I’m interested in doing some reloading of 5.56/.223. Not really sure where to start. I’ve looked at Dillon and RCBS, don’t really know the difference. Chevy and Ford as far as I can see. Any recommendations on how to get started? Info I’m looking for is:
right press for the job
associated equipment, (dies, mounts, tools etc)
brass, primer, bullet, powder recommendations for a 16" 1:7 chrome lined barrel
any other things I might need to know
Like I said, I’m completely new to this, so feel free to respond as such. I don’t take offense, and take valid suggestions easily. Thanks for any help.
I also considered reloading 9mm, .357 Mag, so if this alters any suggestions, that’s fine as well, thanks again.
For dies when reloading for 9mm for example you always buy the Titanium nitride(Hornady brand I have) or carbide dies that don’t require lubing the cases for resizing. For rifle I use Redding full length .223 dies. Awesome when you don’t have to lube cases for pistol rounds. With .223 you have to lube the cases. I didn’t one time and the brass was stuck in the die, sucks.
I would reload .223/5.56 with 62gr bullets for normal shooting and use 69-77gr bullets for accuracy and long range shooting. A 1-7 twist is what I have and my barrel(s) love the 69gr Sierras and 75gr Hornaday match bullets.
You will need a scale, case trimmer, dial caliper for measuring case length. These things may come in a package deal for a reloading kit. I just bought them as I started. The reloading manual will tell you what to get.
Sierra bullets are great, so for accuracy I would start with some heavy grain stuff from them. Look for a bulk pack of military bullets 62gr for blasting clay pigeons and rapid fire drills etc. Powder for .223 has a ton of choices, H335, W748 etc. You really can’t go wrong with any of them. Primers are a tough situation, I just use what is out there. The last year they have been hard to come by but I like CCI the best. Don’t buy soft match primers.
This link below has some great info. I would buy a reloading book that will show you step by step what to do and if will give you load data so you don’t add too much powder etc.
Dillon presses are the best, IMHO, for a number of reasons. The quality is there, and the guarantee cannot be beaten. (Lifetime, transfers with the press.) So even if you decide to get out of reloading, you can sell the press for near what you paid for it.
For dies, I’m a big fan of the Redding dies for rifle reloading. They’re more expensive, but very nice. For pistol dies, go with the Lee ones, the price is right and they work as well as anything else.
For bulk .223/5.56 shooting, 55gr bullets are the most readily available and the price is right. Hornady bulk fmj is as good as anything. It runs fine in a 1/7 barrel. If you want serious accuracy, 75gr Hornady OTMs or 77gr SMKs are excellent, but much more costly.
You will need a case trimmer for rifle brass. Pistol brass doesn’t need trimming, but rifle brass grows and you will have to trim it. You can go as cheap as a possum hollow trimmer, but for speed and consistency nothing beats a giraud trimmer.
There are a ton of resources online, but you should also definitely get a book or two.
Personally I use a Hornady Lock N Load AP Progressive press. Much cheaper than the 550 and the 650 but has the features of the 650. Non-autoindexing progressives to me are basically turret presses that slow you down and are far more prone to being the site of a double charge if working with calibers in which the powder isn’t filling the case like with 5.56. The Dillon 650 is a great press but once again for the money, Hornady’s is just as good, has cheaper parts overall by a bit, and arguable just as good of customer service. It’s really up to you. You’d be plenty happy with a 650 or a Hornady AP. I’m just not a fan of all the work and parts that are required to change calibers on Dillon presses. My Hornady’s press S# is in the 25k and is rather recent. They’re still new to the market and too many people are sticking to Dillon without even researching the Hornady. Thus Hornady has their Get Loaded promotion where you get 1,000 bullets (500 this year) for purchasing the press. Albeit the choices of what bullets you get are limited but 1k 55 gr or 1k .308 150gr are the highlights.
The ONLY two downsides I have found with the Hornady are the current ejector springs use often kink up but continue to function. You just have to learn how to treat them when loading. Typically a user error problem. Also, the Hornady press does not have a powder indicator as sophisticated as the one from Dillon. With the Hornady you can use the Powder Cop die which just raises a pin to a visual level to check for double charges or squibs. The Dillon unit sounds an alarm and is more adjustable. But you can modify the Hornady press to accommodate the Dillon sensor without too much work. Granted the Dillon unit is twice the price of the rather basic powder cop.
If you’re going to be processing .mil brass you WILL NEED a Dillon Super Swage. That’s just for crimped primers found on .mil brass.
I suggest picking up the book by Bill Chevalier on the ABCs of Reloading.
The Hornady Lock-n-Load AP is not really cheaper than the Dillon XL 650 once you add in the “optional” parts that the Dillon includes and buy the case feeder.
My first press was a hornaday lock and load and it was great at first reloading for .223. When I switched calibers then I ran into problems. I broke a few parts and had to send it back to get fixed. My lock and load sits in my basement in a box and I don’t use it anymore. I like the Dillion and Rockchucker much better.
I’m not really concerned with the price of the associated equipment. I’m not sure what you mean by production requirements. If I understand you correctly, my reasoning would be for pure out and out accuracy over anything else. Mostly target and plinking is what I’ll be doing with the rounds, as far as home or personal defense, I’ll just pick up some Hornady TAP and be done with it. The reasoning behind this is to just squeeze as much accuracy I can out of this carbine. I understand that a lot of experimentation comes with reloading, and I’m all for that, was just looking for some suggestions as to what has worked for others (understanding also that different rifles will shoot differently, even of the same make and caliber). Just looking for kind-of a start off point I guess you could say, a point of reference. Everyone has been extremely helpful. Also, like I said, I’m not worried about the price, I just want the best I can get, something that’ll be around for a while. I’ve been called a snob when it comes to firearms, and I suppose that comes from my “you get what you pay for” mentality, (whether that’s a good thing or bad, is debatable. :)) So yeah, something good quality that will stand up to use, and time.
Watch those video links I put in my first post and those guys on youtube will help you with any questions. Those two guys are top reloaders. I would buy bullets in bulk that are 62gr for your 1-7 twist. 55gr will work fine also. One thing is you might want to crimp the bullets. The bullets will have a groove or cannelure. It prevents the bullet from getting pushing into the case during the force of operation. You will need a special die for crimping(not much money at all).
One thing to watch out for is bulk bullets that are rejects. One time I bought some bulk 62gr bullets at a gun show and every one of the bullets was off in weight.
P.S you will need a case tumbler to shine and clean up the cases also. Buy the best and you will be set for life. Right now I want a digital scale and powder dropper but they are $300 plus. Well worth it though.
Production requirements mean this: Do you want a single stage press to load one cartridge at a time, or do you want a progressive like the Dillon 550? I still use a single stage because I don’t have space for a Dillon, and much of my reloading is done for “precision.” I simply do 50 or 100 cases per step for the preparatory work. Then when it’s time to make ammo, I stick the powder in and seat the bullet.
I can’t stand to just “throw” each powder charge into an empty case. I weigh each charge, then funnel it into the case. That’s what happens because of shooting heavy barrelled varmint guns for years. You end up being real fussy about the ammunition.
So if accuracy is going to be your game, then consider a decent single stage press like a RCBS Rock Chucker or similar and for me it’s Redding dies. I especially like the bushing neck dies and competition seating die. You’ll need a good caliper. I like Starrett stainless steel dial calipers. Trimming will eventually become necessary. The L.E. Wilson trimmer is the best crank style, and there’s a few motorized units that I know nothing about. The Giraud is supposedly the best. Don’t forget a couple of good reloading manuals like the Sierra and Hodgdon books. Good luck, have fun and be careful.
By “production requirements” I was referring to how many rounds reloaded per unit of time, i.e., 100 rds/hr, 200 rds/hr, etc. This leads to whether or not you require a progressive press.
If cost isn’t an object I’d recommend a Dillon 650 with casefeeder, bullet tray, roller handle, the works. I’d also recommend a Dillon 1200 case trimmer and trim die for .223 reloading setup on a dedicated case prep toolhead. I don’t bother trimming pistol rounds, they never seem to grow enough to require trimming. I also like electronic scales simply because they’re so much faster. When zeroed IAW instructions, they are as accurate as a good balance beam scale, at least in my experience.
If cost really isn’t an object, iof you ever decide to load a cartridge that uses a large primer, just get a 2nd 650 and don’t bother changing out the primer feed.
for me, the reloading isn’t out of necessity, it’s as a “functional” hobby, something I would get something out of, if that makes sense. and as far as production requirements, I’m not worried about speed. I got plenty of time, so I’m not in a hurry to crank out as many rounds as possible, just put some good tunes on, get in the zone, and get to cranking. I don’t mind purchasing rounds, but like I said, something of a hobby. Like people that are always under the hoods of their cars, not because they need to, but because they can, and because they want to. I guess you could say I live too much of my life at work, and need something for me.
I like it as a hobby and as a way to be able to shoot much cheaper. I am the “tinkerer” sort so building ammo and my own guns is more interesting than buying factory. That is just me.
I looked at the Hornady LNL AP hard before going with the 550b. Looked at them side by side, operated both of them, etc…
The guy at the shop(Graf’s) described the differences, advantages, etc… of each over the other, spent about an hour with me. I am sure I am forgetting some stuff.
-The 550b is not any slower than the Hornady unless you have a case feeder on the Hornady. Reason being is that you are still the slowest part of the process and feeding a case and bullet by hand is always going to be the slowest part, not the indexing of the machine.
-The 550b can accommodate more calibers than the LNL and even the 650 because it isnt auto indexing. The issue with the auto index is that it starts to index on the down stroke, if you have some really long rifle rounds, the plate will start to index with the case still in the die and jam the machine up and potentially ruin the case. The 650 auto index can be disabled, I am not sure the Hornady can be.
-Caliber change over prices are almost the same. Hornady requires a set of bushings for around 20-25 bucks, the Dillon requires a tool head that is about 20-25 bucks. Dies are the same for each press. The shell plates are about the same price for each press.
-The powder thrower in the Dillon was a better design than the Hornady. The issue that the Hornady had was the bushings had a tendency of coming loose and if you didnt notice it you might have loaded a bunch of squib loads because the powder thrower instead of moving up and activating would simply be moving up because the bushing came loose. I dont think accuracy of powder throw was any better in one vs. the other. Dillon sells the powder thrower’s separately so you can have one setup for rifle and one for pistol(they have 2 powder bars one for pistol and one for rifle).
-Primer system in the Hornady I have read is kinda funky and difficult to work with. The Dillon system is super simple, just a tube that the carriage rides back under and picks up a new primer. The only issue I have with mine is sometimes a new primer will drop out of the tube when its not supposed to and then the carriage cant go back far enough to pickup a new primer, its really easy to spot though when this happens. The dead primer chute is also a little wonky and it gets jammed up from time to time since the cotter pin in it tends to get bent way to easily. I have heard using a large safety pin is the way to fix this. Last week the trapped door jammed in a weird position and was pushing the primer carriage out of whack with the hole in the shell plate, took me like 5 times disassembling the primer feed system before I realized it wasnt a problem with that, it was a problem with the spent primer collector.
-Warranty on the Dillon 550 is an honest no B.S. warranty. Hornady supposedly has a good warranty, but I think its to soon to say if they will be the same way as Dillon. The guy at the store said he dropped his machine while moving and bent something and had to send it back. Was totally honest with them and was willing to pay for it. They sent him a new press(or at least a fully re-built press). I have heard of people whose houses have burnt down and all that was left was the ram and a part of the frame and they sent it back and Dillon sent a new press to them. If a primer sticks in either the primer pickup tube or feed tube they say to just call them and they will send you a new one for free, they dont want you jamming anything down the tube to dislodge the primer.
The rest of the stuff needed for reloading will be the same irregardless of what actual press you buy. Still gonna need a tumbler, calipers, case gauge’s, scale, primer pocket reamer, media separator, etc… I think I spent about $250 or so on my initial accessories purchase and I have since gone back and got a Dillon 1200 electric case trimmer and a Super Swage. Dillon also has lots of little accessories for the press that Hornady does not. The roller handle was the best 60 bucks I spent I think, much better than the Q-ball type handle it came with.
I probably have around 1500 or so in my setup and I can load 9mm, .45ACP, and .223/5.56. I honestly dont think, besides a case or bullet feeder, there is anything else I can buy for my setup besides more die setups for more calibers.
