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I am getting ready to reload once fired mixed brass and I wanted to get everyone's advice. I cleaned and sorted all my casings and now I am ready to start prepping the casings. Could you please walk me thru what you do to prep your cases before de-priming and resizing. I will be using a Lee 223 4 die set.
I have done a lot of research and will continue to do more research. I just want to make sure I don't miss any steps before I start.8)
61landshark.
Once my brass has been cleaned and sorted I normally resize and deprime.
Clean the primer pockets something I believe in (my quirk).
Check the brass for length and trim as needed.
Chamfer the inside very lightly and the out side this gets rid of burrs from trimming.
Then pretty much prime, charge, set bullet to wanted length, crimp if that is your wanting.
Probably missed something but you get the jist.
It is not rocket science but diligence when reloading is a definite.
Ken.
Get the lee trimmer for the 223
I have them for all my cases and love them
Check to see which cases have their primers crimped in as those will have to be either swaged or reamed before you can reprime them. You need another tool before you can use them, but the operation only has to be done once. You can still prep the necks and resize/deprime these cases while you choose and await the tool. Others will discuss your tool options.
Concentrate your efforts for now on the uncrimped .223 cases.
Chamfer/deburr the in and outside edges of the case mouths. Some cases will have dented necks so separate them and chamfer/deburr these cases after resizing and return them with the rest of their lot. A prepped neck makes it easier to start a bullet into the mouth of the case and to crimp it uniformly. The chamfer/deburr is another basic case wrangling tool you need if you do not already have one. You will use it not only for new and new-to-you brass but also whenever you have to trim your cases after one or more full length resizings.
Especially if you are loading boat tail bullets, or you were using a neck expander for cast or handgun loads, you might not understand why to remove the sharp edges, but it causes less potential damage to the bullet as you are cramming it into the neck of the case. Another important reason is that this handling the cases as is necessary to do this gives you the opportunity to inspect them, and you should always thoroughly inspect any and all used cases and throw away any that are not up to standard. You will need a reasonably good dial caliper to measure your case lengths and loaded rounds with and to set your trimmer.
If you are shooting semi autos you will be doing a lot of full length resizing and therefore regular trimming. How elaborate a trimming setup you will need to get cannot really be determined until you have been loading for a while and know how many cases you will actually have to process at a time. Start simple and learn the process. The Lee tool is cheap and effective and you can run it by hand or in a drill.
There's two tools and you haven't even screwed a die into the press or set it up yet. But it will keep you busy resorting the brass by primer crimp.
Did you order any manuals yet? This is a good time to get at least one more with the tool order. Saves you lots of money reloading does.
How are you planning to lube your cases before full length resizing/depriming? Bottleneck cases have to be lightly lubed before sizing or they will get stuck in the die and that's another hour wasted getting the %$#&ing thing unstuck. Relaxes you reloading does. Good for your blood pressure. I'm partial to Imperial sizing die wax and not a fan of any spray. After sizing, the remaining lube (whatever kind) must be removed from the cases either by hand or by machine, before priming and then charging them. And you will need loading blocks so you can inspect all of your charged cases at once to make sure all the charge levels match.
Thanks again for all your feedback, I resized/deprimed the .223 casing using Hornady One Shot Spray Case Lube with DynaGlide Plus and the the Lee .223 full length resizing die. I didn't have any cases get stuck and everything went smooth. I ordered the Lyman Case Prep Xpress and the Lyman Universal Case Trimmer with Carbide Cutter and 9 Pilot Multi-Pack to prep the casingings. I purchased Hornady 9th Edition Handbook, Lyman 49th Edition and Speer 9515 Reloading Manuals. I read the manuals and I need clarification.
Is the trim to length 1.750 the minimum and 1.760 the maximum case length? Am I reading this right?
After researching my gut tells me to trim all the cases to 1.750, Did I get it right?
Thanks again,
Rookie Re-loader
Make sure you let that spray lube dry completely. Stuck case remover = drill, tap, bolt, and washers. You'll need it sooner or later.
Any that are over 1.760 get trimmed back to 1.750. They stretch a little each sizing, depending upon how much they have to expand to the chamber each time.
It does no harm at all to practice your trimming skills and uniform all the cases at a standard length. Some do that with every lot of brand new brass before they load it the first time. Every piece of brass that you handle gets inspected. You learn a lot about brass and how to judge its condition that way. Do not assume that just because the literature tells you the trimmer makes your cases that it is correct. You still need to measure them before and after to see how consistent the tool is and what the actual finished length it produces after trimming.
But do keep this in mind. If after fl sizing after its first firing it is over 1.760 and needs a trim, then keep all that do together and note it on the box, how many trimmings, loadings they've had. You don't want to trim a case six times. After five trimmings it's on borrowed time even if the primer pocket hasn't loosened up yet. When it gets too long at that point it's history. The brass that's migrating into the neck is thinning out in the web of the case, above the head and bad things will happen. How many full length sizings you can get between trimmings depends upon how much you have to work the brass, a function of the difference between the rifle's chamber and the interior dimension of the sizing die. With a bolt or a single shot you can get additional loadings with a neck sizing die between full length sizings. Keeping the pressures moderate I have gotten more than twenty loading from centerfire rifle cartridges, or as few as one or two reloadings for some rimmed and belted cartridges.
If you have a reason to crimp cases then they are much more likely to have uniform crimp if trimmed to the same length. If you are after a high level of accuracy then trim all cases to the same length.
Versifier, do you anneal cases frequently?
I do it when I have to. Frequently? How often is frequently? The oddball and expensive cases definitely, every two or three FL sizings. The old and new milsurp cases, yes, it triples and quadruples case life with light loads and neck sizing. I will anneal .06 and .308's on occasion too if I happen to be processing some when I am annealing other cases, likewise other modern hunting rounds. Not doing much case forming these days. Mostly now I put the milsurp cases that need it aside and when they get to several hundred or more I'll do them all up, maybe once a year or when I need to teach someone how to do it. Sometimes a few years go by. Is that frequently? I don't know.
[smilie=p: Um no. That's not frequently. What kind of annealing setup do you use?