.223 Resizing Problems

[STAMarine]

Newest of newb questions. I'm finally ready to start reloading. I resized a hundred pieces of .223 brass before my Dillion case gauge came in. I checked a few sample cases and not one was correctly sized. I expected them to need trimming, but they were all over the place. The problem I have is I don't know how to interpret what I'm seeing and how to adjust my press accordingly.

I sized both Winchester and Federal brass. Some simply need trimming. Some are below the cut out at the base. Some are below the cut outs on BOTH ends. How do I adjust my press?

[williejc]

What brand dies do you have, and is your size die a full length or neck size only version. Tell us about your brass. Was it fired in your rifle. Is it military brass that may have been fired in a SAW?

[jstone]

For sizing you want the case head to fall below the top, but not lower than the low step. If your sized brass falls below both you have bumped the shoulder to far back. Use a fresh piece of un sized brass. Back the die out a full turn run the brass through the die, and check it. If it does not fall in between the high and he low. Adjust the die a very small amount like a 1/16 of a turn. Continue to do this till the brass falls in between the high and the low step on the case guage. Now your brass will be sized correctly.

Your over sized brass will shoot just keep an eye out for separation. If you put an unfired factory round it will fall below both the high and low step. If you set up your dies like most instructions call for, and the press is camming over your over sizing.

For the trimming part of the guage I dont use it I use a lyman guage specifically for checking trim length or my calipers. How it works though is similar to the sizing portion. If the case mouth sticks out past the low shelf, but less than the high shelf your fine. If it sticks out past the high shelf it needs trimming.

[jstone]

What brand dies do you have, and is your size die a full length or neck size only version. Tell us about your brass. Was it fired in your rifle. Is it military brass that may have been fired in a SAW?

What he asked obviously involves the shoulder being pushed back so that rules out neck sizing. Even if he is doing it in two steps nothing you asked would be relevant. It does not matter where the brass came from, or the brand of dies. He is just wondering what he needs to do to make his ammo fit right in the case guage.

[STAMarine]

I'll try this out when I get home from work and see how it goes. It seems like most reloading and equipment instruction are just enough to get started but not enough to diagnose problems for inexperienced reloaders. I'm glad there are forums so I can ask.

[Onyx Z]

It sounds like your die wasn't adjusted low enough to bump the shoulder back at all.

[STAMarine]

Is it back too far or not far enough? I could adjust it both ways but I'm trying to identify exactly what's going on for future interpretation.

[Onyx Z]

Is it back too far or not far enough? I could adjust it both ways but I'm trying to identify exactly what's going on for future interpretation.

From what it sounds like, the case isn't being pressed into the die far enough, so the brass isn't being sized at all.

Get some calipers and this Hornady Headspace Gage set so you can take a fired measurement and a sized measurement. If the measurement is the same throughout all of your sized brass (before & after), the shoulder was not bumped back. This tool essentially checks the same parameters as a drop in case gauge, but you can get a hard measurement on the brass.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/479...ProductFinding

These have been invaluable to me. I don't use them on every piece of brass I size, but I do spot check every time I resize my brass.

BTW, the overall length of the brass doesn't matter when sizing. The die doesn't care how long the brass is so worry about that once you get the brass sizing nailed down.

[STAMarine]

Do those gauge measure in a different manner that the Dillon case gauge that I used? I used the gauge after I ran it through my (obviously incorrectly set) resizing die. So when I ran it through, I just decapped and didn't size at all since it was incorrectly set, right?

[Airhasz]

Post a pic of your sized case in the case gauge.