Rifle Reloading Notes:
By request, here are my findings on reloading the 5.56 cartridge.
In 2007 I reloaded a few thousand rounds of 5.56 in the same manner that I would reload straight-sided pistol calibers. The results were a disaster:
- the cases still had the lube on them, which might not be a big deal for most pistols but the typical poodle-shooter gun that uses 5.56 will choke on that as the stuff builds up in the chamber.
- necked cases "run out" when they are fired - they get longer actually. If they are not trimmed down, and are instead at the max length when fired, they might get stuck in the chamber.
- since none of them were trimmed, there was no consistency in the load as case dimensions differ within. Accuracy was crap.
- failure to extract in all but the most loose of the chambers was the norm.
So, how do you fix all that?
Well first it's necessary to recognize that you cannot reload a necked rifle cartridge as if it were a .38 special or a .40 S&W. You can reload those cases over and over until they crack and never have to trim them. If it's a good gun like a Springfield XD, there will not be any issue with case lube in the chamber. Heck an XD treats that like ammo sauce and asks for more.
But rifles, especially with an AR, no way.
Ok, some things had to change or further reloading would be simply a waste of more powder and primer for "site reloads". Shooting that stuff was like working a muzzle loader.
First, the cases must be annealed. Annealing a rifle cartridge is the act of heating up the case neck to a temperature short of glowing. But let me say what annealing is not, because a lot of people see this wrong:
- annealing is NOT heating the case to red hot.
- annealing is NOT knocking over the glowing case into the water.
Water? Yes. You must have the ass end (the head actually - the end with the primer) in water when you anneal them.
But you do not have to make them glow - that's too much - and you do not have to knock them over. You do need to keep that head stamp cool.
The goal of annealing is to soften up that case neck and mouth a little without softening up the entire case. In an AR-15, we are looking at roughly 60,000 PSI in that chamber and if that case is soft throughout, it will rupture, and those hot gases will ignite the cartridge at the top of the magazine (called an "out of battery") and that will ignite the one below it, and so on. If you are lucky, everything blows down out of the magazine well and you don't go to the hospital. I once saw a very expensive C-Mag get blown up.
Annealing is an act of softening up that neck and mouth for better resizing later on when it's time to resize. Easy enough. How do you know? The easy test is to take a vice grip and close it, and close while too wide on a case mouth, then turn the knob on the vice grip to be just touching the case mouth edges. Then, take the vice grip off and turn the knob just a little bit more. How little? A thousandth of an inch or two. Then close that grip on the case mouth and watch it. The mouth will deform slightly, and it should go back to round when you remove the vice grip.
Take some of the annealed cases, when done, and attempt to crush the head stamp too. It you can crush it, then all of the cases you did the same way as that one test case is crap.
So to anneal:
- use a tray with water.
- use a brazing torch or blow torch (set on low).
- put the cases with water around 2/3 to level of the case. It's just the neck and mouth to be annealed.
- heat the case necks but JUST BEFORE GLOWING. How do you know that? There is a tempurature sensing material out there that changes color but the Cheap Doktor Jeep way to do it is to set your torch temp, then heat a case and count how long it take for it to glow. The number of seconds it take minus 1 to 1.5 seconds is the amount of time the heat should be applied. If you watch very closely, the hue of the metal will change slightly right before it starts to glow. That's an even better reference if you can notice that. If you make an occasional case glow don't worry about it. As long as you are not making it white hot.
- no need to knock them over. Let them cool. The water is to keep the head stamp from getting softer.
Now, once you have annealed, you can clean them if you have not before. You can anneal dirty brass but that depends on the condition. Also, there could be lead deposits that might vaporize when you apply the heat so a clean case would be a good idea perhaps. It's your health.
To make annealing go faster, I like to be replacing annealed and to-be-annealed cases with my left hand while working the torch with my right. This is like walking and chewing gum at the same time so I have to warn you: You will burn yourself. Use a fireproof or wet glove on your brass handling hand because no matter how sober or careful you are... I have a huge burn right now actually.
Once annealed and clean, then it's time to decap, resize, and trim them.
Trimming the cases is best done with a special attachment to a reloading press for this task. Dillon has a nice one that overheats. These are not vented motors. WTF?
Here's a trick: wrap it in paper towel and keep it wet. That will keep it cool enough. Use a fan too. This works.
When I set up the trimmer in a tool head for my Dillon 550 (you should have one), I use two resizing dies. Why? Well the first one actually has a decapping pin, the second one is without a pin but still has the shaft (you will break these pins so keep them). This means that the annealed and lubricated
--- yes they must have case lube on them or you will be ripping the rims off with the shell plate ---
case gets resized twice before being trimmed. Resize before trim please because resizing will change the case length.
How long, Dok? I can hear them now. Here is the answer. Get ready, it sucks:
"Lake City Length".
WTF?
Stay tuned. It's late and if I don't sleep there will be hell to pay.
no but it is a good thing to learn how to reload. My friend does his for when he hunts but that's very few. He's teaching me how it's done. but it's not a big demand in NJ. Even if you own a single shot .22 you're pretty much on the watch list. The restrictions here are absurd. I'm moving to PA.
