Progressive rifle loading- first position is sizer?

Sasquatch

Sasquatch

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I just picked up a Lee Sixpack (6000?) in .223. Lee stuff is getting better and better. I'm glad I waited a bit as they improved the case feeder.

That being said- I wanted the .223 plate as I load a lot of it, but does anyone actually load rifle cartridges on a progressive press like you do pistol? For PISTOL In my 550, I size/deprime (and prime) in position 1, powder in 2, seat in 3, crimp in 4. I do the same for rifle, but I prep the cases first, and skip the sizer in position 1.

But for rifle loading, you've got to get lube on the case to size it. I know there's 'dry' case lube, but after sizing, I trim and chamfer (and then clean again) before I set it up for loading.

Am I missing something that I could do all basic steps for rifle from clean/fired case to finished round in one pass?
 
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The only rifle I load on progressive is 223 plinking ammo, loaded on my 550. (I do my precision 223 single stage).

I don’t size/decap on the 550, though. I do all my case prep before hand (decap, tumble, size, trim, chamfer, final wet tumble). On the 550, I have a universal expander in station 1, to put a small flare on the case for flat base bullets. I also seat primers on the 550. All the other stations are normal configuration.
 
I start with cleanish brass just not dirty. Size and deprime and trim on my 650. I also have a Dillon rt trimmer. After it’s ran through that I wash and tumble with stainless steel pins. Dry them load them all on the 650.
 
falconew said:
I start with cleanish brass just not dirty. Size and deprime and trim on my 650. I also have a Dillon rt trimmer. After it’s ran through that I wash and tumble with stainless steel pins. Dry them load them all on the 650.
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That is close to what I do. I decap, then I do a quick wet tumble without pins (15-20 minutes) before I lube and size. After all the case prep, I do a final wet tumble with pins.
 
Toprudder said:
That is close to what I do. I decap, then I do a quick wet tumble without pins (15-20 minutes) before I lube and size. After all the case prep, I do a final wet tumble with pins.
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Made the mistake and forgot to take the lube off and loaded up a bunch. What a pain in the but to remove the lube afterwards. I dry tumbled and that didn’t turn out to good. I just took a rag with alcohol on it and wiped each and every one. Lesson learned.
 
After tumbling brass, I prefer to do everything with one pull on the 650. I only do that for 45acp, 9mm and 380.

Everything else, including all rifle calibers, are done on the Forster Co-Ax.
 
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My prairie dog shoots require 1,000-1,500 .223 rounds for a weekend. They all come off the 650. Doing them on my single stage would be torture. I have a good, tolerant load so any variation from the progressive is in the noise.

I like shiny brass so I will decap and clean first. Sometimes I decap with a hand deprimer in front of the TV, sometimes on the press. These days, I always wet tumble with pins. Since I got a food grade filter, dumping and dealing with the pins got a lot easier.

It is a good thing they make barrels every day, though.
 
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I hand de-prime, Clean, lube, and for step one on the press (I have a 550 as well) I size and prime. After that I trim on a hand trimmer. It works pretty well for me in batches, with pretty good results.
 
rodell said:
My prairie dog shoots require 1,000-1,500 .223 rounds for a weekend. They all come off the 650. Doing them on my single stage would be torture. I have a good, tolerant load so any variation from the progressive is in the noise.

I like shiny brass so I will decap and clean first. Sometimes I decap with a hand deprimer in front of the TV, sometimes on the press. These days, I always wet tumble with pins. Since I got a food grade filter, dumping and dealing with the pins got a lot easier.

It is a good thing they make barrels every day, though.
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At what stage do you size your brass? Unless you say different no one does all the steps on a progressive that has both sizing and loading for rifle. Like @falconew I did it once and had a messy experience with dry tumbling afterwards.
 
Sasquatch said:
At what stage do you size your brass? Unless you say different no one does all the steps on a progressive that has both sizing and loading for rifle. Like @falconew I did it once and had a messy experience with dry tumbling afterwards.
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Once I have deprimed and cleaned brass, I run them through normally except I'm not actually decapping. I remove the pin just so there's no alignment issue - just in case. I lightly lube the cases and toss them in the case feeder. I have used both Dillon and Redding dies and both work well in my press. So, I guess I'm the "no one" who runs them through.

If you are full length sizing rifle on the Dillon it can take a lot of force. The bench has to be rock solid to keep everything moving smoothly. I had a lot of trouble with that in my early experiences with the XL650 and it took me some time to get it ironed out.

The only reason I decap by hand is because I have this stupid desire for good looking brass. In reality, I could dump them back in the feeder when I get back home from the hunt and go right to it. I like to keep everything the same when it comes to neck tension and my load was developed this way so I always do it the same way now. As long as I get the little tiny groups and can poke way out there I'm happy.
 
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That's impressive- Mr. No One! What about the lube- are you hand-lubing just the shoulder? What about getting the lube off afterwards, or is it light enough that it doesn't make a mess? Sounds like you're doing a limited run of hunting ammo? I'm doing hundreds of rounds of 223 at a time which is one of the reasons I'm building a collator and got the Lee 6-station. Even if I did size in station 1, my random brass would still need to be trimmed, so I'm going to have to do two passes.
 
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Toprudder said:
The only rifle I load on progressive is 223 plinking ammo, loaded on my 550. (I do my precision 223 single stage).

I don’t size/decap on the 550, though. I do all my case prep before hand (decap, tumble, size, trim, chamfer, final wet tumble). On the 550, I have a universal expander in station 1, to put a small flare on the case for flat base bullets. I also seat primers on the 550. All the other stations are normal configuration.
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Sounds about right, I'll change up once in a while.

I do run "batches"
Depending on how dirty the brass is.

5.56 ..Decap in the LEE APP, De-crimp, tumble, Dillon or use a old Hornady "Projector" press to size, use Lanolin / Alcohol mixture for lube, Mighty Armory Sizer, clean off lube, trim, hand prime (ole round trays) then to the Dillon or Hornady LNL-AP, with mouth flare, charge, RCBS comp seater, CH4D taper crimp and done.. now I do it all in batches for the bulk stuff.
The 7.62, 30.06, etc are all single stage load for too many different platforms / barrel configurations.

-Snoopz
 
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I batch as well- 3d printed tags to go on my bins of the different stages of loading.
 
Sasquatch said:
That's impressive- Mr. No One! What about the lube- are you hand-lubing just the shoulder? What about getting the lube off afterwards, or is it light enough that it doesn't make a mess? Sounds like you're doing a limited run of hunting ammo? I'm doing hundreds of rounds of 223 at a time which is one of the reasons I'm building a collator and got the Lee 6-station. Even if I did size in station 1, my random brass would still need to be trimmed, so I'm going to have to do two passes.
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The lube is so light it doesn’t matter.

I never do less than a few hundred of something on the 650. It isn’t worth the hassle since I do many calibers. I will usually fill my 1,500 round prairie dog load out in two back to back sessions. I use my RF-100 to load primer tubes in advance since I don’t like tending to it while loading.

True hunting loads are done one at a time, usually neck sized and measured very carefully. If a round is out of my spec, it is a fouling or practice round and gets a colored band on the case.
 
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Sasquatch said:
That's impressive- Mr. No One! What about the lube- are you hand-lubing just the shoulder? What about getting the lube off afterwards, or is it light enough that it doesn't make a mess? Sounds like you're doing a limited run of hunting ammo? I'm doing hundreds of rounds of 223 at a time which is one of the reasons I'm building a collator and got the Lee 6-station. Even if I did size in station 1, my random brass would still need to be trimmed, so I'm going to have to do two passes.
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I do the same as rodell, dry tumbled brass in one side, finished ammo out the other. Hundreds of rounds of 223/308 at a time. Run Hornady one shot because it won’t affect powder/primers and once it dries don’t notice it on the ammo.

The way I avoid trimming is an RCBS x-die. You would have to trim everything once if you have random brass. If brass is matching you can usually avoid any trims.
 
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