Overview of the Reloading Process - From Spent Case to Loaded Round
TinTentTourist
Member
It may be a 9 year old thread (at this point of reading) but is an excellent resource for me as a newbie. Well written and photographed, and knocks the spots off many US based reloading videos on Youtube. Thanks for the work you put in.
M Davis
Member
Hi, great article for me as I am about to reload by first batch soon. Quick question on the red apparatus. It looks like a Hornady Hk66. Do you know if this tool can also measure / compare case shoulder push back if i want to do only a partial full length die operation?????? I read that if you do a partial with a full die (versus neck only) and only push the shoulder back .006 thou (versus a full reform) it can be more accurate and lengthen case life. Any info on that red fixture in your caliper would be interesting. Thanks in advance. Mike.
csl
Administrator
Mike,
The red Hornady jobbie moves the point at which it measures from the tip of the bullet to the ogive of the bullet. It gives a more accurate result because soft lead or plastic tips get squashed.
It works both full and partial resize.
Alex
The red Hornady jobbie moves the point at which it measures from the tip of the bullet to the ogive of the bullet. It gives a more accurate result because soft lead or plastic tips get squashed.
It works both full and partial resize.
Alex
deeangeo
Well-Known Member
A .006” shoulder bump in a F/L sizing die is way too much.
If you have the Hornady ‘Headspace’ measuring tool and correct bushing for your cartridge, it measures from a datum point roughly on the centreline of case shoulder, to the cartridge ‘Head’ .. (where the primer sits).
Measure this dimension from one of the cases fired in YOUR rifle.
That dimension is where to set you F/L sizing die and your shoulder bump back should not exceed .002”-.003”.
The red Hornady tool also accepts the bullet comparator bushing, so with the correct bushing for the bullet calibre, you can interchange the bushing to correctly set both headspace and bullet seating dimensions.
M Davis
Member
Thanks Deeangeo, noted for the .002 to .003. I am awaiting the delivery of the Hornady HK66 headspace measuring tool to get a baseline on once fires cartridges. This in conjunction with Redding incremental dies should give me better consistency. I am releoading 6x62 Freres and it is proving to be a difficult one to get right and accurate so far. Many thanks. Mike
great little step by step intro
Fosbery Holster
Well-Known Member
Alex a very informative thread and explanation of the reloading process invaluable for the beginner and also for the experienced, most everything has been covered in your replies
What l have found in the many years of reloading to be invaluable, (l also use RCBS everything), is a baffle plate in the powder hopper this creates and provides a constant gravitational pressure flow of powder into the dispensing drum even if the hopper above it is completely full or almost empty, ‘without the baffle’ and a full hopper far greater difficulty in dispensing correct amount constantly, this also applies when the hopper is almost empty.
I read all six pages and you made lots of converts to reloading, very interesting and absorbing topic reloading, Thank you.
What l have found in the many years of reloading to be invaluable, (l also use RCBS everything), is a baffle plate in the powder hopper this creates and provides a constant gravitational pressure flow of powder into the dispensing drum even if the hopper above it is completely full or almost empty, ‘without the baffle’ and a full hopper far greater difficulty in dispensing correct amount constantly, this also applies when the hopper is almost empty.
I read all six pages and you made lots of converts to reloading, very interesting and absorbing topic reloading, Thank you.
PeteSurrey
Active Member
Nice loading guide. I personally have reloaded thousands and for stalking ammunition I dont bother to clean the brass rather i reload twice then bin. I have done hundreds of rounds of test ammunition comparing cleaned/ polished brass compared to uncleaned and zero difference. It does mean you can use a progressive press that loads from decap to crimp. For my rifles i have found this a good balance. Because i bin the brass after 2 reloads dont even need to trim to length. This may just be my rifles that work with that but saves me so much time. One this i never miss is inspecting for cracks in the brass especially 22-250 that seems to fail very quickly.
Brittany boy
Well-Known Member
Ive always been interested in reloading for the 22.250' but always thought it very complicated / dangerous but having looked at your post it appears simpler than I thought I realise the dangers of getting the weights correct and a good loading manual is essential and to work up a load. Having watched your post I am seriously considering buying the dies etc. Needed and I'm excited about getting into home loading , thanks for the insight much better than trying to read it when it's shown in the images well done and thanks.
paul grove
Member
Fantastic read and very informative, thank you
HIGHSEATMAN
Active Member
This is intended as an overview of the reloading process explaining the steps required to turn spent brass cases into new loaded rounds. It is aimed at those people who are unfamiliar with the reloading process but if any old hands want to chip in with alternative suggestions then please do - I have only been reloading a year or so myself and there is always more to learn!
The article assumes we have the load data for the load we want and doesn't go into any detail about deciding what that load should be, the seating depth etc. That can be for another article!
So, we have 50 used cases and I'd like to take them and reload them to the following spec:
Calibre: .30-06
Powder: 58.4 grains of H4350
Bullet: 150 grain Speer Boat Tail Soft Point
Cases: Once fired Lapua brass
Note: This load was safely worked up from minimum in my rifle - this does not mean it would be safe in your rifle! Always work up from minimum loads!
First our fired brass goes into the tumbler with crushed walnut shell as the media with a powdered polishing compound. Typically I'd leave them going in there for up to 24 hours depending on how badly tarnished and fouled they were. The purpose of cleaning the brass is so that any imperfections such as cracks or splits show up better. Dirt on the cases will also reduce the life of your resizing die as it will cause additional wear between the brass and the surface of the die. Oh and shiny brass looks nice.
After the tumbling cycle the brass should come out looking a lot cleaner. At this stage I give them a quick shake in an old towel to take off any dust from the outside and they are ready to be de-capped and re-sized.
We need to resize the case because the pressure caused by firing will have expanded the case out to fit the inside dimensions of the chamber of the rifle. The neck will also have expanded and a bullet will not sit snugly in it any more. If the loaded rounds are going to be used in the same rifle and we don't mind a tight fit in the chamber we can opt to just resize the neck of the case. However, in this instance we are going to resize the full length of the case to make loading and unloading the rifle easier.
A small amount of lubricant is applied to the inside of the neck...
...and also to the outside of the case by rolling on a pad. All that is required is a thin film, just enough to make the case feel slightly greasy. This is to reduce friction between the brass and the die as it's forced back to size.
It is important not to use too much lubricant because it can build up inside the resizing die and become trapped. The result is a hydraulic dent on the shoulder of the case like the .243 case below. This case will pop back out on the next firing so long as the dent is shallow. You would also need to open up the die and clean out the excess lubricant to stop it happening again.
At the same time as resizing the die will also push out the old primer from the case.
The lubricated case is placed in a shell holder on the press and is raised up into the resizer die.
A pin in the die pushes out the old primer at the same time.
And now our case is resized and the old primer has been removed.
The next task is to check the length of the case and trim it back if required. Firing and resizing also has the effect of stretching the brass and over time it will become longer. The trimming tool below is set to the standard length for .30-06 and if the case is over length the cutter will trim excess material off from around the rim of the neck.
This is a fixed length tool however adjustable ones are also available. For a hunting cartridge I find trimming with a fixed length tool a lot less hassle, although the downside will be that you will have a slight variation in case length as some cases will be under-size from the factory. The case is held in a shell holder and can be spun using a cordless drill.
If any material is removed from the neck there will be a sharp edge left and possibly some burrs. The rotating tool below removes any burrs from the outside of the neck.
And the tool below removes the same from the inside of the neck.
A tiny chamfer is left on the inside of the neck which helps with bullet seating.
While we are at it we clean out the soot from the primer pocket so the new primer will seat properly and we also make sure the flash hole is clear. This spinny brush makes the task easy.
Before and after cleaning.
At this stage I tumble the cases again for 30 mins or so to remove the lubricant left over from resizing. I'm using a corn cobb media this time which is slightly softer, more absorbent and gives a good shine.
The downside of tumbling again at this stage is that media can get stuck in the flash hole and will need to be poked out prior to re-priming.
We select our primer based on the cartridge. In this case .30-06 requires a Large Rifle primer. The primers are poured onto a special tray that, when jiggled, flips all the primers up the same way.
They can then be loaded into the press - in this case the RCBS press uses a tube which you use to pick up the primers.
Then the primers are transferred from the tube to the press by pulling out the pin. The whole stack of primers falls into the lower tube ready to be seated.
The primers are fed one by one into a little cup which carries the primer under the shell holder where the case is waiting to be primed.
When the press is brought down the cup pushes the primer up underneath the case inserting it into the primer pocket. (view below with case removed)
And there is our re-primed case.
So now we have 50 shiney primed cases ready to be reloaded.
The hopper of the powder dispenser is filled with our chosen powder, H4350, and the measure is adjusted to throw just below our required charge of 58.4gr. The reason for this is that H4350 powder consists of bulky, cylindrical pellets that don't meter very well in a standard powder dispenser. The result is that the charge varies somewhat.
So to combat this below the powder dispenser is a powder trickler. The main charge is thrown, just under 58.4 grains, and then the trickler is used to trickle more powder very slowly to make up the difference which may only be a few pellets of powder.
This time the main throw of powder comes to 58.2gr, so we only have to trickle in another 0.2gr of powder.
Twist the knob and several pellets drop down into the scale until...
...we are bang on 58.4 grains. There are those who will laugh and question why we are worried about .2 grains of powder and they may have a pointbut some of us like precision and if you can be precise then why not!
Our 58.4 grains of powder is now poured straight into the case.
When all 50 cases are filled we do a quick visual check to make sure they all have powder in them and that the levels look consistent. This is our last chance to pick up on any mistakes!
The selected bullet for this load is a Speer boat tailed soft point of 150 grains. The boat tail is the tapered back to the bullet. There are ballistic arguments for and against this profile of bullet but for my purposes I chose a boat tail because it's dead easy to seat.
The bullet is placed into the neck and the case is raised into the bullet seating die. The die has been set up to push the bullet in just far enough so that when the round is loaded in the rifle, the bullet is 20 thou off the lands of the rifling. I'm not going to go into the reasons for this particular distance here as it probably deserves an article of it's own, suffice to say that 0.020" gives good accuracy for me in this rifle and results in a round that fits in the magazine and feeds well.
We check the length using callipers against a known value. I know that 2.706" = 20 thou off the lands. The red apparatus attached to the callipers is a comparator and is used to measure from a point on the outside of the bullet on the 'ogive'. We do this to avoid inconsistencies of measuring from the tip of the bullet which can occur, especially with soft tipped bullets that can become deformed.
Now we have 50 loaded rounds ready to be boxed and labelled.
The load details go on the label and should also be entered into your reloading records for future reference.
And there we have it.... the entire process from spent case to loaded round!
If you've made it this far, comments or suggestions welcome!
Alex
a very informative read.I have been reloading for around 35 years and have a right mix match of RCBS and LEE kit.who supplied your press and powder measure set up?
Mortis1975
Active Member
Just starting reloading myself and this was an excellent read thank you.
222parsons
Active Member
Excellent review, I don’t t have a case prep station so tend to use the drill to help trim and chamfer the case, then whilst still in the shell holder I run a bit of scotchbrite across the case neck to clean them up and it works a treat.
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