First time loading .223

[Dragonwing]

I've been reloading handgun ammo for years on my RCBS Pro 2000, including 9mm, 45ACP, 40 S&W and 44 mag. I want to start loading .223, my first rifle cartridge, for my MP-15. I have a ample amount of brass, 55gr. Hornady bullets and 3 lbs of CFE. I would imagine I can load rifle on my progressive press but I'm not sure of what different conditions need to be considered. I'm assuming I will need to case lube the brass, but what else do I need to consider. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide for a new rifle cartridge reloader.

 

[DeplorabusUnum]

For just starting out I'd recommend the RCBS X-Die small base sizer die. It allows you to trim the brass once to .02 below max case length and then never have to trim again. The design of the die and mandrel keeps the case from lengthening to above maximum length with repeated sizing. Once trimmed, you're set for the life of the case.

A little case lube, run through the deprime/sizer die. clean and load. I've used it for years and never had any feed problems.
Just need to keep your OAL short enough the cases will load into your magazine and feed well. I'm sure if you already re-load you'll find the process pretty simple. No reason you shouldn't be able to load on your progressive press.

The hardest part about loading .223 is finding primers

 

[CH4]

If the brass has been fired, make sure you ream the primer pockets in case they were crimped or you'll likely have trouble seating primers without distorting them.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

RCBS makes die sets especially for AR reloading, They are in a black die box and have a Small Base FL sizer and a Tapper Crimp die.

If your brass is from military type ammo you will need to remove the primer crimps. Either with a Swaging Tool (I use RCBS's) or by rheaming them out.

Case Length: I your unseized empty cases, are over .010" Below Maximum case length AND all within +/- .008" the same, you won't have to trim this time. (That is why you want the Taper Crimp die!) So you need a Case length caliper or gauge. You will sooner or later need a case trimmer.

3 pounds of suitable powder will load around 600 rounds of ammo, so you may want to stock up on more components! (I use the 55gr FMJ, or the 50 grain V-Max polymer tip bullet for hunting, The V-Max are way more accurate! also faster and flatter trajectory at distances over 200 yards)

I have 45 years experience with 223, 25 of that in AR-15's. If you have more questions you can Personal Message me.

Ivan

 

[BLUEDOT37]

Big change going from straight wall pistol cartridge to a bottle neck rifle cartridge.

I loaded 30-06 & just about every other kind of pistol cartridges previously but got into 223 at the beginning of the CV19 outbreak when my son & I got M&P 15 Sport II's.

Regular sizing dies should be fine. I've resized over 2000 cases, fired in other rifles, without issues in the past months.

Buy a headspace/cartridge gage for the 223. You absolutely need it ensure the sized & loaded ammo passes a plunk test in it. Unlike in a pistol barrel you can't do a plunk test in an AR.
.
Hornady Cartridge Ga 223 Remington
.

Use a good case lube. Hornady Unique Case Lube works good especially for hard to size cases.

Some fired cases will be harder to size than others (chamber size differences). If the case feels too hard to size don't force it or you'll stick the case in the die & then have to deal with that.

Virtually every fired case I got (~80%) needed trimming. Length check all cases after sizing.

I resized even the new brass because the case mouths were dented as well as sized larger than I like. I took a few thousandth's off my expander ball to ensure a firm bullet-case fit.

Load a few work-up rounds & test fire them for function before you load more.

I'd suggest loading them as if it's a single stage press until you work out the little things unique to it. A progressive press can mess up a lot of ammo fast before you realize you have a problem to fix. Pulling bullets is a pain.

Take your time & best of luck.

.

 

[nbedford]

Big change going from straight wall pistol cartridge to a bottle neck rifle cartridge.

I loaded 30-06 & just about every other kind of pistol cartridges previously but got into 223 at the beginning of the CV19 outbreak when my son & I got M&P 15 Sport II's.

Regular sizing dies should be fine. I've resized over 2000 cases, fired in other rifles, without issues in the past months.

Buy a headspace/cartridge gage for the 223. You absolutely need it ensure the sized & loaded ammo passes a plunk test in it. Unlike in a pistol barrel you can't do a plunk test in an AR.
.
Hornady Cartridge Ga 223 Remington
.

Use a good case lube. Hornady Unique Case Lube works good especially for hard to size cases.

Some fired cases will be harder to size than others (chamber size differences). If the case feels too hard to size don't force it or you'll stick the case in the die & then have to deal with that.

Virtually every fired case I got (~80%) needed trimming. Length check all cases after sizing.

I resized even the new brass because the case mouths were dented as well as sized larger than I like. I took a few thousandth's off my expander ball to ensure a firm bullet-case fit.

Load a few work-up rounds & test fire them for function before you load more.

I'd suggest loading them as if it's a single stage press until you work out the little things unique to it. A progressive press can mess up a lot of ammo fast before you realize you have a problem to fix. Pulling bullets is a pain.

Take your time & best of luck.

.

The only similarity between straight wall pistol reloading and 223 reloading is they are both called reloading. Take you time use small base dies, get a Lee trim tool because you will need one, re-read the above instructions often. I was spoiled mostly reloading 38 and 44 Special, 223 is comparable but worse I assume than reloading 25 auto, everything is teeny tiny.

 

[kbm6893]

My opinion is worth less than many here because I've only been reloading for 8 years, but like you, I started with pistol and moved up to .223 about 18 months ago. It's not all that different. Case trimming is a bit of a pain but I bought a Frankfort Arsenal Case Prep Center and they made it easier. A case gauge is something I would recommend, as well. Load up a few and test them out and then settle on that routine. And yes, stock up on components. The 2000 rounds per one pound bottle for pistol doesn't apply with .223.

 

[zeke]

A lot may depend on where you got your brass. Is it once fired from your one rifle, or from some where else? Are the primers crimped?

 

[SMSgt]

"Unlike in a pistol barrel you can't do a plunk test in an AR."

You can, but it's a bit of a pain in the butt. Involves removing the extractor and ejector, which is more than most people care to do.

 

[rockquarry]

Before I began loading for ARs, I called a now retired friend who worked for Sierra bullets for many years. He also travels to AR competitive shoots regularly. He gave me several pointers but his first suggestion was to get a case gauge if you want 100% reliable chambering.

I bought a JS Enterprises gauge, but other gauges may work as well. They are not expensive. Gauging takes but a second. This step is particularly important if you're using mixed range brass or even once-fired brass. You can probably get by without a gauge if using new brass.

Some suggest small base size dies. I've yet to see any need for such, but I realize there are exceptions. Full-length size with a regular size die first. If you're doing everything right and the die is in spec, a standard die should work 99% of the time.

 

[nbedford]

Before I began loading for ARs, I called a now retired friend who worked for Sierra bullets for many years. He also travels to AR competitive shoots regularly. He gave me several pointers but his first suggestion was to get a case gauge if you want 100% reliable chambering.

I bought a JS Enterprises gauge, but other gauges may work as well. They are not expensive. Gauging takes but a second. This step is particularly important if you're using mixed range brass or even once-fired brass. You can probably get by without a gauge if using new brass.

Some suggest small base size dies. I've yet to see any need for such, but I realize there are exceptions. Full-length size with a regular size die first. If you're doing everything right and the die is in spec, a standard die should work 99% of the time.

First used rcbs dies, then got one real stuck. Got set of RBG Lee dies. Buddy said"you mean you have only gone through one sizing die, I've gone through 4 sizing dies so far". I told him "I was just getting started on the little fellers, give me some time".

 

[dla]

You don't need or want small base full-length resizing die. You also don't need to crimp, but if you do, use the Lee FCD.

If you buy new brass, you can just prime-powder-bullet-shoot. If you use range pickup, your going to need to resize-trim-chamfer-ream/swage primer pockets. Regarding primer pockets, you only need to remove/reform a very small amount of brass at the lip of the pocket. Do not use the Lyman pocket tool as it is a horrible design. Btw, when I say "small" - I mean small - very little brass is deformed to stake in the primer.

I don't like CFE223 as it is THE most temperature sensitive powder you can buy (seriously - there's none worse) so don't be surprised if your winter loads are slow now and way hot in summer.

An interesting lube you can try for cheap is Ideal Wire Glide pulling lube. The stuff is water based, dries without a sticky film, and is $8.95 for a quart. Use it on a roll pad. No cleanup required. Just remember that it is water, so you should spray out your resizing die once a year to prevent rust.

 

[BillBro]

Big change going from straight wall pistol cartridge to a bottle neck rifle cartridge.

I loaded 30-06 & just about every other kind of pistol cartridges previously but got into 223 at the beginning of the CV19 outbreak when my son & I got M&P 15 Sport II's.

Regular sizing dies should be fine. I've resized over 2000 cases, fired in other rifles, without issues in the past months.

Buy a headspace/cartridge gage for the 223. You absolutely need it ensure the sized & loaded ammo passes a plunk test in it. Unlike in a pistol barrel you can't do a plunk test in an AR.
.
Hornady Cartridge Ga 223 Remington
.

Use a good case lube. Hornady Unique Case Lube works good especially for hard to size cases.

Some fired cases will be harder to size than others (chamber size differences). If the case feels too hard to size don't force it or you'll stick the case in the die & then have to deal with that.

Virtually every fired case I got (~80%) needed trimming. Length check all cases after sizing.

I resized even the new brass because the case mouths were dented as well as sized larger than I like. I took a few thousandth's off my expander ball to ensure a firm bullet-case fit.

Load a few work-up rounds & test fire them for function before you load more.

I'd suggest loading them as if it's a single stage press until you work out the little things unique to it. A progressive press can mess up a lot of ammo fast before you realize you have a problem to fix. Pulling bullets is a pain.

Take your time & best of luck.

.

Good advice here. Listen.

Go single stage especially if you're loading with accuracy in mind. If you just want blaster ammo a progressive will do that much faster.

Swage crimped primer pockets, please dont remove any brass from the one area where it is needed most. USUALLY 5.56 is most likely to have crimped in primers. You can almost always see the crimp. LC will have either a small crimp ring or 4 point staking and in my opinion is the absolute best brass to be had for 223/5.56mm. I have 7 loadings on some and it still resized fine and has service able primer pockets, and, you can almost always find piles of it at any range for free. I dint know why people dont hoard this stuff like gold.

To extend the life of whichever brass you use you can anneal. I do every other firing.

The way I process brass is a pain in my butt but I see the benefits at the range. I throw the brass in an ultrasonic cleaner with HOT water, vinegar and lemon dish soap, lemishine and sea salt, dry then decap and resize, inspect case mouths and case head area. If once fired LC I then have to swage primer pockets, uniform primer pockets and trim to length, which also removes the bullet crimping. If loading long range accuracy rounds I'll also go an extra step and flare the flash hole. Beneficial? I'm not sure but it makes me feel as though I've given it every possible chance of hitting the X at 300 yards. Federal (LC) anneals post sizing so so do I. I dont have one of the $500 Annealz machines so I do it by hand. If you're as blessed as I am with more rythem than 10 people should have then it's easy or you can download a metronome app to your phone and set it to 1 beat per second and use that. A cordless drill, a deep well 12mm socket and a bernzamatic. Do Not use MAPP gas, it's too hot, just use the blue can stuff. Get your brass and a towel and you're ready. Light the torch, lay out the towel, chuck the socket into your drill set to slow, drop a case into the socket and bring it up to the very end of the cone of the flame or just outside of it and rotate it for 5-7 seconds holding it at an angle away from the flame right at the shoulder/neck area. The deep well socket I have will leave about 1/3 of the case sticking out and acts as sort of a heatsinks and if you have a small bowl of water nearby and a washcloth you can keep the socket cool so it will help prevent the heat from migrating too far down the case, it works great for me. You would be hard pressed to distinguish my cases from a factory LC. I've been doing this for thousands of rounds and it does work.

I'm sure others have their way, this is mine. Reload enough and you'll have your way but maybe something I written with give you a starting point.

I always only load LC brass separated by year in lots of 100. Even within the same year date code you'll see cases that were run on different production lines with slightly different markings, I'll go even further and seperate these by these markings too. OCD? You bet, but it works for me and has for quite some time. Oh, I dont tumble my brass, I like the dirty look with the nice annealing line, and the method above makes a very definite look. You can see just where the color change stops.

Sorry for the long post.

 

[Dragonwing]

Wow, what a treasure of information! Thank you all for your years of experience. I bought all of my .223 components and dies about the time you know who was elected, so I've had them for sometime. The dies I have are RCBS Group A, small two die set. I see it is a crimp die as opposed to the taper dies I use on my handgun reloading. I've got my name on the list to buy a taper crimp die. I would think it would eliminate some of the steps that may be required with the crimp die. I do have a Lyman case trimmer, case length gauge, primer pocket tools and case lube pad. I will look for a full case gauge like I use with all my reloads. I've several cleaned and de-primed cases along with several commercial rounds. I also have several boxes of Federal M 193 Ball ammo. Can I assume that those rounds will have a crimped and/or sealed primer that requires the cleaning of the primer pocket or do all cases require that attention? While checking my supplies this morning, I have 3,000 small rifle primers and 4 lbs. of CFE powder. That was he only choice I had at the time supplies were dwindeling. I'm looking forward to this new challenge and will take notes on all the tips and tricks you all have passed on to me. Thank you all for your excellent information and years of experience, it will be a tremendous help!

 

[crstrode]

I've been reloading handgun ammo for years on my RCBS Pro 2000, including 9mm, 45ACP, 40 S&W and 44 mag. I want to start loading .223, my first rifle cartridge, for my MP-15. I have a ample amount of brass, 55gr. Hornady bullets and 3 lbs of CFE. I would imagine I can load rifle on my progressive press but I'm not sure of what different conditions need to be considered. I'm assuming I will need to case lube the brass, but what else do I need to consider. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide for a new rifle cartridge reloader.

First step is to RTFM.

 

[SMSgt]

I never crimp .223 loads for either my bolt action nor AR. Just never found it to be necessary. Same for small-base dies. Never found I needed one. My seating die is a crimp die, but I don't adjust it down to crimp. No problem. No real need to buy a taper die.

I bought an Annealez annealer, it ran about $250. Very easy to set up and will anneal a batch in a hurry. Takes about 5 seconds per case. Faster and more consistent than the drill and torch method.

 

[jjfitch]

OOPS!

I've been reloading handgun ammo for years on my RCBS Pro 2000, including 9mm, 45ACP, 40 S&W and 44 mag. I want to start loading .223, my first rifle cartridge, for my MP-15. I have a ample amount of brass, 55gr. Hornady bullets and 3 lbs of CFE. I would imagine I can load rifle on my progressive press but I'm not sure of what different conditions need to be considered. I'm assuming I will need to case lube the brass, but what else do I need to consider. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide for a new rifle cartridge reloader.

I've been reloading bottle neck including .223 since before the internet. Consequently I like many others my age have made every mistake possible and tried every tool available.

Some things make perfect sense for inside 300 yards while others may be required for 600 yards! So for now think inside 300 yards or clanging steel at 200!

Mixed brass is OK! Start with say 100 pieces until you get the process to your liking!
Clean brass doesn't mean surgically clean so don't over think it.
For now use a commercial case lube and follow the instructions for it use!
I usually size and swage primer pockets as individual steps before the actual "reloading" process! (A separate single stage press here helps!)
How you lube cases isn't as important as a workable process that prevents stuck cases. It's always a good idea to have a stuck case removal tool handy! You'll thank me later!
A small base die is not necessary if you have set up your press and die properly. But they do work as described!

Swaging doesn't remove brass like cutters but both are satisfactory. I use the swaging process for consistency and uniform diameter and depth of primer pocket. It becomes noticeable when seating new primers.

Case trimming OAL is important at the first resizing. I have used manual trimmers and they work fine for small batches but for shooting large quantities of 223 I like a "Little Crow" and drill motor or similar trimmer. There are also motorized inside and outside neck deburring tools

Once you've done 100 cases you'll be ready to start "reloading"! But lets just do 10 for now.

Follow instructions for your powder measure and powder drop device. Try to stay to within .02 of a grain +/- for powder drops for now! I double check my drops by hand weighing every tenth drop until I'm satisfied I'm within.01 grain +/-!

Of course you have a .223 Rem go/no go case gage for this step. Use your reloading manual for a starting point for cartridge case COL! Minor adjustments may follow. Let's not get into "shoulder bump"/"bullet jump" for now!

Adjust your bullet seating die according to your manual. There are separate threads concerning crimp/no crimp in achieving .223 precision! I don't crimp and don't have a specific opinion either way based on my testing on paper at 200 yards!

Now that you've done 10 check them in your do/no go gage!

GOOD TO GO?? Now remove the firing pin from your AR bolt and do a final Q/C in your rifle's chamber. I have one AR with a really tight chamber and learned this the hard way! .001" really can make a difference in case head diameter at the base!

If you have too much lube left on the cases you can wipe them clean or for larger quantities use your case cleaner with dry cleaner to remove the lube and final polishing. Maybe 60 minutes!

I haven't needed to fire anneal my brass since I have 5 gallon buckets of once fired Winchester .223 brass but that's a subject for another thread!

Smiles,

 

[zeke]

If you're brass is once fired new brass from the rifle you are reloading for, and it does not have a tight chamber, likely you won't need a small base (sb) sizing die. If you start buying large batches of mixed range brass that is not "processed", or start picking up brass from the range, would strongly recommend using a sb the first time the brass is resized.

If using a temp sensitive powder, might consider not working up max or close to max loads in colder temps for safety. The velocity variation working on POI changes really depends on the distances, temp extremes and purpose of your reloads.

 

[DeplorabusUnum]

Wow, what a treasure of information! Thank you all for your years of experience. I bought all of my .223 components and dies about the time you know who was elected, so I've had them for sometime. The dies I have are RCBS Group A, small two die set. I see it is a crimp die as opposed to the taper dies I use on my handgun reloading. I've got my name on the list to buy a taper crimp die. I would think it would eliminate some of the steps that may be required with the crimp die. I do have a Lyman case trimmer, case length gauge, primer pocket tools and case lube pad. I will look for a full case gauge like I use with all my reloads. I've several cleaned and de-primed cases along with several commercial rounds. I also have several boxes of Federal M 193 Ball ammo. Can I assume that those rounds will have a crimped and/or sealed primer that requires the cleaning of the primer pocket or do all cases require that attention? While checking my supplies this morning, I have 3,000 small rifle primers and 4 lbs. of CFE powder. That was he only choice I had at the time supplies were dwindeling. I'm looking forward to this new challenge and will take notes on all the tips and tricks you all have passed on to me. Thank you all for your excellent information and years of experience, it will be a tremendous help!

As you can see, there's more than one way to skin a cat. Which die or trimmer or ... isn't as important as getting into a routine where you don't cut corners. Lot's of experienced re-loaders here who do things differently with good results. Case length, primer pocket prep, proper neck tension, seating depth, powder load, cartridge OAL, checking cases with a case gauge are all important steps. Find your routine, don't vary it, and you will have good results too. Enjoy shooting that 223.

 

[Dragonwing]

My weapon is a M&P 15 M4, MOE with a 4150 CMV barrel. Can I assume this barrel will be machined to a tighter tolerance over a standard barrel? I don't plan on using it for competition, just for fun and protection. Again, I'm learning great tips on every post here. I will be looking for some of the specialty tools which I don't currently have. I want to be prepared for those "beginner" problems I'm bound to discover. I know we all are having a tough time finding the tools of the trade besides the components. Thanks again everyone.