How fastidious are you as it relates to reloading your straight-walled pistol brass?

[cavallo]

I'm curious about the general rigger that folks go through when loading straight-wall pistol cartridges.

 

[Creedmoor]

I dry tumble, I lube with Dillon spray lube a day or two before I load them.
I run them through a 4 or 5 station Dillon and then do a quick tumble to clean them up.
I dump in ammo cans until they go to the range.

 

[Cynical]

I dry tumble as well, half Lyman tuff-nutt and half corn cob with a just a little Nufinish car wax added to the mix . Then run through the Dillon and shoot them up.

 

[VERT]

I prefer to wet tumble. But running them with corn cob media and Nufinish works fine. Hornady one shot and run them through the Dillon.

 

[cavallo]

I dry tumble as well, half Lyman tuff-nutt and half corn cob with a just a little Nufinish car wax added to the mix . Then run through the Dillon and shoot them up.

That was me for the longest time. I finally switched over to de-priming and then wet tumbling. It takes a few more steps but the cases come out ready to win a beauty contest. (because style points matter, of course) I also don't have to deal with the occasional residual bit of corncob in the flash hole that I used to find.

 

[ditcherman]

I'm a newb at reloading, but not all that worried about most of what your poll addresses for 9mm.

You are a newb at polling because any poll around here has to include "Bacon" as one of the choices.

 

[STFU]

I wet tumble with primers in and miraculously, nothing ever gets clogged in the primer pock or flash hole.
I nspect for damaged cases druring the drying process. Much easier to see damaged or cracked cases when they are clean.
As for my process...brass looks factory new when it gets reloaded.

 

[Creedmoor]

That was me for the longest time. I finally switched over to de-priming and then wet tumbling. It takes a few more steps but the cases come out ready to win a beauty contest. (because style points matter, of course) I also don't have to deal with the occasional residual bit of corncob in the flash hole that I used to find.

Do you just deprime before tumbling or do you size and deprime before wet tumbling?


Thats why one dry tumbles before one loads them.
I would bet you can't tell the difference between what you've loaded and what I've loaded.

 

[indyjohn]

I'm like VERT - dry media tumble with a couple dollops of Turtlewax. Then a shot of Hornaday Quick Shot and run through the Lock n Load. Every few get dropped into the Wilson Case Gage (that's how they spell it) to keep everyone honest.

 

[indyblue]

I wet tumble with steel pins spent-primed brass for a quick half hour, just to remove the crud, then size/deprime and wet tumble for up to an hour and a half. A half hour in a warm oven, and then a final blast with a hairdryer.

Brass and primer pockets come out looking like new.

 

[cavallo]

Do you just deprime before tumbling or do you size and deprime before wet tumbling?


Thats why one dry tumbles before one loads them.
I would bet you can't tell the difference between what you've loaded and what I've loaded.

I only deprime before tumbling (I have a deprime only die on a single stage). I start doing that partially so the primer pockets get clean. I didn't want to resize dirty brass because I figure it wouldn't be best for the resize die.

Honestly, though, I think most of this is personal preference. When standing at the bench for an hour+ reloading, it gives our minds far too much time to over-think things, I'm sure.

I would bet you can't tell the difference between what you've loaded and what I've loaded.

Oh probably not.

 

[dieselrealtor]

9mm, .380, 45acp, typically, (not decapped) I wet tumble to remove most of the dirt, drain then tumble with pins. I have picked up some pretty dirty range pickup. Separate the tarnished cases to load when pickup may be difficult.

9mm is a tapered case, however slight it may be

 

[Ark]

I don't think I've ever applied a pair of calipers to a pistol cartridge.

 

[bwframe]

All range pickup for me. I'm not sure whether I've ever bought any 9mm new, other that defensive rounds?

I wet tumble (no pins,) dry them in the "dehydrator," then load them. No extra steps, no trimming, no lube, no primer pocket cleaning.

I do pay a lot more attention during loading than some. See powder in every case, verify no stepped cases on that check, weigh a powder drop every hundred.

Same with final inspection on each hundred. OAL check a few, case gage everything, verify fails with plunk test, high primer inspection in the full MTM box. I dump a couple hundred inspected rounds into a dump ouch in the range bag, after loading the dozen range mags with ten each.

I'm often packing a fair number of "practice only" rounds that didn't quite pass case gaging. Been a long time since having any kind failure on my practice only rejects.

 

[Elcardo]

I wet tumble , let dry , then run em no lube through the carbide die , prime with a lee table top primer
Then just keep an eye out for any cracked ones when I'm loading them in my lee 3 hole progressive
After I run the batch I drop each one in my case guage before I dump em in my ammo can
I'll usually find maybe 1 out of 1000 that doesn't pass the guage

 

[VERT]

All range pickup for me. I'm not sure whether I've ever bought any 9mm new, other that defensive rounds?

I wet tumble (no pins,) dry them in the "dehydrator," then load them. No extra steps, no lube, no primer pocket cleaning.

I do pay a lot more attention during loading than some. See powder in every case, verify no stepped cases on that check, weigh a powder drop every hundred.

Same with final inspection on each hundred. OAL check a few, case gage everything, verify fails with plunk test, high primer inspection in the full MTM box. I dump a couple hundred inspected rounds into a dump ouch in the range bag, after loading the dozen range mags with ten each.

I'm often packing a fair number of "practice only" rounds that didn't quite pass case gaging. Been a long time since having a failure on my rejects.

I have always used pins. Does the wet tumble work OK without those?

 

[bwframe]

I have always used pins. Does the wet tumble work OK without those?

Most brass looks like new on the outside, wet tumbled without pins. Once in a great while, if you are looking close, you might find a light bit of tarnish left on a case likely left on the ground a long time.

The inside of the brass is where the extremely particular might complain about not always coming shiny clean, without using pins. Me, I cover that up with powder and a new boolit.

 

[AndreusMaximus]

I reload 9mm, and I'm basically a brass omnivore. The only thing I do besides cleaning and sizing is measure the brass and trim anything that's over length. I've read in a few places that this isn't necessary for 9mm, but I still do it anyways, as I figure it can't hurt anything.

 

[Wabatuckian]

Tumble, size, trim and prime. If the primer pocket is loose, I discard the case.

 

[kennedy759]

my main pistol reloading is for .40, I only use win brass, dry tumble, size and load, never had one that needed trimming