06nop,O6nop wrote:In my limited experience as a reloader, I've found that the cases must also be trimmed before the operation if using a crimp. Everytime I've resized after trimming, the case buckles below the neck when I crimp. If I resize it and then trim, the crimping operation is flawless. Obviously, resizing alters the length and affects the crimp.
This makes using a turret less than ideal, unless I'm missing something. You have to stop and remove the case from the press after the resize/decap step in order to trim it. I like to trim 100% to ensure a good crimp. This is .223 I'm speaking of right now. I haven't tried pistol ammo on my turret yet.
Of course, I am probably missing something... I'm getting nowhere near 350/hr, maybe 50-75/hr.
Whether you crimp or not, you do need to heed the case length.
Checking case length after resizing, and possibly trimming, is necessary.
You are doing this correctly and 50-75 per hour isn't bad either.
I do have two suggestions however, to speed up your processing of .223 brass, and its reloading.
1. Get the RCBS X-Die for .223, it also decaps and full length resizes;
2. Get the Lee Crimp Die for .223.
The X-Die will allow you to trim each piece of brass exactly one time, max.
It will then freeze the length of that properly trimmed brass to the length
you set it. It will not grow more than a thousandth or two beyond.
With new brass you may never need to trim if you start out using the X-Die.
The Lee Crimp Die gives you a simple visual reference for crimping. No
more guessing during the bullet seating step. It is a separate step but it
is oh so fast.
On a turret press you would have the X-Die in first position and the Crimp Die
in the last position. Priming, powdering and seating would occupy the middle.
One other minor irritant that I have had to incorporate into the process for
.223/5.56 is the cleaning of the primer pocket. I use only M-41 primers
and they are difficult to seat below flush with any crud left in the pocket.
I don't know if you can get an attachment for a turret press to do that.
It would be an interesting gadget though.
I do all of my reloading on two single stage presses: a Rockchucker and
a Lee. One for the right hand and one for the left. And generally one
hand does not know what the other is doing. Somehow it all works out.
Kind Regards,
Tom