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

[Firehawk]

I sort my range brass by caliber and head stamp. Then deprime each lot.

I ultrasonic wash small lots with a few drops of Dawn Platinum and half a teaspoon of Lemon Shine. Occasionally I may cut the water with white vinegar, but so far I can’t really tell if the vinegar helps. Then rinse.

Brass comes out clean and shiny. Some pieces may still have some minor discoloration. I don’t care about looks. What matters to me is that the cases are clean.

I dry in the oven at a lower heat. Then size in a carbide die, no lube.

 

[Michigan Slim]

No sorting, corn cob tumble with polish only. I try to weed out Amerc brass though.

 

[russc2542]

Deprime on the APP, wet tumble, rinse, dry, load.

If it goes together straight and doesn't fall apart, it's g2g. 9mm comes and goes too fast to do much more than that.

 

[cavallo]

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

Interesting you say that. I've had the same thought but only know that the primer pocket is loose when I seat a primer and it goes in too easily, but at that point, the primer is already seated, so what do you do then? For me, I use a sharpie and mark the "butt" with a big "X" and box them together. When I pick them up again, I discard those with X's on the butts.

 

[Creedmoor]

Deprime on the APP, wet tumble, rinse, dry, load.

If it goes together straight and doesn't fall apart, it's g2g. 9mm comes and goes too fast to do much more than that.

Have you processed any 223 and or 9mm mil brass with the APP yet?
One of my brothers is looking at one just to process brass with. The videos make it look worthwhile to him.

 

[Donovan48]

I dry tumble with corn cob media and a little brass polish, then resize & deprime. I prime separately then finish up on my Hornady progressive press. I am surprised that most responders wet tumble. Why? Wet tumbling seems like more steps. Dry tumbling has always worked fine for me. I don't see how it could come out much cleaner.

 

[Hawkeye7br]

Have you processed any 223 and or 9mm mil brass with the APP yet?
One of my brothers is looking at one just to process brass with. The videos make it look worthwhile to him.

Forgive me... what's a APP?

 

[Hawkeye7br]

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.

I bought a wet tumbler. Littlrat suggested I tumble without pins. First batch was with pins...PITA. Second batch, and every batch since, has been without pins. Sometimes my brass, sometimes range pickup brass for resale or trade or just goodwill for fellow shooters, but always now without pins.

 

[Creedmoor]

Forgive me... what's a APP?

One of Lees new presses.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1022385797?pid=973423

 

[cavallo]

Forgive me... what's a APP?

Lee Automatic Processing Press.

Lee Precision, Inc.. Deluxe App Press

The Lee Deluxe Automatic Processing Press gives you the same priming convenience found only on expensive progressive reloading presses.

leeprecision.com

 

[Cynical]

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.

Um, if you forget to unplug your tumbler after a week in the man cave, .223 will look gold plated. I heard that on the internet.......maybe.

 

[chuckp]

I wet tumble with primers in, dry, lube and deprime. Wet tumble again and dry, and case gauge. Then lube and reload on an automatic press setup. Works great.

I do sort brass as I like to load on the hot side and some brass does not like that. That brass gets left on the ground at shooting competitions where the brass hogs beat me to it.

 

[Creedmoor]

I wet tumble with primers in, dry, lube and deprime. Wet tumble again and dry, and case gauge. Then lube and reload on an automatic press setup. Works great.

I do sort brass as I like to load on the hot side and some brass does not like that. That brass gets left on the ground at shooting competitions where the brass hogs beat me to it.

Can I ask what is the reason you gauge before the round is finished?

 

[Cynical]

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.

I’ve never measured pistol brass but rifle, I’m pretty picky about.

 

[Creedmoor]

I wet tumble with primers in, dry, lube and deprime. Wet tumble again and dry, and case gauge. Then lube and reload on an automatic press setup. Works great.

I do sort brass as I like to load on the hot side and some brass does not like that. That brass gets left on the ground at shooting competitions where the brass hogs beat me to it.

I always laugh when I watch guys pickup the brass we leave behind.
Its past worn out.

 

[Michigan Slim]

Um, if you forget to unplug your tumbler after a week in the man cave, .223 will look gold plated. I heard that on the internet.......maybe.

I must have read the same thing. My source said 24 hours though.

 

[chuckp]

Can I ask what is the reason you gauge before the round is finished?

It helps weed out the 380 and other possible problem brass before it is finally loaded.

 

[Wabatuckian]

I must have read the same thing. My source said 24 hours though.

This is what happens when you wet tumble with a pinch of citric acid added:

 

[Wabatuckian]

Interesting you say that. I've had the same thought but only know that the primer pocket is loose when I seat a primer and it goes in too easily, but at that point, the primer is already seated, so what do you do then? For me, I use a sharpie and mark the "butt" with a big "X" and box them together. When I pick them up again, I discard those with X's on the butts.

Similar; I color the primer with a sharpie. I pick all the cases up and crush the worn ones with pliers during sorting/depriming.

 

[russc2542]

Have you processed any 223 and or 9mm mil brass with the APP yet?
One of my brothers is looking at one just to process brass with. The videos make it look worthwhile to him.

.223: Deprimed, swaged primer pockets, yes. Tried deprime & sizing but it puts too much load on the pass-through shell holder and pulls the cases out of it. They don't have enough grip on the rim. Good, thorough lube helps but makes a mess of things. I keep it fed with a dillon casefeeder.

9mm mil not sure what you mean... swaged primers? sure. size and deprime as fast as I can pull the lever, Run them all through again to swage pockets.

They're cheapish so totally worth it. Get the roller handle, I blistered my hand from the stupid ball it comes with.