Loading for .223/5.56 on 550b double check

[bigarm]

I have done previous research and spent a few hours today on here, youtube and AR15.com . I am getting ready to load for .223/5.56 on a Dillon 550b. I have everything together except for bullets. That will be a separate post. I am going to start prepping the cases and then will do the actual loading. So, from my research the following seems to be the steps. Please check and correct me if I am wrong.

1. clean the cases (I dry tumble with crushed walnut medit)

2. resize and deprime the cases

3. trim the cases (I will be using a Giraud Tri Way Trimmer)

4. swage the caes (I will use the Dillon Super Swage 600)

5. tumble to remove lube (do I need to do this, or is it good practice or unneeded? I haven't done this for pistol rounds)

6. prime

7. fill with powder

8. seat bullet

9. crimp

Does this order seem correct?

Should I set up 2 toolneads? One with just resizing/depriming and one with the other dies? If so, do I need 2 sizing dies, or can you prime without a die in place? I do have an RCBS Partner single stage press. Should I use it instead of the Dillon for the resizing/depriming? Or does it matter?

I have Dillon dies. I have been using a homemade lube for pistol made with liquid lanolin and isopropyl alcohol (91% because I couldn't find 99% where I live). Will that be fine for lubing? I also have Dillon lube (which I think is the same as the homemade) and One Shot. Should I use one of them or something else?

Thanks

[2MoreChains]

I would suggest case gauging your brass between Steps 2 and 3. The reason for doing that is not all your brass will need to be trimmed, plus why go thru the effort trimming a piece of brass that hasn't been resized properly?

For now what I do is prep all my brass as a completely different step and store the prepped brass for when I am ready to load it. I do all the brass prep on a single stage, then do all the loading on the 550. Though I don't see why you couldn't do the brass prep on the 550 if you had a second tool head.

What I do for brass prep is tumble to clean then resize/de-prime on the single stage. I use Dillon spray FWIW. After resizing I hand check each piece of brass in a case gauge. I'm checking for two things: first that the case rim fits flush or just slightly below the top of the gauge. This tells me that it was correctly resized (i.e. headspace). I'm also checking for length. Brass that fails the gauge on the case rim side gets run back thru the sizing die or tossed. Brass that is too long in the neck gets tossed in the bin for trimming.

After that I sort all my brass for those that need to have the primer pockets swaged. Those that have the mil-crimp get swaged, then join the rest of the prepped brass in a box.

Seems like a lot to go thru, doesn't it?

Then when I go to load I have the 550 set up with Station 1 empty since its not needed anymore. I prime, powder, seat, and crimp like normal. Just one thing, on the down stroke, count to 2 or 3 because it takes longer for 25-ish grains of powder to drop than 4-5 grs for pistol! Sometimes I toss my loaded ammo in the tumbler to clean off the lube, other times I clean it by rolling them around on a towel, and sometimes I just get lazy and box up the loaded rounds as is.

I used to tumble the brass after prepping, but as was pointed out by somebody on a forum you could get media lodged in the flash hole and not know it, then load on top of it. Seemed to make sense, so now if I tumble its at the very end. Yeah, I've heard some saying that could light off a round... YMMV. But I only tumble for 10 mins or so.

[bodene 5]

Thought about that press how do you like it ?

[bigarm]

Thought about that press how do you like it ?

The Partner Press? I have been unable to use it. I mounted it on the bench and couldn't get the primer arm to install. Seemed like the hole was too small. Then a week or so later I tried to put in a shell holder and it would not go in. I had never used anything other than a Dillon so wasn't sure that I wasn't doing something wrong. I called RCBS and they said it was probably a bad shell holder so they sent a new one. It didn't fit either. Then I kind of mistakenly bid on a Rock Chucker and won the bid, not really wanting to win. When it came I tried the shell holders and they slipped right in so I called RCBS again and they are sending out a new ram. Haven't received it yet so don't know if that will solve the problem. So the jury is out on the Partner still. I will say that customer service is for RCBS is outstanding. They will send out parts without any problems.

[dauntedfuture]

You are right on track. I re-clean the brass after I have sized it as its easier to hold onto without the lube. You could use Hornady one-shot lube which you don't have to clean off and dries on its own; its not as slick, I don't like it, but it works like that. I trim every stick of brass on a Girud because its easier just to trim it all vs inspect, sort trim etc. I have used all kinds of powder in a 550 and 650, I would not say I have "issues" with R15 or varget, but ball powders are easier to work with in a Dillon for rifle. Make sure you keep things clean and tight on the press as your dies will come loose if your not careful. Provided you are reloading brass that's been trimmed, you can lube and load and tumble the lube off at the very end. Provided the brass was clean before you start reloading, its about 30-45 min to get the lube off.

[cjim]

Then when I go to load I have the 550 set up with Station 1 empty since its not needed anymore. I prime, powder, seat, and crimp like normal. Just one thing, on the down stroke, count to 2 or 3 because it takes longer for 25-ish grains of powder to drop than 4-5 grs for pistol! Sometimes I toss my loaded ammo in the tumbler to clean off the lube, other times I clean it by rolling them around on a towel, and sometimes I just get lazy and box up the loaded rounds as is.

I used to tumble the brass after prepping, but as was pointed out by somebody on a forum you could get media lodged in the flash hole and not know it, then load on top of it. Seemed to make sense, so now if I tumble its at the very end. Yeah, I've heard some saying that could light off a round... YMMV. But I only tumble for 10 mins or so.

I follow similar to you But tumble after processing, to remove lube. Then In station 1 use a universal deprimer, this clears any media that may have got stuck. Everyone does their thing when reloading. We all have the same result , cheaper, hopefully more accurate ammo

Edited October 9, 2014 by cjim

[bigarm]

Thanks for the info. Probably going to deprime/resize today on single stage.

[RiggerJJ]

If you are loading a lot feeding an AR15, you could set up a 2 head loading process, and only have to handle the individual cases once to swage primer pockets. Doing several thousand on a single stage can get old real fast. And so can individually stuffing them into (and holding them) a pencil sharpener type trimmer.

I would get a Dillon trimmer and set it up on a processing head with a decapper.

Then tumble the lube off and swage.

Then load em on another head.

But thats just me... Less time loading, more time shooting!

?

jj

[bigarm]

Thanks for the help. I did deprime/resize about half of my brass today and just finished tumbling it. I will probably do this to the rest of the brass I have and then will trim them with the Giraud tri way trimmer. Then I will see about swaging. I have the Dillon 600 super swage, just don't really know how to tell which ones need it. Most of our once fired brass is federal, pmc and winchester I think, but of course there are most likely others mixed in as we pick them up after we finish our stage and others get mixed in.

[bigarm]

After the prep I will be using a Dillon 550 to load the rounds. I see some people leave station on without a die but still prime on it and others have a universal depriming die in the spot. Is there an advantage to the second way? If so, does it matter which die? Lees can be had for less than 20, others more. I saw a Dillon universal for like 35 on ebay. That is quite a variance in price. However, if one is better than another I don't mind spending the extra money as it is a one time expense.

[RiggerJJ]

You will need to swage all fed and anything with a nato symbol, like lc, wcc, etc. (be careful, been my experience that fed doesn't hold primers very well unless its downloaded, I use it for close up hoser rounds, not full power long range stuff for accuracy)

jj

Edited October 10, 2014 by RiggerJJ

[RiggerJJ]

The universal deprimer die on the loading head is to clear the primer flash hole of tumbling media...it is necessary.

jj