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My reloading procedure

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    Posted: October 26 2014 at 1:15pm
I don't consider myself an authority on reloading. I really just felt like contributing something, and this might be helpful to a new reloader. Reloaders are an eccentric bunch. They all have some sort of voodoo ritual that they swear makes all the difference. I know one old gentleman that will only reload at certain times of the day, not before, not after. I have embarked on a journey to find out what works, what doesn't, and what doesn't make a difference either way. This is my minimalist method. It requires a minimum of equipment, and I get great results with it.

I go ahead and decap the cases with a decapping rod from an old leeloader set so that the primer pocket can be cleaned. You can use a decapping die. I don't run them through the sizer because I don't want carbon or grit getting into my die. Then, I throw them in a butter bowl, pour in a bottle of 100% lemon juice, fill the rest of the bowl with water, put the lid on, and shake well. Every time you get a chance, shake that bowl. One of these days, I'll pick up one of those little rock tumblers, but this works for now. Let them sit in that bowl over night. If you had a rock tumbler or something to keep them stirred, you could just let them run for a couple hours. I use this method because it gets my cases clean, and I don't have to mess with corn cob media. Now, take your brass out and put it in another container with some warm water and plain dish soap. Give them a good shake. This neutralizes the citric acid. Now dump that and give the cases a good rinse in the hottest water you can stand. Take them out, dump any water out of the cases, and set them out to dry. You can set them in direct sunlight, which will dry them out in a hurry (and make you feel good about using green energy) or you can put them in the oven on the lowest possible setting.

Now, while those are drying, you can mix up your lube. Get a 16oz spray bottle and pour a bottle of RCBS case lube into it. Fill the rest with denatured alcohol, leaving a couple inches of air space so that you can shake everything up. Then, put the cap on tight and shake like you've never shaken before.

Take your dry cases and put them in a Tupperware tub or a big salad bowl or something. Give them a couple of sprays of your lube mixture and roll them around so that the mixture coats them all. Give your container a shake to orient the cases straight up so you can spray over the case mouths. Just one spritz will do on the mouths. The alcohol will evaporate in a couple minutes and leave the lube. You have now lubed all your cases. Beats the heck out of rolling them on that pad a few at the time or applying it by hand to each case. It's a lot quicker and cleaner.

Now it's time to set your sizer die. I use a full length sizer die to maintain ease of feeding from the magazine and field reliability. Screw the die in so that it's 1/2" or so from the she!! holder when the ram is at the top. Try a case. You'll see a ring around the neck where the die has started sizing. Screw the die in a bit and run the same case. The "ring" will be further down the neck. What you want is to leave about 1/16" of the neck unsized ahead of the shoulder. This way, you're sizing the sides of the case and the neck, but you're not pushing the shoulder back. The little ring will center the case in the chamber and give you better accuracy than a case that has been completely sized to factory spec. Subsequent sizings will not work the brass as much, and your cases will last longer.

Now it's time to trim. If using the Lee trimmer, you chuck the case in the drill using the she!! holder assembly, stick the cutter down the neck, and spin the drill until the cutter stops. If you have a fancy trimmer like a Lyman, trim about 0.01" under the spec in your loading manual. It's not really important how long the necks are as long as they're all the same length and don't hit the rifling. You'll probably wear the cases out before you have to trim them again. Now just deburr and chamfer.

Now your cases have been cleaned of carbon, sized, and deprimed, but they're covered in lube. Some people claim that the lube won't contaminate the powder. That's hogwash. Many people are lucky enough not to get lube in contact with the powder, but why take chances? At the very least, you don't want it in your chamber, and lube inside the neck affects neck tension. We have to get that lube out. I selected the RCBS lube because it is a good product and is easily dissolved in water. So, time for another hot water bath. Give them a good shake, take them out, and dry them. This will also serve to clean out any chips and filings from trimming.

Now you can prime and load them. I like to prime on the Lee hand primer. I don't use the ram mounted primers on my presses. They require you to handle the primers too much and risk contamination of the priming compound.

Now it's time for the FAQ section.

Q:Can't I just size them and trim them before I clean them and only wash and dry them once?

A: absolutely, but carbon will build up in your sizing die. The fouling is abrasive. It will scuff the inside of the die, which makes sizing and extracting more difficult and will ultimately decrease the life of the die. It can also imbed abrasive material into the brass, which will be forced into your chamber on firing.

EDIT: There are a couple of things I want to add.

1. Save your lemon juice solution. You can get 3 or 4 uses out of it.

2. If you're working with magnum rifle cases, brass from NATO spec chambers, 308s (a different animal from anything else), or 9mms, you'll want to spray a bit more lube on them. You'll figure it out with experimentation.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote White Rhino Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 26 2014 at 5:31pm
Great info...Looks like I will be changing the way I reload now.....
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Long branch Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 26 2014 at 5:50pm
Like I said, I'm not an authority on reloading. This is just my way, and it works for me. The main thing I wanted to do was get the cases clean before they touched my dies. I've popped primers during priming before and noticed what appeared to be little grains of sand. That's why it's important to get the cases clean. Did I mention you need to clean the cases? :)

I got the lubing method from an old high-power shooter that remanufactures ammunition commercially. You can lube a gallon bucket full of brass in minutes. You'll throw that pad out the window.

He uses this cleaning method as well, except he puts a 5-gallon bucket full of cases in a big plastic cement mixer full of this solution and lets them run for a few hours. They come out polished beautifully.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote DairyFarmer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 26 2014 at 7:26pm
Rather try Tartaric acid for your wash (2litres water+2 teaspoons tartaric acid+1 teaspoon dishwasher). It is a lot cheaper than lemon juice! It has the advantage of chelating heavy metals. Basically the metal ions bind to each other causing them to "fall off" (no I don't understand it my self, but that's what the guy with thick glasses say). Only takes about half hour with a bit of shaking, then rinse with water and dry.
 
As far as lube is concerned, I have moved almost entirely to dry neck lubes (Redding and Lyman). They are either a Mica or Graphite powder. The Redding lube is added to tiny ceramic balls. You dip the case into the media and the case is coated with the lube (graphite). The Lyman system, you dip the case into mica powder and then put the case mouth over a brush. This cleans the case mouth and removes excess lube. Both these dry lubes work great when neck turning and trimming. I do find the Redding lube a bit dirty on the hands.
 
For neck sizing I dry lube the case mouth even though the die doesn't need it. For full length sizing I use the pad method to lube the case wall from the shoulder down. Any lube that finds its way above the shoulder gets wiped off. The neck and inside get dry lube.
 
Dry lubing the case mouth also helps when neck turning and using a Lee trimmer.
 
The debate is still out as to very vigorous tumbling of cases, like using a cement mixer. Some say that you are "working" the brass a bit as the cases collide. Corn cob tumblers are quite gently on the cases. If you wash your cases, prep them, then tumble them, the media  in the tumbler lasts a vey long time. It also give a nice polished feel to the cases.
 
As to neck sizing vs full length sizing. Obviously the tighter the brass fits the chamber the better so neck size. Sharing ammo with a buddy? Full length is the way to go.
 
Finally remember to inspect every case at least before and after case prep. This is one of the advantages of using a lube pad or your fingers. While you are lubing you get the chance to fell the case. It is amazing how quickly you can pick up inconsistencies. Using a pick tool remember to feel the inside of the case for any signs of head separation and case neck donuts. 
 
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Long branch Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 26 2014 at 8:05pm
Drop your neck sized ammo on the ground. Get it a little Dusty. Then try it. Also, you can only neck size so many times before they won't feed from the magazine or chamber. It's fine for the range, and if target shooting is all you do, by all means neck size. If you take your rifle through the woods, fields, and swamps after aggressive little swine with tusks, full length. As for working the brass in the cement mixer, no one has had a problem with his ammo in 10 years. I'll look into tartaric acid, although it sounds a bit aggressive. Dry lube is still lube, and I don't want it in my case necks when the bullet is seated.

Always inspect your cases. Absolutely. That doesn't just go for 303s.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote DairyFarmer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 26 2014 at 8:12pm
Originally posted by Long branch Long branch wrote:

Also, you can only neck size so many times before they won't feed from the magazine or chamber. It's fine for the range, and if target shooting is all you do, by all means neck size. If you take your rifle through the woods, fields, and swamps after aggressive little swine with tusks, full length.
The last part of reloading is to cycle your ammo. If it doesn't cycle properly then there is a problem with your reloading, i.e. the neck wasn't/needed neck turning to remove the donut or excessive neck wall thickness in relation to the bullet diameter.
 
There is no excuse for poor feeding. It is either poorly tested ammo or a problem in the chamber. Both should be negated before embarking on the hunt.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote CTB Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 26 2014 at 11:20pm
Hi Long Branch ,

when you make the re-sizing do you use the full or the collet die ?
how many times  you can re-utilize the same case in the 303 ?
never made the annealing ? 

the questions because i noticed  to make only the collet allow a longer case life (about  15/18 
re-loads ) , no lubrication need , partially solved h.s. problem  ( ..only if a little problem )  
.....the only cons is it forces any rifle to his own cases  despite the same cal.  

Embarrassed

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote CTB Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 26 2014 at 11:25pm
....i forgot 

i'm a range shooter, but making  the collet only , i never noticed a kind of hardening in feeding 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote DairyFarmer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 27 2014 at 1:59am
The only times the round that was neck sized won't feed correctly is if the outside neck diameter goes beyond the fire formed diameter (plus a smug as the brass cools) or the bullet is seated too shallow allowing the ogive to press against the rifling. This can be from using a different bullet or batch of bullet. You need to check this by measuring the outside neck diameter of a form fired case. This must not be exceeded by double the case wall thickness plus the bullet diameter. The excess, if any, is removed by neck turning. Or checking the gap between ogive and rifling using the split case method, blackened bullet method or gauge.
There are also a whole lot of other factors that should be ruled out by following simple reloading procedures, i.e. malformed cases, nicks in case head, split cases, neck donuts, dirt/excessive oil in the chamber,.....
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Shamu Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 27 2014 at 4:41am
There is a third technique, which IMO is the best of all.
"Partial full length resizing" also known as matching the resize to YOUR individual chamber.

I've done both neck sizing & full length & have settled on this as it seems to have the best of both worlds going for it. The disadvantage being you need either an adjustment or an "extra" resizing die for each rifle as the adjustment is variable, being  made to be an exact match for your individual rifle.

Long ago this was a "standard" reloading practice,but is now "arcane" as speed & volume have triumphed over quality.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Long branch Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 27 2014 at 5:57am
Shamu, I think you and I are talking about the same process, setting a full length die up so that it doesn't contact the fireformed case shoulder. If not, I'm interested to hear about your process.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Shamu Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 27 2014 at 8:58am
I think we are too. I usually set mine to just touch the shoulder all the way round, by smoking the case. I've detailed my technique on here a few times.
I also have a neck sizer die only, but I only use that for specific loads, the partial is my preferred method.
Incidentally I tumble first & then deprime with a "universal decapping die" then clean the primer pockets before resizing, another slightly different, but parallel technique.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote CTB Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 29 2014 at 9:26am
Originally posted by Shamu Shamu wrote:


Incidentally I tumble first & then deprime with a "universal decapping die" then clean the primer pockets before resizing, another slightly different, but parallel technique.

hi Shamu  , 

the tumbling first of all it is 'cause you do not want a dirty case could go in contact on your dies ?


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Long branch Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 29 2014 at 10:38am
Originally posted by DairyFarmer DairyFarmer wrote:

Originally posted by Long branch Long branch wrote:

Also, you can only neck size so many times before they won't feed from the magazine or chamber. It's fine for the range, and if target shooting is all you do, by all means neck size. If you take your rifle through the woods, fields, and swamps after aggressive little swine with tusks, full length.
The last part of reloading is to cycle your ammo. If it doesn't cycle properly then there is a problem with your reloading, i.e. the neck wasn't/needed neck turning to remove the donut or excessive neck wall thickness in relation to the bullet diameter.
 
There is no excuse for poor feeding. It is either poorly tested ammo or a problem in the chamber. Both should be negated before embarking on the hunt.


When you fire a round, the case expands out to seal the chamber. Once the pressure is released, the case then springs back a little. If you're neck sizing, each time you fire the case, it springs back a bit less, until it comes out the same size as the chamber. This will eventually cause difficulty feeding from the magazine because the case initially enters the chamber at an angle, and it needs room. As I've also said, such a tight fitting case will not camber if it gets the least bit dirty.

I've read all the milsurps.com articles too, but they are trying to accomplish something different from what I am trying to do. I'm trying to load accurate and field-reliable ammunition. They are punching paper. I posted my method to help people who haven't reloaded before to save them some time and wasted effort/money. That's all. Each one will probably figure out their own little tricks to optimize their ammo for its intended purpose.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Shamu Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 29 2014 at 2:32pm
"the tumbling first of all it is 'cause you do not want a dirty case could go in contact on your dies ?"
Partly, the universal depriming die barely contacts the case anyway, being over sized internally so it can take many different case shapes.

Mostly I tumble first because I don't like tumbler media getting into my flash holes though!Wacko

"
When you fire a round, the case expands out to seal the chamber. Once the pressure is released, the case then springs back a little. If you're neck sizing, each time you fire the case, it springs back a bit less, until it comes out the same size as the chamber. This will eventually cause difficulty feeding from the magazine"
That is exactly why I do the partial resize. Reloading accuracy is about a consistent product. A neck sized one is only consistent til it swells too much, then you have to full length resize, which throws consistency out the window.
With the partial its always being resized the absolute minimum needed to chamber properly every time, so its actually more consistent over several loads.Thumbs Up
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Long branch Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 29 2014 at 7:41pm
One should also take into account the fact that there is no guarantee that the neck portion of the chamber is concentric with the rest of the chamber. It is very possible that you are introducing a variable when you neck size. A partially resized case has room to center itself using the neck.
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