tailor to your choice of press type is the powder you use. powder dispensers on progressives don't like big grain extruded powders since they tend to clump, clog, bridge and spill and are more trouble than not. The double edged sword is that these extruded powders ten to be the most optimal slower burning, temp insensitive types with flash inhibitors whose burn curves suit rifles better than fine ball powders that DO dispense well in progressive measures.

 

Onto the reloading...

 

Dies: You need a set of 2 dies, a seater and either a full length sizer for semi-auto or a neck sizer for bolt action.

 

Case lube for resizing: Hornady 1 shot works fine for 223, but i find it lacking for anything larger like 30-06 so i use a lube pad and bottle of rcbs lube.

 

Trimmer for trimming: Someone above mentioned the WFT and its a great setup but keep in mind its for 1 caliber only. THere are trimmers that will trim more than 1 caliber with only a collet/shell holder change. These are more versatile, but slower to use and set up. Dedicated trimmers like the WFT are faster but not versatile. You decide what fits your needs better: do you reload multiple calibers or 223 only (and consider the future). Make sure you have a good set of calipers for trimming too.

 

Case prep:

Swaging: if you have any crimped primer pockets, you need to either swage(expand) or chamfer the crimp out. Dillon makes a great swager and there are plenty of swaging bits you can use by hand or chuck up in a drill to start grinding.

Mouth deburring: After trimming, you will have some brass flash to trim form the mouth inside and out. There's individual tools, combo tools or even better, an power case prep center with multiple motorcised rotating bits.

Primer pocket prep: sometimes you may need to clean a primer pocket or true one up that may have non-uniform depth. There are tools/bits to clean, scrape and bore them to proper depth.

 

Priming: If your press doesn't have the ability to seat primers, you need a hand primer seater. OR just run them through your progressive press if you have one.

 

Powder: If you do decide to do the single stage to start (and its something every reloader will need eventually so it wont go to waste should you decide to iupgrade later), you can use a simple system of a set of lee dippers, a manual powder trickler and a good digital scale. I have both this and the automatic trickler and i can throw charges 10 times faster with the dippers and trickler. The auto trickler is nice in that it is totally hands off, but it is slow. For experimenting with charge ladders, i use the auto, but for production its dippers and a trickler for speed.

You also need a shell tray to hold your shells while you charge them and also a good funnel with a couple different tips for different caliber cases.

 

Seating: With your chosen press and dies, its as asimple as a single stroke of the press to cap off a charged case and create a complete cartridge. Since we don't flare rifle case mouths, the bullets tend to not stay seated quite as well as pistol ammo (even with boat tails) so some of the seater dies have a slick sliding bullet sleeve to guide and align the projectile while its being driven up into the die. Its not critical, but it makes the process easier and free of hangups and you can get this type for the same money as other dies that don't have feature so why not, right?

 

Thats the basics. There's a lot of gear to sift through so happy hunting!

I was looking into this set up to start. I would still need dies but I believe it has all the goodies I need except for a brass cleaner

 

http://classic.brownells.com/mobile/aspx/search/product.aspx?pid=38567

I'm following this, I got close 1000 brass of 223 and would love to learn someday

I was looking into this set up to start. I would still need dies but I believe it has all the goodies I need except for a brass cleaner

 

http://classic.brown....aspx?pid=38567

 

Its a good basic kit, but you will need some additional items including dies.

 

Most presses require separate "shell holders" for every caliber. It goes atop the ram and holds the shell and Its a cheap item but the press is useless without it.

 

Trimmer setup. whatever you type decide but know that the kit doesn't include any.

 

It has 1 shot lube, but again, its not very good for anything larger than 223.

 

It has a powder measure, but again, they aren't the best solution for extruded rifle powders. Some work, some don't,t you just have to find out for yourself but a quick search for whatever powder you choose will turn up any complaints. At best you'll get inconsistent throws which isn't optimal for rifle, niether for consistency nor reliability in the case of high pressure loads. Get an additional set of lee dippers for rough throws and polish them off the with the trickler if you have any trouble.

Ok so maybe ill piece one together

 

Do you have any suggestions press dies tricklers and such

Hornady dies have a sliding sleeve setup in the seater die which is very useful, however, basic rcbs and lee dies do not and they are generally priced the same (lee might be cheaper). You usually have to step up to redding and forster competition does to get those features so the hornady is an great value. On the other hand, RCBS makes some different types of full length sizers for rifle that can be useful for various purposes. They make "small base" dies which resize the shell generally .001" smaller down at the base to aid in feeding semi-auto's that may be on the tight side. Not always necessary, but its an option if needed. They also have thier "x-die" setup which helps minimize shell growth between resizings. Shell resizing is a TEDIOUS and miserable step in reloading and anything that can help prolong sizing intervals is great. THey work through a simple concept of inhibiting brass flow upwards by employing an internal collet stop that the case mouth rests against during resizing. For soemthing like 223 where you may shoot larger quantites and reload many times this is very useful.

 

trickers are a simple item so any one will do. Hornady has a slick 2-speed one but its pricy.

 

For any item you intend to buy, consider the fact that rifle reloading with a single stage and manual tools is a very tedious, labor intensive process so anything that you can buy to automate, motorize, speed up, or eliminate a step works greatly to reduce your time spent in the overall process. Its not a big deal when loading small quantities for a bench rest bolt gun, however, for an AR where you can run through ammo like water, anything helps.

For instance, a motorized case prep center for chamfering/deburring helps speed up that part and reduces hand fatigue. Add in a WFT or Giraud trimmer and you may not even need to prep case mouths since they cut so clean. Skip the nato brass for a later day if possible since crimp removal requires one more step. RCBS X-dies help with reducing trim intervals.

Wow there is a lot to learn about this. Im slightly confused now haha but jon ur awesome I will read everything a few more times and make sure I comprehend everything u said before I start buying

Thanks for all the info. Is there any company that makes a set with almost all te stuff you would need? Maybe just needs to be supplemented by 1 or 2 things but I'd like to Knock this out in one purchase

gotta be more precise with rifle then pistol imho, please buy the ABC's of reloading from a book shop and read it cover to cover to get you started then decide if youd like to venture into reloading rifle rounds, lot of case prep work involved over pistol but it is rewarding at the end of the day specifically tailoring to your rifle.

My advise to someone who is pretty at the same point i am is do your research. But a book our two on reloading and read them. I'm in the process of buying all the equipment and setting it up. It can be very overwhelming at times but i think its worth it in the end.

Dumb question time. How strong are dies.. me and my father in law wanted to make some fish weights and used a 223 shell to melt it in. I wasnt planning on reloading at the time and and threw it back in. What will it do to the die or depriming tool?

^ break the decap pin, otherwise it won't go any further

Depending on your rifling twist, that sort of determines what weight bullet you need. I prefer 55 grain because it's slightly cheaper than heaver ones. Otherwise, just buy some dies, some lube, and powder. Personally, I recommend varget, I like it quite a bit, and I know that if you have an AR, CCI makes primers specifically for AR rounds I believe (otherwise any small rifle should do)

 

I'm perhaps one of only 3 people I know who loads for .223, so let me know if you have any questions.

K thanks krd and socom fml... guess I should inspect with a light prior to load damn.... 600+ tounds I have to look at

Oh there cheap.. 1.99 for a decap pin ill ors er 5 when I get my set up just incase

My only advice is to read and research the in's and out's of reloading, and rifle ammo is much more involved requires more tools, and extra steps then handgun. Which means more gear and more initial investment. Do not use any case that has ANYTHING in it!! even if u manage to deprime a case, that's not an indication there is nothing in it.... and god forbid you over pressure a round because there was something occupy space in the case. When you understand the process you can start putting together your gear..

 

You have case prep

cleaning

depriming

resizing

swagging(if applicable)

and trimming

 

Loading

priming

powder

seating

 

 

Each stage requires the understanding of how to measure consistently and checking for errors. You can make standard ammo quickly or make match grade ammo for a specific rifle, how much effort do you plan on putting in? Since any number of methods can achieve the same result you will have to determine how you plan to accomplish each step.

Thanks for all the info. Is there any company that makes a set with almost all te stuff you would need? Maybe just needs to be supplemented by 1 or 2 things but I'd like to Knock this out in one purchase

Just about all of the equipment makers make a "Beginners" type. RCBS, and Hornady IMO are the best, Lyman runs close behind them, Lee is decent but significantly cheaper usually. I know that some folks advocate just jumping into a Progressive. i do NOT. Progressives are Great, once you know what you're doing. For someone starting out it's much better to go simple..single stage, where you really learn how the process works. YES it takes Longer, however in the beginning you really need to pay attention to detail. there are a number of Books out there, Lyman's is good, Hornady's is good, and Lee's is good..all 3 of those are designed to take a beginner from step one, and have scads of good information. Remember you can ALWAYS upgrade later to a progressive Press as you become more comfortable with the Process. When it comes to that stage, IMO you have really 2 Choices..Dillon and Hornady. Both have advantages and disagvantages, and that's an argument that can rival 9mm vs .45 or Glock vs 1911 by the time it's done.

I also recommend against the progressive for a first time reloader. The hornady kit posted above is a decent deal and will get you what you want. Now if you want to throw personal preferance into it, go with the RCBS rockchucker supreme relaoding kit. It has a MUCH better scale. The electronic one Hornady has in that kit is a giant pain in the ass! The RCBS one is mechanical and pretty darn accurate. Also, the RCBS powder measure that comes with this kit is actually pretty darn good with a lot of the stick powders that powder measures dont like. Most of the Hornady Hodgden powders throw just fine, the IMR stick powders, not so fine. I would still but a set of hornady .223 dies though because the bullet seating die is the best for the money. If you go with the RCBS setup you can start reloading with that, a case trimmer, and some manner of brass cleaning device. For the cleaner you can go with an inexpensive vibratory bowl of ultrasonic cleaner. Either setup can be had for under $100 if you shop around. Once you dicide on your setup, start a new thread about bullets and powders because mixing the two in one post topic will cause both to swerve off course and thats not good!

Ken

You mean this kit? ?

 

http://www.cabelas.com/product/RCBS-Rock-Chucker-Supreme-Select-Reloading-Kit/1313461.uts?destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fproduct.jsp%3FproductId%3D740928&categoryIds=104792580%7C104761080%7C104516280%7C&WTz_l=RI%3BIK-216927

 

 

This is what I was gping to originally buy..

http://www.slickguns.com/product/hornady-lock-n-load-classic-reloading-kit-29999-free-shipping

I gotta look into the rcbs I like that it has a die to remove the crimps. Im headibg to barns and nobles later to grab a book on this to read up.

That first one you posted is very complete but not the one I was refering to. This http://www.midwayusa.com/product/646599/rcbs-rock-chucker-supreme-single-stage-press-master-kit is the one I had was refering to. I should have posted a link at the time but I was in a hurry as usual.

Ken