reloading materials for 5.56

Varget, you're funny. Don't get his hopes up. Shops are saying 4 months out at least on Varget.

I have not seen any powder good for 223 in stock anywhere on line or shops. ohh wait I did see a 1lb jug of alliant powerder CFE223 for 38$
 
If you are leaning towards a 550, there is no reason EVER to start on a single stage unless you intend to stay on a single stage.

The 550 allows you to load a single round at a time. Run as a turret press, it can be very very forgiving. Then when you are ready, you start working 4 rounds at a time.

With that said, my first press was a 650. I was able to get comfortable on a friend's 550 and 650 before I bought. Even still, it was pretty intimidating. But after a few hundred rounds I was fine.

Back then, there weren't any videos on Youtube, so I got the Dillon DVD, which was a HUGE help.

Ironically, my most recent purchase after the 2nd 650 was a Lee turret. I purchased this for my low volume calibers.
A complete caliber conversion for the Dillon is about $150+ dies. A complete conversion for the lee turret is about $10.

I use the Lee for rounds where I go through fewer than 1000/yr. .44 mag, .460 Magnum, .357 magnum.

I'm currently loading match .223s on it, running it like a single stage, but weighing every charge. The Lee Turret is a very versatile press.
For what its worth, the Lee Classic Cast Turret is about the only Lee press that even died in the wool Dillon bigots recommend. Its a great little press. Also, you could not pay me to use a Lee Pro-1000.

Don
 
I have not seen any powder good for 223 in stock anywhere on line or shops. ohh wait I did see a 1lb jug of alliant powerder CFE223 for 38$

I bought 4lbs of 4320 this week in a shop $26/lb. They had 6-8 more and a few other powders good for .223 in stock.

If you go to a bunch of nice shops you'll find some.
 
Any progressive press is a glorified single stage if you only do one case ar a time.

-Proud to be dad every day, a licensed plumber most days, and wish I was a shoemaker on others.
 
Any progressive press is a glorified single stage if you only do one case ar a time.

-Proud to be dad every day, a licensed plumber most days, and wish I was a shoemaker on others.

Of course. But my point was that with the 550, running 1 shell around is very unintimidating for a new reloader. With a manual advance and one shell, its almost like using a single stage. Except that when you are ready you can start churning out 300+ rounds/hr on it.
 
When I run .45/70 it is one at a time on my LnL. Not intimidating whatsoever. And I don't have to disable the primer feed.

-Proud to be dad every day, a licensed plumber most days, and wish I was a shoemaker on others.
 
Thats good info.

The 650 is not well suited to running 1 shell around at a time because you end up with unused primers in the overflow, and the "ski jump" style overflow isn't very good. Its also difficult to disable the auto shell feeder.

Its funny what you said about the 45-70. A friend of mine has a LNL and runs singles when he reloads 500 S&W because the handle effort is too heavy if he runs it with all 5 stations.
 
1. Take a class.

2. Take a class.

3. Repeat 1 & 2.

eddie coyle here has a damn good one from what I understand.
 
When I run .45/70 it is one at a time on my LnL. Not intimidating whatsoever. And I don't have to disable the primer feed.

I remember the day that you shot well over 100 rounds of 45/70 out of the Thompson Contender. I think I shot one and my wrist hurt!

:)
 
...Take a long hard look at motorized case trimmers while you're at it.

5.56 brass preparation is a labor intensive process.

I don't reload anywhere near amount of .223 that many of the people on this forum do but I do know that I really dislike prepping bottleneck cases. I just ordered a Giraud trimmer.
 
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I don't reload anywhere near amount of .223 that many of the people on this forum do but I do know that I really dislike prepping bottleneck cases. I just ordered a Giraud trimmer.

Use it as an excuse to get reloading buddies over. Sit around BSing and trimming cases. Bet you can even get them to supply the beer if you're supplying the Giraud.
 
Use it as an excuse to get reloading buddies over. Sit around BSing and trimming cases. Bet you can even get them to supply the beer if you're supplying the Giraud.

I wish. None of my friends reload but if they did there'd be a lot of drinking and not much trimming.
 
Several central NH shops carry Dillon 650s.

If you find the right places to buy powders and primers on line you can get the hazmat waved by buying enough at one time. Some places wave it with 4 eight pound jugs, some with 6 jugs. You can often do the same with primers (when they are available in quantities again).

Buy a 6000 bullet case and when you are half way through the box start shopping for the next box. It saves a lot of anxiety and frustration.

Some powders, such as IMR 4320 and 3031, which are great powders, can be frustrating to get into a small 223 neck if you are trying to load fast. The granules are too course for a small neck case. Powders like H335 and Winchester 748 meter better and drop quickly and reliably.
 
This seems like the best thread to bump for my question instead of a new thread.

Anyone Oder direct from Dillon's website these days, and how long did your back ordered stuff take to arrive?

I ordered a 1050 from Brian Enos, but they only ship the 1050 from Dillon as they load a couple rounds before they ship.
But in that case, Brian shares an updated back ordered list, but Dillon just says wait.

Simply looking for an ETA, as I'm excited [smile]
 
This seems like the best thread to bump for my question instead of a new thread.

Anyone Oder direct from Dillon's website these days, and how long did your back ordered stuff take to arrive?

I ordered a 1050 from Brian Enos, but they only ship the 1050 from Dillon as they load a couple rounds before they ship.
But in that case, Brian shares an updated back ordered list, but Dillon just says wait.

Simply looking for an ETA, as I'm excited [smile]

I ordered case trimmer from Brian Enos, same deal, gets shipped from dillon. Took 4 months. They were waiting on one part!
 
I ordered case trimmer from Brian Enos, same deal, gets shipped from dillon. Took 4 months. They were waiting on one part!

Ordered 1050 10/16/2013. Delivered 10/22/2013 from Brian Enos. Very happy!

Shipped from Dillon, which their website said 8 weeks on 223 dies. Press won't ship without dies, due to the fact that they test the press out before shipping.
 
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