Raydee38

I have some federal brass like that, shoots fine from my firearms.

Yes I had that exact same problem with my 550b yesterday and found that my shellplate was a little loose. After tightening it down a little and taking the play out it seems that has fixed the problem.

Well its not mine yet, but after Christmas I will be ordering one. Sent from my Galaxy S4

I think using the V-Max bullets over the bulk and seating closer to the lands will make enough of a difference for now. Sent from my Galaxy S4

I have a bunch of brass that short and never have a problem with it. Sent from my Galaxy S4

I am using the RL550B with the standard 3 die set. I normally clean my brass, lube, decap and full length resize in the same die. I then remove, Do all my case prepI and then back on the press for primer, powder (ball powder) and then bullet seating. The reason I am looking to neck size is only to extend case life. From most of the reading I am doing it looks like no matter what I will have to full length size eventually. There have been many posts saying that partial full length sizing gives you the best of both worlds by sizing the neck and most of the case length. What I am concerned about is not bumping the shoulder back at all with the partial method. I am guessing that at some point the shoulder is going to have to be bumped back too so if that is the case I may as well keep what I have now and just live with limited case life. Sent from my Galaxy S4

Would you suggest I set up a new tool head with just a neck sizing and a shoulder sizing die? If that is the case I might as well put a universal decapping die in there too? Sent from my Galaxy S4

Well I am not sure how far I plan to go with it since I am not competing, I am just trying to tighten up my groups. Right now I am full length resizing but I plan to fire form my brass. I am hoping I can use my full length sizing die adjusted just to do the neck but I am not sure if that will work correctly? As far as the flat base bullets go I tried to load a few earlier this morning and they seem to seat just fine. I did chamfer the inside of the case mouth so I think that helped. Mag length is def not a problem so I am going to seat to 30 thousands from the lands to start and go from there. Sent from my Galaxy S4

Thanks to the a lot of reading and help from the forum members here I decided to start reloading for better accuracy. I do have some questions and concerns now though. I was re sizing and loading .223 bullets to the standard specs that are in most books using an OAL of 2.25" and using bulk Hornady .224 bullets with the cannelure and boat tail. In my semi-auto's this worked fine but when I use them in my bolt action I am seeing that they are not very accurate. I noticed that even the neck tension on the bulk bullets seemed to be very inconsistent so crimping was almost always needed. I have since switched to Hornady V-Max bullets and have measured the OAL in my chamber to be 2.34". Would it be a good idea to load to 20-30 thousandths under the max OAL and work from there? My second concern is that going from a boat tail to the V-Max with flat base. The BT bullets would sit in the brass case and were easily seated but the V-Max with the flat base won't even sit on top of the brass case and I am nervous that as soon as I go to seat the bullet it is going to crush the case. I was going to load a couple to 2.31-2.32" and see if they will seat without deforming the brass but I figured I would make sure I am on the right track first.

http://www.tacticalbrassrecovery.com/Default.asp Here is the one I use.

DO you still have to push forward on the handle to prime like you do on the 550?

I decided to upgrade fro my RL550B to the 650 and I am just wondering how much of a learning curve the new press will be. The 550 was my first press and I think I have mastered it pretty well. Can I use the three dies from my 550 on the 650?

Get the next size pins, they are thick enough so that they won't get stuck. The only problem with the larger diameter pins is they won't clean the flash hole as good as the thinner pins. Sent from my Galaxy S4

Tactical brass catcher for me, I haven't lost a single 223 since I bought mine. Sent from my Galaxy S4

Thanks for the link, I will pick one of those up and see where my trim length should be.

Ok thanks for the reply.

I am reloading for a 223 bolt action and I am trying to trim my cases to 1.75" but the problem is 75% of my cases are under 1.75" even after the second firing. How important is it to have all the cases the same length? I am thinking as long as the bullet seating depth is the same then the case length will not be a big deal as long as they are not to long?

I am new to reloading and recently bought a Dillon RL-550B press. I have about 250 cases that I processed and have the primers installed. I am kinda doing them one step at a time on the press just to get a feel for each operation before I start doing them progressively. Right now I am at the part where I want to start dropping powder and I am wondering a couple things. First how long can I let the powder sit in the drop when I am not loading cases? I mean can I store it in the drop for weeks, days or how long? Second I am using a 55grn FMJ BT bullet and TAC powder with a 16" 1 and 9 twist barrel. According to the TAC data it says to start at 23.1 grains if using a 20" barrel or reduce by 9% if using shorter barrels. Do you think I should just start at 23.1 grains and see how the gun cycles?

Ok then I won't bother washing after I tumble.

I am using a Vibratory Tumbler for now with crushed walnut shell and some metal polish. My brass is coming out very clean BUT there is some dust on the inside and outside of the case. Would it be fine to wash my brass in a tub of soap and water after I tumble without any problems?

I am reloading .223, am I not doing it correctly?

I am new to reloading and bought a Dillon RL-550B for my first press. I don't have any primers or powder yet (on the UPS truck) but I wanted to get started while wating. So far the press is mounted and I have the sizing/decapping die and the powder measure all setup. I tumbled a bunch of brass and then lubed them, sized/decapped them on the press, swaged and cleaned the primer pockets before putting them back in the tumbler to clean off the lube. I am planning to pick up some primers and powder today at the local reloading store but my question is since the brass is already sized and decapped when I put them back in the press to put the primers back in do I need to lightly lube them again? I am thinking that I dont but I just want to make 100% sure.