meketrefe
.450/400 Nitro Ex
Oh! that is a great price then. Somewhere I saw $380 that might be other version or MRSP.
Time/effort to reload .223/5.56
- Thread starter Checkers
- Start date
Checkers
9mm
Yeah it really surprised me too
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000PD9YTU/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=AEQEF76SO5P2M
BDSKJCHRIS
.40 S&W
honestly, you could skip step 4 and jump straight to step 5...wet tumbling is sort of a time saver, (shorter tumble time, a little bit of work to separate and dry). inspecting for damage happens every time you touch the brass, (deprime, as you lay them out to dry, when you resize,l and when you trim)
i don't wait until i need ammo to reload, i do the steps whenever i find myself having some free time to occupy. at the moment i have about 1,000 pieces of fully processed brass on hand as well as 500 or so that just need trimming to be good to go.
i do everything on a single stage hornady press, i buy plinking ammo in bulk and reload it as match ammo. bullet for bullet you save a decent amount of money, but realistically you don't save a penny and you shoot a lot more.
meketrefe
.450/400 Nitro Ex
There is nothing like sonic cleaning but if you don't have one here is
a simple and effective method...
Initial Collection and Cleaning
Dump all your dirty, unclassified range brass into an open plastic container.
You might have it more or less together from same range session but also form
random pickup with all sort of things mixed including pistol and other rifle calibers mixed.
Just remove the obvious any steel cases, small rocks, tree leaves, branches, staples, paper, etc...
Then just dump all that in a large plastic jar like those 1 gallon jars from Mayo or salad dressing.
Add a bit of simple green and hot water all the way to cover all brass.
Give it a few minutes of vigorous shakes and let it sit for 10-15 minutes.
Then go back shake it a bit more and let them sit for a few more minutes.
This will depends on how dirty the brass is. you will see all the gunk go away.
After that open the things and drain the water. Shake it as you drain it.
Move up and down to empty all cases and drain well but not too worry because
the rinsing just started.
Fill it with hot water again. Shake it a bit more. up and down and across shake shake shake.
Then empty again.
Now put a tad of baking soda (2/3 full tea spoons or eye ball it) and then fill with water again.
Shake it well for a few minutes and let it sit for a few more.
While you let this sit between shakes you might be preparing next batch or sorting
an already dried brass.
Ok so take the bin one last time and give it a big shake. then rinse all the water.
Might want to fill it again with hot water for a final rinse. Give it a nice shake.
Rinse it again and shake it well make sure most of the water is out the cases.
Drying
Now take an old towel and dump all the brass there on the floor on top of the
towel. Grab the towel and wrap the brass on the towel and give it a nice shake
like a hamaca front and back. Rug with the towel and then in a large and shallow
cardboard box dump all the brass.
If you put this brass in the sun it will dry out in a couple of hours but more will not hurt
as it needs to evaporate the water iniside the primers.
Alternatively in the winter put this on top of a furnace vent where is warm (not burning)
and let the heat do its work.
The brass will be very clean. It will not be the shiniest brass but it will be free of any
gunk, dust, dirt, etc... Unlike tumbled brass will also be free of tumbling dust that
is a killer for the dies.
Sorting brass
Now you can prepare smaller containers with labels to store by caliber, head stamp, year,
etc... as you consider suitable for your storage and use.
From those smaller sorting containers you might move to larger ones for storing once
fired clean brass.
After this you can pick up specific containers for preparation like depriming, resizing and
and trimming. Rifle brass you don't measure just trim it to a common length and some
might trim and some not. it is more important to trim a bit shorter and to be consistent
than skip untrimmed brass over the max length. Every brand will give you an average
whether is new or once fired.
Sizing and Prepping
You now have X dies that will not need trimming as they will prevent the neck to stretch in the
bushing while resizing but I would always trim them the first time to start with my consistent length.
It is also the first time you get rid fo the military crimp and give it a nice bevel so priming
is easier. It is also a good time to clean the primer pockets with a brush. The
motorized units with multiple heads help a lot to speed up this process.
After prepping the brass you might put it back in storage in batches and it is actually
a good thing for long term because the oil from the sizing will help preserve the casings
to a certain degree.
2nd Wash
When is time to use that batch of brass or whether it is from this week or 3 years ago,
it is a good ideal to give it another wash. This is just a fast wash in hot water with
some greaser agent. Try dishwasher soap or even the simple green again. no much is needed.
Rinse again like before and put on the sun or whatever source for drying.
Labeling Method
Make sure you label everything. masking tape is great for this and inexpensive.
A good method might be to indicate the caliber, headstamp, year, nr. firings, last trim.
For example I have 1 gallon plastic containers with a small label like this:
223 LCn 07-10 / x1 / CU. --> this for me means 223/5.56 LAke City NAto form 2007 to 2010 years / x1 fired / Clean Unprepared
9mm Federal 15 / x2 / CR --> this for me means 9mm Luger 2015 / Twice fired / Clean and Resized.
These are just examples.
I use the wash steps above with the sonic cleaner and sometimes I do it by hand a first
wash when the brass is very dirty picked up from mud and sand.
Sort then clean
So why sorting after cleaning?
Very simple, the brass is clean and easy to see to sort. Also the containers I fill out can
go in the case feeder of the progressive press for a first pass before even trimming and priming.
I just setup the recapping and resizing die and then come down as fast as I can pull the
handle that is the fastest way to feed brass to a machine even for just one step operation.
Once you have setup the brass feeder the rest is a painless operation vs. a single stage system.
I think this step only pays for any reliable automatic feeder even if one doesn't prime or anything else
in the first pass.
This allows me to pickup the batch and start trimming with a motorized unit that is also
the fastest way to trim if you have a 3 way cutter.
For pistol one might not care about clean primers and don't need trimming (very rare) so
might go for the whole reload operation of the progressive press in one shot. Bullet feeders
will make it even easier although it could be the time to take a final peek inside the case
before seating.
The key to success is automation. Automation leads to consistency. Simple is good.
No much is needed to get on with reloading and proper brass preparation. Don't even need
a tumbler and if you know someone with a restaurant you will have an endless supply of
nice plastic bins for cleaning and storage. I also use the yogurt and regular card boxes for
segregated brass in smaller batches. Once you have a few thousand cases cleaned and trimmed
you might have enough for the rest of your life. 500 cases or quality 308 brass might last the entire
service life of a 308 bolt action. I have lapua cases that I have reloaded up to 50 times so
lapua might be the cheapest brass ever after-all. Annealing will be required to make it last
and the frequency depends of the caliber at hand.
I hope this makes sense.
a simple and effective method...
Initial Collection and Cleaning
Dump all your dirty, unclassified range brass into an open plastic container.
You might have it more or less together from same range session but also form
random pickup with all sort of things mixed including pistol and other rifle calibers mixed.
Just remove the obvious any steel cases, small rocks, tree leaves, branches, staples, paper, etc...
Then just dump all that in a large plastic jar like those 1 gallon jars from Mayo or salad dressing.
Add a bit of simple green and hot water all the way to cover all brass.
Give it a few minutes of vigorous shakes and let it sit for 10-15 minutes.
Then go back shake it a bit more and let them sit for a few more minutes.
This will depends on how dirty the brass is. you will see all the gunk go away.
After that open the things and drain the water. Shake it as you drain it.
Move up and down to empty all cases and drain well but not too worry because
the rinsing just started.
Fill it with hot water again. Shake it a bit more. up and down and across shake shake shake.
Then empty again.
Now put a tad of baking soda (2/3 full tea spoons or eye ball it) and then fill with water again.
Shake it well for a few minutes and let it sit for a few more.
While you let this sit between shakes you might be preparing next batch or sorting
an already dried brass.
Ok so take the bin one last time and give it a big shake. then rinse all the water.
Might want to fill it again with hot water for a final rinse. Give it a nice shake.
Rinse it again and shake it well make sure most of the water is out the cases.
Drying
Now take an old towel and dump all the brass there on the floor on top of the
towel. Grab the towel and wrap the brass on the towel and give it a nice shake
like a hamaca front and back. Rug with the towel and then in a large and shallow
cardboard box dump all the brass.
If you put this brass in the sun it will dry out in a couple of hours but more will not hurt
as it needs to evaporate the water iniside the primers.
Alternatively in the winter put this on top of a furnace vent where is warm (not burning)
and let the heat do its work.
The brass will be very clean. It will not be the shiniest brass but it will be free of any
gunk, dust, dirt, etc... Unlike tumbled brass will also be free of tumbling dust that
is a killer for the dies.
Sorting brass
Now you can prepare smaller containers with labels to store by caliber, head stamp, year,
etc... as you consider suitable for your storage and use.
From those smaller sorting containers you might move to larger ones for storing once
fired clean brass.
After this you can pick up specific containers for preparation like depriming, resizing and
and trimming. Rifle brass you don't measure just trim it to a common length and some
might trim and some not. it is more important to trim a bit shorter and to be consistent
than skip untrimmed brass over the max length. Every brand will give you an average
whether is new or once fired.
Sizing and Prepping
You now have X dies that will not need trimming as they will prevent the neck to stretch in the
bushing while resizing but I would always trim them the first time to start with my consistent length.
It is also the first time you get rid fo the military crimp and give it a nice bevel so priming
is easier. It is also a good time to clean the primer pockets with a brush. The
motorized units with multiple heads help a lot to speed up this process.
After prepping the brass you might put it back in storage in batches and it is actually
a good thing for long term because the oil from the sizing will help preserve the casings
to a certain degree.
2nd Wash
When is time to use that batch of brass or whether it is from this week or 3 years ago,
it is a good ideal to give it another wash. This is just a fast wash in hot water with
some greaser agent. Try dishwasher soap or even the simple green again. no much is needed.
Rinse again like before and put on the sun or whatever source for drying.
Labeling Method
Make sure you label everything. masking tape is great for this and inexpensive.
A good method might be to indicate the caliber, headstamp, year, nr. firings, last trim.
For example I have 1 gallon plastic containers with a small label like this:
223 LCn 07-10 / x1 / CU. --> this for me means 223/5.56 LAke City NAto form 2007 to 2010 years / x1 fired / Clean Unprepared
9mm Federal 15 / x2 / CR --> this for me means 9mm Luger 2015 / Twice fired / Clean and Resized.
These are just examples.
I use the wash steps above with the sonic cleaner and sometimes I do it by hand a first
wash when the brass is very dirty picked up from mud and sand.
Sort then clean
So why sorting after cleaning?
Very simple, the brass is clean and easy to see to sort. Also the containers I fill out can
go in the case feeder of the progressive press for a first pass before even trimming and priming.
I just setup the recapping and resizing die and then come down as fast as I can pull the
handle that is the fastest way to feed brass to a machine even for just one step operation.
Once you have setup the brass feeder the rest is a painless operation vs. a single stage system.
I think this step only pays for any reliable automatic feeder even if one doesn't prime or anything else
in the first pass.
This allows me to pickup the batch and start trimming with a motorized unit that is also
the fastest way to trim if you have a 3 way cutter.
For pistol one might not care about clean primers and don't need trimming (very rare) so
might go for the whole reload operation of the progressive press in one shot. Bullet feeders
will make it even easier although it could be the time to take a final peek inside the case
before seating.
The key to success is automation. Automation leads to consistency. Simple is good.
No much is needed to get on with reloading and proper brass preparation. Don't even need
a tumbler and if you know someone with a restaurant you will have an endless supply of
nice plastic bins for cleaning and storage. I also use the yogurt and regular card boxes for
segregated brass in smaller batches. Once you have a few thousand cases cleaned and trimmed
you might have enough for the rest of your life. 500 cases or quality 308 brass might last the entire
service life of a 308 bolt action. I have lapua cases that I have reloaded up to 50 times so
lapua might be the cheapest brass ever after-all. Annealing will be required to make it last
and the frequency depends of the caliber at hand.
I hope this makes sense.
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