Pat Riot
Contributing Member
I have been considering wet tumbling. Maybe this summer.
This is a great thread.
One thing I taught my daughter to do when she was helping me was to wear nitrile gloves and a dust mask when handing brass and cleaning media when emptying the tumbler. It’s protection against the dust from the cleaning process and I am sure there is lead in that dust.
Also I had her wear the gloves when handling bullets until I switched to Bear Creek Supply lead bullets. They have a Moly and wax coating on the lead. You do get moly on you when handling them.
Sounds like you are going aboout it in the proper way. What do you think of offering him an inducement $$$ to read and report on the first few chapters in a good reloading manual, dealing with the process. Or...do it with him. A review is always a good thing, right? Would $20 do it in this day and age?I've had my 14 YO son help me on the reloading bench for a while. He recently "discovered" my Glock 22 and .40 cal. Went through the stash of 400 rounds in a few outings. So, I had him help me with the reloading. We loaded three different bullets that I hadn't loaded before, so showed him to work up a charge and test the batches at the range. Then we settled on the charge to use and loaded up another 400 rounds. Throughout I explained the basics of reloading. What the dies do, powder charge, seating, plunking, etc.; I realized that in general he was just pulling the handle (LNL - AP) and not really learning to reload. I've since decided that I'm going to take him through the fundamentals and have him load a batch from scratch. This will include setting the dies for each step. And then go through the full run. So, I assigned him a couple of chapters in the Lyman book. Then we'll go through the processes. And that will include removing the dies from the LNL bushings and starting from zero.
He does have an interest in cars and turning wrenches, and he's been helping me on the very long process of working on my 1980 Corvette. He helps me change the oil on our cars. He's helped me with plumbing and electrical projects in the house. And he has 8 lawn service customers. I'm his helper and transportation. It's a good way for him to earn some bucks and it gets us outside and a workout.
My daughter is about to be 21 and she has often used the fact that she knows how to load ammo to impress the fellas.My grand daughter would help me in the reloading room when she was younger, I had her seating bullets when she was five. She had to stand on a stool to reach the press.
She's 16 now and has other interests of course.
The flip method is awesome for keeping track of cases in a loading block... get distracted and walk away, I know exactly where I am. I process a lot of brass while the kids are at home running around. I charge and seat bullets while their out or sleeping.Follow up post. My son read the Lyman reloading chapters and even made notes on some questions to ask me. So, tonight we went over the questions and the processes for pistol and rifle reloading. One question was about lube on cases. I explained why it's needed, and about carbide or Hornady's Titanium Nitride pistol dies. Though I showed him that I do lube my 9mm cases due to the tight sizing I put on them and the tapered case. He pulled the handle on sizing a couple of 9mm and felt the force needed as compared to 40 S&W. I showed him the results of sizing, expanding and crimping on the cases.
He had a couple of other questions as well. He asked about loading blocks and I showed him how they work and their use in single stage reloading. He's seen me trim rifle brass, and understands that, so all told he's off to a good start.
Tomorrow we'll go through setting the dies and load some more 40 or 9. After those I'll get him working on some rifle rounds.
That’s a trigger finger if I ever saw one!My couple week old grand son when asked to signal "one" if you want to wet tumble or "two" dry tumble.
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Or case trimmingThis is not one of my grandsons, however this is what he thinks about wet tumbling….
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Kids are growing up too fast these daysOr case trimming
Well done sir. My son showed interest when he was quite young, but now has zero interest in reloading. I have arranged that when I shuffle off this mortal coil that all my reloading gear will be going to a local 4H Shooting Sports club to help teach a whole new generation.What a great feeling. My son reloaded his first 50 rounds of .45 acp. Nice skill to pass along.
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