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.