Brass Prep

[Polar_Bear]

Hi All I’m looking for some advice on reloading, specifically brass prep.

I’m not currently reloading, expect to start in about a year or so but I’m currently assembling my reloading gear as and when I can get a good deal in preparation. I’ll also be doing a reloading course and/or getting some hands on instruction from friends before I begin. I’ll be reloading both straight wall pistol ammo and bottle necked rifle ammo.

I’m making a list of things I need and was wondering if there is any reason I couldn’t prep my spent brass (mine and what I’ve been gifted) ready for when I do start reloading? This will also help my prioritise what to purchase first. I’ll admit I’m a bit pedantic about things so there may be steps some of you wouldn’t do but if there’s anything drastically wrong, please do point it out.

My order of operations that I think should be correct from my research:
De-prime
Wet tumble
Inspect for separation, cracks etc
Lubricate
FL size
Uniform primer pocket
Deburr flash hole
Trim to length
Tumble to remove lubricant
Final inspection for stuck media
Sort into buckets ready for future reloading.

 

[Lancaster]

Hi All I’m looking for some advice on reloading, specifically brass prep.

I’m not currently reloading, expect to start in about a year or so but I’m currently assembling my reloading gear as and when I can get a good deal in preparation. I’ll also be doing a reloading course and/or getting some hands on instruction from friends before I begin. I’ll be reloading both straight wall pistol ammo and bottle necked rifle ammo.

I’m making a list of things I need and was wondering if there is any reason I couldn’t prep my spent brass (mine and what I’ve been gifted) ready for when I do start reloading? This will also help my prioritise what to purchase first. I’ll admit I’m a bit pedantic about things so there may be steps some of you wouldn’t do but if there’s anything drastically wrong, please do point it out.

My order of operations that I think should be correct from my research:
De-prime
Wet tumble
Inspect for separation, cracks etc
Lubricate
FL size
Uniform primer pocket
Deburr flash hole
Trim to length
Tumble to remove lubricant
Final inspection for stuck media
Sort into buckets ready for future reloading.

Deburring flash hole and uniforming PP only needs doing once, not every time the cases are prepped and I do these steps after depriming.
I would also suggest that you need to deburr and chamfer the necks after trimming.
I am not sure you need to clean the brass twice, I guess it depends on how mucky it is.

 

[.25-06]

Thread 'Overview of the Reloading Process - From Spent Case to Loaded Round' Overview of the Reloading Process - From Spent Case to Loaded Round

 

[Polar_Bear]

Deburring flash hole and uniforming PP only needs doing once, not every time the cases are prepped and I do these steps after depriming.
I would also suggest that you need to deburr and chamfer the necks after trimming.
I am not sure you need to clean the brass twice, I guess it depends on how mucky it is.

Sorry, didn’t mention chamfer etc as I believe the trimmer I’m looking at does this at the same time.

First clean in the wet tumbler is to get everything including the primer pocket clean. Second clean with the vibratory tumbler is just to remove the lubricant and any brass dust from trimming etc.

 

[Polar_Bear]

Thread 'Overview of the Reloading Process - From Spent Case to Loaded Round' Overview of the Reloading Process - From Spent Case to Loaded Round

Whilst that’s a fantastic guide, it doesn’t cover the order of steps when using a wet tumbler to clean the primer pockets so my order of operations will be slightly different. Also it’s doing the whole operation in one go, where as my prepped brass could sit for a year without being reloaded so I wanted to ensure this wouldn’t cause any problems.

 

[cjs66]

You’re overthinking it mate. You don’t need to be doing all that faf. Just my opinion, I’m not knocking you.

cjs

 

[Polar_Bear]

You’re overthinking it mate. You don’t need to be doing all that faf. Just my opinion, I’m not knocking you.

cjs

Yeah, I’ll fully admit I’m a bit pedantic about some things but I’m happy to spend the extra time doing the extra steps. All part of my hobby to me.

As skills develop and money is saved up I’ll be looking into annealing, neck turning etc but that’s for the future.

 

[cjs66]

Totally unnecessary but whatever floats your boat. Resize and deprime at the same time, if fl resizing give it a wipe to get the lube off. Might give the neck a quick wipe with 000 wool. Stick a primer in, powder and top it off with a bullet. Trim now and again when the case reach max and stick a chamfer on it then.
That’s me done. But I understand if you like to fanny about.
Good luck

cjs

 

[angusb1]

De-prime
Wet tumble
Inspect for separation, cracks etc
Lubricate
FL size
Uniform primer pocket
Deburr flash hole
Trim to length
Tumble to remove lubricant
Final inspection for stuck media
Sort into buckets ready for future reloading.

I don't do anything with primer pockets but otherwise this is the process I do on the brass for my target rifle except instead of the first wet tumble step I ultrasonic clean. It's a quicker way to get primer pockets clean than my wet tumbler. If there is any crud left in the pockets after the ultrasonic clean it comes out when I wet tumble to remove lubricant.

 

[jcampbellsmith]

I would suggest adding deburring the case mouths. I don't ever touch the primer pockets or flash holes. I keep my cases in batches of 50 for the lifetime of the batch. Over time the number of cases in each batch will dwindle.
Regards
JCS

 

[Polar_Bear]

I don't do anything with primer pockets but otherwise this is the process I do on the brass for my target rifle except instead of the first wet tumble step I ultrasonic clean. It's a quicker way to get primer pockets clean than my wet tumbler. If there is any crud left in the pockets after the ultrasonic clean it comes out when I wet tumble to remove lubricant.

Great thanks

 

[Polar_Bear]

I would suggest adding deburring the case mouths. I don't ever touch the primer pockets or flash holes. I keep my cases in batches of 50 for the lifetime of the batch. Over time the number of cases in each batch will dwindle.
Regards
JCS

I’ll edit my opening post to include this. I believe the trimmer I’m looking at does this at the same time so didn’t mention it but I will now

 

[.25-06]

Sam's advice should be enough to muddle through

Panhandle Precision

Long Range Hunting, Gear Reviews, and Precision Rifles

panhandleprecision.com

 

[Bavarianbrit]

Annealing the brass after say 3 firings not on your horizon?

 

[Polar_Bear]

Annealing the brass after say 3 firings not on your horizon?

Eventually yes but in all honesty, not for the foreseeable future. I’d want the AMP annealer which is out of my budget for a good while

 

[Utectok]

Personally I do
The following in this order each batch of new brass gets the primer pockets deburred
Anneal
Lube
Body size/deprime
Neck size with collet sizer
Trim to length
Brief tumble in media to remove lube.
Done

 

[JB101]

Presuming new cases (rifle)

Uniform primer pocket, Deburr flash hole (once only operation,

Trim to length, chamfer neck .

Lube, FL size / De-prime, Wet tumble, Inspect for separation, cracks etc

Then you are ready to prime

Get a cheap food dehydrator to dry the cases after wet tumbling

 

[Lancaster]

Presuming new cases (rifle)

Uniform primer pocket, Deburr flash hole (once only operation,

Trim to length, chamfer neck .

Lube, FL size / De-prime, Wet tumble, Inspect for separation, cracks etc

Then you are ready to prime

Get a cheap food dehydrator to dry the cases after wet tumbling

I wouldn't trim before sizing, cases can grow when squeezed.

 

[Stalker-of-the-deer]

Throw through the press to resize and de prime

Give them a quick trim, de burr

Tumble for a few hours to clean.

New cases il de bur the flash hole.

Job done

Buy decent brass and your life will be easy

 

[Muir]

Hi All I’m looking for some advice on reloading, specifically brass prep.

I’m not currently reloading, expect to start in about a year or so but I’m currently assembling my reloading gear as and when I can get a good deal in preparation. I’ll also be doing a reloading course and/or getting some hands on instruction from friends before I begin. I’ll be reloading both straight wall pistol ammo and bottle necked rifle ammo.

I’m making a list of things I need and was wondering if there is any reason I couldn’t prep my spent brass (mine and what I’ve been gifted) ready for when I do start reloading? This will also help my prioritise what to purchase first. I’ll admit I’m a bit pedantic about things so there may be steps some of you wouldn’t do but if there’s anything drastically wrong, please do point it out.

My order of operations that I think should be correct from my research:
De-prime
Wet tumble
Inspect for separation, cracks etc
Lubricate
FL size
Uniform primer pocket
Deburr flash hole
Trim to length
Tumble to remove lubricant
Final inspection for stuck media
Sort into buckets ready for future reloading.

Buy a book on reloading (not necessarily data) and READ it. ~Muir
(Reading the above advice, I can almost guarantee you will over think this all and stumble your way into the process. )
PS: This is a difficult as it needs to be.