Reloading for the AR is it easy or hard.

[willy1947]

I first shot an AR 1969 and did not care at all for it.
That changed about 10 years ago for me. When, I bought my first one.
Now, I enjoy AR's. I have read about reloading for the AR.
How hard is it to reload for? I have bought some small base dies.
You got any insight on doing it the right way?

 

[varminter .223]

I use small base dies many people say they aren't necessary but the point of an AR-15 is that it remains semi-auto and not jammed imo.
..

 

[reloader326]

I don’t find it any harder than reloading for anything else, except that you can’t play with the cartridge length, due to the magazine length restrictions. I don’t use small base dies and have never had an issue. Most AR’s are .223/ 5.56, so you can load them hotter than .223 load data, but the 5.56 load data is tricky to find.

 

[GLShooter]

Easy peasy to load for. SB dies are rarely needed but on occasion a odd one pops up. I've never had one of those but they do exist.

A measuring tool to set shoulder bump back is a great addition to standard basic gear.

If you buy non-military magazines many will allow you n some instances to load out to 2.316. Far better than 2.260 per mil-spec/SAAMI for flexibility. ASC STAINLESS are the trick there. Others like the PRI give you to 2.300 but why not go first cabin for extra space.

Most rifles now come with a Wylde chamber that will let you shoot 223 and 556. Not all but most. Tactical Ordnance uses a Wylde. If your barrel is stamped 556 you can feed it anything you want. 556 pressure data is available through Western Powder. The gains are not significant but if you have to have it all they give it to you.

The easist thing is you have access to great a great knowledge base right here.

Enjoy,

Greg

 

[cjclemens]

I think its easy. It's just like loading for any other rifle. The fact that you can't really play with COAL much actually makes it even more simple.

I use full length dies. I think the key to reliability is not so much the die selection - its more about getting your sizing die set properly and making sure you're bumping that shoulder back a little bit.

Other than that, its 100% straightforward. I use the same approach to reloading for all my rifles. I usually start out with an idea of what I want to do with the rifle, and I pick a bullet that's designed for that purpose. After that, I pick out a couple powders that I think should work well for that caliber/bullet weight, and start making test loads. Its pretty rare that I run into a bullet that I can't get to shoot the way I want it to. However, when I do, I just go back to the drawing board and find a different bullet and start the process again.

 

[SnowmanMo]

Originally Posted By: GLShooterEasy peasy to load for. SB dies are rarely needed but on occasion a odd one pops up. I've never had one of those but they do exist.

A measuring tool to set shoulder bump back is a great addition to standard basic gear.

If you buy non-military magazines many will allow you n some instances to load out to 2.316. Far better than 2.260 per mil-spec/SAAMI for flexibility. ASC STAINLESS are the trick there. Others like the PRI give you to 2.300 but why not go first cabin for extra space.

Most rifles now come with a Wylde chamber that will let you shoot 223 and 556. Not all but most. Tactical Ordnance uses a Wylde. If your barrel is stamped 556 you can feed it anything you want. 556 pressure data is available through Western Powder. The gains are not significant but if you have to have it all they give it to you.

The easist thing is you have access to great a great knowledge base right here.

Enjoy,

Greg

+1 to that. The shoulder seems to be the biggest difference. It varies from chamber to chamber. The most stubborn one I found, is the .204 in an AR platform. We really had to bump those back a ways.

But once you get that figured out, you can crank out the rounds pretty fast and easy.

 

[GLShooter]

Back in the early days of shooting AR's in early 3Gun the guy that made the ammo that ran was way ahead of the rest. The RCBS Case Mic was my secret weapon. I won a lot of matches.

Greg

 

[Plant.One]

i have a set of SB dies for my ar... never use them though. my 223/556 loads all come thru a basic set of lee dies. do just dandy. got several uppers that have sub half MOA data on them, which hold sub MOA for multiple shooters.

my ar in 223 wyld was my first caliber i reloaded for, ever. have never looked back.

jump right in, do your part, pay attention to details and things will work fine.

 

[arlaunch]

If you don't have a deep and genuine love for reloading... It will be very tedious work, very expensive for the correct tooling and very time consuming.

If you have the passion, your wife will get pissed because all your time is consumed reading, learning and testing.

If you have a family and are maxed out time wise as it is.. I recommend just buying ammo on sale in bulk.

Otherwise: Use the tool listed above or get comparator to set your die to size the cases back .003 or .004 instead of the usual bolt gun .002

I recommend a Redding T-7 press (especially if you all ready reload another caliber)
Forster or Redding dies
A primer pocket swager if you are going to shoot LC brass (Dillon or RCBS)

The next thing is powder burn rate.

You have to consider port pressure in addition to chamber pressure.

There are some finicky rifles out there with carbine length gas systems and some finicky 24 inch long varmint guns. That is all another story for later about to slow burning of a powder for your bullet weight.

I normally easily get 4 re-loading's without a noticeable change in accuracy.

I am sorry for your new information addiction.

 

[MPFD]

I was using Lee's Dies for my AR's, 10 years before Small Base dies were a thing. They have never let me down and I've used the snot out of them.

 

[jsh]

I must be the odd man out on SB dies. I had loaded for 223 for years with Hornady and RCBS dies. My Bushmaster will cause me nothing but grief if it's diet is not ran through a SB.

 

[MGYSGT]

Good choice on the SB dies. Why even worry about it. As said above with LC,FC and a bunch of others you will have to ream or swag the primer pocket. You would have to do that even for a bolt gun with crimped primers. I use a drill and a countersink I bought at Lowes. Just a quick zip and it is gone. Cartridge length is pretty important, So don't forget to trim to length. I usually trim 5 thou under recommended. Just one more thing not to worry about. Lots of folks crimp, I never crimp. Recoil in the AR is just not a problem. Try it, you will see. As for bullets, I like the same ones we use in a bolt gun. For hunting Yotes, V Max or Blitzking and for target shooting the 68 Hornady or the 69 gr Seirra. I have used RE-15 or Varget from the 40 gr bullets to the 69 gr bullets without problems.

 

[JoeyJ]

Originally Posted By: jshI must be the odd man out on SB dies. I had loaded for 223 for years with Hornady and RCBS dies. My Bushmaster will cause me nothing but grief if it's diet is not ran through a SB.

Might try cam over. I use Redding dies but camming over will work with any die set and press. Just set the die so the ram touches the shell plate and give the FL die another 1/8 to maybe 3/16 turn in - that should work for about any tight chamber. Another option but a little more expensive is getting a Redding body die and run the case through the body die and then a neck sizing die - that's a fast option for a progressive press but time consuming on a single stage press.

I have a minimum spec chamber in my 308 and couldn't get my cases to chamber after resizing on my Hornady LnL progressive press. I wasn't camming over, as I thought I'd mess up the shell plate but after calling Hornady, they advised to cam over, as it wouldn't adversely effect anything on the press. No problems reloading for any 308 rifle - from the M1A1 to the Remington 700 - everything chambers just fine.

Nothing wrong using a SB FL sizing die on tight chamber rifle barrels but it shouldn't be needed if you cam-over - that's been my experience anyway.

 

[LARUEminati]

Originally Posted By: JoeyJ

Might try cam over. I use Redding dies but camming over will work with any die set and press. Just set the die so the ram touches the shell plate and give the FL die another 1/8 to maybe 3/16 turn in - that should work for about any tight chamber.

This is what I had to do, initially I wasn't bumping the shoulder enough and the cases were sticking when you would try to eject a live round. They ran fine otherwise.

I bought a small base die before I made the sizing die change and the small base didn't help, I ended up returning them. You may have a need for them if you use military brass as the stuff that comes out of a 240 might have the base of the case blown out more. Full length dies have been fine once I had it set up properly and I do resize military range pickup's.

For what it's worth the Hornady book and video said to set the sizer up when it touches the shell plate when in reality it needed another 1/4-1/2 turn past that point.

 

[Riflemann]

I use RCBS Small base dies on have never had any problems. The following load works in All 3 AR’s we have:

25.5gr. Charge of H-4895
CCI Benchrest primers
55gr. Hornady V-Max
Chrono speed of 3120fps

Under dime size groups in all 3 Rock River AR’s. (20” Predator Pursuit, 20” Coyote, 18” R-3)

 

[cmatera]

Easy. I have SB dies but never needed them. I use the regular. Two simple rules: always full length re-size, and seat the primers deep enough. A high primer is not good, especially in a semi-auto.

 

[Stu Farish]

I use redding FL dies for 223 and 6.5 grendel for several AR's, have never needed a SB die. I haven't found them any more difficult to load for than anything else.

 

[6mm06]

So far I have only loaded either new brass or once fired completely prepped military brass for my 6x45. As such I have quite a bit of once-fired or twice-fired brass on hand. I need to set the full length die up but keep dreading the possibility of a stuck case that wasn't sized enough. Anyone have issues with that or have one stuck so tight that removing it was an issue?

 

[GLShooter]

Don't cheap out on using lube on the cases and even if you screw up there's a very inexpensive tool for that.

Greg

 

[JoeyJ]

Originally Posted By: 6mm06 I need to set the full length die up but keep dreading the possibility of a stuck case that wasn't sized enough. Anyone have issues with that or have one stuck so tight that removing it was an issue?

If you've never had a stuck case in a full length resizing die, that just means you haven't been reloading long enough or haven't reloaded very many rifle cartridges.

Using a lube such as Imperial Wax will go a long ways in preventing a stuck case but I'm sure you will find a way to stick a case if you try hard enough. One of those ways is lubing every other or third case to save on inexpensive lube. That method will work until one day you stick a case by tearing off the rim. The 1st time you'll probably spend an hour trying not to ruin your die but after sticking a couple you'll have it down to 20 minutes.

In all reality if you reload less than a couple thousand rounds of rifle ammo each year you'll probably never experience a stuck case using Imperial Wax or Hornady One Shot if you prefer spray lube. Just make sure the one shot lube is allowed to completely dry prior to resizing. I say that as I haven't stuck a case using Imperial Wax after I first learned about it AND I have stuck a case using one shot, as the cases were still wet when I started to resize and about the 3rd or 4th round stayed in the die after I ripped off the rim.

If you plan on reloading a lot - I'd recommend you purchase the RCBS stuck case remover (unless you presently have the items in your tool chest) just in case you "take a chance" on resizing that one last case you found without lubing it and counting on sufficient lube still coating the inside of your die.