Bulk loading of .223

[dverna]

This year I will be shooting a lot of .223 through AR's. I have used Imperial Sizing Wax for years. I know it must be wiped off but it was never a big deal for the limited amount of rifle brass I reload.

I have been using One Shot for loading bulk pistol rounds even with carbide dies. I have never wiped it off and had no issues.

Will One Shot need to be removed from rifle cases due to the higher pressures? Would a mix of lanolin and alcohol work better? Is there a lube that does not require removal?

I prefer not to hand wipe every round as I will be loading 500-1000 at a time. If lube must be removed, one option is to deprime as a separate operation and tumble clean after sizing but than will mean doubling the time to reload. I am leery of tumbling cleaning loaded cases, but that is second option. The other option would be to invest in a carbide sizing die, use a very light application of One Shot, and leave it on the cases.

4000 of the cases are military 5.56. I will use a Dillon 600 to swage the primer pocket and a Rock Chucker for the first sizing. After that, I can use either a 550 or 1050 to process the ammunition but prefer the 550 as the 1050 is set up for pistols.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

[C. Latch]

I use lanolin/HEET as case lube for .223.

I load all mine on a single-stage press, but have done several hundred in the last couple of weeks, and when I am ready to resize brass, I spray a tub of it with the lanolin/heet mixture and go from there. I clean (tumble w/ ss pins) after resizing, so the lube is gone, but even if I didn't do so, no, I would not need to wipe lube off afterwards. If I did, I'd just dump my ammo on a big towel and shake it a bit to wipe the lube off. The lanolin/alcohol really only leaves a very thin film.

[Taterhead]

I have tried different ways. I've settled on a good old lube pad. Grab a handful. Lie them on the pad. Lightly roll. Takes just a second to do abgood handful. Run through the progressive for decapping, f/l sizing and Lyman M neck expander (set foe no flair).

Then all of those go into into the case cleaner to remove lube. 15 minutes or so.

[Bubba w/a 45/70]

I tumble first, to remove dirt/debris from cases. Then size/deprive in same step, after lubing with spray on alcohol/lanolin mix. Then a second tumble to remove lube AND give me that final shine.

That is how I look at it though.

[HATCH]

Call me crazy, but you already own a 1050
Doesn't it already have a swage station ?
IMHO you would be a fool not to just do a bulk processing session and do all your 223 brass.
You could use a universal depriming die. Then swage the pocket.
You could do this with dirty brass.
Then clean your brass and load it
Just a thought


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[Mk42gunner]

Aerosol One Shot and .223 will practically guarantee a stuck case, at least in my experience.

Back when I was processing a lot of milsurp 5.56; I lubed resized and then tumbled in walnut to remove the lube. Doing what you are planning, I would put a few hundred in a towel with a spritz of solvent and work them back and forth a few times.

Robert

[308Jeff]

I tumble first, to remove dirt/debris from cases. Then size/deprive in same step, after lubing with spray on alcohol/lanolin mix. Then a second tumble to remove lube AND give me that final shine.

That is how I look at it though.

That's exactly how I do bulk 223 and 308 as well.

[Bubba w/a 45/70]

That's exactly how I do bulk 223 and 308 as well.

And for me, bulk still includes a RCBS turret press doing the operations.

[Adam20]

One shot will get you stuck rifle cases at some point. Carbide pistol cases it works great

[Electric88]

I've never encountered stuck rifle cases with one shot. But awhile back I switched to a home brew mixture of 99% alcohol, lanolin, and castor oil. Still a spray. No stuck cases yet

[Gus Youmans]

dverna,

I tumble the cases first, spray with Dillon case lube, resize/deprime on a Dillon 550, and tumble again to remove the lube. I use a RCBS bench mounted priming tool to prime and then complete the remainder of the loading on the Dillon. I have two tool heads set up for .223: one with a Lee decapping die (in case I get a Berdan-primed case by accident) and a resizing die, and the other set up with a RCBS case activated powder measure and seating die. I have been using that setup for about 10 years without issue. I usually prep the brass during the winter and leave it in an ammo can until a week or two before a match. Both my short line and long line brass are prepped the same way but I weigh charges for the long line ammo and seat bullets on a single stage press using a different seating die than the one on the Dillon tool head.

Gus Youmans

[BK7saum]

I use one shot for a lot of rifle cases. I place my brass in a zip lock bag and spray the one shot onto the brass in the bag. It takes 3 or 4 short sprays and when I see small droplets/film on the brass, I shake one more time and prepare to load. I have stuck a case in the past before using this method. The stuck case I've had was from trying to spray cases in a loading block and apparently not getting enough coverage.

No problems now that I spray in the bag. There is no lost or wasted overspray.

When cases are loaded, I lay the cartridges out on an old beach towel, fold the towel over and rub cartridges between the towel. Lube is removed quickly and easily without wiping down each individual cartridge.

Anyway, I use a lot of one shot and haven't had an issue in years.

[JeffG]

Yep, I noticed the same thing. Aerosol One Shot works just great on pistol brass, not so hot on .223 so back to a traditional lube pad, which works just fine. I just wipe off every one after sizing.

Aerosol One Shot and .223 will practically guarantee a stuck case, at least in my experience.

Back when I was processing a lot of milsurp 5.56; I lubed resized and then tumbled in walnut to remove the lube. Doing what you are planning, I would put a few hundred in a towel with a spritz of solvent and work them back and forth a few times.

Robert

[Mk42gunner]

Its kind of funny, but I have tried two different versions of the aerosol case lubes and they both worked fine for the first can; the second can of both is what gave me fits. I did follow the directions on the can.

The first was the Midway version the second was the Hornady. I haven't bought any spray case lubes for close to fifteen years so the current ones might work as advertised.

Robert

[runfiverun]

for first time LC type brass.
I lube and size/de-prime then trim.
then tumble the lube off the cases.
then swage the pockets and champher the case mouths.
then I run the cases through the 550 or 650.

for the second load I just lube and size/de-prime.
tumble the lube off, and load.

doing it this way and running them through the 550 is still faster than single stage loading them.
I just done about 1200 the old way and it took forever.
they do look nice though.

there is a pin cleaning [wet tumble] in the process too, but you get the idea.

[M-Tecs]

I started using the Hornady One shot lube when it first came out. I average about 2K of 308 a year and 6K of .223. If you don't let it dry you will have issues. When I first started I didn't let it dry and came close to sticking one but I have never stuck one with Hornady One Shot.

I have both 650's and 1050's with case feeders. All bottle neck brass is lightly tumbled and sized and deprimed. It than is finished tumbled for appearance, cleaning the primer pocket and removing the lub.

If using corn cobb I run a universal depriming die to knock out and corn cobb in the flash hole.

The only possible issue I see with leaving it on is increased bolt thrust but that is an issue I personnel would not worry about.

[loaded303]

Never stuck a case with one shot. I only use it on rifle cases. let it dry for 10-15 minutes and go to town.

I have (but not always) dry tumbled my finished loads with half cap of nu-finish polish and a shot of deodorized mineral spirits in the cob for 10-20 min. Only FMJ....No HP.....

[jmorris]

I still have an almost full can of one shot, stuck a case (rifle) the first time I used it. So I went back to the lanolin/alcohol spray lube. If you don't want to make it just buy the Dillon lube.

I tumble to clean then dump them into a collator on a 650 with a size/deprime die and a trimmer to prep the cases.



Then from there into the collator on a 1050 to swage and load them.



Then shoot them or throw them into a tumbler again to knock the lube off.

[dverna]

Thank you gentlemen for your input and suggestions.

Using the 1050 to swage and load makes a lot of sense. Regrettably, I sold my 650 when I downsized, but setting up the 550 to size, deprime and trim would be very efficient. I need to look at the costs of the Dillon press mounted trimmer.

The good news is that the lanolin/alcohol lube can be left on the case....

[jmorris]

Just get another tool head for your 1050 and leave the trimmer on it. Will be a lot faster than having to handle each case by hand.