Which press to load 223 on?

[redwoods]

I have some 223 brass that I lubed, sized on my lyman turret press, and then trimmed in my Giraud trimmer.

I have a 550 w/casefeeder set up for my pistol rounds. I have the setup for the 223 on my 550, on the 1050 I would have to buy a conversion for $100 and a caseplate for $36 and shipping. I have a 1050 set up for 38special right now. I have an extra toolhead for the 1050.

I have to size the cases first then trim. My Giraud does not allow me to attach it to the press. I don't want to pull the casefeeder off the 550. The 223 brass is federal and not with crimped primers.

I was thinking of sizing on the single stage, trimming, then putting them into the 550 at the second station and dropping powder, then seating the bullet. That way I don't take off the casefeeder, and I don't buy a $100 conversion for the 1050.

I want to load about 1000 rounds a year.

What do you think?

550 or 1050 + $150 for the conversions.

Thanks,

Randy

[Dan Sierpina]

Only a 1000 rounds a year?? Just batch process the brass, size, trim, prime.....then load them on the Lyman turret.

[steel1212]

I only load about 1-2k a year also. Here is what I do. I load on my 550 w/o case feeder, though that would be nice. Anyway, I have a tool head setup with a size/deprime die and the dillion trimmer. I run through about 1K, or until I fill up my blue bin, then switch tool heads. I go through and swage everything with the dillon swager so its all uniform and I don't miss one then I load them up as normal with out a size die in the first station.

If you want the ultimate rifle setup I think you need to setup your 1050, put a dillon trimmer on it and just dump in the brass.

[SingleStacker45]

I only load about 1-2k a year also. Here is what I do. I load on my 550 w/o case feeder, though that would be nice. Anyway, I have a tool head setup with a size/deprime die and the dillion trimmer. I run through about 1K, or until I fill up my blue bin, then switch tool heads. I go through and swage everything with the dillon swager so its all uniform and I don't miss one then I load them up as normal with out a size die in the first station.

If you want the ultimate rifle setup I think you need to setup your 1050, put a dillon trimmer on it and just dump in the brass.

Since you are trimming after depriming do you have any issues with the loading while not expanding the case? I've been depriming and expanding after trimming in the normal 550 setup although I was tempted to try your setup. I thought about getting the universal deprimer from dillon. I like the Idea of running all the casses through the swager for uniformity. It's a pain to break stride to go swage one. What about putting the sizer/deprimer after the trim die in the rotation? Then you could also clean the case lube off before you loaded the cases.

Mule

[uscbigdawg]

At 1k per year...a single stage would work. In a week and a half and 100 rounds per day, you'd be done.

I load mine of a 650 with brass that's been prepped (thanks Dad) or new brass.

Rich

[warpspeed]

Load them on the 550.

[SingleStacker45]

I only load about 1-2k a year also. Here is what I do. I load on my 550 w/o case feeder, though that would be nice. Anyway, I have a tool head setup with a size/deprime die and the dillion trimmer. I run through about 1K, or until I fill up my blue bin, then switch tool heads. I go through and swage everything with the dillon swager so its all uniform and I don't miss one then I load them up as normal with out a size die in the first station.

If you want the ultimate rifle setup I think you need to setup your 1050, put a dillon trimmer on it and just dump in the brass.

Since you are trimming after depriming do you have any issues with the loading while not expanding the case? I've been depriming and expanding after trimming in the normal 550 setup although I was tempted to try your setup. I thought about getting the universal deprimer from dillon. I like the Idea of running all the casses through the swager for uniformity. It's a pain to break stride to go swage one. What about putting the sizer/deprimer after the trim die in the rotation? Then you could also clean the case lube off before you loaded the cases.

Mule

OK Scratch that as I was looking at it tonight you cannot deprime in any other station on the 550. I'm gonna Size trim in the other toolhead and then deprime per the normal 550 setup. I just hate having to tumble the loaded rounds to remove the lube.

Mule

[Bill H]

I load on the 1050. I empty the powder measure and make sure it is out of primers. I lube the brass and run it through to size and swage. I then trim with the Gracey. Tumble. Now take out the size die and load on the 1050 as normal after adding powder and primers.

[SingleStacker45]

I've revamped my setup. I deprime 1st position then size and trim on third position. Champfer swage and de lube in tumbler. Switch toolheads and Prime charge seat and crimp per normal 550 setup. No size die in first station on toolhead 2.

Seems to be working.

Mule

[High Lord Gomer]

No size die in first station on toolhead 2.

How do you ensure that the primer pocket is empty?

From reading on here, I put a Lee neck sizing die on the first station of toolhead 2 and after 100 rounds I get 4 or 5 granules of corn cobb media in the primer catcher.

[SingleStacker45]

No size die in first station on toolhead 2.

How do you ensure that the primer pocket is empty?

From reading on here, I put a Lee neck sizing die on the first station of toolhead 2 and after 100 rounds I get 4 or 5 granules of corn cobb media in the primer catcher.

I got three or four of the hundred I tried last night in the flash hole. I use walnut and it's fairly coarse. I just checked all the pockets before I began loading. One thought was to champfer after cleanig then inspection would be simple. I have to look for swaged pockets anyway so it really does not add much to check the pockets. My problem with depriming/priming on the same pass is I occasionally get media or shavings on top of the primer punch and it ganks up my primers of I'm not looking for it. Plus if you get a crimped/swaged pocket you have to break stride to decrimp.

Edited December 16, 2008 by SingleStacker45

[Mr. Chitlin]

Load them on the 550.

+1

[AZ-Ranger]

I only load about 1-2k a year also. Here is what I do. I load on my 550 w/o case feeder, though that would be nice. Anyway, I have a tool head setup with a size/deprime die and the dillion trimmer. I run through about 1K, or until I fill up my blue bin, then switch tool heads. I go through and swage everything with the dillon swager so its all uniform and I don't miss one then I load them up as normal with out a size die in the first station.

If you want the ultimate rifle setup I think you need to setup your 1050, put a dillon trimmer on it and just dump in the brass.

+1

I have a 650 but am contemplating buying a 1050 as I currently use the 2 tool head set up to load.

This does not include the swaging of military brass. The swager alone makes the 1050 king in my book, however when you add in the fact that you can trim/load on the same tool head, what more could you possibly want?

[J-Ho]

First of all, I'd load more than 1000/year. For 1-2 K a year I'd just use the single stage. I load .223 on a turret, but use it as a single.

[Aircooled6racer]

Hello: I have the same setup as you with a 550 and 1050. Everyone told me the 1050 is the way to go in my post. If you use the 550 you will need a swager $100 so that was the deal breaker for me. I also like the 1050 because of the case feeder. I am going to make a deflector bar for station #5 on the 1050 to remove the brass from the shellplate. That way I can just change out the sizer die and run the rest of the dies without removal. So I will resize/deprime, swage, trim and tumble to remove lube. I then will remove the the sizer and start loading. That is the plan so far and I may be wrong I only plan on shooting 1000 rounds a year and the RL1050 seems like the way to go. Besides once you buy the parts for your 1050 they will be yours forever unless you sell them for what you paid for them in 5 years. Dillon stuff does not lose it's value Thanks, Eric

[redwoods]

I decided to go with the 1050 setup. I just started and the primers are not seating on my Lake City brass. Some of them are going in and the sidewalls are getting left on the outside of the case. I am not sure my swager is working properly. Also, they are not always being dropped into the bin at the last station. I think the deflector that drops them off the press may need a tweaking. Any ideas?

Randy

[Aircooled6racer]

Hello: Sounds like you need to do more swaging. The deflector arm needs to be close to the shellplate to work. Also make sure your shellplate is not too loose. Hope this helps. I will be joining the 223 reloading crowd in a week or so. I have to order stuff today. Thanks, Eric

[RiggerJJ]

When you set up the swager, you screw the top die down to where it is bottoming out in a case just before bottom of the stroke. then adjust the swager up until the same thing happens, it bottoms out just before the bottom of the stroke. the last 2-3 inches of the handle stroke should feel like you are over-squeezing the brass bertween the two dies. In other words, set the dies heaver than you think you should. The top die should hold the case in place and keep the bottom die from actually pushing the case up or flexing the shell plate.

LC brass is hard stuff, and it needs to be man handled! But it holds primers, sure beats having primers popping out like with FC...

I still get primers that don't seat right, maybe 1 or 2 out of 250. I just put them in a bucket and will disassemble them later. (remember not to try decapping live primers!) After a while you will be able to feel when a primer doesn't seat right and can pull the case from the shell plate in the back position before it gets powder and a bullet, saving components.

jj

[vipertech]

System that I've devised starts with deprime, clean, trim, fill the 650 case feeder with dry brass then set up the tool head as follows : pos.1 RCBS lube die, Follow the instuctions for adding lube then I add additional to the felt inside. Pos. 2 Size die decapping pin removed, becauce that happens at the lube station and your just removing media at this point. Pos. 3 powder drop, The only thing here is you have to run the powder measure return rod at a bit of an angle. But have had not trouble with it. Also have a rubber band around the top to fully seat charge bar to it's home position. Pos.4 Seater die. Sometimes I tumble the lube off sometimes I don't. Have run this set up for a few hundered rounds And have only stuck one case. I wasn't running it at the time. If you feel that sizer getting tight just relube the felt in the lube die and check the sizer for metal transfer if you stick one or notice a scrach in the cases.

Edited January 30, 2009 by vipertech