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The order of operations for Brass Cleaning and prepping for 223 cases


Just_Me

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Hi guys, This is my first post, I am a longtime member of other collector forums under the same user name.  Im a 100% newbie that just bought a Dillon XL 650 and am getting ready to reload my first few cartridges.  I am reloading for accuracy, not plinking.  

 

After researching and reading, I am pretty confused about what the "best practices" are in this field for prepping 223 case.

 

I have the following equipment:

1. Large rock tumblers (Lortone brand from my rock hobby)

2. Hornady Sonic Cleaner

3. Franklin Vibratory cleaner

4. Walnut Media (fine)

5. Manual deprimer, case trimmers, flash hole cleaners, etc

6. Dillon Super Swage

 

 

Before I toss my cartridges in the case feeder, I was going to do the folllowing:

 

1. Run brass through the sonic cleaner (so that i dont foul up the walnut media as much)

2. Sun Dry for 3-4 hours

3. Run brass for 3-4 hours through the rotary tumblers dry (no wax, or additives)

4. Deprime the brass, and clean the flash holes.  

5. Trim the brass (chamfer and debur)

6. Separate and swage the brass.

7. Ready for reloading

 

What has been making me hesitate is that I am unsure about doing the cleaning, before I clean the flash hole, swage the primer pocket, and trim the brass.  I worry about brass shavings and dirt that will surface as a result of all of the case prepping after the cleaning.   

 

Thanks for your help, and I'm looking forward to learning more from this group.   

 

 

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I assume you also lube then resize in Step 4 when you deprime the brass.

 

I've never used a sonic cleaner for brass.  I use a vibratory cleaner with a little NuFinish car polish and mineral spirits mixed into the walnut media.  I also do not need to run it all that long,  I usually set the timer for 45 minutes and check.  If necessary (rarely) I run the tumbler an additional 30 minutes.

 

So far no problems with brass shavings after trimming and chamfering.  If you do clean the brass a second time (after depriming) be sure to have a primer decapping tool in station 1.  

 

Bill

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Thanks for the tips Bill.  I was worried about using Nu-finish because I thought it would gum up the media,  but it sounds like most folks don't see a problem with it.  

 

I was manually depriming with a handheld tool, so I wasn't going to lube until it's ready to go to the progressive press. 

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Can't believe someone didn't jump in here and set you straight...is everyone a pistol shooter?

 

For rifle brass, you need to do the following (in this order[1]):

  • Clean the brass
  • Lube the brass
  • Resize the brass (many will decap in this step)
  • Trim the brass
  • Clean again (to remove the lube)
  • Prime
  • Charge
  • Seat
  • Crimp 

[1] Some will decap first, then wet tumble so the primer pockets get clean and so they don't have to worry about water in the primers/pockets.  If you're going to decap first, use a universal decapper die. 

 

If you have military brass (crimped primer pockets), you'll need to swage or ream the primer pocket.  My own procedure is to dry tumble the brass, lube, resize (dedicated tool head with just a sizing die in position 1, rest of the positions empty), swage, trim, dry tumble again, (swap to a tool head that has a universal decapper in pos 1 to make sure there's no media stuck in the flash hole, powder die in 2, seater in 3, crimp in 4) clear flash hole, prime, charge, seat, crimp.  I setup a little production line for the prep steps, so that I size one, swage it, move it to the powered trimmer, while it's trimming, size and swage another, etc.

 

For general plinking/short range competition loading, you really don't need to clean the primer pockets.  If you're not wet tumbling with pins, I wouldn't bother.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I deprime my brass, then wet-tumble it in stainless, then rinse & dry before starting "the processing".

 

Then I ream the primer pockets if needed, size the cases, then trim & chamfer the case mouths. My final step is to tumble in walnut & NuFinish for a couple of hours. Following this, I bag them in ziplock bags & store until I'm ready to load them. When loading, I don't size them again, but do use my universal decapping die in the first position to make certain I didn't miss any tumbling media in the flash holes.

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On 5/12/2017 at 5:21 PM, njl said:

Can't believe someone didn't jump in here and set you straight...is everyone a pistol shooter?

 

For rifle brass, you need to do the following (in this order[1]):

  • Clean the brass
  • Lube the brass
  • Resize the brass (many will decap in this step)
  • Trim the brass
  • Clean again (to remove the lube)
  • Prime
  • Charge
  • Seat
  • Crimp 

[1] Some will decap first, then wet tumble so the primer pockets get clean and so they don't have to worry about water in the primers/pockets.  If you're going to decap first, use a universal decapper die. 

 

If you have military brass (crimped primer pockets), you'll need to swage or ream the primer pocket.  My own procedure is to dry tumble the brass, lube, resize (dedicated tool head with just a sizing die in position 1, rest of the positions empty), swage, trim, dry tumble again, (swap to a tool head that has a universal decapper in pos 1 to make sure there's no media stuck in the flash hole, powder die in 2, seater in 3, crimp in 4) clear flash hole, prime, charge, seat, crimp.  I setup a little production line for the prep steps, so that I size one, swage it, move it to the powered trimmer, while it's trimming, size and swage another, etc.

 

For general plinking/short range competition loading, you really don't need to clean the primer pockets.  If you're not wet tumbling with pins, I wouldn't bother.

 

Pretty much spot on, but a couple of additions:

 

I segregate the brass I shoot from any range brass.  Range brass and once fired purchased gets an extra step to verify its decent as you never know what you pick up off the ground or whats in that bag you bought.


Range/Once Fired brass extra steps:

Decap on a single stage so you actually inspect the brass, not to mention you dont want to dump a bunch of dirt and crap into your press as a single stage is alot easier to clean.  The $30 Lee C press works wonders for this operation.

Decrimp everything!  I cut my crimps with the RCBS tool, but to each their own.  This ensures that you have consistent brass on the loading cycle and it takes less time to decrimp it all than it does to inspect it.

Wash brass in hot soapy water, rinse and dry to get all the funk from the range off it, dirt, ect, so your sizing die doesnt get beat up.

At this point this brass is ready to run with my brass that that I know has come from my guns.

 

Normal method:

Spray with iso/lanolin sizing lube (12 to 1 ratio iso to lanolin oil) and let dry

Setup press with Lee decapper and sizing die

Run brass thru the process, decap and size

Trim to length with your choice of tool.  I prefer a WTF2, but whatever floats your boat

Tumble in whatever method you like which will remove burrs from trimming and remove sizing lube

Load!

 

Optional stuff:

Get a spare head for your 650, and set it up with a Lee decapper and sizing die of your choice, no dicking around with setup

Buy a SwageIt for your 650.  All reports I have seen report no extra wear on press and it works very well

Buy a trimmer for your press and batch everything in a single process using decapper, trimmer, sizing or M-die in that order 

 

I SSTL wet tumble, but walnut and corn cob work just fine.  Once again, whatever you like.

 

Photo of Lee C press with auto ejector

IMAG0096_zpsvl6wpofq.jpg

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On Friday, May 12, 2017 at 6:21 PM, njl said:

Can't believe someone didn't jump in here and set you straight...is everyone a pistol shooter?

 

For rifle brass, you need to do the following (in this order[1]):

  • Clean the brass
  • Lube the brass
  • Resize the brass (many will decap in this step)
  • Trim the brass
  • Clean again (to remove the lube)
  • Prime
  • Charge
  • Seat
  • Crimp 

I'm a 550 fanboy and this is the same way I do it for my 550.

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  • 3 weeks later...

wow. lot of different ways people prep brass.   I have a couple questions about what you are loading for???  is this for a bolt rifle or a semi-auto?  The only difference will be when to use a full length sizer.   If you are going only for accuracy, then swaging is out the door as you shouldn't be using range brass or military brass.   The brass to use when I was shooting NRA High Power was  Winchester brass.   Every thing  I loaded on was and is a Redding T-7 press, never use a progressive.  this comment will start all the hate talk towards me.  if you are going to use range brass, then by all means us a progressive.   The trimmer I use a gracey trimmer, just like a pencil sharpener.  worth every penny.  The dies I use are Redding Type S neck and Full length dies.

 

Bolt rifle:

1.  spray lube inside of a large zip top bag and then put brass into bag and mix brass to get coated, 

2.  size brass.  shell should be fire formed to you chamber.  neck size only.  I can normally get about 4 to 5 reloads before I Have to full length size and it is when the bolt get hard to close on a loaded round.  time to full length size

3. with my 6.5 x 284 and 308 I would anneal the cases before I full length size, with a 223, I will run a dental pick inside of the case to see if the brass was starting to pull apart above the webbing of the case.   Once you start full length size, it really stretches the brass and you tend to have to trim the brass every time you reload it,  with semi auto, you have no choice but full length every time to keep it functioning all the time.

4. clean brass in a fine walnut media.

5. trim brass after a full length sizing.  with a neck sizing the brass wont grow in legth.

6.  if you are real serious about accuracy, then at this point you will weigh the brass and separate is by weight as they should have the same inside volume therefore the same power capacity. same velocity when the gun goes bang. etc.

7.  hand prime brass

8.  drop the charge into cases.  I use 40 or 45 bullet holder from box 50 round box of ammo for my loading block.

9.  seat you bullet with your favorite bullet seater.

 

semi auto

 step 3. full length size every time

step 5.  trim brass every time.

 

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For AR ammo, do yourself a favor and get a Dillon trimmer. Set it up on a dedicated processing head for your 650. Clean and lube the brass, then;

Station1 - full length resize and decap

Station 3 - trimmer

Station 5 - m-die to prep case mouth for bullet. (I use the 1050 swag hold down die, same process)

 

Dry tumble to remove lube. Swag primer pockets if using mil brass.

 

Then set up a loading head. In station 1 use a universal decap die to remove any tumbling media stuck in the primer pocket, and prime, powder, seat bullet normally. Eta; do a slight crimp here with a taper crimp die to remove the case mouth expansion that the m-die puts in.

 

For my precision bolt gun I use basically the same process after annealing, but use a neck sizer/decap in 1, a redding body die in 3 that bumps the shoulder .002, and a lee quick trim (manual trimmer) in 4. For the loading head I have nothing in 1, prime normally, and I hand trickle each powder drop, and use a Redding precision seat die...Runnout is non-existent.

 

The whole process is much quicker than using a single stage, and If David Tubb can use a 650 for his precision loading, so can I...

jj

 

Edited by RiggerJJ
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The name of the game in loading for auto loaders is "get er done". Handling brass multiple times wastes time. Like using a pencil sharpener type trimmer, or a drill mounted one. It takes extra time and effort (and makes your fingers sore) handling the cases. With a press mounted trimmer things go waaaay faster and you don't get carpal tunnel.

jj

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