Cuz Posted July 5, 2021 Share Posted July 5, 2021 I'm on my way to using two passes through my RL1100 press to load 9mm. I was just wondering if the first pass to decap, swage, and size the brass should be done before or after cleaning the brass. I tumble dry with corn cob media, if that matters. I was thinking of doing it first, then cleaning the brass so the primer pockets get cleaned, but then I figured that would get the press pretty dirty since my brass is mostly range pickup from outdoors. What are you guys doing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Neill Posted July 5, 2021 Share Posted July 5, 2021 It's nice to have clean brass when sizing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George16 Posted July 5, 2021 Share Posted July 5, 2021 Clean it first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lastcat Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 2 hours ago, Cuz said: I was thinking of doing it first, then cleaning the brass so the primer pockets get cleaned, but then I figured that would get the press pretty dirty since my brass is mostly range pickup from outdoors. What are you guys doing? Same here. Tumble in Corn Media, with spent primers still in the cases (1 1/2hrs). Resize and remove spent primers. Wet tumble. Once I get to this point, I store the cleaned and sized brass until I am ready to reload (about 2k ready to go). Then in the press, primer, bellmouth, powder, bullet, seating and Lee Full Length Die (just enough to remove the bellmouth) and into Ammo Boxes of 100. On the shelf I currently have 635 rounds ready for July. Then gradually reload 200-300 at a time to get the round count up for Aug. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
outerlimits Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 6 minutes ago, Lastcat said: Same here. Tumble in Corn Media, with spent primers still in the cases (1 1/2hrs). Resize and remove spent primers. Wet tumble. Once I get to this point, I store the cleaned and sized brass until I am ready to reload (about 2k ready to go). Then in the press, primer, bellmouth, powder, bullet, seating and Lee Full Length Die (just enough to remove the bellmouth) and into Ammo Boxes of 100. On the shelf I currently have 635 rounds ready for July. Then gradually reload 200-300 at a time to get the round count up for Aug. yep-do the same. brass goes into walnut hulls tumbler to clean up. then is deprimed and resized in a single stage press (lee challenger with the quick change breech lock system. rifle brass also then gets primer pocket swaged and trimmed to length. finally, it all goes into a wet tumbler. end result is all brass is ready to load later on a 650. piece of cake at that point. plus, you can also use the M die for the rifle brass if yer using a mister bullet feeder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoSteel Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 Clean it first. Your dies / machine operation will Thank You. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuz Posted July 6, 2021 Author Share Posted July 6, 2021 Yeah, the more I thought about it, cleaning it first makes much more sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnnymazz Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 I clean the brass for 1 hour in corn cobb. Process brass with a full length resize. Wet clean in ultrasonic commercial machine for 12 minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnnymazz Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 Shiny new all primed ready for powder and bullets. Its a 5 step process for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boatdoc173 Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 (edited) I use corn cob media(usually dillons) and nufinish car polish BEFORE any brass gets near my reloader. a day before I start reloading, I spray hornady one shot lube into a plastic bag, load in some clean brass and give it a good shake to coat the outside of the brass. even though the cases dry off by spraying them a day in advance, the dies tend to pick up carbon and dirt anyway. Every few thousand rounds, I clean out the dies of the gunk that accumulates I clean brass while reloading. it is the only multi tasking I can do by the way, why 2 passes through the reloader? --just curious Edited July 6, 2021 by boatdoc173 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuz Posted July 6, 2021 Author Share Posted July 6, 2021 2 hours ago, Johnnymazz said: Shiny new all primed ready for powder and bullets. Its a 5 step process for me. When do you prime the brass? is it a separate step all by itself? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuz Posted July 6, 2021 Author Share Posted July 6, 2021 1 hour ago, boatdoc173 said: by the way, why 2 passes through the reloader? --just curious Im planning to use two passes because the primers don’t always get ejected which causes the whole loading process to keep getting interrupted. With a second toolhead I will process brass with multiple sizing and decapping dies to make the actual loading process go much smoother. I am thinking that sometime next year I will automate my press, and preprocessing makes everything run better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sigarmsp226 Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 (edited) Cuz - I am right there with you on your future plans. I too plan on automating my RL1100 next year - that is why I decided to purchase the extra toolheads now so that I will have everything I need.. I will tell you that on Friday of last week I switched out my Lee “U” die in station two for a Dillon SPRING loaded 9mm depriming/resizing die. I have run the Dillon spring loaded depriming/resizing die on my 650 for 10+ years with zero case gauging issues (Wilson single and Hundo 100 unit)….I ran 1000 rds. total on Saturday/Sunday/Monday on the RL1100 without a single primer draw back and I had three rounds that did not gauge out of the 1000 rounds I loaded. When running the Lee “U” die (sharpened pin) I would average about 1-2 rounds per hundred that would experience primer draw-back. When I automate I will go to a two pass process for sure but for now since I am still pulling that handle I will work to managing a one pass process - at least for now….Mark Edited July 6, 2021 by Sigarmsp226 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
18111811 Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 3 hours ago, Johnnymazz said: Shiny new all primed ready for powder and bullets. Its a 5 step process for me. where did you get that giant mesh basket? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve RA Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 probably came with the " ultrasonic commercial machine". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2tuf4u Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 I decap only in 1st pass. Brass is then wet cleaned and dried All other steps in 2nd pass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boomstick303 Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 10 minutes ago, 2tuf4u said: I decap only in 1st pass. How dirty does the press get during decapping before the brass is washed? Been giving consideration to de-priming and roll sizing before tumbling the brass to clean it. Worried about how much grit gets into the press from dirty brass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dranoel Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 22 hours ago, Guy Neill said: It's nice to have clean brass when sizing. Your dies and your brass are emphatically nodding their agreement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnnymazz Posted July 7, 2021 Share Posted July 7, 2021 19 hours ago, 18111811 said: where did you get that giant mesh basket? Joe sells them as an option Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnnymazz Posted July 7, 2021 Share Posted July 7, 2021 13 hours ago, Boomstick303 said: How dirty does the press get during decapping before the brass is washed? Been giving consideration to de-priming and roll sizing before tumbling the brass to clean it. Worried about how much grit gets into the press from dirty brass. Not bad. I have a Cp2000 for that stage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnnymazz Posted July 7, 2021 Share Posted July 7, 2021 21 hours ago, Cuz said: When do you prime the brass? is it a separate step all by itself? Yes, I have a seperate toolhead for that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnnymazz Posted July 7, 2021 Share Posted July 7, 2021 22 hours ago, boatdoc173 said: I use corn cob media(usually dillons) and nufinish car polish BEFORE any brass gets near my reloader. a day before I start reloading, I spray hornady one shot lube into a plastic bag, load in some clean brass and give it a good shake to coat the outside of the brass. even though the cases dry off by spraying them a day in advance, the dies tend to pick up carbon and dirt anyway. Every few thousand rounds, I clean out the dies of the gunk that accumulates I clean brass while reloading. it is the only multi tasking I can do by the way, why 2 passes through the reloader? --just curious Yes the first pass is primer only. I full length resize on my Cp2000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnnymazz Posted July 7, 2021 Share Posted July 7, 2021 My Ultrasonic is from Infante. They sell to the military and police departments. It will set you back $1,500.00 Well worth the coin, blows away the China junk machines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sigarmsp226 Posted July 7, 2021 Share Posted July 7, 2021 Johnny - That is one impressive US cleaning machine….When I saw your earlier photo of the volume of brass you pictured I also asked myself - what size US machine can clean this much brass at once…Now I know….Thanks for sharing….Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuz Posted July 7, 2021 Author Share Posted July 7, 2021 3 hours ago, Johnnymazz said: My Ultrasonic is from Infante. They sell to the military and police departments. It will set you back $1,500.00 Well worth the coin, blows away the China junk machines. Does that thing hold more than Dillons large size tumbler? Very impressive. I definitely can’t afford to hang with you guys… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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