Any experienced re-loader going to the range this weekend, 13, 14,15, 16 Jan, and own a Chronograph ?

I'm a little new to re-loading 'rifle' and I wanted to give away 50 of my little friends that I re-loaded watching YouTube this past weekend, I keed.. 

All jokes aside, it's once fired .223/5.56 MIL brass. Mixed .223/5.56, LC various years, REM, FC, 5.56, WCC, etc..

I won't be able to shoot these for a while since I work sat/sun's before going to the range in a few weeks. Until then I have a ton of .223/5.56 brass that I can potentially turn into re-loads.

Anyhow, ammo: .223 REM

- Tumbled in Stainless Steel media without the primer.
- All Cases were inspected for cracks, over pressure, etc.
- Case OAL 1.750-1.758" after trimming, (mixed brass) trimmed with a WFT neck out.
- All checked with a Lyman & Dillon head space case gauge. 
- Crimp removed with a Dillon Super Swager 600.
- Full length sized with Lee Die.
- Re-tumbled to remove case lube, my fingerprints and what very little burs that were left after trimming. (Little Crow Gunworks states chamfer/deburr isn't necessary with their WFT.) 
- Federal Small Rifle Primer. (Lee Load-master Progressive Press)
- 27.2gr of Hodgdon CFE 223 powder. (Lee Auto-Disc Powder Measure .66/1.09 disc)
- Xtremebullets .223 55gr FMJ
- Light crimp applied using Lee factory crimp die.
- Final OAL 2.200 - 2.205" I measured each one.
- Checked all primers for proper seating/re-checked all 50 with a Lyman head space case gauge.
- Even shook each one after crimped to make sure it was loaded/not full.

I know we all like pictures here so..




All were cut to the lower 1.750" index, trust me, lol. It's just the camera angle.









Sorry you don't get to keep my case.



Any takers?... All I ask for is for a little feedback from someone who is experienced with handling re-loads, and will guarantee shoot these this weekend. Not just someone who wants some free .223 ammo

It would also be cool if you had a chrono even though this is just plinking ammunition, but not necessary. 

I plan to make a huge batch of these if the feedback is good and they cycle/seem fine with the pressure. Also, please be close to Waipio as I don't want to drive out far to give out free ammo.

Please be gentle with the comments if I missed something.. 

Last thing, I take no responsibility with what you do with the ammo once it's in your possession.

Aloha,
Kalen 

Are you looking for data on speed of your reloads?
I don't mind sharing my chrony and data but I didn't have good experience with Fed primers. I've had several pierced primers and ruined one firing pin and bolt last year.

Are you looking for data on speed of your reloads?
I don't mind sharing my chrony and data but I didn't have good experience with Fed primers. I've had several pierced primers and ruined one firing pin and bolt last year.

Since these are just for plinking and mainly just a test bed for a few thousand rounds to come. I'm more or less interested in the chambering/inspection of brass and primers after firing. Velocity would be cool, although these aren't precision loads/bullets.

I normally buy CCI but that's all that Security Equip had at the time, lol. 

Nice.  Looks like you are being very thorough.

Chrono data will be general, as it won't be your rifle firing them. 

27.4 is max load for your powder bullet combo so one might be cautious firing these with out having worked up to that load in their own rifle.  Some rifles can withstand more some less.  Loads aught to be worked up from lower than max and checked for pressure signs.  Federal primers are notoriously soft and don't handle high pressure and floating firing pins well. 

Be real careful. 

Nice.  Looks like you are being very thorough.

Chrono data will be general, as it won't be your rifle firing them. 

27.4 is max load for your powder bullet combo so one might be cautious firing these with out having worked up to that load in their own rifle.  Some rifles can withstand more some less.  Loads aught to be worked up from lower than max and checked for pressure signs.  Federal primers are notoriously soft and don't handle high pressure and floating firing pins well. 

Be real careful.

Thanks for the input Heavies. I probably should have asked earlier, lol. I went off of my Lee precision second edition modern reloading book. It actually didn't have cfe 223 powder listed since it's semi new, but I actually picked the closest VMD to CFE223, (.646) which was BCL-2 (.645) thinking at the time, 27.5 max (BCL-2).

I'll add in that the powder throws I took, (roughly 7) before starting were all closer to 27.1/27.0 even, throwing on the lower end.

I guess I won't be buying Federal small rifle primers after I get through this brick. 

The LC that I get are mostly over 1.75".  The Lee trimmer in my drill grinds them down to 1.75" consistently. The Federal I get are mostly around 1.735" making them less consistent so I throw them away. I'm thinking of going on Friday but no chrono. In the meantime, here's a fun video.

The LC that I get are mostly over 1.75".  The Lee trimmer in my drill grinds them down to 1.75" consistently. The Federal I get are mostly around 1.735" making them less consistent so I throw them away. I'm thinking of going on Friday but no chrono. In the meantime, here's a fun video.

It's was hit or miss for me while trimming with the Little crown Gunworks WFT. Some bit some didn't, but I did throw them all in the headspace gauge afterwards. All the ones that didn't bite were on point at 1.750". I really didn't notice any Federals being too short in my lot.

Not sure about the Lee trimmer but the WFT I borrowed from a friend was the only way I could trim/prep MIL brass mainly because after resizing some of the MIL brass was a few hundredths longer from the shoulder back to the head and trimming with something like an RCBS trimmer full length would make the brass unusable since it will take it down to full case OAL from the neck back.

The WFT only trims from the shoulder to neck and maybe that's why your find some of your Federal too short?!. However, even though they all lined up in the headspace gauge at the 1.75" index. Some of my MIL brass was anywhere from 1.750-1.758" case OAL which made the WFT pretty sweet.

Go shoot them on Monday. Range is open.
I plan on being there. Will bring chrono if go.

Even without my calipers, I can see the difference between the longer LC brass and shorter Federal brass. I picked up some LC and WCC brass from someone at the range last week. Both were trimmed to 1.750" using the Lee Case Length Gauge and Cutter for .223. I also use the Lyman Prep Tool for chamfering. I threw out all of the shorter Federal as measured on my caliper. He also gave me used brass that he inherited from his uncle but will probably throw those away. I wish I had a cool uncle who gave me ammo.

The WFT only trims from the shoulder to neck and maybe that's why your find some of your Federal too short?!. However, even though they all lined up in the headspace gauge at the 1.75" index. Some of my MIL brass was anywhere from 1.750-1.758" case OAL which made the WFT pretty sweet.

Even without my calipers, I can see the difference between the longer LC brass and shorter Federal brass. I picked up some LC and WCC brass from someone at the range last week. Both were trimmed to 1.750" using the Lee Case Length Gauge and Cutter for .223. I also use the Lyman Prep Tool for chamfering. I threw out all of the shorter Federal as measured on my caliper. He also gave me used brass that he inherited from his uncle but will probably throw those away. I wish I had a cool uncle who gave me ammo.

Do you headspace check after cutting mil brass with that? Just by looking at that setup from prepping some mil brass. I can see it being a little problematic since it cuts by using the stop at the base of the primer hole.

I.E, you can cut down to 1.750", and it will not headspace correctly. It will probably look short in the gauge. Like I mentioned, I notice some MIL brass being thicker, heavier and even a few hundredths longer from the shoulder back.

You'll also get a variant in cut with that since a few of the pieces I've swaged still had the nib of brass inside the case from the primer hole being created. I can feel the piece being smashed while swaging. Not sure if your setup removes it while trimming.

Go shoot them on Monday. Range is open.
I plan on being there. Will bring chrono if go.

Appreciate the invite! Unfortunately, I like expensive things and lots of toys. Expensive things and lots of toys require a lot of money  . I have two jobs FT&PT, and work on Monday at the PT jobby (MLK) 

 

Appreciate the invite! Unfortunately, I like expensive things and lots of toys. Expensive things and lots of toys require a lot of money  . I have two jobs FT&PT, and work on Monday at the PT jobby (MLK) 

 

..oh, too bad.
Holidays at the range are generally less busy

Nice reloads. If using brass that is all mixed up for plinking, I would back off the powder charge closer to minimum.

..oh, too bad.
Holidays at the range are generally less busy

Nice reloads. If using brass that is all mixed up for plinking, I would back off the powder charge closer to minimum.

I'll probably drop it down to 25.7-26gr in the next batch..

   Anyone want to fire these with regard to Heavies & Ren's input along with my original post?! 

 

Unrimmed Bottle neck rifle cartridges headspace off of the shoulder of the case.  The neck of the cartridge needs to be trimmed as to not engage or be interfered be the lands and grooves.  The back part of the case needs to be sized down so that correct headspace is achieved when chambering the round into battery.

The headspace gage you have tests these two critical attributes of a sized and prepped case.

If the neck protrudes from the top of the gage, the neck and bullet could be crimped into place by the start of the lands and grooves and cause what amounts to a barrel obstruction and overpressure situation.  There is not enough room for the case to release the bullet when the charge is ignited.  An extremely long neck can also effect headspace as the case will be too long overall to head space off the shoulder and would be jamming onto the neck.

The bottom of the gage checks the rear portion of the case from the shoulder to the head.  If the case is too long in this aspect. The case may not be able to fully chamber into the firearm.  If it is much too short the firing pin may not be able to reach the primer.  If the case is too long, in a semi automatic loading firearm, the case will come to an abrupt stop on loading, while the firearm is still out of battery, and the floating firing pin can strike the primer with enough force to ignite the charge.  With the firearm out of battery the case will rupture and cause a Kaboom.

The fifty are head space checked and and gauged correctly.

Pics 2,3,4,8 

I don't want to be the buzz kill but... 27.4gr of CFE223 seems a little warm. One of my manual shows 27gr being 100% volume and 28gr being a compressed load @ 2.260". My other manual shows 27.4 as max. Although manuals may be a little conservative, I wouldn't START there. I'm sure someone may comment they shoot a hotter load but as I said, I wouldn't start there.

Take this for what it is, my opinion.


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I don't want to be the buzz kill but... 27.4gr of CFE223 seems a little warm. One of my manual shows 27gr being 100% volume and 28gr being a compressed load @ 2.260". My other manual shows 27.4 as max. Although manuals may be a little conservative, I wouldn't START there. I'm sure someone may comment they shoot a hotter load but as I said, I wouldn't start there.

Take this for what it is, my opinion.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It isn't 27.4, it's loaded to 27.2gr with it throwing on the lower end closer to 27.0 gr. The CFE 223 is a little sticky and it likes to cling to the walls of everything like static.. I could also barely see through the side of my Lee press to see powder height and I'm guessing at 26.0gr I probably wouldn't be able to see down the neck at my angle.

Do you happen to know the name of the manual you're referencing? I'd like to get a copy since my Lee Modern reloading book doesent list CFE 223. Like mentioned, I could only get the VMD factor online and compare it to something similar (BCL-2).

Thank you for your input.   

I don't want to be the buzz kill but... 27.4gr of CFE223 seems a little warm. One of my manual shows 27gr being 100% volume and 28gr being a compressed load @ 2.260". My other manual shows 27.4 as max. Although manuals may be a little conservative, I wouldn't START there. I'm sure someone may comment they shoot a hotter load but as I said, I wouldn't start there.

Take this for what it is, my opinion.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

...
Looking at the hogdon website, his load is near max.
Which, while unwise, is probably not going to be be disasterous.
I would shoot the ammo, but it's a pain to set up the chrono.
Especially if it's not even my own ammo.
The mixed headstamps are kind of disturbing to me.
Different cases may react differently.

Oh by the way, since you went to such great lengths to produce beautiful ammo, I cringe a little when you mention using the lee powder measure.
They don't have a good reputation, in general.

Oh by the way, since you went to such great lengths to produce beautiful ammo, I cringe a little when you mention using the lee powder measure.
They don't have a good reputation, in general.

Oldfart, I know what you mean, it took some homework to get the Lee powder disc measure working as intended. For example, people say these spill a little powder here and there. At first setup after fully cleaning the rifle charge die I noticed this as well. Unfortunately, this wasn't acceptable for me, and I figured out why.

This is due to the design of the Lee rifle charging die. It doesn't sit well/flush on the 223 cartridge mouth, especially with 223 since the die riser/powder exit hole is only a few hundreths smaller than the 223 mouth. It's a mere concave cyclinder with an opening which has no seat or detent for the mouth of the 223 cartridge. (I know it's because it's rifle universal), but it needs to be near perfect for the auto disc powder drop to function as intended. Little annoying and tedious but I had to look down the powder drop hole each pull to ensure cartridge was centered/engaging perfectly.

I'm actually working with a friend of mine who works in a metals shop. I'm bugging him to fab me a different riser cylinder. I want to have him mil another cylinder to better accept/seat the 223 mouth, but it would be 223 specific.

Furthermore, depending on how center you trimmed your brass, (I've seen WFT's cut cartridge mouths flush but at an slight angle depending on how you locked both Allen heads down), this makes the contact from the charge die and mouth of your cartridge not contact properly and create a small opening for powder the drop out. This can be identified by popping the brass in a headspace gauge and spinning the cartridge while looking at the mouth. I could randomly feel a small click from light brass to riser engagement by pushing slightly on the press and slightly on the brass in the correct direction to center. This is due to the mouth lining up center to riser die. I'm not sure if this is just mine or my die setup.

Lastly, I made these re-loads and no powder was spilled. 

Appreciate all the input!