Good afternoon gents. I’m going to be swapping my Dillon 550B to .223, loading for my AR and 2 friends AR’s. I’ve never loaded .223 or any rifle on a progressive before so those that do, chime in please.
Should I get the Dillon 3 die set or go with the RCBS small base dies and a Lee FCD. (I use a LeeFCD for my hunting loads in 3 calibers.)
Anybody using Ramshot X-terminator? I’ve seen the posts on TAC but thought Terminator might work better in a 10.5".
3.Anybody used CCI #41 primers? My local shop has them and the usual Remchester, Wolf, CCI buffet all for the same price so…
This will be for 55gr plinking loads at first but the local shop has bulk 69gr and 77gr SMK’s for a real good price so when my 1/7 SBR gets here I will be stockpiling them.
I load 223 on my 550b and love it! My two plinking loads are using 55gr bullets with either 25gr of H335 or 25gr of Xterminator and mixed brass and Remington 7 1/2 primers. Both shoot very well from my 11.5". Be sure to properly work your loads up and have fun.
I haven’t found properly mades dies from any mfg. to make much of a difference unless you start talking about non-standard offerings like X, type-S, collet, or competition seater dies.
RCBS, Lee, Hornady, Forster or Redding, I have them all in .223. They all work. Each has design features I like more than others. None of them have 100% of the features I want in one die set. Lee is the cheapest and most poorly finished, but they function fine and a handful of Lee dies (FCD, collet neck) work as well or better than many more premium dies. If you have a process that’s in control, all of them will produce MOA or better ammo.
I don’t find the FCD to make any difference in my loads as long as there is proper neck tension to start. I don’t crimp any longer.
I would set up one tool head for sizing and possibly trimming (Dillon RT), and another for powdering, seating and crimping.
X-term works fine for 55-60gr and under. I haven’t noticed any difference in accuracy worth noting between that and TAC. I’d stick to TAC if you plan on going heavy though, it’s more convenient to stock just one powder. CCI #41s work well. Stick to 41s, Rem 7 1/2, FGMM or Wolf/Tula (SR or SRM/.223). The Wins like to pop primers with even moderate loads and the CCI 400s are too soft of a cup to handle hotter .223 loads without flowing.
I tried the Lee FCD at a couple of different setting and saw some loss of accuracy with my 77 grain precision loads compared to the very light taper crimp I normally use. YMMV and with cheap bullets it might even work better.
I trim every loading, but the Lee might be a good choice otherwise. But I don’t think crimping is necessary with 55 grain bullets anyway. This assumes good neck tension, of course.
If in doubt load a few dummies and cycle them through your rifle a couple of times and re-check OAL. You should not see more than a thou or two change in OAL - in either direction. Long/heavy bullets, such as the 77 SMK need some very serious checking against setback, btw. This is more a function/problem with the rifles feed ramps. I’ve found that A2 feed ramps can be problematic with 68 - 77 grain reloads. I’ve had no issues with M4 feed ramps.
If I run the built-in swaging station on the 1050 a crimp die is necessary due to the case mouth expander ring built into that operation. So my taper crimp die stays in place.
Wolf primers won’t reliably ignite some powers (per some posts I’ve read in this forum). Also, I tend to shun commie products unless I have no choice.
I’ve read the posts, but can’t duplicate the results. I’ve used Wolf and Tula, SR and SRM and all 4 will reliably ignite H335, TAC, W748 and X-term for me, in addition to Varget and RE-15 which was to be expected.
I used Wolf, now Tula SRP for all my match loads as they are the mildest primers I can find and shoot as well as FGMM and better than Rem 7 1/2s in my loads at 1/2 the price.
However, their products are hit and miss. I’ve had several flavors of primers that were missing anvils out of the box.
I’ve also sworn off their small pistol primers. The nickel plated cups are next to impossible to touch off unless you crush the primers with a hand priming tool before trying to light them. Then, your ignition system must be factory. Try them with a lightened trigger and it’s FTF city.
No need for small base dies unless you have issues to begin with. No need to crimp but if you want to the Lee FCD is very nice. CCI 41 is a magnum primer, Rem 7.5 or regular CCI is fine, I only use the 41 when loading heavy bullets with ball powder (like AA2520).
Dillon’s carbide 3 die set is nice. I changed out the taper crimp for the Lee Factory crimp die. I give my bulk practice ammo a light factory crimp.
No crimp on the really good bullets. Get a good trimmer. I’ve switched to a Sinclair/Wilson hand trimmer from that piece of back woods shit Possom Hollow trimmer and the difference is worth every minute of hand trimming.
I was thinking of going with Redding. F/L dies and the LeeFCD, of course the are out of stock at midway right now. I’ve been loading my bolt guns for 25 years on a single stage press and have a Forster trimmer with all the sizes but that rout is slow for .223 plinking. Doing 500 9mm an hour on my 550 spoiled me on the practice ammo.
I STRONGLY recommend a small base die as you are loading for your own gun and for those of two others.
Unless all guns are shooting MILSPEC-chambered barrels you risk having stuck cartridges or slam-fires if you are mixing rounds fired in a big, fat chamber and tight commercial or match chambers.
I’d also strongly recommend a Giraud case trimmer to keep everything within spec and as close to factory length dimensions as possible.
Plus eleventy bazillion. The Giraud is very easy to use and is very fast (ten cases per minute easily). Plus it deburs and chamfers the neck for you. Worth the investment if you are doing large quantities.
Two other (obvious) case prep tools that bear mentioning…the Dillon super swager if you are using military brass with crimped primers, and Dillon’s .223 case gauge (a go/no-go headspace and case length gauge).