Case Prep

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Marquezj16

New member
What is your case prep routine for your pistol and rifle cases?

My routine:

Pistol (45 ACP)
1. Throw it in the tumbler and get it fairly clean.
2. Deprime
3. Expand case mouth
4. Check overall length (under .898)
5. Clean primer pocket
6. Chamfer/deburr
7. Tumbler to get polished
8. Inspect
9. Primer

Rifle (.223, .270, .308, and 30-06)
1. Tumbler (remove loose dirt/powder)
2. Spray lube
3. Deprime
4. Check length and trim as necessary
5. Tumbler (remove lube residue)
6. Clean primer pocket
7. Chamfer/deburr
8. Tumbler for polish
9. Inspect
10. Primer again

This is just for general target shooting. Am I doing too much?
 
C

cdoc42

New member
I don't tumble my cases twice and I don't measure my revolver cases for excess length. It is probably necessary for pistols but I rarely use pistols.

I tumble revolver cases before resizing because they are usually dirtier from firing than rifle cases.

I tumble rifle cases after resizing to remove the lube.

Otherwise my routine is the same as yours.
 
W

Wyoredman

New member
I dont tumble after Depriming/Sizing because I hate the media getting stuck in the flash holes!

I wipe the cases with a clean shop rag/paper towel.

Otherwise, same.
 
D

dacaur

New member
I do tumble first as well since its a bad idea to run dirty brass through your dies (scratches anyone?) i tumble first with my "dirty" media, then with my "clean" media, because I like shiny brass.

I only tumble twice if my brass gets dull before I reload them... :D I have found that tumbling after depriming does nothing to clean the primer pockets anyway, so i just use a primer pocket tool to clean them....
 
H

hounddawg

New member
My routines change as I learn more but here is my latest

Other than a occasional IDPA match I just plink with pistols so I soak em in straight CLR for about 15 min rinse em then boil them, dry them on some newspaper or a old towel and throw em on a progressive.

The latest routine for my bolt action rifles cases I clean the necks with a bit of Neverdull, then put them on a Wilson trimmer to trim to size and ream the inside of the necks, hand chamfer and debur, deprime, blow them out with compressed air from the primer end, neck size, reprime,measure powder to the .1 gr, lube the necks with a bit of talc, stuff a bullet in then check runout. I got very consistent velocities and groups with the last batch of .243 and .308.

The AR's .223 for my got the same treatment as my pistols last batch. If I get back into high power matches I will give them the match rounds the same treatment as the bolt guns except I will full length resize

I quit tumbling altogether and am still considering one of the larger ultrasonics, if for no other reason than I can strip and clean my pistols in it also.
 
A

AllenJ

New member
Rifle
1. Inspect, hand clean any dirty cases
2. Lube
3. Resize/Deprime
4. Wipe off excess lube
5. Trim to length (if necessary)
6. Tumble (use fine crushed walnut media, takes longer but no flash hole issues)
7. Clean primer pocket
8. Chamfer/deburr
9. Inspect
10. Prime

Pistol
1. Tumble
2. Inspect
3. Trim to length (if necessary)
4. Clean primer pockets
5. Load them - Oh how I love progressive reloaders:)
 
M

Marquezj16

New member
I figured we all have some kind of routine. I'm a little OCD so it takes a little longer for me to reload and case prep seems eternal to me.
 
K

Kayser

New member
For pistol, I'm really simple these days:

- Tumble
- Inspect (visual only, with a little more care given for magnum rounds)
- Size/deprime
- Bell/Charge/Seat/crimp using turret press. OAL measured for each round.
 
K

Kayser

New member
It's not a progressive actually, it's this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KB6OS0LoRPE

I am with a lot of guys here and would recommend against a progressive because of the added complexity it adds, especially for relative beginners. The turret press is a great middle ground. Instead of churning out one round per handle pull, it performs one operation per handle pull on one round only. This makes things more controlled (you're focusing on just one round the entire time) but still speeds the process up quite a bit.

I'm still not 100% sold on the thing for ultimate super precision rifle reloading (bullet seating depths seem to vary a little more than I'd like), but for pistol rounds it is quite excellent.
 
D

dacaur

New member
I made a little toolbox case to hold all mine in one convenient place:
Click to expand...
Awesome... I love that, I have been thinking of a way to keep all mine organized and out of the way and keep them clean....
 
R

rclark

New member
Pistol (45 ACP or other calibers)
2. Deprime/Resize
3. Expand case mouth
8. Inspect
9. Primer
...
Load on a single stage Hornady press.

Only tumble if accessively dirty. No need otherwise. Found primer pocket cleaning does not help anything (doesn't hurt either of course). Only debur new cases.

Rifle I'll add the step to check for length. Don't do hardly any rifle. 30/30 once in awhile.
 
M

Marquezj16

New member
Yep, the turret press looks a lot less intimidating than the progressive ones.

I'm stuck to my single stage for now though.

Nice case.
 
S

Scimmia

New member
Yeah, your pistol routine seems very OCD. If you cut out steps 4-7 entirely, you'd have what most people consider normal.

For your rifle routine, why tumble three times? I'd eliminate step 5 and just remove the lube with step 8.
 
S

springer99

New member
Pistol (45 & 9mm)
1 - inspect for any defects
2 - throw in the tumbler
3 - inspect again and remove media
4 - spray lube about 1 in 10 cases
5 - resize, deprime and prime (if very loose primersthen the case goes in
scrap bin)
6 - charge with powder and expand mouth
7 - seat bullet
8 - remove flare and crimp bullet if desired

Rifle (30-06)
1 - inspect for any defects
2 - throw in the tumbler
3 - inspect again and remove media
4 - spray lube each case
5 - resize and de-prime
6 - check case length and trim if needed (chamfer if nec.)
7 - clean primer pocket
8 - prime (if very loose primers then the case goes in
scrap bin)
9 - charge with powder
10 - seat bullet and crimp if desired.

I don't bother checking OL on pistol cases, and only check this with bottleneck cases AFTER sizing(they will grow some in this step)
 
Q

Qtiphky

New member
Pistol
1. Size/Deprime
2. Sonic cleaner
3. Rinse and let dry 24 hours
4. Clean primer pockets of any gunk
5. Load on Lee turret press in process. Three pulls for each bullet and it is loaded

Rifle
1. Lube
2. Size/Deprime
3. Trim, Chamfer and hold towel around case while I spin one more time to remove lube (on a Lee zip trim)
4. Clean primer pockets
5. Seat primer and put all in loading block
6. Powder all cases
7. Inspect all powder
8. Seat bullets and then crimp on the turret press

I will most likely start using my sonic cleaner on rifle casings as well. Just got it for Christmas and really like how clean it got my pistol casings. Probably not necessary, but makes them shiny.
7. Seat/crimp bullets
 
M

Marquezj16

New member
I'm looking into the sonic cleaner as well. It just seems that it would clean the cases better. I'd probably still use my tumbler for initial cleaning though.

I tumble to remove the lube residue because wiping off 200 cases of .223 cases would take so much longer and if I don't clean it off, then the lube residue makes it harder to get a hold off when chamfering/deburring.

I did state I was a little OCD...

So for pistol, after initial chamfer/debur, it is not necessary for subsequent chamfer/debur?
 
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