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Loading .223 on a Dillon press


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I plan on shooting 3 gun this year and will probably shoot about 500 to 1000 rounds a month between practice and matches. For those who have experiance on the Dillon presses, would it better to load them on a XL650 or a Super 1050? I have both presses and load 9mm, super 38 and 40sw on the 1050, and usually only 45acp on the 650.

Assuming that I do not have the dies, tool head, case feeder plate, swagger, trimmer yet, what press would you choose and why. I know the cost factor will be higher with the 1050. What am I missing to make my decision?

Thanks

Jerry

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If you're shooting once fired military brass AND you currently have a 1050 (set up for small primers already, no less) then the 1050 would be the way to go.

If you do a search here or on the Rifle/Shotgun sub-forum, I'm sure you'll find plenty of threads already on how to reload .223, regardless of which press you own.

Of special note, is that somewhere in there at sometime you're gonna have to trim the cases.

You might be happy with Dillon's toolhead mounted cutter system on a 1050 AND you might be able to do it all in one trip through the press.

I don't know for sure because I don't own a 1050.

(slight thread drift on)

I don't know why exactly, but that RCBS X-sizer die just has not caught on with the people on this forum.

The few that have chimed in on the few threads I have read, really loved the X-die.

(drift off)

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I started out using a 550 and it works OK. Makes very nice ammo for sure.

I got a Super1050 just for 223. It makes the job so much easier.

I set the toolhead up with just a full length sizing die. I use a RCBS Small Base (SB) die. Put 100 pcs of brass in the tray and spray Dillon lube. Then deprime, resize and swage the primer pocket.

Next, they get trimmed to length using a Gracey trimmer. After that, I tumble to remove the lube and any brass shavings and they are ready to reload.

Reset the tool head with a universal decap die to make sure no tumbling media gets stuck in flash hole and the seating / crimp dies and go to town.

I'll do 2 - 5 K pcs of brass for prep at once and the load 500 - 1000 at a time.

Edited by warpspeed
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(slight thread drift on)

I don't know why exactly, but that RCBS X-sizer die just has not caught on with the people on this forum.

The few that have chimed in on the few threads I have read, really loved the X-die.

(drift off)

count me in as one of those

I hated loading rifle, and I'm lazy. I hated the trimming and de-burring part of it. got the x-die and all of that went away, well almost. with the x-die you trim 10 thousands under trim length and de-burr once. set up the die and after that it's just like loading a pistol round, lube the case and go.

the one thing I would caution you on is, if you go this route, try it a few times, maybe load the same 100 cases until they crack or reach the number of loading you feel comfortable with.

if they meet your expectations, then sit down and trim every piece of brass you got to the same length. I have a tool head setup with a dillon power trimmer for my 650 just for that.

I didn't do that at 1st, and had cases that were trimmed a tad longer than the rest, well the x-die's de-capping stem has a shoulder on it, to prevent the case from growing, well the longer cases hit that should, and set the shoulder back on those rounds, and of course they didn't chamber.

oh btw, I load on a 650 and love it. I have 2 separate tool heads setup, 1 for trimming, the 2nd for loading. I also tend to avoid military brass because I hate de-crimping the primer pockets, which is the 1 big advantage I see for loading on a 1050.

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I set the toolhead up with just a full length sizing die. I use a RCBS Small Base (SB) die. Put 100 pcs of brass in the tray and spray Dillon lube. Then deprime, resize and swage the primer pocket.

I have a 550 and just bought Dillon 223 dies so that I can reload for a Rock River DCM AR-15. Are Dillon dies Small Based? Does it matter?

Edited by mike_in_md
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I have a 550 and just bought Dillon 223 dies so that I can reload for a Rock River DCM AR-15. Are Dillon dies Small Based? Does it matter?

It is my understanding that, while not advertised as such, the Dillon die is indeed a "small base" die. I know that I've never felt the need to use anything but the Dillon die and I've loaded MANY thousands of 223 on my 650.

Ed

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I have a dedicated 1050 for 223. I loaded for years on a 650, but almost all of my brass is .mil, and I hated the swaging of the pockets, even on a Dillon swager. Now the swager is set up for the limited amount of 308 .mil brass I use. I have a Dillon trimmer on a 650 toolhead that I use for the trimming.

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My .223 reloading nightmare continues! After loading tens of thousands of rounds of handgun ammo on my 550 with no problems I decided to tackle the .223. I put in the large powder measure and now it is dribbling BLC-2 onto the shellplate. Nothing ever leaked out of the small powder measure and I'm not sure what's wrong. Is this something that just has to be tolerated? And in my first 150 rounds I noticed some of the shoulders are buckled, a few pretty badly. I presume this is due to not chamfering the case mouths of some of my short brass and seating the bullets a little too quickly and aggressively. I had this problem with .22 Hornet but didn't expect it with .223. I guess now I'll have to figure out which ones will chamber and fire safely and pull those few that won't.

Dave Sinko

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Hi David,

And in my first 150 rounds I noticed some of the shoulders are buckled

One thing that will that will cause that is excessive case lube and/or tumbling media that's been carried into the sizing die. It accumulates in the shoulder area of the die, when you run a case in there is nowhere for it to go and it will, to varying degrees, hydraulically dent the shoulder of the the case. AKA as "oil dents".

If that's the case, clean up your sizing die and use LESS lube. A lot of people have had "stuck case" issues with Hornady One Shot spray on case lube, but it's always worked just fine for me so that what I use. I also clean my sizing die every 1000-1500 rounds and I haven't had an oil dent in ages.

Ed

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After I posted I took a few deep breaths and went back to the 550. I determined that I had inadvertently used a very short piece of brass when I set the powder measure to dispense the charge. All my brass has been trimmed, but some of the longer ones were bottoming out against the activator. When loading pistol cartridges this thing bells the case mouths and adjusting it properly is easy, but this was my first time setting it up for rifle and I hadn't taken proper care to adjust it properly. And I think when the shoulders were buckling there was just enough distortion to allow some powder granules to slip by and drop onto the shellplate. So now hopefully both my problems have been solved. Fortunately I didn't load 500 rounds (or more) before I realized I had a problem.

Dave Sinko

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have opted for the 1050 for my reloading of the .223. With the case feeder setup, swaging system in place, I can get through a lot of cases fast. I used to use the Dillon case trimmer and the Gracie trimmers.

I now use a Giraud Case Trimmer for all my brass. (www.giraudtool.com). It trims, chamfers and deburrs in one smooth operation. Very easy to set up. I can change the angle for the chamfer to accommodate VLD bullets with Moly Coating so it doesn't scrape the Moly off. (long range, precision riflecraft stuff we do. )

What I love about it is that it is very quiet, very precise and very easy to clean and maintain. No more noisy vacuum cleaner hookup. They do cost more but, in my opinion, it is worth the price in the time it saves me and the convenience of the system.

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I believe Tom Freeman advised to polish the inners of the Dillon Powder Hoppers to a high shine, and on the downstroke rap it smartly at the bottom and count "1001.....1002....., then repeat....for the Varget type powder to drop completely....Course I could be wrong too.... :devil:

See ya,

DougC

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My process for 223

#1 Clean brass

#2 Size brass on T7 with Imperial Die Wax

#3 Polish brass to remove case lube

#4 Trim on Giraud Trimmer and other case prep

#5 Store brass for future use

On 550

Station #1 universal decapper to remove errant debris and prime

Station #2 I use TAC cause it flows with no probs, but I have done the polishing alluded to earlier

Station #3 I seat with Forster Ultra Seater

Station #4 I use Redding Taper Crimp but only for blasting ammo

I can run off a good deal of ammo quickly

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