Order of steps in reloading?

[derrinx]

I just reloaded my first batch of 200 plinking rounds for my AR.

I deprime on a universal deprimer, wet tumble, spray with a little Hornady one shot lube, resize, trim, chamfer & deburr, prime, charge, and seat bullets. Should I be wet tumbling the cases again after resizing and trimming and deburring to remove the hornady one shot lube?

 

[Gadawg88]

I do and I think most others do as well. I am using corn Cobb media instead of wet tumbling.

 

[mdm]

I clean again after depriming & sizing.

 

[ATLDave]

I don't tumble after re-sizing. I lube by spraying some lube into a ziploc bag (just on the sides of the bag, not building up a pool in the bottom or anything), then squishing cases around in it. That seems to keep lube from getting inside the case. And it avoids an excessive amount of it on the outside. By the time I'm done re-sizing, charging, and seating a bullet, I've usually handled the case enough that there's not much lube left, and a quick wipe with a paper towel takes care of any excess.

 

[derrinx]

For what reason? Do you double clean? Is leaving a little hornady one shot on the case bad for the round?

 

[plmitch]

No, just a quick wipe on a rag.

 

[Bailey Boat]

For what reason? Do you double clean? Is leaving a little hornady one shot on the case bad for the round?

It could be.... The cartridge, as well as the chamber need to be dry to avoid excessive bolt face pressure. If the cartridge still has lube it could slam into the face of the bolt violently and eventually cause increased headspace.

 

[derrinx]

Thanks all,

I'll rinse them off from now on after resizing.

 

[gahunter12]

You also don't want to get the lube on the primers, or contaminate the powder. I load .223 on a progressive, but do my case prep in batches. I also keep my head stamps separated. Here's my steps.

1. Tumble
2. Separate by head stamp
3. Lube w/ Imperial Wax, Resize/Decap
4. Swage if needed
5. Trim
6. Debur/chamfer
7. Tumble
8. Store in freezer bags labeled "ready to load"

I seat new primers, charge, and seat bullets on my Dillon. I usually work on case prep till all cases are ready to load. I usually load in lots of 1k per reload session.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

I don't go to nearly the trouble most of y'all do. I tumble first before decapping or anything. Then I size em and load em. Then I tumble for about 15 minutes to clean off the lube (I SOMETIMES do this. Sometimes I just wipe them off with a rag, depending on how many there are).

Don't overthink it. It aint rocket surgery.
Now when I do tumble I do it for several hours, sometimes leaving the tumbler on overnight. I am vain about the looks of my ammo, though I'm fully aware that it serves no useful purpose other than vanity.

 

[Bhoffman]

I just wipe them off with a rag dampened with alcohol (preferably from a bottle of good bourbon. I can drink whatever is left over and have a good cigar since I am done re-loading.).

 

[DanTheFarmer]

Bhoffman,

Be careful putting that kind of information out there in the Internet World. Cleaning with bourbon!? Pretty soon we'll have a bunch of threads about which is better, Jack Daniels or Jim Beam for cleaning. Or Southern Comfort vs. Canadian Club and we'll have re-ignited the "War of Northern Aggression". The 9mm vs. 45 ACP debate will look like child's play.

Happy New Year All!

Dan

 

[derrinx]

HAHA! I prefer a nice room temperature glass of Macallan 18 year.

 

[TrickyDick]

I tumble, resize/decap, trim, chamfer/deburr, separate by headstamp, swage, prime, charge, seat, crimp.

Now is it ok to tumble (corncob) after the round is loaded?

I would rather do it then, than after I resize.

 

[Hondo 60]

I would never waste good Scotch or Tennessee Sour Mash on ammo.
They don't know the difference!

Also, I prefer mine cold - straight from the fridge - no ice needed to dilute the nectar.

And back to OP -
1. Tumble
2. Lube
3. deprime/resize
4. trim if necessary
5. Chamfer
6. Tumble a 2nd time. - Is it necessary? no, but I'd rather not have the lube near the powder or primers.
Probably not important, but why take the chance?

 

[Weber]

A lot of the steps in the process depends on what press or type of press you are using.

I use progressive, each piece of brass goes to the press twice. Once to prep, and once to load.

My process on my setup:

Tumble dirty brass
Lube brass
Decap
Resize/trim to length
Expand case mouth

Clean lube off, ultra sonic or tumble
Prime
Powder
Bullet seat

Only other step between the two visits to the press is swagging if crimped primer pockets. My 10 year is a champ at it. As I prep the brass he crimps.

One other tip, if you are using oneshot or similar lube, and you decide to switch to the bootleg lanolin lube, you only need a same amount. A little goes a long way, and will get all over things if you over do it. Works great, and I highly recommend it.

 

[gamestalker]

Regardless of which type of tumbling process one uses, yes, I do tumble after resizing. I like to assure my brass is free of lube that could interfere with, or change how the propellant, or primer ignite.

GS

 

[Trent]

HAHA! I prefer a nice room temperature glass of Macallan 18 year.

If we're going to have a war on cleaning solvents, I'm also on "Team Macallan" with you. This is a 20 year old vintage.



Us yankees have better taste buds.

EDIT: Whoops to stay on topic:

I tumble in corn cob media (dirt cheap here in the midwest, if you go to a grainary and buy it by the pallet, it's $5 per 50lb bag...)

Then size.

Then I scrape out the primer pockets with a uniformer (works fine)

Then lube on a pad with RCBS case lube, as I size.

I wear a "dish towel" on my right leg and wipe the cases off as they come out of the press.

Then prime.

Then load.

 

[Rat Robb]

For my bolt .308

1. Tumble (4-6 hours or overnight)
2. Deprime and resized
3. Check length (trim if needed)
4. Prime
5. Powder
6. Seat bullet
7. Enjoy

I place all the cases on a towel once cleaned and spray with case lube, kinda give em a shuffle and they're good to go.

Like stated above, there's no need to turn this into rocket science.

-Robb

 

[cdb1]

I've only been loading for about six months. I called Hornady and was told I definitely did not need to tumble after resizing when using One-Shot, just wipe off the case with a cloth towel. So that is what I do and haven't had any problems. Is there something I should worry about?

My routine is:
Decap with a dedicated Lee decapping tool
Tumble with stainless media in a Thumler's
Lube, resize, debur and chamfer
Prime, load powder and bullet

I decap before tumbling because doing so cleans the inside of the case and the primer hole.

 

[Trent]

Strictly speaking, tumbling / cleaning isn't absolutely necessary.

18 years ago, I used to just take a 30 cal brass bore brush to the inside of my 30 cal rifle cases to get any debris out (dirt, cobwebs, stray pebbles, small mammals), wipe any mud and gunk off, lube, size, and load them. My 45 ammo would just get knocked on the table to dislodge any pebbles, and reloaded, period.

They didn't even start selling tumblers until WAY late in the handloading thing. And liquid cleaners followed quite awhile after THAT.

From late 1800's to what, about the 70's? People didn't really do all the case cleaning prep we do now. And guys like my late Uncle Joe shot a LOT of ammo that was just brushed off and loaded up. In his case, in the early 80's, he started tumbling in media to make them shiney again. But shiney brass was the only real result he was after.

The one thing cleaning does is reduce the amount of maintenance cleaning you have to do on your reloading dies. You get less scratched cases from grit accumulating in the die, have to take them apart less to clean out the interior.

When you are cranking out a batch of 1,000 9x19 or 45 ACP off of a progressive, the last thing you need is the distraction of cleaning out your dies (once you detect scratched cases). It interrupts the process. So I clean anything going to the progressive.

(EDIT: To this day, if I'm pressed for time, I'll skip the tumbling entirely. I shot a high power match with 7.62x51 in November that used un-cleaned Nosler casings, and I won)

 

[Potatohead]

Bhoffman,

Be careful putting that kind of information out there in the Internet World. Cleaning with bourbon!? Pretty soon we'll have a bunch of threads about which is better, Jack Daniels or Jim Beam for cleaning. Or Southern Comfort vs. Canadian Club and we'll have re-ignited the "War of Northern Aggression". The 9mm vs. 45 ACP debate will look like child's play.

Happy New Year All!

Dan

LOL!

Ol' Jim Beam. Makes my stomach hurt just thinkin about it.

 

[eeh]

Pick up brass at the range,clean in corn cob,put in my dillon 650 reload shoot again,pickup brass clean,well you get the idea..I don't like scotch..

Some people make to big a deal of cleaning brass..

 

[SuedePflow]

For rifle (.223):

1) Short tumble to clean
2) Lube/Size and deprime
3) Trim
4) Case gage
5) Ream pocket to remove crimp
6) Chamfer inside edge of the neck
7) Long tumble to polish and remove lube
8) Prime

Then I either store them or load them. I keep a checklist with the above listed on it in each tupperware container full of brass and check off each process so that I don't lose track.

 

[Greg Mercurio]

It could be.... The cartridge, as well as the chamber need to be dry to avoid excessive bolt face pressure. If the cartridge still has lube it could slam into the face of the bolt violently and eventually cause increased headspace.

Bailey Boat: Could you expand on this? I'm scratching my head how this could actually happen. The pressure in the chamber is whatever the cartridge will generate. It's not going to increase because there's lube on the case. I've read other posts on this and other forums about this increased bolt face pressure and I still haven't gotten anyone to explain how this works. :banghead:

If anyone else has some source material I'd really be interested in this as well.