I'm not working with the 223 Rem; my 22 cartridge is the 218 Bee. I've been using a cast bullet for years, my TLC225-50-RF and I've been using the NOE Expander Plug. I only load this once a year, and I forgot about it with the Custom Expanders.
There is no way that the stock EZ X Expander, at .222", will allow my .225" cast bullet to sit on the case. It has been at least a dozen years since I've reloaded jacketed bullets with this cartridge, but I went ahead and pulled them out. Both the Hornady and Speer Bee bullets are .224" in diameter, and neither will sit on a case mouth after being sized with the stock EZ X Expander.
By some mistake on my part, I happen to have two NOE .222"~.226" Expander Plugs so I set one up with the Universal Expanding Die for the .224" bullet. Wanting to be .001" over bullet diameter (same + over I use with cast bullets), I carefully measured and marked that point and the point of case contact so that I could use a little bit of math for quick die setup. In under two minutes, the die was ready, and I expanded the case with the .225" portion of the plug. The picture shows the results.
I do need to order expanders for this family of cartridges; the 218 Bee, 25-20 Win, and 32-20 Win. I did remember why I had not done it yet, the 32-20 Win uses a stock pistol decapper and PTE Die, and I need to talk with the Custom guy and see if I can get a .314" EZ X Expander for the short die body. Right now with this cartridge I'm not using the PTED, but a Short Rifle Charging Die behind the UED with the NOE plug
So this week I'm going to order these EZ X Expanders. Like I noted in my previous post I will order these as a plus size against the stock .222" expander to avoid any confusion.
- +.003" for .225", I have a thousand jacketed Bee bullets that need to be shot!
- +.004" for .226" with my TLC225-50-RF
- .259" for my TLC258-80-RF and the 25-20 Win. I will need to measure the stock expander first.
- .314" for the TLC313-115-RF and the 32-20 Win (hopefully).
If a fellow was worried about the exact size, you could order .002" over bullet diameter and then sand & polish the expander down so that everything met your expectations. That is something to ponder.
Proof that I'm a full-service Admin! My bench is a mess after pushing my current projects aside and checking this stuff!