Advice on reloading please

[Scrumbag]

Well folks,

 

I have decided to take the “brave” (maybe read foolish) step of throwing myself on the collective mercies of the interwebs and asking people to critique my reloading process. So, any advice very welcome.

 

Deprime brass using a Lee Decapping Die

 

Soak decapped brass in soapy water – I find it particularly helps with cleaning out necks and primer pockets where the most “baked-on” carbon is

 

Sonic clean in boiling water with addition of citric acid granules and squirt of washing up liquid

 

Rinse and place in bowl of water with bicarbonate of soda to neutralise

 

Rinse again

 

Air dry after checking mouths and shoulders (generally I find inside of necks clean, sometimes neck needs a quick wipe)

 

Lube using lube pad and a smear on shoulders and inside case mouth

 

Resize

 

Trim to length

 

Chamfer and deburr case mouth as required

 

Wash in warm, soapy water to remove case lube and swarf

 

Rinse and air dry

 

Prime using Hornady hand primer whilst checking primer pockets are clean (find generally I can prime most cases straight off with only having to scrape out the occasional one)

 

Individually weigh charges on a jeweller’s scale (I usually calibrate using the check weights first)

 

Seat bullets and check length using Base to Ogive rather than COAL particularly for plastic tipped / soft point bullets and check every few for consistency

 

Any thoughts on the above, please let me know

 

I have a couple of bits on concern / areas I reckon I could improve on.

 

I tend to get water marks or slightly minerally deposits on the cases and particularly the necks – what’s a good way to stop this

 

I’m using a Lee Turret press. Very convenient for changing calibres quickly but I wonder how consistent particularly the sizing is. Works fine most of the time but given I’m occasionally shooting out to 1,200 I wonder if a single stage press might give more consistent results

 

Case length - I only know my brass isn’t longer than a certain amount. I use a Lee Cutter and length gauge and some doesn’t get trimmed at all so has to be a different length and I guess that’s mainly neck length which I gather can be critical

 

Any advice much appreciated.

 

Scrummy

 

 

[Chikentikka]

that seems alot of washing. i only brush the necks and clean primer pockets and dont actually clean until a couple of firings, if that. have not noted any affects. also only deburr and chamfer the once. the rcbs rockchucker is a solid press if you are looking at changing. just keep it simple.

[Popsbengo]

58 minutes ago, Scrumbag said:

I general a sound approach, my comments in red

Deprime brass using a Lee Decapping Die.    Yes

Soak decapped brass in soapy water – I find it particularly helps with cleaning out necks and primer pockets where the most “baked-on” carbon is.  Not sure you need to do this

Sonic clean in boiling water with addition of citric acid granules and squirt of washing up liquid.  Don't need boiling water and it's likely to cook your ultrasonic - I find 50C more than enough and a proprietary Ultra Sonic cleaning agent is better.  Citric acid is only really a brightener and useful for really scummy brass.  Never use vinegar !!

Rinse and place in bowl of water with bicarbonate of soda to neutralise. Not necessary, just one good cold water rinse.  Citric acid self passivates

Rinse again. see above

Air dry after checking mouths and shoulders (generally I find inside of necks clean, sometimes neck needs a quick wipe) OK, I use the plate warming draw 😁

At this point I'd tumble in walnut media to brighten and polish

Lube using lube pad and a smear on shoulders and inside case mouth

Resize

Trim to length. (if needed after checking)

Chamfer and deburr case mouth as required

Wash in warm, soapy water to remove case lube and swarf  I find a wipe is enough

Rinse and air dry see above

Prime using Hornady hand primer whilst checking primer pockets are clean (find generally I can prime most cases straight off with only having to scrape out the occasional one). Don't overdo the scraping

Individually weigh charges on a jeweller’s scale (I usually calibrate using the check weights first).  Some small scales are pretty poor however yours may be ok?  The critical measure for consistency

Seat bullets and check length using Base to Ogive rather than COAL particularly for plastic tipped / soft point bullets and check every few for consistency. Yes but ensure a good seating die that's concentric  - I use LE Wilson but Redding & Hornady are good IMHO

I tend to get water marks or slightly minerally deposits on the cases and particularly the necks – what’s a good way to stop this. Stop all that washing !  Get a tumbler.

I’m using a Lee Turret press. Very convenient for changing calibres quickly but I wonder how consistent particularly the sizing is. Works fine most of the time but given I’m occasionally shooting out to 1,200 I wonder if a single stage press might give more consistent results.  No, if the round is sized and gauged ok, what's going to change?  You don't mention the dies - probably the most important thing for consistent and controlled accuracy after powder weight.

Case length - I only know my brass isn’t longer than a certain amount. I use a Lee Cutter and length gauge and some doesn’t get trimmed at all so has to be a different length and I guess that’s mainly neck length which I gather can be critical. Trim them to be the same,  the shortest shouldn't be too short unless you've overdone it in an earlier trim.

Any advice much appreciated.    Yes, don't post with loads of spaces 😉

Scrummy

Notes above in red

 

[meles meles]

Why all the fascination with getting your brass washed a dozen times and making it bright and shiny ? Dull brass is far more tacticool...    

[Scrumbag]

13 minutes ago, meles meles said:

Why all the fascination with getting your brass washed a dozen times and making it bright and shiny ? Dull brass is far more tacticool...    

Not so much shiny, just don't want to stick a case or have goup / gunk / lube or anything else upsetting powder and primers

[Scrumbag]

@Popsbengo

1st, thanks for taking the time to answer that. In response to your follow-on questions

For my 7x64 I use an RCBS FL Sizing die and seating I use a Lee. I have an RCBS seating die but I don't like having to set it be feel of case mouth.

I use a sonic cleaner rather than a tumbler as I live in a block of flats and a sonic is a lot quieter

Trimming to length: I don't have something I can set the trim length to. The tool I have either trims back to a fixed length or the brass stays the length it is.

Scraping I usually just use a pick to lift out any carbon so minimal stuff. Generally I find I only have to touch the primer pockets on maybe 1 in 10. Rest are clean and carbon free.

I have perhaps noticed my scales wander a little. I know my powder dish is ~102.9-103.0 gr so I keep a check to see if the scale returns to negative that when the powder dish is off.

Besides not needing the wash after the deburr and champfer anything else to take out?

Scrummy

[Popsbengo]

Aggressive ultrasonics have been reported to make the inside of the neck quite rough and that affects bullet release so knock-on to velocity stability.   I don't see that myself as tumbling takes any roughness away (I take your point re neighbours).

I'm not knocking Lee but I prefer premium quality dies and I see results from that.  Redding type S bushing,  Wilson Bushing, Wilson arbor press in-line seating or Hornady comp. seating (Wilson's way better for feeling the neck tension).  It's about what you expect in terms of accuracy and precision.

Trimming:  I use a Lyman 'lathe' style trimmer, that's settable to whatever I want, it's precise and robust.

Scales are key to accurate reloading in my opinion,  there's endless good stuff on here about options if you search.

In a nutshell it's: clean, inspect, size, inspect, prime, load, inspect.  Occasional annealing too for case life.  I scrapped a batch of Lapua .308 large primer, not because of any neck or web defect but for slack primer pockets. +12 hot reloads if memory serves.

Badger (meles meles) has a point, endless cleaning makes not a lot of difference (compared to sizing and weighing accurately).  Cleaning does protect your dies from damage though.  I just like shiny brass 😎

[Scrumbag]

Hi folks,

Did a batch of cases with a larger cast mounth and this is the sort of mineral salt deposit build up I tend to get:

Not every case by any means but some. Ideas on how to avoid welcome.

Scrummy

[Popsbengo]

1 hour ago, Scrumbag said:

Hi folks,

Did a batch of cases with a larger cast mounth and this is the sort of mineral salt deposit build up I tend to get:

Not every case by any means but some. Ideas on how to avoid welcome.

Scrummy

Possibly insufficient rinsing in clean water.  Quicker drying may also help

Do you live in a hard or soft water area?

[Scrumbag]

Very hard water area

[Martin52]

Here's a good outline:

https://www.accurateshooter.com/technical-articles/reloading/complete-precision-case-prep/

[Andrew]

Weighing charges on a jeweler's scale???~Andrew

[Popsbengo]

24 minutes ago, Andrew said:

Weighing charges on a jeweler's scale???~Andrew

My guess is cheap eBay or Amazon digital scale sold as such

[Scrumbag]

45 minutes ago, Popsbengo said:

My guess is cheap eBay or Amazon digital scale sold as such

Yep!