Stupid Reloading Questions

General Firearms Reloading & Ammunition
1

So I’m getting into reloading. Starting with .223. I got a Hornady lock n load kit as a gift recently, got bullets, powder, primers, brass, etc. as per the Lyman book’s suggestions. And as the title suggests I have a couple questions I couldn’t find answers to (probably because they’re just too dumb).

So here it goes:
-After I seat the primer, do I need to do anything else? I have seen some people seal or crimp the primer. Do I need to do either?

-Do I need to do anything after I seat the bullet if I do not crimp it?

-I have some brand new Lake City 5.56 brass, Will I need to trim/resize it? I am assuming not but I have made that mistake with other things before. And I will check the size and clean it before I use it.

-Is there much of a difference between the brass I have and .223 brass? Thinner wall? One should use less powder? Anything?

-What is the best way to find out how far to screw my dies into the bushings for my press? And how do I know when I have it right, just trial and error?

-Also, any other general tips? Or any other threads you know of that I can use as a reference?

Thank you all in advance for any help.

2

Your last two questions…

  1. the manual

  2. Watch a lot of Youtube videos and read the threads here.

It would be a good idea to watch this series to get an idea of what’s involved. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7tFxx9W-Yk&feature=related

Too bad you could not have started with simple pistol ammo first as there are a lot of steps to rifle ammo. Pistol or rifle, all the steps matter and you want things to be clean, accurate and repeatable for each step from round 1 to round xxxxx

3

Understand one thing now- there are never any stupid questions about learning to reload! Remember better safe then sorry!!:smiley:

So here it goes:
-After I seat the primer, do I need to do anything else? I have seen some people seal or crimp the primer. Do I need to do either? Don’t bother sealing nor crimping- yes you need to check to make sure you seated far enough-run your finger over it it sould feel smooth not like a bump- a bump needs to be seated deeper.

-Do I need to do anything after I seat the bullet if I do not crimp it? Yes you should check the COAL -the Manual will give you a measurement for the type bullet your loading -you do have a caliper right? The max for use in a AR will be no longer then 2.260" cause otherwise it will not fit in the mag.

-I have some brand new Lake City 5.56 brass, Will I need to trim/resize it? I am assuming not but I have made that mistake with other things before. And I will check the size and clean it before I use it. Yes always resize and trim new brass

-Is there much of a difference between the brass I have and .223 brass? Thinner wall? One should use less powder? Anything?

If you stick with .223 Rem Data in either case you’ll be well inside the safe use of either brass.

-What is the best way to find out how far to screw my dies into the bushings for my press? And how do I know when I have it right, just trial and error? I don’t know this type reloader so I’ll not comment on it hopefully someone that uses it will come along. The manual for the press should tell you how to set the dies up for that press.

4

Awesome! I saw a few different videos but they didn’t go into so much detail. Thank you.

And yeah, too bad. But I’m not old enough to buy a pistol. Maybe I’ll try to get one gifted to me sometime soon…=)

5

Yes, I have a caliper. For the bullet seating part, what I meant was do I need to do anything else to keep the bullet in the case or if the case just holds it once it is seated?

And thank you. You just cleared a few things up for me.

6

You can crimp if you want. I use a lee factory crimp die but it really isn’t necessary. The neck tension will hold the bullet in place just fine.

Crimp is to make sure the bullet won’t set back during feeding. It is added insurance and with a progressive press doesn’t add any steps.

Read all you can. Reloading isn’t a great process to learn by trial and error.

7

And I can only crimp if the bullet has the indents around it right?

8

No. I use a Lee Factory crimp die on my .223 loads… including SMKs with no cannalure. I lightly crimp everything that goes through my progressive. Helps accuracy by giving me more consistent neck tension. (over crimp will hurt accuracy by deforming the bullet)

It depends on the kind of crimp and how heavy a crimp you put on there.

Are you looking to load for accuracy/quality, or to save money making bulk ammo?

9

More for saving money/bulk but I don’t want to make dirty, shitty ammo either. And it seemed interesting so I wanted to do it…

10

Cool… you don’t have to. With little effort, you’ll be running rings around most of the ammo on the shelves.

With a lot of effort, you can become a complete prick ammo snob like me!! :smiley: And start nit picking the shitty ammo that passes as premium to the unwashed masses!!

If you get to where accuracy becomes a priority… ditch your expander ball in your resizing die. Those things give you more case stretch and tweak your case necks.

I took mine out and bought a separate neck expander die from RCBS. It’s a little more work, but worth it for accuracy.

11

-After I seat the primer, do I need to do anything else? I have seen some people seal or crimp the primer. Do I need to do either?

I do neither. I don’t think you’ll find either one useful and only adds work.

-Do I need to do anything after I seat the bullet if I do not crimp it?

Techniically no, but everything I load gets at least a very light crimp from a Lee FD. I like a tad more neck tension after resizing. Be careful of overcrimping as it can negatively affect accuracy.

-I have some brand new Lake City 5.56 brass, Will I need to trim/resize it? I am assuming not but I have made that mistake with other things before. And I will check the size and clean it before I use it.

I always tumble, trim, and size new brass.

-Is there much of a difference between the brass I have and .223 brass? Thinner wall? One should use less powder? Anything?

As long as staying within the recommended powder charge/bullet weights, I don’t think you’ll find any real issues. Again, don’t overcrimp or the pressure can spike.

-What is the best way to find out how far to screw my dies into the bushings for my press? And how do I know when I have it right, just trial and error?

Start long and then press the bullet in. Measure COAL and if it is not where you want it, give the die another half turn and press. When you get it where you want it press a few and check for repeatability in the die. It should pretty well stay set. Crimping is basically the same process.

-Also, any other general tips? Or any other threads you know of that I can use as a reference?

Thank you all in advance for any help.

12

loganp0916
Some bullets are better crimped, I generally crimp those with a groove. I’ve not had good accuracy with crimping Match bullets. Also those that have a groove usually don’t seat as deep as match bullets so crimping gets you a better burn(more consistant) with certain powders. It’s all trail and error to find what works with your rifle. Start at min loads and work up to find the sweet spot for your rifle! With .223 I work up at .2 of a grain at a time. Having a chrony helps greatly with load developement. :smiley: Good powders for me have been Benchmark, both H or IMR 4895, Varget. There are alot more powders out there for use in .223 rem so don’t get to many at one time. Try and get one that cover most of the bullet weights you wish try to begin with and when you get used to loading and producing good ammo try others!

13

Factory new LC .223 brass should not require trimming - lube and size it first and then check a sample for length. I trim (but not to minimum) after the first firing and resulting stretch. I consider that to be my best “precision” brass.

You might trim new LC brass if loading for a precision bolt gun, or if it just suites your fancy.

ETA: Something I do find useful in processing new LC brass is to deburr the case mouths - I find some serious defects in about 2% of the cases while doing this.

14

Cool. Thanks a lot guys.
I was just looking at the “so you want to reload” sticky and have a question.
If I buy the set of 3 Lee .223 dies(http://www.midwayusa.com/product/434975/lee-pacesetter-3-die-set-223-remington), do I need any others?
The sticky said something about 3 and 4 die sets but I couldn’t find 4 die sets for rifle cartridges.

15

I would also be interested on recommendations on a collection of dies as an ideal setup so to speak.

I have a 550B + an old single stage Lee. I’m not clear at all on specialized dies for enhanced work.

The only one I know about is this…
http://redding-reloading.com/uniquely-redding/119-competition-bullet-seating-die

The Redding Micro Seating Die. Which makes a lot of sense.

Any more picks like that?

16

Really all you need is a full length re sizing die and a bullet seat die, the third most likely being a crimp die. some die sets will actually have a crimp die as part of the bullet seating die. As for a 4 set die i doubt anyone sells the 4 set die but in reality there are many different ways of doing the same thing. you have some dies designed to just re size the neck(dont use these for semi auto rifles) , and you have dies called bushing dies which use inserts to adjust the dimensions of the case neck and head space in thousandths increments. reloading can be as complicated or as simple as you want it to be. for now start with the basics you will pick the rest up as you go

ps you can buy any of the dies individually if you want later.

17

Okay.

Also, I saw the rcbs 2 die AR-15 set too (which may be given to me pretty new). Any reason why I should or should not not get these? Are they all the dies I would need? Or would I have to pick up a third?

18

what dies are you using or planning on using?

i personally prefer the RCBS dies, but thats just me. Hornady also makes good dies from what ive heard, but i would stay away from LEE dies they just dont have the same features.

The AR dies use the combination Crimp and bullet seating die and is more designed for a progressive press. it is also designed for functionality which means it resizes the brass to minimum specifications so it will fit in anything. i would just go with the regular .223 dies from RCBS they are basically the same thing. being “designed” for a progressive press

19

what rifle are they going in?

20

Well, I haven’t really started yet. I’m kinda picking up parts and pieces little by little. I have a hornady single stage press. And the rifle is a spike’s 5.56. And I will soon have a colt/vltor upper (probably colt barrel anyway).