Lawman13 Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 (edited) Hello everyone. I'm new to reloading. Got the Dillon RL 550B for Xmas. No problem setting it up. Started with 9mm. I've made 2500 problem free 9mm rounds. All went very smoothly. Decided to start making .223 Remington rounds and have had nothing but problems. Hopefully someone out there can help me out. Having purchased all of the correct gear (dies, conversion kit, quick change kit) I made the switch over to the .223 set up. I followed the 550 and die instructions to the letter (as I did with my problem-free 9mm set up), but now here's the problem(s): 1. The ammo that I'm pumping out *looks* good however it doesn't seem to want to fit in my rifles (CZ 527 Lux and a Stag Arms AR-15). The C.O.L. is dead-on the Hornady and Lyman manuals (no more than 2.230). I've measured them also in the Dillon .223 case gage and they fit perfectly. I've held up the finished rounds next to factory ammo and they look identical to the naked eye. The factory ammo loads effortlessly in my rifle as they always have, however my reloaded ones seem to jam in the chamber as I work the bolt (ie I can't close the bolt; I get close but not close enough). To my (uneducated) mind, that suggests that I'm off on some dimension, but I can't figure it out as they fit perfectly well in the case gage. I am stumped. And frustrated. Especially after my excellent experience with thousands of 9mm rounds. Any ideas? 2. It has been a challenge finding .223 brass (I live in Western Canada, The Great Leftist Frozen North). I either get once fired military or I have a few thousand Federal (American Eagle) rounds that I've fired and policed up the brass. Two problems here - the once-fired military has a hit and miss success ratio (about 50%) when trying to seat them in the shellplate. It seems that they don't want to slide in. They catch and will not seat. I wonder if this is common and that perhaps having come from some automatic weapon, their dimensions have been altered down there. The second issue is with the American Eagle stuff. I understand they they apparently have crimped primers. Is there a way to machine these out? Do I need another device? I've got about 2,000 of these cases and I can't seem to use any of them the way they are now. Again, frustrating. So, lotsa questions here. I'm loving my Dillon press and want to start making thousands of .223 rounds so I'm hoping some of you folks out there with experience can help me out. Much obliged to you all in advance. Edited February 17, 2009 by Lawman13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GentlemanJim Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 If they fit the case gauge ...something is strange here Did you trim the necks to the correct size? What bullet are you using? Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Rusert Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 In my experience, i.e. tens of thousands of pistol rounds reloaded vs. a few hundred rifle rounds, I would ask: Are you trimming the .223 cases to max length after resizing and not before? It's critical. Also advise you seat the bullet to slightly less than max OAL until you've done a measurement to determine that your bullets are not contacting the rifling in the barrel while still seated in the case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M.E.Anglin Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 In my experience, i.e. tens of thousands of pistol rounds reloaded vs. a few hundred rifle rounds, I would ask: Are you trimming the .223 cases to max length after resizing and not before? It's critical. Also advise you seat the bullet to slightly less than max OAL until you've done a measurement to determine that your bullets are not contacting the rifling in the barrel while still seated in the case. yea I wonder if he is checking the case length or even trimming them at all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rvb Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 There was a thread a couple weeks ago where Dillon said they had some 223 shell-plates escape that had been improperly cut. If you call them and they think that's the problem they'll send you a new shell plate. Just to make sure, "fit" in the case guage means between the steps for both headspace and length, right? Ditto everyone else on the trimming. What about a sized case w/o a bullet loaded? Does it fit in the chamber? -rvb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawman13 Posted February 17, 2009 Author Share Posted February 17, 2009 (edited) Thank you very much for the useful advice/information. As I said, I'm new to this. Very new. And new guys do make rookie errors no matter how careful they are. So...as a result of your advice this evening, I've just measured the cases that weren't loading. All appear to have been between 1.754 and 1.757. I note that the Hornady and Lyman manuals all refer to the "trim to" length as 1.750. What I've learned tonight I guess is that I need to trim all my cases down to that 1.750 level before carrying on. To test this, I've just loaded half a dozen rounds all with cases trimmed to 1.750 and they all chambered without a problem. I guess that you've all solved my first problem. (Though in my defense, I will say that none of the manuals - and I've read them all - are particularly clear on the matter of trimming - while it's true that they talk about doing it, they don't say in a clear and unambiguous fashion that one should trim to the cited "trim length" as a standard practice before proceeding). Anyway, as usual from these forums, I've learned an important lesson tonight and I am obliged to all of you for your valuable comments. I will also contact Dillon this week to ask about that shellplate that isn't routinely accepting my cases. Any other suggestions in the meantime would be appreciated. Still hoping to get some guidance on this American Eagle primer crimping issue. As I said, I've got thousands of those AE brass cases, but I can't seem to use any of them due to the primers not seating. I'm figuring this has to do with the way in which they seat their primers at the factory. Hoping that you guys can give me some ideas how to deal with this so that I don't have to waste all that brass. Thanks again. You'll be seeing more rookie posts from me as I continue to learn my way here. Cheers. Edited February 17, 2009 by Lawman13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big_kahuna Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 Crimped primer pockets will need to be swaged. Dillon makes a tool that just for that purpose, called the Super Swage 600. You can buy it from Brian's store. Click here to go to Brian's web store... go to bottom section "Miscellaneous Accessories" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlamoShooter Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 more tools , some of the military stuff has a crimp around the primer Dillon has that tool too. Talk with them To be clear about sizing your brass and cutting it to size. When it is sized and deprimed , just like the handgun brass it stretches out some from firring it and the reloading process. First you run it through the size and deprime and thin you cut it to the length. - thin use a debure tool inside and out side the neck Wipe the brass down and you are ready for primer powder and bullet seating., Make one or two bullets with out powder or primer as 'test' bullets to chamber in your rifle. and to use to adjust the seating die if you have to. If you are using a 550 or 650 I had a separate tool head to size and deprime the brass. I had a separate neck size only die for the match grade rounds that would single shot rounds for bench rest type shooting and a separate full length size die for brass that was not shot in my gun and may have been shot in a gun with a sloppy chamber. I can shoot each piece of brass three to four times in my gun with out having to re-cut it to length. I cut a batch of brass and it is good for several secessions. after that it goes in to the lost brass pile If I have a choice I want to put the brass through my gun two times before I trust it for match grade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawman13 Posted February 17, 2009 Author Share Posted February 17, 2009 As a follow up and to close the loop on this, I just spoke with Dillon this morning. They advise that my difficulties seating .223 brass in my 550 is probably a defective .223 shellplate and they're sending me another immediately (and free of charge of course). Good service as expected! While I was online with them I also purchased the Super Swage 600, so hopefully my crimped primer issue will also be resolved. Thanks to everyone for their input and guidance. More questions (dumb and otherwise) will no doubt follow in due course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimberdude Posted February 17, 2009 Share Posted February 17, 2009 No such thing as a dumb question, I have learned so much on this forum without even having to ask a question, and to the questions I have asked, never a bad answer. Learned so much, had my 550 set up and running rounds within 30 minutes due to almost a feel of experience gleaned from those on this site......keep asking those questions! So I won't have to, lol....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azxdfan Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 I agree with the above. I have learned more here on reloading by reading and this forum is very helpful. I know I appreciate all the help just reading and learning from all of this site expertise. BIG THANK YOU! Azxdfan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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