Quoted:
.224" is the standard size for 22 caliber bores(220 swift to 225 winchester), there are some .223" bullets used in old 22 horntes with the smaller bore size, but 0.224" is what you want.

Delube your rounds to be safe, lube in the chamber can do unsavory things to the pressure of your rounds and increase case thrust

Cases must be trimmed after resizing, otherwise the length will change during the resizing process.

Feel free to ask, some may come along and modify or ammend what I said, there are lots more here smarter than me. Some of the blue kool-aide drinkers should be along soon to answer you 550 questions

Take care and be safe

BH

Quoted:
Does resizing the brass in the die alter the length and the width, or the width only?  I'm wondering if brass can be trimmed to length prior to resizing.  The reason I ask is because of rotary presses like the Dillon 550.  It would be pain to have to take each round out of the rotary after it's been through the resizing die to trim it and then put it back in the rotary to go on the the next step in the process...

Thanks ahead for any help.

Quoted:
I resize rifle brass on my 550 in two steps, I first tumble clean, and then lube cases I then run them thru a toolhead that deprimes/resizes this pushes the shoulder and case back to spec it also sizes the mouth for the new bullet
I then trim all the cases as they have most likely stretched from shooting them i also chamfer inside/outside of mouth and clean flash holes
I then send them back to the tumbler to remove the lube they are now ready to load
I have another toolhead that has a universal decapper in station #1 (to remove stuck cleaning media) and all the other dies are normal (actually doing it this way has smoothed press operation)
You should always remove lube before shooting as the case needs to grip the chamber wall you run the risk of having excess bolt thrust if you don't clean off the lube i used to tumble them after I completed the round but I now do rifle cases in two steps as described, case prep is a PITA but it's very impotant to do for consitant ammo I am no pro by any means but there are guys here who have forgotten more about reloading than I will ever know and i have learned alot from them and will contiune to learn.

Quoted:
All bullets in .22 caliber are .224.  Well, almost all.  Early .22 Hornets were made from Springfield trainers which were .22 LR but a 1903 actions, plenty strong.  But the barrel was .2235" in bore diameter so they use .2235" bullets.  Other Hornets are .2245".

The .22 Rem Jet was based on the .357, designed for a revolver that also had a .22 LR cylinder and selectable firing pin so it uses .2225" bulletrs.  Why the difference?  Revolver cylinder gap jump has better accuracy with a slightly tighter bore after the forcing cone.

Now you know too much!

Delubing is important because bolt thrust can be increased with lubed cases.  It reduces the thrust on the bolt by about 30%.  Significant.  Lubed cases also attract dirt, leading to ammo that may not chamber.  Keep your bore and chamber DRY.  And your ammo CLEAN.

The length of brass is most important right at the time of firing.  Cases stretch, no practical resizing can ever restore this stretch.  The diameter and the shoulder length (headspace, in bottle-necked cases) are reduced.  Cases eventually wear out.

Yes, it is a pain on progressives.  I therefore two-step reload on my 550.  It lets me clean the primer pockets, making seating easier.  But I only need to trim on the 1st and 4th reloading.  After the 5th, I usually anneal as I get 12 reloadings out of my cases in .223 Rem.  I have gotten over 25 out of .22 Hornet cases, lower pressure.

I have gotten a little specific on .223 Rem to get that kind of life.  I use a body die in station 1, then I use a Lee Collet in station 3 to size the neck without the need for an expander.  This eliminnates run-out, the axial misalignment of the bullet to the case.  Cases then tumble into the bucket for cleaning even though the Lee Resizing lube isn't greasy or dirt-holding.

After the casea are cleaned/trimmed/primer pocket cleaned, they go back into the 550 for priming, powder dispensing and bullet seating.  Takes twice as long but worth it.  If I am loading cases for the last time, I just use it like normal.  Get the Lee Lube, it is much cleaner and just as good as the greasy stuff.

Yes, multiple tool heads.  They are cheap.