My solution to cases with crimped primer pockets was to shit can them or if I had enough to fool with, sell them on gunbroker. I would buy cases of UMC, Win White Box or American Eagle, load them two or three times until the brass needed trimmed then I would sell a USPS prepaid box full of brass on gunbroker.
I once had a guy tell me how fucked up my reload habits were as he thumbed Wolf ammo into his mags. My gun wast the one that blew up that day.
As has been said, the two big issues here are length and primer pockets. I guess both could be addressed by careful sorting and record keeping. The crimp only has to be removed once. Length can be trimmed back to the min and checked to not be past max before you load.
If you have a batch of cases that you load up and take out to shoot on your own range you could size/de-prime them, trim them all back to min length so they are all the same. If you collect these and there is not a chance of polluting the batch they should be good to load. If you are ejecting them into grass and not mud maybe they are not that dirty. Every time you get ready to load them check the length, and when they are getting long trim them all.
One thing about trimming, certain brands of brass can be best for skipping the trimming. Federal brass (either the cheapo walmart 223 brass, or the premium nickle cases the cops leave behind) in my experience is almost always under trim length and doesn't grow much in my ARs. Lake City and PMC almost always require trimming. YMMV.
Loading .223 is the same as loading handgun.......once you get the brass ready.
If you buy prep'd brass..just load and go like anything else.
It's not rocket surgery.
If the primer pockets are crimped you'll have to remove it. If you can think ahead, buy ammo without a crimped primer pocket so when you shoot, pick-up, reload and you can treat it like anything else.
Trimming brass is more critical with rifle brass but if you fire it and it is not too long, you don't have to trim it.
Last edited by nwhpfan; 07-05-2016 at 02:37 PM.
A71593
Here's my process:
- Fired brass goes straight into the tumbler. Fine walnut media, a torn up paper towel and two squirts of dishwashing soap. Tumble for a few hours.
- Sift out media, do a preliminary brass inspection. Anything questionable goes into the scrap bucket.
- Dump about 100 cases into a gallon ziploc, squirt a few times with a 4:1 mix of 99% isopropyl alcohol and lanolin. Knead bag for a few seconds, dump into clear Sterilite shoebox.
- Grab a case from shoebox. Run through the depriming / sizing die.
- Check case length with Harbor Fright digital mic. Trim if necessary. Run through sizing die again to remove edge, check case length again. Chamfer inside of case mouth.
- Wipe case clean of lube on rag I have sitting on my shoulder. Check primer pocket. If it's crimped, ream out. If not, prime with RCBS hand prime. Primed ready case goes into a 100 MTM box. Repeat until box is full. I'll often have a few boxes of primed brass ready if I have a good podcast on while I'm working and knock out a few.
- Get out scale, throw one charge from powder measure into pan, check throw weight. Dump the powder back in and repeat.
- Take empty primed case from 1 MTM box, stick into powder measure nozzle, throw charge. Tap the side of the nozzle to encourage any stragglers.
- Stick charged case into shellholder, put 55gr FMJ on case mouth, seat. Check cartridge OAL with mic. After the first few turn out ok, I get lazy and just make sure the case mouth is at the same spot on the cannelure.
- Put loaded round into empty MTM box, repeat until full.
- Screw in Lee .223 Factory Crimp Die, run each round through. Drop round into case gage, and then put into MTM box if it passes.
- Go to range, make more empty brass, goto 10.
I use charge weights on the light end of the scale for maximum case life and because I can get a few more rounds out of a pound of powder. I generally use Hornady 55gr FMJs because they're affordable in bulk. If I get fancy and segregate my brass by headstamp, I get about 1 MOA out of my handloads. If I throw everything together it's about 4, which is more than enough for my club's 2 gun match.
Last edited by pdb; 07-05-2016 at 02:56 PM.
What does the paper towel do, attract dust and dirt?Originally Posted by pdb
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That's the idea. It always comes out dirty and grey.
My process:
- Decap with an RCBS Universal Depriming Die on my old RCBS Reloader Special single stage press
- Tumble in stainless steel media for 2-3 hours
- Allow brass to air dry overnight on a towel
- Lube brass, a handful at a time, by putting it in a Walmart plastic bag, spraying a few squirts of RCBS case lube and shaking
- Size brass on the single stage press
- Hand wash brass in hot water and Dawn dish soap to remove lube and air dry overnight
- Measure case length using a Lyman Ezee case length gauge; trim if necessary
- Prime, charge and seat on my RCBS Pro-2000 progressive press
- Crimp using Lee Factory Crimp Die on the single stage press
- Check each loaded cartridge using a Dillon case gauge
I don't do a whole lot, I don't like wasting time on things I don't need to be doing.
I used to load on a single stage press but my volume got to a point where I thought I'd look at speeding things up a bit.
So I bought myself a 1050, *just for practice ammo.
All I do is, tumble my brass. Not because I like it shiny but because I don't like it when rocks get in the cases and wreak havok on my press. Dry my cases, unless I'm going to shoot it in the next few days.
Chuck em in the shell feeder and pull the lever until a loaded round falls off the shell plate, and keep doing that until no more cases are avalible to load.
I only trim my rifle brass from tim to time, I just measure a few cases and if they need it I trim em.
I anneale every two or three firings but I'm trying to get good brass life, and consistently. You don't need to do it.
Pistol ammo I still tumble but I don't trim or anneal cases, I just keep loading until I start seeing cases splitting, then I bin the lot or load it into match ammo where I can't pick up my brass.
*turns out I can't shoot the difference between single stage and 1050 ammo.
So pretty much everything that can be loaded on a 1050 is.
https://www.facebook.com/dave.bateman.311
kimbers have more issues than time magazine.
FWIW, I've been handloading Hornady 55gr FMJ for years but my next purchase will be from either 223bulkbullets.com or xtremebullets.com
If you sign up to be notified for e-mail promotions, Xtreme Bullets usually has a deal every two weeks or so for free shipping. ( I purchase 9mm 124gr bullets from them.)
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