Scratchthejeepguy

I've been noticing that the last three batches of cases I've tumbled have not been very shiny. I shoot on a private range, with a tarp spread out. After each person shoots a stage, we pick up their brass and dump it in their bucket, it stays on the ground for less than 2 minutes usually, and on a clean tarp. Then it sits around in that bucket for a few days or sometimes a couple weeks, and it goes into a homemade wet tumbler with SS pins, two .45 caliber cases full of Lemi shine powder, and a good squirt of dish soap. I tumble about 500 cases at a time, for at least 6 hours... a couple times, have been maybe 10 hours. Then separate and dry. This has been my method for many thousands of cases, over the past few years, resulting in super shiny cases. On .223 and .308, they come out so shiny I could probably use them as a mirror, but on 9mm, they now have a dull gold color to them. They are super clean, inside and out, but not shiny any more. I really only care that their clean, which they are... But it's nice to have them super shiny also. I've noticed this on the past 3 batches that I've tumbled. These are a mixture of multiple firings from me, and OFB. Mostly OFB since we just had a class out here and I got to keep their brass. Different manufacturers. Any tips or ideas? Here's a picture of the difference, both of these have been tumbled the same way, but the pile on the right is from a few batches ago.

I have a Dillon XL650 and have loaded many thousands of rounds on it. Lots of different calibers. It seems that lately, when I've Been loading 9mm, the handle sometimes gets real hard to pull the expander/powder measure die out of the case. So much so that sometimes I get a POP so hard that powder spills from the case. It doesn't happen on every case, but I'd say 75% of them. I wet tumble in SS pins, let dry thoroughly, am using Lee dies, and I've tried cleaning the die too. At first I thought maybe these were getting work hardened from many firings, but I've also noticed it from OFB. Different manufacturers. It may also be with other calibers, but I've been loading lots of 9mm lately so that's what I've been noticing it with. Any tips or ideas?

I have a friend thats looking at this press for use with .223 and on the page linked below they have the following warning which I thought was really odd? "WARNING: Only CCI or Remington brand primers are safe use with this press." http://leeprecision.com/pro-1000-223.html I know that Lee recommends that if you do use other brands that you use their Blast Shield. Seriously...?

I'm a little scared to polish the shell holder since the majority of my cases drop in and out so freely. I don't want them to be too loose in there...

I made a quick video showing my problem...

No, no apparent damage to the cases. I just did a wet tumble with them, I'll grab a shell holder and see if they still stick, then I'll get out the calipers.

I'm letting the lube dry about a minute before I put it in the shell holder. I don't see what cleaning the dies could have to do with the shell holder though... This happens as I'm putting the spent case into the shell holder before it ever goes into the die. I'd try measuring before and after shooting the cases, but I'd have to measure each and every case, and somehow keep track of each case separately since its not every one. It's not just the Israeli stuff that's causing the problem. Those really tough ones have different headstamps.

So I've noticed this many times before, but am getting sick of it and thought I'd ask the experts. Like I said, this has happened before, but with range brass that I figured had been reloaded a few times maybe. But a few days ago, my buddy came out with his AR and shot 120 rounds of .223 and 5.56 store bought, factory ammo. I don't remember the brand, but they weren't anything crazy or anything, and were probably bought at Cabelas or Gander Mountain. I think some of it was some white box Israeli stuff, and I don't remember the other stuff. He let me have all the brass, since I took the time to root through the weeds to find it. I found almost all 120 cases. Like I said this has happened before with my 3 rifles, so I don't think it's a "his gun" problem. For background, here's how I reload my .223/5.56: 1. I pick up my range brass, then bring them home and toss them in the vibratory tumbler with corn cob media for about 2 hours to clean em up a little. 2. Then I separate in one of those plastic rolling seperators that most of you have. 3. Once they're cleaned up a bit from the corn cob, I line them up, lay them out, and spray them with hornady lube. 4. Then I full length re-size and deprime in one step on the Lee single stage press. 5. Then I wet tumble in SS pins for a few hours. 6. Then let them dry. 7. Run them through my Dillon XL650 the rest of the way. 8. Shoot then repeat.... My problem is with step number 4. The Lee shell plate holder. Of the about 120 cases that I just recently did, which I KNOW we're just once fired, some of them are hard to go in and out of that little shell holder. I'd say about 10-15 of them were noticeably hard to get in and out. And about 5 of those 10-15 were so hard, I pulled the shell holder out of the press with the case, and I had to use two hands to separate the case from the shell holder! The majority of them slide in and out no problem, and I've never noticed a problem with other calibers. Any ideas as to why, or does anyone else have this problem? Out of spec shell holder maybe.....?

Not sure, haven't weighed my brass, but I have 5 pounds of pins. I think the Thumlers Tumbler can only spin 15 pounds, I'm sure mine can spin much more, but I'm not sure how many I need to be effective.

DING DING DING! I looked and the motor is a Bodine. It says: Bodine Motor Company Model NSI-12RG 115V 75A 1/50 HP 1725 RPM Continuous Duty 120:1 gear ratio 32 Torque 14 RPM Distance between trucks are 6" on one side and 5-3/4" on the other. They're a little crooked since the wheels that touch the cooler need to be a little higher than the cup side. Hope it helps.

I was thinking about leaving it and cutting a slot for it in the cup... It would even help with grabbing the cooler and turning it, but decided there was enough friction to hold it in place and it would look cleaner without it, less chance of breaking the spigot off too.Plus I would rather drain it just by pouring from the top. Faster, easier, I wouldn't have to hold the spigot open the entire drain time, and no worrying about getting the pins stuck in the spigot valve. Also, I dont have to worry about the .22LR brass getting stuck in the spigot hole.... Hee hee

Thanks all, yes the cooler just fits in snug to the cup. Hasn't started slipping yet and I don't see it happening. I like being able to remove it quickly and easily, but if it does start slipping, I suppose a couple of wraps with some 2" wide blue painters tape should do the trick.

I finally took my homemade tumbler apart and painted it. I also made a quick video of it.

Will these same blind reloaders also be shooting? Yes, but its ok.... They shoot by Braille.

I know that: Winchester SPP are Red Winchester SRP are Green Winchester LRP are ? CCI SPP are Yellow CCI SRP are ? CCI LRP are ? Anybody have any other colors for me?

Thanks guys, I'll get some factory loads again, pull them apart, and see if I can reload them and produce good results. BTW... I'm using a Dillon 650 XL and using their powder measure.

So I’ve been reloading for a little over a year now. I started with a Lee Anniversary kit, but quickly outgrew it and jumped to a Dillon 650 XL. I love it by the way… More so for 9mm than anything else. I’ve also been loading .223 with it and have a few general reloading questions, dealing with .223 cartridges. On some of my .223 brass, after I deprime and resize the case, the primer pocket has a little “ring” around the pocket, and the pocket is too small for my primers. I’ve heard the term “primer pocket swaging tool” and know what it looks like and I assume this tool makes that primer pocket a little larger by “reaming” it out to size. I’m pretty sure this is what’s needed but the term “swaging” is what’s throwing me off. Shouldn’t it be called a “primer pocket reamer” instead? That is what it does correct? Sometimes, I’ll put my depriming/resizing die in the single stage press, and deprime and resize the brass as part of my case prep for a batch. On some cases, the brass seems to become almost stuck in the shellholder as if it’s just a touch too big. I have to slide the shellholder out, and pull the case out with some force. Is this normal to have that much variance in the size of the case bottom?

I've been reloading for a little over a year now, but I'm still having a problem getting accuracy from my reloads. I seem to be more accurate shooting factory Hornady SP’s than any bullet I’ve reloaded. (I can easily get sub MOA from them) So far, I’ve only shot 55 grain bullets from my 1/9 twist bull barreled AR, about 4 different kinds… some Noslers, a few different Hornadys, and one other brand I cant remember. The most accurate were the Hornady V-Max, (almost 2 MOA) but they were still not as accurate as store bought Hornady SP’s. My question is, what exactly is the process for making accurate ammo? I know you can weigh each bullet, group them by like weights, and reload the closest weights, also do that for cases. Make sure the cases are the same length, clean the primer pockets, and then shoot through a chronograph, but there’s where I get lost. Am I looking for a certain FPS to get accurate ammo, or do I just need to get above a minimum FPS, then keep trying different recipes until I find an accurate one? So how do I use a Chronograph to make more accurate ammo?

Im looking for opinions here... I'm thinking about getting an ultrasonic cleaner for cleaning my brass, and also for cleaning pistol frames, bolts, carriers etc... I already have a media tumbler, and it does an ok job for my brass. Then about 6 months ago, I bought the stainless steel pins and was planning on getting a rotary tumbler for them, but haven't got one yet... Now I'm thinking about selling the SS pins and just getting an US cleaner instead since I don't even have the rotary tumbler yet, that way I can use it for cleaning parts too since I'll be doing more gun smithing now. My question is: I know that the USC solution is good for only so many washes. Do I need to dump out the solution after every time I clean, or can I get a couple washes for brass, or gun parts, from each "batch" of solution? And when I do dump it out, how do I dispose of it?

Thanks for the advice. It sounds like it probably won't be a catastrophic danger to me or my firearm so I won't keep myself up at night worrying about it. I'll just keep an extra eye out for it next time, and also think about getting one of those shell sorters.

Not sure how... But it did.

I loaded one with no powder, to see if it would take the bullet fine, it did. And I know it would fit in the mag fine. Just not sure what would happen if I shot it... And don't really want to find out...

I have a private range. I don't have a 380 gun. My buddy does though and we try our hardest to grab the cases so I don't have to seperate them later. Just in case though, I always stand them all up on the table, use a ruler to slide them around, and look for shorties mixed in with the 9mm. I find about one 380 case, for every hundred 9mm cases and seperate them out. I have two questions for you.... 1. how do you guys seperate these two calibers? 2. Tonight I was loading 9mm on my 650XL and I saw one case that looked like it had a higher level of powder in it. It had already been checked by the powder check system and no buzzer sounded. I took it out weighed it, and the weight was correct, then I realized it wasnt a higher level of powder, but a shorter level of case.... A stinking 380 snuck past me! I'm glad I always watch my powder level but it got me to thinking what would happen if I missed this one. Anyone know?

Thanks for the replies guys. I'll keep it in mind in my course design.

Good to hear I'm not the only one....