Progressive Loading for AR15

[Rustyshackelford]

I have been loading now for about 15 years. I have thousands or rifle and pistol rounds and under my belt loading on a cheap LEE starter kit press and then a Rockchucker. I upgraded to a Dillon 550B about 6 years ago and love this machine. I had been sitting on a decent pile of 223 reloads and I'm not a high volume consumer of the round. I maybe burn up 400 each year. I can prove my abilities and get enough practice with maybe 20 to 60 rounds per range trip.

I am now at a point where i need to reload and I am buying the conversion kit and tool head to put my die set into. What i am curious about regarding guys shooting in volume and therefor reloading in said volume, using AR15s what are your practices and concerns in regards to the brass?

- I already sort my brass between commercial and military. I typically de-prime my brass on the Rockchucker down in my garage, and sort before running them through the wet tumbler. My primary reason for this is to know what I need to come back and swage primer pockets and what can go straight to the press. So I don't intend to change this process.​

​

- Checking length and trimming... this is where my instruction and my assumptions begin to conflict. I loath trimming cases. I used to check the length of each case to ensure it was within range before I would batch brass for reloading. I tossed the shorties into scrap and set the long ones aside and on a rainy weekend. I would run them through a redding trim die that required the use of a file to trim the brass to length.​

​

I no longer have a bolt gun, and my chambers on my AR rifles are all either 556 or 223 Wylde. Can I get away with not trimming brass with these? Ideally, I would love to be able to be done with the trimming altogether for this cartridge going through these guns.

I anticipate the process to be better in some respects using the progressive, but I can see the time spent lubing cases feeling much more laborious in preparation for a session at the bench.

 

[nortac]

I suspect you will still need to trim periodically, I do. I would suggest using a more efficient method of case trimming for progressive reloading. How do you check your case length? If it is with calipers or the aforementioned trim die, I would suggest a case length gage. A lot quicker and not much investment cost.
I tend to process brass in batches as well, even though I have a 550B, I often only charge cases and seat bullets on it. I also de-prime and clean cases before resizing.
What type of shooting will you be doing?

 

[Rustyshackelford]

I suspect you will still need to trim periodically, I do. I would suggest using a more efficient method of case trimming for progressive reloading. How do you check your case length? If it is with calipers or the aforementioned trim die, I would suggest a case length gage. A lot quicker and not much investment cost.
I tend to process brass in batches as well, even though I have a 550B, I often only charge cases and seat bullets on it. I also de-prime and clean cases before resizing.
What type of shooting will you be doing?

I do short distance 100-175yd plinking on steel. I load for economy. My stuff doesn't pack a punch, just enough to cycle the action unsuppressed and ring the plate. I could probably load lighter for use with the cans, but i don't want to over complicate.

My more disciplined distance shooting I'm using my M1A or FAL, and I can't load 7.62 cheaper than i can buy it so i don't bother.

 

[nortac]

I do short distance 100-175yd plinking on steel. I load for economy. My stuff doesn't pack a punch, just enough to cycle the action unsuppressed and ring the plate. I could probably load lighter for use with the cans, but i don't want to over complicate.

My more disciplined distance shooting I'm using my M1A or FAL, and I can't load 7.62 cheaper than i can buy it so i don't bother.

I think progressive loading for your needs is perfect. I load "plinking ammo" on my Dillon. I load precision rounds on my turret press. There have been many discussions on loading precision ammo on the Dillon, it can be done. I have not done any comparison between the two methods. I have two sets of dies in .223, one set up on a 550 tool head, one set up on my Redding T-7 turret press.

 

[nortac]

As for lubing your brass, place your clean brass in a Tupperware or other suitable container, spritz them with some spray on lube, I prefer Dillon's. Or make your own from lanolin and 90% isoproply alcohol (must buy online, available from Amazon). Jostle them around in the container a bit and then size away!

 

[Rustyshackelford]

I am definitely going to have to explore the best options for lubricating the cases for this process. I have traditionally used Hornady one shot. But that stuff is too expensive for this scale.

 

[nortac]

Amazon.com: Amazon Brand - Solimo 99% Isopropyl Alcohol For Technical Use,16 Fl Oz: Health & Personal Care

Buy Amazon Brand - Solimo 99% Isopropyl Alcohol For Technical Use, 16 Fl Oz on Amazon.com ✓ FREE SHIPPING on qualified orders

www.amazon.com

Amazon.com: Now Foods, Solutions, Liquid Lanolin, 4 fl oz (118 ml): Health & Personal Care

Buy Now Foods, Solutions, Liquid Lanolin, 4 fl oz (118 ml) on Amazon.com ✓ FREE SHIPPING on qualified orders

www.amazon.com

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ABYVT64/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This will set you up for a long time!

 

[nortac]

Brass Case Resizing Lube

www.65guys.com

More info on DIY case lube

 

[Whiterook]

My process is very similar to @nortac. I have used the spray lube, but lately I have gone back to lubing five at a time on my old RCBS lube pad. I use Midway mica on the necks. My volume is low so I get by loading in batches of 100.

 

[nortac]

MY bad, that should be 99%, not 90% isopropyl alcohol.

 

[Rustyshackelford]

As for lubing your brass, place your clean brass in a Tupperware or other suitable container, spritz them with some spray on lube, I prefer Dillon's. Or make your own from lanolin and 90% isoproply alcohol (must buy online, available from Amazon). Jostle them around in the container a bit and then size away!

Thank you sir, for turning me onto the DIY case lube.

I went with 1:8 parts ration for my lanolin to alcohol mix. I decided to take my 5 gallon bucket a deprimed and wet tumbled 223/5.56 cases and size them all on my rockchucker. I built a small stand that sits in front my chair while the wife and I watch tv. I fill a smaller 2 gallon bucket with about 5 or 6 handfuls of brass give two spritzes, shake and repeat two more times. I let it sit for a little less than 5 minutes then get to work sizing. THIS LUBE IS EXCELLENT!!! I’ve done about 1/3 of a 5 gallon bucket in the last two evenings.

I am swaging primer pockets at this point. Once I get through this batch, I will sort by case length over and under. I’ll be loading my plinking rounds on the 550b from there. Any of the long cases will be set aside until I see the quantity I am faced with. I will decide if I want to get a powered trimmer tool or if I want to hit them with a file in my trim die, provided it’s a reasonable qty.

Unfortunatley, at this time, I’m shooting too much once fired range brass to trust my batch of brass is my previously trimmed brass to run the entire loading process on my progressive. I’m doing well with components at the moment and don’t expect to be finding brass as readily available in the next year or two given the current state of things. If can manage to get all this trimmed and reload another couple times on the progressive with less intensive prep, it will be worth the investment of time right now.

 

[nortac]

Most of my .223 brass is a mixture of once fired and unknown number of firings, which means most of it is unknown as to the number of firings. In a recent session of processing several hundred cases, I found that somewhere between 10-20 % needed trimming and were set aside and maybe 5% were discarded for split necks or other condition issues. I use Wilson case gauges and find them much faster than using calipers in sorting brass for trimming. I've never used a powered trimmer, always used a hand cranked lathe type trimmer. For years I used a Forster trimmer, but a few years ago I upgraded to the Wilson/Sinclair trimmer. Not fast, but faster than the Forster, very precise and I'm a fool for anything with micrometer adjustments!

 

[nikonNUT]

Brass Case Resizing Lube

www.65guys.com

More info on DIY case lube

I love this concoction but it makes my tumbling times go way up if I let it "dry" as it were (and wet tumbling would probably fix that). I've gone to a pad for apply Forster lube to the outside of the case (and I don't use an expander ball), bump the neck, tumble, and then use imperial dry lube in the necks with a Sinclair carbide expander mandrel to set neck tension. Added perk is that the dry lube stays put (even after dropping powder) and is great bullet lube. Still it works very well!

EDIT: To respond to the original post I believe there are case trimmers that mount to a Dillon shell plate. If they can trim AND chamfer that would be my go to! I'll be grabbing a Geraud soon...

 

[nortac]

I myself would get the Giraud if I were to go all powered, but my shooting volume would have to go way up to justify it's cost and bench space requirements.

 

[nortac]

I got a little sloppy in monitoring my case length for .223 with some mixed brass a while back. While loading on the 550, at the powder dispensing station, over length cases had their shoulders crushed and most of those could not be salvaged. The interesting point is that the measured case length of those cases, after having the shoulder buckle, was 1.75 inches, the length they should have been to begin with.