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Loading for .223 REM process

Bentnail

So i have purchased my dies for 223, the ultimate set from Lee. I picked up a Classic Turret press for doing rifle so I can interchange the rotary 4 hole out so I can do 308 later. But i have been reading alot on this forum and others for SOO (Sequence Of Operation). Also did some reading and now i kinda of understand bullet jump and what that is, but dont see anyone on the forums that apply that to their reloading of the rounds.



So my SOO would be based on each manufacturer of bullet that I will use. Currently I am setting up for 69gr sierra bullets in .224. So I am going to OAL my Ruger American Standard Gen 2 bolt to see what the length is to put the bullet at the edge of the rifling. So to try and rid myself of the bullet jump as much as possible. Once that is established for the entire length then onto brass.



SOO for 223/308 brass.

I have been depriming by hand each cartridge and then once I have a tub full wash in tumbler with dawn and lemmieshine. Air dry and inspect and sort. Sort MIL crimps to a tub of their own and standard 223 to their own.



Then I was going to lube the cases up using a dry silicone spray someone recommended on here. Doing lots of 50 or 100 cases at a time.



Then full length those cases.


Then collet those same cases.



Trim based on any overage of length greater than the 1.740 inches. I know that the specs say no longer than 1.76 but there is a -.020 so using 1.740 inches.



After trimming i will still go thru and prep the prime pockets. I plan on using a lymans case prep machine for the pockets, esp the crimp ones. I am not sure if the swage die by Lee would work better or not. My understanding with it you are compressing the crimp out of the way, but not clearing it totally. or am I understanding that wrong. I am not sold on that, as not many do and some do.



After trimming and debur and primer pockets prepped, i will wash again.



The next steps will be either on the turret press except for priming I will hand prime each load, and powder drop each case individually. I only plan on 10 rounds at a time till have established a load I like.



Seat bullet to length



Light crimp each



check again on length and plink test.



Then off to range for chronograph to verify shots.





So have I missed anything? Any recommendations? I am more worried about case prepping that the reloading of the primer, powder, bullet seating and light crimp. I know everyone does everything different, so I know i will hear different ways, but what is best to do this?



Thank you all for those chime in.....Merry Christmas
 
Bullet jump is not necessarily a bad thing, most hybrid shaped bullets actually prefer jump while most of the VLD shaped prefer closer to or into rifling. The twist rate of your barrel will dictate the bullet weight that will create the most stability.

There is more than one way to skin a cat and same for hand loading, test to see what works the best with your rifle and loading system.

Once you have loads to test I would recommend using group size/shape along with chronograph numbers to settle on a final load. My final loads are most times not the best chronograph numbers but print little bugholes on paper, that is the key IMO.
 
Bentnail said:
So i have purchased my dies for 223, the ultimate set from Lee. I picked up a Classic Turret press for doing rifle so I can interchange the rotary 4 hole out so I can do 308 later. But i have been reading alot on this forum and others for SOO (Sequence Of Operation). Also did some reading and now i kinda of understand bullet jump and what that is, but dont see anyone on the forums that apply that to their reloading of the rounds.



So my SOO would be based on each manufacturer of bullet that I will use. Currently I am setting up for 69gr sierra bullets in .224. So I am going to OAL my Ruger American Standard Gen 2 bolt to see what the length is to put the bullet at the edge of the rifling. So to try and rid myself of the bullet jump as much as possible. Once that is established for the entire length then onto brass.



SOO for 223/308 brass.

I have been depriming by hand each cartridge and then once I have a tub full wash in tumbler with dawn and lemmieshine. Air dry and inspect and sort. Sort MIL crimps to a tub of their own and standard 223 to their own.



Then I was going to lube the cases up using a dry silicone spray someone recommended on here. Doing lots of 50 or 100 cases at a time.



Then full length those cases.


Then collet those same cases.



Trim based on any overage of length greater than the 1.740 inches. I know that the specs say no longer than 1.76 but there is a -.020 so using 1.740 inches.



After trimming i will still go thru and prep the prime pockets. I plan on using a lymans case prep machine for the pockets, esp the crimp ones. I am not sure if the swage die by Lee would work better or not. My understanding with it you are compressing the crimp out of the way, but not clearing it totally. or am I understanding that wrong. I am not sold on that, as not many do and some do.



After trimming and debur and primer pockets prepped, i will wash again.



The next steps will be either on the turret press except for priming I will hand prime each load, and powder drop each case individually. I only plan on 10 rounds at a time till have established a load I like.



Seat bullet to length



Light crimp each



check again on length and plink test.



Then off to range for chronograph to verify shots.





So have I missed anything? Any recommendations? I am more worried about case prepping that the reloading of the primer, powder, bullet seating and light crimp. I know everyone does everything different, so I know i will hear different ways, but what is best to do this?



Thank you all for those chime in.....Merry Christmas
Click to expand...

Absolutley don't want to crimp with a bolt gun. Hold the bullets with neck tension. No reason to have the bullets just touch the rifling. Touch is only a reference number to try different seating depths. If the bullet is jammed into the rifling and you have to exract a loaded round, the bullet may stick in the rifling causing powder to spill into the chamber and trigger mechanism. I seat my varmint rifles 0.010" off touch and I am getting small groups. So I don't worry about finding some seating depth that produces better results. I have tried different seating depths a few times.

I don't think you can air dry cases after tumbling. It may take days and you never know if water remains. Most of us use some source of heat to dry the cases. I shake each case by hand and put my cases in the kitchen oven at 190F after a couple hours I turn the oven off, sometimes I leave them in the oven cooling down over nite.

Once after tumbling in Dawn and LimiShine I shook each case to get as much water out as possible, then I put the straw from an air can in each case and blew it out. I couldn't believe how much water remained in each case after shaking them hard by hand.
 
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I wet tumble and then air dry. The first trick is that you need a rotary case/media tumbler to separate the pins from the brass and also through off excess water from the outside & inside of the cases. There are several different options for these, but it is best to have it enclosed so that the water and steel pins don't get thrown everywhere on the floor. Here is an example:

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/101291700/?pid=176956

Dump the cleaned brass on a beach / bath towel and roll the cases around for a minute to remove most of the remaining droplets on outside of cases. Transfer the newly dried cases onto a fresh towel and lay them out flat to air dry or even better place them under a fan. Shake them around a couple of times while they dry over the next day or two. Done.
 
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So i should clarify that in air dry I took a 5 gallon bucket, cut a hole in the side of about 16 inch dia and have a fan ducted into the space. Then Frankfort arsenal as the strainer type of blue colored insert that i pour my brass into when i was tumbling with pins into, shake vigorously to get pins out and water, then set on top of the air column and let run for a few hours to dry. I couldnt see spending money for a dehydrater to achieve the same result for drying brass. I will once in awhile run my hand thru the brass to stir it while it is in the drier basket. I can post photos of the device, since it cost me less than $25.00 to make. Also it captures any pins when I was using pins that didnt get washed thru.

Also thank you about the bullet jump, i have read about it, but now getting more clear concerning it and taking it to be an "idea" but not a practical knowledge to worry about.
 
Sounds good. I personally set my trimmer to 1.76 to minimize the time spent trimming and give a little more neck/bullet surface contact. I put a light LEE Factory crimp on mine.
 
Webster said:
Absolutley don't want to crimp with a bolt gun. Hold the bullets with neck tension. No reason to have the bullets just touch the rifling. Touch is only a reference number to try different seating depths. If the bullet is jammed into the rifling and you have to exract a loaded round, the bullet may stick in the rifling causing powder to spill into the chamber and trigger mechanism. I seat my varmint rifles 0.010" off touch and I am getting small groups. So I don't worry about finding some seating depth that produces better results. I have tried different seating depths a few times.
Click to expand...
^^^^^^^ This is good advice in my humble opinion.
 
I set my trim length at 1.755, than if the brass doesn't drop fit my ammo checker after sizing,there is a problem with the brass. Usually at the .200 line, or a rim problem on range brass. Any range pickup brass that doesn't fit after sizing goes in the scrap bucket(case was free why fight it).I use the brass in 2 gas guns and 3 bolt guns, that's why the fl die sizes to the ammo checker and not a chamber. And I have shot prairie dogs with all of them and don't like to miss.
 
I'm going to address something that you may have already accounted for, but I didn't specifically see it so I'll ask.
Getting your COAL set to have the projectile, the Sierra 69 in your case, to be at, or within a short jump, of the rifling is very often a good practice for getting better groups. But in your rifle, that may only work for single loading those reloaded cartridges. You will need to make sure those cartridges still fit in your magazine. Not sure if that rifle takes standard GI spec magazines, but those are limited to about 2.260", so check your magazine and be sure that whatever COAL you decide to go with will feed from the magazine, or accept that you'll single-load those cartridges.
 
So i cleaner my dies with brake cleaner since this is the first time to use them. The full length die I did spray some Dry Silicone inside it to lube it up. I used CRC Food Grade Silicone spray. I also set out for 100 223 REM brass to size and trim first.

I sized in full length and notice that it takes alittle umph the first stroke. I would hold for a 2 sec count and then release and then rotate the case 1/4ish turn and repeat.

Then i took all that I FS and sent them thru trim whether they needed it or not. I am trimmed to a length of 1.753 inches. I believe that I am below the 1.760 by about 0.007 thouandths. I measured all of them to make sure.

So next I am going to wash them again as I coated them with the silicone spray i shot inside the DS die.

Then I will move onto priming and powder, and bullet seating.


Now out of the 100 I have 2 of them get caught on mandrel. One pulled out of the deprime pin right out of the die the other got stuck in the die. The one stuck in I lossened the pin and drove it out with a drift pin.

Otherwise i can say that the Lee Deluxe trimmed works fairly well. It did trim down and also it does chamfer inside and out at the same time.
 
Lube your cases not the die. Your sizing will be much improved with less chance of sticking a case. Silicone is not the best lube for cases either. One Shot or Imperial are what I use but there are others specifically for sizing too.
 
Redding Water based lube works good. Take your hundred cases and stick them on the pins in your dishwasher. Run a very hot water full cycle without soap and let the washer dry them overnight!
In the morning you will have 1`00 cases that all the lube is gone inside and out and the cases will be dry to load.
 
As stated above lube each piece of brass before sizing, not your dies. After I size my brass I put it in the tumbler to clean it of the lube. I use the Lee Quick Trim Deluxe also, but I use clean brass in it, not brass with lube on it. I just tap my brass upside down to knock out any brass shavings. I don't tumble it again. I use the Lee swage die and it works fine.

I had been lubing the brass with either Imperial or Hornady Unique and either works great, but recently I started using a mixture of pure lanolin and alcohol and I am liking that too because it is a bit faster. I spread the brass out in a row facing me on wax paper, give them a spray, roll them about 1 half turn and spray again. I wait about 2 minutes then size away.
 
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