500b .223 questions

[slackerisme]

Does anyone know of a good video or web site that explains setting up the 550b for .223?

Should I need to trim once fired brass? If so what is a good cost effective case trimmer?

 

[42769vette]

im not sure if im right or wrong but i dont trim my once fired 223 brass, BUT im not going for sub moa accuracy with my ar. i shoot a 3 inch group at 100 yds open sighted and thats fine for me. as long as my ar goes off safly and has no ftf or fte im a happy man

 

[briand212]

I always trim and chamfer my 5.56 brass before reloading..
doesnt take very long.
dont forget to check flash holes for the errant piece of tumbling media

 

[red_zr24x4]

I like the lee trimmers. they have a shell holder that fits your drill and a mandrel with a cutting edge on it. Simple to use,and its cheap
Ive trimmed all my once fired brass but most of it was military, if you don't know where the brass came from I'd trim it. It sucks when your out shooting and in the middle of the mag you have one that wont lock up because you've got long brass

Kenny

 

[antsi]

You may or may not have to trim. There is only one way to know for sure: you will have to run a few cases through the sizing die and then measure them to see if the case length is over spec. Measuring before you resize the brass is pointless because it is the re-sizing that lengthens the case.

If you size your brass and measure it and it is under the max case length, you can get away with not trimming. Personally I would trim anyway, because your ammo will be more consistent if all the cases are the exact same length. The better quality and more consistent you make your ammo, the happier you will be.

You should consider getting a Dillon .223 case guage. This is probably the best $30 you will ever spend on reloading rifle ammo. It is a cylinder of metal with the center machined out to the exact specs of a .223 case. If the case drops all the way in to the guage even with the recess, it is properly sized. I did reload rifle ammo for a few years without having one of these guages, but I ran into some "issues" and I certainly would not reload any rifle caliber without having one. You can add a real measure of safety and precision by using this type of guage. My error didn't result in any danger or damage, but I loaded about 400 rounds of useless un-usable ammo because it wasn't sized correctly. If you do get a case guage, order the one from Dillon. The cheap ones the sell at Gander Mountain are not the same thing.

There are a lot of different kinds of trimmers. Mostly it depends on how much volume you want to run. Dillon has a motorized one that you set up on your press which allows trimming large volumes of brass quickly, but it is rather expensive. Lyman and others make trimmers that look like little lathes, that you either run by hand crank (this is how I do it) or you can hook them up to an external motor.

One of the most popular inexpensive ways to do it is a system made by Lee. You have a guide that attaches to the case, and a cutting head. The guide prevents trimming the case beyond the correct trim length. You can chuck this up in a drill and process your brass this way. A lot of people like this system.