Reloading 5.56 .223 Fast, Cheap, and Easy

[Jonaz15]

This is how I reload 5.56 .223 for plinking 100 yards andless. It gets me about 2" - 4"groups at 100 yards while using a 4MOA red dot optic. Good enough for steel and target shooting. It allows me to shoot my AR-15 without having to worry about the time I spent reloading each case. Let me know what you think.



Step 1: Wash & Rinse used Brass – I use a large metalbowl, one table spoon of liquid dishwashing detergent, and about 4-5 cups ofhot water. I use my hands to mix it allup for 2 min and then rinse the brass out 3 or 4 times to ensure no detergentremains. Rinsed brass gets put on acookie sheet to dry.

Step 2: Case Lube and Resize – I take the dried brass andplace it back into the bowl and run about a teaspoon of Hornady Case Lube on myfingers while I mix up the brass.

Step 3: Resize & Deprime – I run each case through myLee resizing dies and pop out the spent primer at the same time.

Step 4: Remove Case Lube – With all the resized cases in thebowl I spray them with brake cleaner and throw some paper towels into the bowlto remove any lube.

Step 5: Trim CaseLength, Prepare Case Neck – Use ½” Drill with Lee Case Length Trimer & .223Case Length Guage to trim cases slightly but not precisely. From my experience the cases can be a tadshort, but not long. Using the caselength gauge you can visually see the gauge tip protrude from the flash hole. Run the drill until the tip of the gauge canbe seen to be flush with the base of the brass case. Use the Lee Chamfering tool to chamfer theinside and outside of the case neck.

Step 6: Ream Primer Pocket – Due to some 5.56 brass havingtheir primer pockets crimped the primer pockets must be reamed or swaged inorder to seat new primers in the pockets. Using an electric drill that can be locked into drive, mount the drillinto a vise. Using a #2 phillips headbit, place the drill on about medium speed and press the brass casings onto thedrill’s phillips bit.

Step 7: Prime, Drop Powder, Seat Bullet, and Factory Crimp -This process is self-explanatory and can vary depending on the individual setupof reloading equipment. When selecting apowder load, I always load on the light side 23.0-23.3gr and have not experienceany reliability issues. Typically the Lee Trimmer gives a bad edge to the casemouth. However, the Lee Factory CrimpDie fixes that right up.

I find this process to be much faster than what most experiencedreloaders are showing out there. Itsnot that I have not reloaded precisely, or that I don’t understand the safetyaspects of the reloading process, it is just that for plinking this method isfast, cheap, easy, and yet still reliable, safe, and accurate enough for rangework.

Please send all comments this way. I would like to know how you reloaders havereduced your reloading time for 5.56 or any other case for that matter.

[M-Tecs]

You would benefit from a more substantial table. Loads should be selected based on specific powders and bullets from a reputable source.

Not cheap but a Dillion 1050 and a Giraud case trimmer http://www.giraudtool.com/prod02.htm is what I use.

[khmer6]

I'm very confused at how this process is any different from basic reloading procedures. I don't see why the need for brake cleaner or waiting for brass to dry.

[Jonaz15]

This process differs by the use of power tools for case length trimming and primer pocket reaming. During the trimming of the case length I do not trim while using the locking stud / shell holder, I hold the case in my hand and trim it based upon seeing the case length gauge extend through the primer pocket, or just trim it for about 1.5 sec and then move on to the next case. This process produces different length cases, but they all load and fire no problem. I sacrifice accuracy and consistency for speed and mass production. More range time less load time.

[Jonaz15]

M-Tec $450 for a trimmer wow. I don't have that budget, but that is an awesome piece of equipment. I agree I need a more sturdy table.

[rancher1913]

been my experience that if I watch the sales, I can buy 223 ammo cheaper than loading it(when you factor in time). I save my brass for a shtf deal but would rather use my lead cast boolits for a better return on investment.

[Motor]

Nothing wrong with using home remedies it's just another way doing it.

BUT: The quickest way of doing something is not having to do it in the first place.

Buy a RCBS X-DIE set. Trim and deburr once and very likely never again.

Or you can trim to minimum SAMMI trim length. If you do this you should get more cycles before needing to trim again.

Motor

[Patrick L]

+1 on the X die. I have them in .30-06 and .223 and don't know how I managed without them for so long.

Also the RCBS case prep center. Makes the drudge work of case prep tolerable, and with the X die you only do it once.

[Jonaz15]

Nothing wrong with using home remedies it's just another way doing it.

BUT: The quickest way of doing something is not having to do it in the first place.

Buy a RCBS X-DIE set. Trim and deburr once and very likely never again.

Or you can trim to minimum SAMMI trim length. If you do this you should get more cycles before needing to trim again.

Motor

Thanks Motor that X-Die is nice.

[Mauser48]

I have a cts case trimmer. It was like $35 and goes in the drill press. Works great! Much better than traditional trimming for 223. I would love to have a Lyman case prep center now...

[Jonaz15]

Mauser, that's a cool little trimmer how do u like it?

[Mauser48]

Mauser, that's a cool little trimmer how do u like it?

Its great! It really speeds things up which is great for just loading plinking ammo. Whats nice too is that its very fast but still doesn't lack accuracy. It will hold +,- 1 thousand accuracy. Just as good as my Lyman but way faster. I would highly recommend it. Just throw it in the drill press on medium to high speed and your good. It needs a case prep center to go with it...

[fcvan]

I'm loading my 5.56/.233 in a similar fashion I suppose. Brass is deprimed and washed with Dawn dish soap and dried. I hate running dirty brass though my dies and priming compound is nasty so I use a single stage press, universal depriming die. Brass is then lubed an a plastic peanut jar using a small amount of vegetable oil and shaken vigorously. While resizing I occasionaly swipe my fingertip (oily of course) over the case mouth just to make sure the sizing mandrel doesn't hang up.

Brass gets washed again with Dawn to remove the oil, then re-washed with Dawn and lemon juice to kill oxidizing on the brass. I strain the brass and throw it wet into the tumbler with ground walnut. I periodically throw some Turtle Zip Wash in the media as it helps polish and leaves a thin film of wax on the brass. My brass stays shiny like new as the pores of the brass seem to be filled. I like shiny brass and this lemon juice bath cuts my polish time down immensely. The brass and media dries out quickly and the brass is ready for trimming.

I use a Lee trimmer chucked in a battery hand drill. I guess you could say %99 of the brass is already to spec and does not get trimming. The military crimped primer brass gets the crimp reamed and all brass gets the case mouth chamferred. I have found that a slight bevel has eliminated shaving the boolits. I have an NOE 225-60 RN slick side plain base boolit mold just for powder coating. ASBBDT coated without a gas check shoots great at 2250 fps using 14 grains of IMR 4227, either out of my Mini 14 or AR 15 clone. Black boolits in shiny brass look and shoot great!

[W.R.Buchanan]

I typically Tumble Range Brass Pickups when I come home from shooting. Then they get sorted and put in plastic bags in groups of 100-200. Thus they are cleaned enough to process, but I have bags of brass from 10 years ago that still haven't been processed, but they are ready to go when needed!

Tumbling brass for a few hours takes no real time on either end as a machine is doing the work, but it eliminates Drying of brass which can take hours and requires hands on. Also tumbling brass after sizing/depriming for a couple hours removes the case lube and eliminates using Brake Clean which is costly. Buy a cheap plug in electrical timer for your machine and you don't even have to turn it off. It's automatic.

Automatic machines eliminate your time in front of the machine.

Primer Pockets get a quick hit with a countersink to remove the crimp. Sometimes I process thru this step and re-bag so that those cases are ready to load when needed.

I seldom trim Military 5.56 simply because It is probably going to be a one way trip for them. IE; fired once and left at whatever range I am shooting at where I probably can't pick up brass.

Then load them.

My standard load for these cases is 25 gr of BLC2/W748 with a Hornady 55 gr FMJBT and Win SP primer.

These bullets are seated to near the top of the cannelure, then crimped with a Lee Factory Crimp Die.

The key point here and what eliminates the trimming step is the use of the Lee Crimp Die which crimps the top edge of the case into the cannelure effectively shortening it. Also factory loaded ammo is seldom going to grow enough in one firing to be a problem. When checking for OAL I look for crimps that are above the cannelure. I have never found one. The bullets are always seated to the same relative depth so if the top edge of the case is below the top of the cannelure,,, the case is not too long.

I load these on a D550B. 100 rounds / 15 minutes.

When talking high production every step you eliminate is multiplied by the number of items you are making. Everytime you do something to one case you will have to do it to all of the cases. When you are talking Batches of 50 this is no big deal. When talking about batches of 500-1000 or more this is a big deal as your lost time is multiplied by 500-1000 X or more.

"Handling Time" is what kills you!

Making ammunition is exactly like making production parts in a machine shop. In fact ALL ammunition is made in machine shops (there are many different types of machine shops.) and as such all the same rules that govern production output apply.

Progressive machines eliminate steps in the process by combining operations done to all cases on the machine during one pull of the handle. A turret machine will still require the same number of handle pulls that a single stage machine will take, you simply eliminate the handling of the case in between operations.

Since the Progressive Machine eliminates the handling of cases between operations, after the 4th or 5th pull you get a completed round for every pull of the handle. Every pull of the handle does all of the operations to each of the cases on the machine in succession.

These are known as "Rotary Transfer Machines," or in some cases,,, "Linier Transfer Machines." (C&H Auto Champ) These types of machines are usually purpose built to make one specific product and have however many stations necessary to complete one part from beginning to end. The beauty of the modern Progressive Reloading Machine is it's adaptability to load virtually any caliber of ammunition simply by changing out the dies. This is because there are the same number of steps necessary to load any case.

The machine to make Spoke Nipples has eight stations which take a blank cold headed part and feed and clamp it, center drill it, drill it, tap it, slot it, deburr it, unclamp and eject it. It is quite a thing to watch and poops a finished part out every 15 seconds. The cycle time is governed by the operation that takes the longest to finish, in this case the drilling operation. Then the turret indexes and all the operations start again. Each part progresses (IE Progressive) thru the machine until it is ejected after the last operation is completed. It makes about 2000 nipples per shift day after day.

It was built in the early 1940's and is still running today at Buchanan Wheels in El Monte CA. Good guys,,,No Relation!

Hope some of this helps in your understanding of the process.

Randy

[Jonaz15]

.

When talking high production every step you eliminate is multiplied by the number of items you are making. Everytime you do something to one case you will have to do it to all of the cases. When you are talking Batches of 50 this is no big deal. When talking about batches of 500-1000 or more this is a big deal as your lost time is multiplied by 500-1000 X or more.

"Handling Time" is what kills you!

Making ammunition is exactly like making production parts in a machine shop. In fact ALL ammunition is made in machine shops (there are many different types of machine shops.) and as such all the same rules that govern production output apply.

Randy

Thank you for the insight. Your "Production Line" thought process is so very true. I have also found that once and even twice fired brass loads just fine in my AR.

[Jonaz15]

I'm loading my 5.56/.233 in a similar fashion I suppose. Brass is deprimed and washed with Dawn dish soap and dried. I hate running dirty brass though my dies and priming compound is nasty so I use a single stage press, universal depriming die. Brass is then lubed an a plastic peanut jar using a small amount of vegetable oil and shaken vigorously. While resizing I occasionaly swipe my fingertip (oily of course) over the case mouth just to make sure the sizing mandrel doesn't hang up.

Brass gets washed again with Dawn to remove the oil, then re-washed with Dawn and lemon juice to kill oxidizing on the brass. I strain the brass and throw it wet into the tumbler with ground walnut. I periodically throw some Turtle Zip Wash in the media as it helps polish and leaves a thin film of wax on the brass. My brass stays shiny like new as the pores of the brass seem to be filled. I like shiny brass and this lemon juice bath cuts my polish time down immensely. The brass and media dries out quickly and the brass is ready for trimming.

I use a Lee trimmer chucked in a battery hand drill. I guess you could say %99 of the brass is already to spec and does not get trimming. The military crimped primer brass gets the crimp reamed and all brass gets the case mouth chamferred. I have found that a slight bevel has eliminated shaving the boolits. I have an NOE 225-60 RN slick side plain base boolit mold just for powder coating. ASBBDT coated without a gas check shoots great at 2250 fps using 14 grains of IMR 4227, either out of my Mini 14 or AR 15 clone. Black boolits in shiny brass look and shoot great!

Can you talk more about your "NOE 225-60 RN slick side plain base boolit mold" and your powder coating. A few pics would be sweet. Thanks for your input.