Reloading?

[brainard]

I have been out of reloading for quite some time. I was going to ask some questions but can’t locate (might be a lack of insight on my part) if there is reloading discussion on this forum. Is it here, somewhere?

[jefferson101]

I want to say we've had a fair number of them, but they are usually Caliber specific.

What are you wanting to reload for? Are you looking for specific information for a Caliber, or for general information on "Reloading"?

There's a lot of range there. Straight wall pistol cartridges are one thing, and necked rifle (or pistol) cartridges are quite another thing. You almost have to start with one Caliber and work your way on into it. Where are you looking to start loading? "Everything" is not a good answer in this context. One step at a time.

[brainard]

Everything... I have 99% of the knowledge and 75% of the equipment.

The question is: If I run an empty 5.56 shell through a .223 sizing die will it function as a .223 in the future?

Thanks

[jefferson101]

Yes, assuming you do the whole TTL thing on the brass. The head space is just slightly different on a .223 and a 5.56. My recollection is that you have to shorten the case up about 005" or a bit more to put it in the right place for .223, which is why they say that it's fine to shoot .223 in a 5.56, but could be an issue the other way around because of pressures and the headspace thing.

I'm of the opinion that unless you are shooting seriously high pressure rounds, it don't mean nothing, but I would in fact check the difference in case length and monitor it if I was going from 5.56 to .223.

[brainard]

Got it, thanks.
Probably not worth the effort swaging and trimming.

[jefferson101]

Got it, thanks.
Probably not worth the effort swaging and trimming.

I've never figured it to be worth the trouble if the cartridge was under max OAL for 5.56, but I'd never suggest that anyone else risk their face based on my opinion.

Beyond that? You are doing what we all do when we reload. We examine the risk of resizing and reloading a chunk of brass to contain another explosion, and we go from there. All we can do is what we can do, and toss the clearly bad brass, right?

Heh.....

[brainard]

I read on another forum where a guy was arguing he could just keep trimming the length off of multiply used spent brass, which seemed economic until someone pointed out that the lengthening cases means the walls are also thinning... somehow economic benefit is trumped by the elementary knowledge that carrying pressures and capacities coupled with week walled brass is equivalent to holding a hand grenade to your face and pulling the pin.