Reloading .223

[Swampman1]

I've started my first ever reload...223. I have the Hornady single stage press, with Hornady .223 dies. I've cleaned the dies first(as per Hornady instructions). I have also lubed the brass. While using the decapping die, I notice a little tension when I run the casing up to decap, which is probably the resizing part. But when I bring the ram back down, at a certain point I feel tension again as though the casing wants to stick. It does that with each one I've done. Any suggestions?

[hodaka]

Make sure the necks have some lube in the inside. You are getting resistance from the neck sizer ball.

[Swampman1]

OK thanks, I'll try that.

[steve4102]

OK thanks, I'll try that.

Even with lube inside the necks you will feel that tension, it will just be smoother and less noticeable. I don't lube the inside of the neck on every case, every third or fourth is enough for me. YMMV

[Swampman1]

OK I've lubed the inside of the neck and still getting a very noticeable resistance on the downward motion. Doesn't appear normal to me, but it's my first time with 223.

[SVTCobra306]

The Hornady dies seem to be that way to me, I don't know if it is something about the way the expander is shaped or what. The only set of Hornady dies I own is a set of .243 Winchester dies. Catching the expander ball on pull-out is horrible for mine, I mean dumps things off the bench horrible, no matter how much I lube the case neck on every single case. I finally got fed up and bought a set of RCBS .243 dies. Problem solved, I went back to lubing about one in 10 necks, and I don't look to see if I ripped the rim off the case anymore. I do like the Hornady seating die better though, so I'll be using a "hybrid set" for now LOL.

[big al hunter]

You should notice resistance on the down stroke. It is the neck sizing to fit the new bullet snuggly. The up stroke squeezes the brass smaller than it needs to be, the down stroke returns it to proper diameter opening. It should not be difficult, or cause harsh vibrations.

[Swampman1]

The Hornady dies seem to be that way to me, I don't know if it is something about the way the expander is shaped or what. The only set of Hornady dies I own is a set of .243 Winchester dies. Catching the expander ball on pull-out is horrible for mine, I mean dumps things off the bench horrible, no matter how much I lube the case neck on every single case.

It's not quite that bad on mine(but close), so maybe this is an issue with Hornady 223 die.

[flashhole]

Hornady's elliptical expander button is probably the best thing Hornady has in their equipment line up. A few things you can do/check:

Make sure the expander is polished to prevent excess drag.

Make sure the expander assembly is straight in the die.

Clean the crud out of the inside of the case necks, I use a bore brush. This will make the biggest difference in minimizing tension.

Use a dry lube on the necks, I like graphite powder suspended in a container of lead shot shown below. A couple of dunks is all that is needed.

If you wanted to go to extreme measures you could ream the insides of the necks to make them smooth and uniform.

[MJFlores]

Keep in mind that brass is "springy". If you resize a case it does shrink back a bit...we're only talking .0001 or so but you'll feel that difference on the press. Hornady is top notch stuff, so if your cases are lubed, with a little lube on the inside of the neck any tension you make feel will be completely normal.

I've mentioned here many times that I do a heck a lot of reloading steps from the couch while watching tv. Try this for lubing case necks... put you ready to size, cleaned cases in a case block and set it in your lap. Get a bottle of RCBS case lube, and saturate a q-tip with it. You can keep all the cases in the loading block on your lap, and just swish the lubed q-tip in the neck of each case....you'll do about 15 or more cases before you need to re-lube the q-tip. After 30 or 40 cases the q-tip will start coming apart so toss it and grab another. Don't worry about getting the same amount of lube in ever case as some sticks to the expander ball in the die and will help lube the next case.

When I go to the resizing step I begin resizing the cases that I lubed first, figuring they probably have the most lube and will help lube the expander thus helping through the whole batch.

I'm glad to hear you're using a single stage press and are "feeling" whats going on during the decap and size steps. I think it's important to feel whats going on, and through this step you'll get to "feel" the difference between cases that have more lube vs. cases that don't have quite as much. I cant say enough about that "feel" as we're reshaping brass cases and seating primers and bullets into something we'll shoot later.

[Okcafe86]

Are you using one shot? If so I'd recommend something else like imperial.

[mohr308]

I used one shot for about one can then I switched to imperial, much better than one shot. Imperial is way less expensive and will last you a long time! BTW, I never lube the inside of my case necks. I don't want or need anything in there other than powder and a bullet.

[Swampman1]

Duplicate post-disregard

[Clark]

I never use an expander ball for any reason, so I never lube the inside of the neck for any reason.

I decap the spent primer with a decapping die in a separate step.

The concentricity gauge will show that the problem with the reloading process is mostly the expander ball being used in the same step as sizing, so the ball pulls the neck bent. Neck eccentricity was shown 50 years ago by the NRA and the army, to cause poor accuracy.

I lube the outside of every other case with imperial die wax.
After one case is FL sized there is enough wax left in the die to size the next case without adding more lube.

When I process thousands of .223 brass, I watch TV at the same time.


The image is the same as the link below.

[243winxb]

OK I've lubed the inside of the neck and still getting a very noticeable resistance on the downward motion.

Normal for some brass with thicker case neck walls. The expander will always cause drag with standard dies. Plus full length dies almost always over size the neck area.