Review .223 chamber, case and ammo checker

[cephas]

I check case length after resizing and trim the ones that are necessary. However they are not all exactly the same length since some don't need trimmed. Trying to seat and crimp (yes, I crimp) at the same time caused a few shoulders to ever so slightly collapse. Visually it was hard to spot a few of these. This led to a cartridge that would hang up in the chamber as it was loaded. Usually happened bout the time I forgot about the last one. Saved a couple for further examination. Seating separately and then crimping with a Lee rifle crimp die eliminated that problem. The Lee die is not dependent on cases being exactly the same length to crimp.
Into loading a couple thousand rounds now and thought I'd do it by the book. Got a Dillon chamber and case gauge. Utilizing the gauge the sizing die can be exactly set to proper headspace. It also can check case length. https://www.dillonprecision.com/dill...8_3_25547.html
To check the final product I acquired an ammo gauge from EGW. http://egwguns.com This is an aluminum affair that they used a Clymer reamer that matches the chamber.
The pic shows the products. One of cartridges with the bunged shoulder marked with black marker is clearly not going to chamber.
Please note the case in the Dillon headspace gauge, it also has a crap shoulder but sets in the gauge as normal. (The bullet on that cartridge is setting in a hole through the plywood) The products are excellent in construction and work as advertised. However don't count on using the headspace gauge for a final check on loaded ammo. Its use is as Dillon states is to set the sizing die.
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[Delkal]

For my precision reloads I trim every time. By far the fastest method is the Lee trimming system with the cutter chucked into a drillpress. Leave the drill running and you can trim as fast as you can load the case into their shellholder. It takes 1 second of actual trim time. The lengths are very precise, usually within a 2-3 thousandths.

[bamboomaster]

Ceph sounds like you have a project ahead of you (loading a few thousand rounds) AND IT HASN'T EVEN SNOWED YET!

Would it be alright to ask the following:

1. What is your bullet, powder, and primer selection?
2. What do you use for case lube?
3. Which reloading machine are you using?

When I run rifle brass of any caliber, after resizing, I run them all through this trimmer: http://giraudtool.com/prod02.htm (except I orient the trimmer vertically so the cases are inserted from the top and the motor is on the right).

Giraud case trimmer.jpg

Once you've adjusted the cutting head to the proper "trimmed" case length, there's generally no need to check case length again - if they need to be trimmed, they'll be trimmed. If you work with a container of resized cases on each side of the machine so you can feed in a case with each hand, you can trim about 12 a minute (let's call it 500-600 per hour). All you need to do is put a drop of oil on the cutting blades every 500 cases. This machine simultaneously trims and chamfers the cases so the bullets self-align and are easier seated during the reloading process.

Oh, humor me and wear nitrile gloves (or the equivalent) while you're handling this much brass...

Yeah, I know, it's an expensive "stocking-stuffer", but I'm sure you deserve one!

While I've never used this on pistol brass, I've got the cutting heads for .223, .270, .30-30, .30-40 Krag, .308, and .30-06 and generally run through the trimmer as many of a certain caliber as I think I'll use during the next five years. Basically, quantities similar to yours.

If you're an accuracy fanatic, once the cases are trimmed, debur the flash hole to remove any metal filings from the manufacturing process that may affect uniform primer ignition. The practice of deburring the flash hole alone is about 70% of EVERYTHING you do to a case to improve accuracy. If they're just for plinking, well, you've saved yourself at least a day or two in deburring this quantity of cases.

Sounds like you've set yourself up for a serious fun-quotient that's gonna last about 7-10 days! Maybe you could charge an admission price just so folks could watch?

[cephas]

Gotta tell ya I usually only do a few hundred at a time. However someone had the bright idea to equip the family with a few builds.
Gonna be a get together over the holidays so these will be some stocking stuffers.
Have accumulated the brass, mostly once fired military, some commercial, over the years.
They were quick washed early on with dawn dish soap and citric acid bath.
Primers were removed with an universal die. Thorough cleaning done with wet stainless pins. Solution included Dawn dish soap and Lemushine (citric acid).
They've been resized, measured, trimmed if needed, deburred and swaged. They've all been checked with the new EGW gauge so there'll be no problems downstream. (stole that phrase off an esteemed loader)
My usual case lube is Alberto V05 hair cream. Don't laugh it is petroleum based and has a very high lanolin content. Find it equal to if not better than imperial wax. However for this project I tried another hair cream called Groom and Clean. Also very high lanolin content but is water based. A quick tumble in corn cob media removed any residue on the cases.
Going to finish up on my Dillon 550 and a final check with the gauge.
Got a couple bags of Hornady JBT 55 grs., some Winchester primers and enough H335 to fill the order. H335 flows like water in the Dillon.
25.0 grs is going over my chrono at an average of 2889 fps with a standard deviation of 12.8. Not too bad considering not all equal length and mixed brass.
This velocity will allow the kids to bang my 100 yd steel target without, hopefully, much harm.
Now I gotta clean my desk from drooling over that giraudtool trimmer.

[dkf]

You can eliminate the collapsed shoulders due to length variations if you use a Lee (collet) factory crimp die. Yeah you'll have to seat and crimp in different steps though. I just prefer to add some flare to help the bullet seat straight so I use the Lee collet FCD to remove the flare. I'm also using the RCBS X die so I only have to trim the brass once. Life is too short to constantly be trimming cases.

[pete1955]

If your expander is .003 smaller than bullet diameter you with have plenty of bullet grip and not need to crimp.

I trim all my cases to min length and seat and crimp in two separate steps. I apply a very slight taper crimp, and this is only to streamline the case mouth for reliable feeding in my AR15 rifles.