Hammer together some .223

[OrangeCat]

As long as you're not more than .010 over the 'trim to' length or so they are fine to load as-is. Resizing again won't change anything. These days I usually just trim all on the first processing to get it out of the way and make them more consistent but if you don't have a easy way to trim them all right now they can often wait until the second or third firing before they really need it. Never used the Quick Trim so no input there; I use the Lee cutter/length gauge with the lock stud chucked in a cordless drill.

The kit I got had both the quick trim says it goes into a die in the press but doesn't specify which die it's obviously one specific to the quick trim. If it's not strictly necessary I'll just use get a length gauge and not fiddle with another die.

Now the question about trim to length is more about the two that weren't resized above it. All of the manuals seem to believe that after resizing the neck will be above the trim to length and I was wondering if that was an indication that I didn't get enough leverage running them through the die.

 

[Ifishsum]

Nope they aren't always over min after resizing; if the resized empties chamber freely you're sizing is OK. Cases don't necessarily start out life exactly the same length. And above trim-to length is OK anyway, as long as it's not too much (generally considered more than .10). I do trim all my .223/5.56 brass on the first resize for consistency; thereafter I check and trim again when it grows past 1.760, which for me is every 2-3 cycles depending on brand.

Some brands of .223 (Federal comes to mind) are quite often shorter than 1.750 after resizing the first time.

 

[Bfh_auto]

Okay finally got my press set up

Stray thoughts...
There is a LOT more crap in the primer pocket than I would have thought.
My table sucks hard maybe I can uhm "aquire" a bit of sheet metal from work or I suppose pay my own money for some and reenforce it.

Of the five that I have resized three of them wound up slightly above the trim to length and one of them was right at and one was a little below.
Is that normal or do I need to throw the shorties back in the press and process them again?

Also I can't figure out how to use the case conditioner kit or the quick trim.... actually I am assuming that I'm missing a caliber specific part but won't be able to go to the store till Wednesday.

Worry about the maximum case length, not the trim too. This is the one that causes you to pinch bullets and spike pressure.

 

[OrangeCat]

I do trim all my .223/5.56 brass on the first resize for consistency; thereafter I check and trim again when it grows past 1.760, which for me is every 2-3 cycles depending on brand.

Some brands of .223 (Federal comes to mind) are quite often shorter than 1.750 after resizing the first time.

Worry about the maximum case length, not the trim too. This is the one that causes you to pinch bullets and spike pressure.

Oh excellent it is in fact federal brass. None of them were .002 over and the unfired sig brass pretty consistently measures .003 over I'll consider triming them as I work with them but I won't worry about the federal stuff I don't intend to use them for anything but a trial run.

 

[OrangeCat]

Okay so we finally tried our hand at putting together five rounds.

Priming was a little nerve wracking at first. I think I didn't fully get the crimp out of the first two cases or maybe they were a little off center but the last 3 were nice and easy.

H335 is worse than stripper glitter about getting everywhere and I couldn't ever get the powder measure thing to work. Eventually I just gave up and used a little plastic spoon. So long as I shook the power out and didn't just dump it it worked out fine.

Which brings us to seating the bullets and two rounds pushed in so far the only thing keeping them from hitting bottom was the powder, one completely crushed and the last two look like the shoulder was rounded somehow.

Which means five rounds need to get pulled apart, tomorrow I'm not doing anything else tonight.

 

[Bfh_auto]

Okay so we finally tried our hand at putting together five rounds.

Priming was a little nerve wracking at first. I think I didn't fully get the crimp out of the first two cases or maybe they were a little off center but the last 3 were nice and easy.

H335 is worse than stripper glitter about getting everywhere and I couldn't ever get the powder measure thing to work. Eventually I just gave up and used a little plastic spoon. So long as I shook the power out and didn't just dump it it worked out fine.

Which brings us to seating the bullets and two rounds pushed in so far the only thing keeping them from hitting bottom was the powder, one completely crushed and the last two look like the shoulder was rounded somehow.

Which means five rounds need to get pulled apart, tomorrow I'm not doing anything else tonight.

Might want to reread the chapter on die setup in your manual.

 

[OrangeCat]

Might want to reread the chapter on die setup in your manual.

Yeah I very clearly screwed up. It's annoying that everything else seemed to work out okay and then get to the end and completely wreck it.

On the bright side the kinetic hammer works pretty good other than a little glittery poof each time a bullet broke loose I managed to salvage most of the powder and all the bullets look okay and I'm chubby enough that the exercise probably did me some good.

 

[Bfh_auto]

Yeah I very clearly screwed up. It's annoying that everything else seemed to work out okay and then get to the end and completely wreck it.

On the bright side the kinetic hammer works pretty good other than a little glittery poof each time a bullet broke loose I managed to salvage most of the powder and all the bullets look okay and I'm chubby enough that the exercise probably did me some good.

I bet there isn't a person on here who hasn't messed up for adjustments at least once.
The kinetic hammer is to beat it into our head that mistakes suck.