I'm trying to see what the minimum of prep or close to it is for shooting drills in my backyard. I'm guess some of the tumbling steps many use aren't needed, what else?
I'm trying to see what the minimum of prep or close to it is for shooting drills in my backyard. I'm guess some of the tumbling steps many use aren't needed, what else?
Last edited by LittleLebowski; 07-03-2016 at 08:18 PM.
#RESIST
The biggest thing to reloading is understand the what and WHY to the process, and to pay attention, like you are 13 years old and girls are getting undressed paying attention to what you are doing.
The ONLY time I see people have issues is when 1. They don't really understand what's going on and why it's going on. 2. Th don't care, they don't realize they are making an explosion in a gun that when things go wrong can possibly ruin your life.
The people who I don't trust there reloading are very easy to spot.
This may be off topic but I just wanted to say it.
Last edited by Luke; 07-03-2016 at 08:44 PM. Reason: Spelling. It's still not right but idc
i used to wannabe
Ok.Originally Posted by Luke
#RESIST
Clean brass is nicer to handle when you are doing the post-cleaning steps, and may help some guns run more reliably.
I always clean my AR brass. I may not always clean my bolt gun brass, especially if it was cleaned the prior loading cycle and didn't get dumped on the ground.
Some folks like to get super shiny brass by tumbling in both corn cob and walnut media, and also meticulously clean and uniform primer pockets.
Back when I had an AR and loaded range fodder for it, I tumbled just enough to get any crud off the brass and didn't do anything to the primer pockets. I think these are the kinds of steps you are asking about?
Exactly.
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You don't need to clean primer pockets. You could also skip trimming if your brass is under max length. Don't skip the primer pocket swaging if the pockets are crimped. I also recommend always chamfering the case mouth for easier seating even if you don't trim. Those steps only need to be done on the first loading obviously.
Yes. I didn't trim either.
I reload in two different ways. One is when I'm trying to equal range fodder like UMC or American Eagle. The other is when I'm trying to eke out the last bit of precision.
Honestly I never saw a whit of difference between the two approaches in my AR, with its 16" pencil barrel and non-free floated handguard. It can make a big difference in my bolt gun, and it made a noiticible difference when I had a nice 1911.
Here is how I do it: Pick up the brass off the ground, tumble and lube it, throw it in the case feeder, and pull on the handle of my 1050
I dry tumble all of my brass with a polish as I don't want any crap in the sizing die. I never worry about primer pockets so I decap when I size. Next comes lube and I have a homemade formula that I use which is similar to what Dillon sells. I throw the brass in a plastic shopping bag, spray a couple squirts of lube, and toss it around. Not too much and not too little. When you are done the cases should have a slick film on them. Too much lube and it will build up in the die and cause little dents in the shoulder when sizing. Not enough and the case will stick in the die which has happened to me several times over the years. Dillon dies make it easy to remove a stuck case and I use their 223 carbide sizing die which still requires lube but makes life easier.
Sizing is probably the most important step. You want to make sure that you are pushing the shoulder back to the original dimensions or the bolt will not close on the loaded round. You don't want to check just one but at least 10 as some cases stretch more than others. Most of the time, running the die down until it touches the shellholder will do what you need but not always. There is a tool called a case headspace gauge that you can use or the poor mans way is to see if the bolt will close on your rifle when you put the resized case in it.
On military primed cases, the primer pocket is crimped after the primer is pressed in. After the round is fired, getting the spent primer out of these cases isn't a big deal but getting a new primer back in can be a headache. I have removed this crimp a dozen different ways. The best is probably swaging but Hornady makes a low cost tool that is basically a reamer and will cut of the edge of the crimp on the primer pocket.
Next you want to make sure these cases are not too long. Once or even twice fired brass is probably okay but once you get beyond that you are going to have to trim your brass. I setup my dial caliper for the max case length for the caliber and lock it in place. Then I sit and watch a show while I sort out the ones that are beyond the max. I have a Possum Hollow trimmer that I chuck in a drill and use but the Lee trimmer kits are low cost and work well. Another thing to watch out for here is if you are going to crimp your case after seating the bullet. Most dies that I have seen use a roll crimp which works great as long as all of your brass is the same length. If you setup on a case that is 2.210 for instance, and a couple cases later one is run through the die that is 2.20, the crimp die will drive back the mouth of the case and cause it to buckle. I use a taper crimp die and Lee makes a collet die that does not require a consistent case OAL.
From there it is basically the same as loading pistol...seat a primer, drop the powder, seat the bullet, and crimp. When I am done loading I throw them in the tumbler for about 15 minutes to remove the lube. If you are wet tumbling, you can wash the lube off after sizing, and let the cases dry before continuing the loading process.
-Seconds Count. Misses Don't-
So I guess there's range ammo, action match ammo, and precision ammo. Let's set the steps associated with precision ammo aside and just look at the steps in making action match ammo and see what can be reduced.
Deprime pre clean to get clean primer pockets: I consider this a precision step. If others disagree it will be interesting.
Clean brass: primarily you're doing this to not mess up your dies. How shiny the brass is doesn't matter in any step, but since it changes nothing except for how long you leave the brass in the process, it isn't much of a time saver to run dingier brass. You could, legitimately, wipe the neck with a quick swipe of steel wool and then (as a second process) with a rag soaked in mineral spirits, and it would be as good as tumbling for these purposes, but I'm not sure that's easier than the normal tumbling process.
Lube: got to do it no matter what.
Resize: got to do it, and I don't know of any faster way to do it.
Trim: for action match ammo I would probably trim to a consistent length, for range ammo I would just gauge for max and cull long brass -- save it for later when you are going to trim. You still need to get the long brass out.
I don't know that I would chamfer brass that hadn't been trimmed, unless I had trouble seating.
Charge: still going to be a progressive drop, and I'm still going to audit it on the same schedule, because Yosemite Sam.
Seat: no faster way.
Crimp: still going to do it. Otherwise, if you get a badly fed round and it shoves the bullet in the case, it vomits powder all over the inside of your AR.
Gage: I would skip this step.
So unless I missed something, you can skip trimming but still have to gauge case length; and you can skip the final assembled gauge, except set up and audit.
Last edited by JAD; 07-03-2016 at 11:32 PM.
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