Fired brass prep sequence?

[lazyeiger]

So I shot my first 50 rounds of reloaded ammo at the weekend, now I have 50 cases that need preping for the next reload! I am not sure which operations to perform in what order?

I have a stainless media tumbler a full size type S bushing die and a micrometer top Redding competition bushing die a .331 bushing and a .334 bushing.

I was thinking of using the type S with the .334 bushing to remove the primer set back the shoulder ~.001" and size the neck to .334" Then use the competition bushing die with the .331" bushing then clean in the tumbler.

Is this the correct order?

Thanks Jon

 

[Rock Knocker]

With the higher quality dies that you have many will clean the brass before running them through the dies. You will have to take care of the primer pockets outside of the tumbler this way but it will keep your dies clean and smooth for longer.

 

[fdshuster]

jon: My first order of business is to clean the brass. I don't want the slightest trace of dirt on the cases to scratch the inside surfaces of my dies. Once they have been cleaned, I make sure to keep them standing upright in a loading block so there's no chance of them picking up dirt like could happen if they were laying flat on the workbench. After they are cleaned I punch out the primer, clean the pockets, size with the Redding FL neck bushing die, wipe off the Imperial die wax, including the inside of the case mouth, measure their over-all-lengths, trim if required (seldom do), seat primer, powder & bullet. Spin 'em under the Sinclair concintricity gauge & segregate any with more than .002" of runout. Go shoot them. note: I got a little out of sequence there: Most of the time I decap the spent primers (dedicated decapping die) before cleaning. It's easier for me to use an awl to punch that kernal of corn cob out of the flash hole that way than to wait to de-cap after tumbling when a kernel can get stuck in the anvil area of the spent primer. The corn cob media will also do a nice job of cleaning the primer pocket.

 

[NorCalMikie]

jon: Stay away from the SS media till they get fired 5 or 6 times. Regular media will do the job till then. I think the other Guys pretty much covered everything else. Just get them clean before they see the inside of your dies.

 

[artbosco]

So I shot my first 50 rounds of reloaded ammo at the weekend, now I have 50 cases that need prepping for the next reload! I am not sure which operations to perform in what order?

1. Clean the outside of the necks, for sure. The outside of the body is OK too, but optional.

2. Lube cases and then run through your F/L Type S bushing die with your desired bushing, while also setting the shoulder back about .001" to .002".

3. Clean the inside of the neck with an RCBS nylon brush chucked in a portable drill.

4. Clean the inside of the primer pockets with a Sinclair primer pocket uniformer chucked inside a portable drill to make it an easy task too.

5. Prime, drop powder, seat pullet.

6. Check the Outside Diameter [OD] of your loaded round to ensure it will fit into your chamber with at least .002" total clearance [.001" on each side].

7. Go shoot and have fun!

 

[TheSnake]

I pop out the spent primers with a deprimer only die as the first step before cleaning the cases so the pockets get cleaned too. I uniformed the pockets when new before the first reload and don't do it again unless the pockets dont come clean.

Other steps as Fdshuster stated.

 

[NorCalMikie]

Or even better yet, if the fired cases fit back in the chamber (without too much force to close the bolt) wipe them down, deprime and size the necks with the bushing of your choice, reload and go shooting.

 

[BoydAllen]

A couple of salient points...
IMO bump should be from the maximum shoulder to head measurement that a particular rifle and barrel combination will show on a tight case that has been neck sized and fired a few times with warm loads. (be sure to keep the lugs lubed) You won't hit this number on one firing. This whole clean them till they are shiny, inside and out thing is not about anything to do with accuracy or preservation of dies. My dies are fine, and all that I do is clean off the powder fouling with 000 steel wool and wipe them off with a rag. Most of my shooting these days is with a 6PPC and it will shoot better than any non competition rifle that I have ever seen. I FL size for every firing with a fitted die. The other point that I would make is that benchrest shooters do not want to remove all the powder fouling from inside the necks of fired cases, because leaving a translucent haze of powder fouling give more uniform bullet seating effort. To clean the inside of case necks, it is typical to run an old bronze bore brush in and out of a neck 2-3 times to get the the big stuff out. When I FL size for one of my varmint rifles, I apply the lube with my fingers. If a case had any sand on it, I would feel it, I never have, and my dies are all in good shape.

 

[lynn]

Boyd
We don't agree on many things shooting organization related but your post above is spot on.You might expand on the shoulder bump so it is more clear for those not into the loading procedure for 20 plus years.
Lynn

 

[BoydAllen]

Thanks Lynn,
The most important things to remember about shoulder bump are to measure it with a tool designed for that purpose, and to remove the primer from a fired case before recording the as fired case "headspace". (I use the quotes to indicate that headspace is not really what we are measuring, but is the term that is commonly misused to refer to shoulder to case head measurements.) Beyond that it should be understood that because brass has spring back, that it will not come to its longest shoulder to head dimension after one firing of a new case. You can verify this by repeatedly firing (with a warm load)the same case, and taking a proper measurement after each firing. Of course you should neck size when doing this test. Once the it has been determined that no further increase is possible, the case may be marked and saved as a reference. If bumping a fired case' shoulder back .001 from this dimension does not give the desired bolt feel, it is likely that the FL die's body ID dimensions are too large to effectively size a case from that particular chamber, and no amount of fiddling will give both proper bump and the desired bolt feel. Another die will be needed, or the chamber will have to be polished out to a slightly larger dimension, usually at the back. Another thing that comes into the problem is that as a case is fired and resized throughout its useful life, it will become work hardened, and the die setting that bumped a new case will no longer do the job. This can cause you to make a mistake when alternating between newer and older brass. If you forget that your die has been set for work hardened brass, you will find that you have bumped the shoulders of your new brass back farther than intended. This is a good reason to keep your brass in batches that are all shot in rotation and processed together, as well as noting what your die was set for, and checking shoulder bump on the first few cases that are sized in a particular batch, to verify that the die setting is correct for the hardness of that batch. I hope that this more lengthy explanation is useful.
Boyd

 

[bugsplat]

Here are my steps. not much different from others....

1. Deprime brass using a dedicated depriming die
2. Tumble for at least 3 hours.
3. Clean the primer pocket and inside neck
4. Lube and resize neck
5. Check OAL of case and trim as needed
6. Tumble for at least an hour to remove lube and brass shavings
7. I actually like to check the shoulders by chambering the brass in the rifle itself. If its a stiff chamber I'll bump it back a bit.
8. Prime, Charge, Seat..... done