Reloading for AR....what a ton of work!

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Great Crouton

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Sweet mother of all that is holy......

I knew reloading for AR was going to be some work but clearly I underestimated how much.

Just prepping 100 rnds for some load tests took waaaay longer than I thought. I use Lee case length gauges for trimming. I put the shell holder in a power drill and that sped things up a bit but there has to be a better way.

I'm thinking of picking up a Lyman powered case prep center but curious as to what others use.

What do you have or tips/tricks that makes the road a bit easier, in particular the trimming part?
 
I bought 2 tool heads for my Dillon 650. One the first, I have a decapper/re-sizer on the 1st station and a Dillon 1200B rapid case trimmer on the 3rd station. So I decap/resize and then trim them all on the 1st go around.

I then swap out that tool head for my "regular" .223 toolhead which has:
1st station: another decapper/re-sizer
2nd station: the powder measire/flaring die
3rd station: the powder check
4th station: seating die
5th station: crimping die

Of course, I've already seperated the brass that has crimped primer pockets from the the brass that doesn't, so before I resize/decap that batch, I swage them first. I then toss them into the pile along with the others waiting to go through the 1st tool head
 
Melnibonean said:
I bought 2 tool heads for my Dillon 650. One the first, I have a decapper/re-sizer on the 1st station and a Dillon 1200B rapid case trimmer on the 3rd station. So I decap/resize and then trim them all on the 1st go around.

I then swap out that tool head for my "regular" .223 toolhead which has:
1st station: another decapper/re-sizer
2nd station: the powder measire/flaring die
3rd station: the powder check
4th station: seating die
5th station: crimping die

Of course, I've already seperated the brass that has crimped primer pockets from the the brass that doesn't, so before I resize/decap that batch, I swage them first. I then toss them into the pile along with the others waiting to go through the 1st tool head
Click to expand...

I use the exact same setup on my Hornady LNL.
 
Get a wft.... Worlds finest trimmer.... And a power case prep centre. I use an RCBS unit.

I prep all my cases in 1000 piece lots, single stage, hand prime, then run them through a progressive press.

If you have to remove primer crimps, I recommend the CH-4D press mounted tool....

It's winter, now is the time to prep those 8000 pieces from the summer shooting season!
 
Great Crouton said:
Sweet mother of all that is holy......

I knew reloading for AR was going to be some work but clearly I underestimated how much.

Just prepping 100 rnds for some load tests took waaaay longer than I thought. I use Lee case length gauges for trimming. I put the shell holder in a power drill and that sped things up a bit but there has to be a better way.

I'm thinking of picking up a Lyman powered case prep center but curious as to what others use.

What do you have or tips/tricks that makes the road a bit easier, in particular the trimming part?
Click to expand...

The way I make trimming easier is that I don't trim. You will need to shoot a case a whole bunch of times for it to grow too long. That number of times through an AR and the case will likely get lost or so beat up it won't be worth using again. So don't trim, its a waste of time.
 
Suputin said:
The way I make trimming easier is that I don't trim. You will need to shoot a case a whole bunch of times for it to grow too long. That number of times through an AR and the case will likely get lost or so beat up it won't be worth using again. So don't trim, its a waste of time.
Click to expand...

I would agree with this for a lot of cartridges, but have found that .223 stretches more than any other bottleneck cartridge I have used. One firing/full length resizing cycle can add 0.005" to the case length. My answer to this is to trim them a fair bit shorter than the typical 0.010" under max length and let them grow for a few firing cycles before having to trim again.

If other people are not finding this with the .223 cases, please tell me what I am doing to get them to grow so much on each firing cycle. My loads are not super hot at all and the chamber is a .223 Wylde in a Shilen match barrel, so I know it isn't a super sloppy Norc 5.56 chamber causing the problems.


Mark
 
If your cases are stretching that much and often something is wrong. The brand of brass might be the issue, but the chamber may be cut too long too. That isn't likely though. In any case, you only trim when it's required. It's not and should not be every time.
 
Suputin said:
The way I make trimming easier is that I don't trim. You will need to shoot a case a whole bunch of times for it to grow too long. That number of times through an AR and the case will likely get lost or so beat up it won't be worth using again. So don't trim, its a waste of time.
Click to expand...

Interesting. To this point, the only time I've heard of this is with handgun ammunition. I'm new to .223 so not much experience with it yet but out of curiosity I did check some previous .223 I reloaded for and all the ones I checked seem to be the same length I trimmed them to originally (Remington brass).

The brass I bought was 1x fired LE brass and they were pretty long when I got them. I forget the length exaclty but I think the recommended trim to length was 1.550 in my lyman manual, my lee case length trimmer trims them to 1.554 but much of the brass I checked was at 1.65 and above.
 
Yup, one of the reasons I've been shooting surplus 223 for now. WAAAY too much work for reloading 223 plinking ammo. With the recent KABOOM thread in Black Rifles and bullets seating into the cases etc. I'm starting to question my decision. lol

One good tip I got from a fellow CGNer is to just neck size YOUR spent AR brass like you would for your bolt guns. At first I thought, that's gonna cause a lot of feeding issues BUt surprise, surprise, fired off 20 test rounds and zero feeding issues. I did some reading up on this and sure enough, folks have been doing this and recommend doing a FL size after 3-4 firings. I'll do up some more loads and keep testing this until I start noticing failures. :)

If ya gonna dabble in neck sizing, I recommend marking your cases so you don't get 'em mixed up with range brass and one of the reasons why I ordered a 3BUCC brass catcher. lol
 
mmattockx said:
I would agree with this for a lot of cartridges, but have found that .223 stretches more than any other bottleneck cartridge I have used. One firing/full length resizing cycle can add 0.005" to the case length. My answer to this is to trim them a fair bit shorter than the typical 0.010" under max length and let them grow for a few firing cycles before having to trim again.

If other people are not finding this with the .223 cases, please tell me what I am doing to get them to grow so much on each firing cycle. My loads are not super hot at all and the chamber is a .223 Wylde in a Shilen match barrel, so I know it isn't a super sloppy Norc 5.56 chamber causing the problems.


Mark
Click to expand...
Are you setting up your dies using a drop in cartridge headspace gauge?
If you are not then you may be pushing the shoulder back too far causing excessive headspace.
This will stretch your brass much further than if you setup your dies correctly.
The cartridge headspace gauge I'm referring to are the ones made by L.E. Wilson and Dillon.
JP Rifles also makes a couple in 5.56 and .308.
 
thump_rrr said:
Are you setting up your dies using a drop in cartridge headspace gauge?
If you are not then you may be pushing the shoulder back too far causing excessive headspace.
This will stretch your brass much further than if you setup your dies correctly.
The cartridge headspace gauge I'm referring to are the ones made by L.E. Wilson and Dillon.
JP Rifles also makes a couple in 5.56 and .308.
Click to expand...

I have not used a headspace gauge to date, but I may have to. I set my dies to bump the shoulder just enough to get consistent chambering. The Shilen has a very tight chamber and does require the shoulder be bumped noticeably to get 100% function. I am just in the process of load developing for this rifle, once I have more time on it I will see if things settle down or if I need to be fussier about my die setup.


Mark
 
Trinimon said:
Yup, one of the reasons I've been shooting surplus 223 for now. WAAAY too much work for reloading 223 plinking ammo.
Click to expand...

I honestly don't mind it tbh. The only other rifle i've reloaded for so far is a .30-30 so you're only doing maybe 100 at a time and that doesn't take too long. For 1000+ .223 cases I just need a more efficient setup. Spending a weekend doing up as many 223's as you can just to have them gone in a few hours at the range isn't the best time investment.
 
If you have the right tools it's a lot less trouble.

I just did up 100 rounds.

Resized cases
Trimmed
Primed
Charged
Bullet seating

'Took me 70 minutes
 
Giraud case trimmer. Nothing helps builds quality ammo faster - I've tried everything else, and I'd use it if it was a better mouse trap.
The Dillon trimmer is a good option if you like making semi-sh!t bulk ammo (or you could buy dirty bird and save the hassle of saving a few dollars over the time it takes to make ammo in the first place).

Trim all of your cases after every firing - unless of course you are 100% sure you haven't mixed in a piece of brass that isn't one from a certain batch - that does two things:
1) it ensures consistent ammo and if you crimp, consistent neck tension and/or consistent crimp.
2) it will minimize the hard extractions/mortaring you have to do because your ammo sucks and is out of spec. thanks to those two pieces of range brass that found their way into your lot.
 
beltfed said:
Giraud case trimmer. Nothing helps builds quality ammo faster - I've tried everything else, and I'd use it if it was a better mouse trap.
Click to expand...

For sure... The Giraud is the best.
I've done thousands of cases... It's quick consistant and pretty quiet.
 
beltfed said:
Giraud case trimmer. Nothing helps builds quality ammo faster - I've tried everything else, and I'd use it if it was a better mouse trap.
The Dillon trimmer is a good option if you like making semi-sh!t bulk ammo (or you could buy dirty bird and save the hassle of saving a few dollars over the time it takes to make ammo in the first place).

Trim all of your cases after every firing - unless of course you are 100% sure you haven't mixed in a piece of brass that isn't one from a certain batch - that does two things:
1) it ensures consistent ammo and if you crimp, consistent neck tension and/or consistent crimp.
2) it will minimize the hard extractions/mortaring you have to do because your ammo sucks and is out of spec. thanks to those two pieces of range brass that found their way into your lot.
Click to expand...

Where can you buy one of those Giraud units? I don't think I've ever seen one.
 
beltfed said:
Giraud case trimmer. Nothing helps builds quality ammo faster - I've tried everything else, and I'd use it if it was a better mouse trap.
The Dillon trimmer is a good option if you like making semi-sh!t bulk ammo (or you could buy dirty bird and save the hassle of saving a few dollars over the time it takes to make ammo in the first place).

Trim all of your cases after every firing - unless of course you are 100% sure you haven't mixed in a piece of brass that isn't one from a certain batch - that does two things:
1) it ensures consistent ammo and if you crimp, consistent neck tension and/or consistent crimp.
2) it will minimize the hard extractions/mortaring you have to do because your ammo sucks and is out of spec. thanks to those two pieces of range brass that found their way into your lot.
Click to expand...

I'd love to know why you would consider brass trimmed on the Dillon RT-1200 to be "semi ####"?
I understand that deburring and chamfering is still required but it trims and sizes to the exact same length every time.
Manual chamfering and deburring can also be skipped by tumbling the brass in SS pins for several hours.
This removes the small ridge left behind by the trimmer.
I tumble to remove the lube anyway.

Remember we are discussing AR-15 ammo here not bolt gun stuff therefore full length sizing is a must
Especially for ammo which was not fired through your own guns such as range pickup brass.

I have carpal tunnel syndrome so not handling brass one by one when not absolutely necessary is a primary concern for me.
For all my precision trimming needs I use the Sinclair/L.E. Wilson trimmer.
 
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