case prep order?

[coloradokevin]

Well, I finally received my reloading equipment from UPS today...

As such, I need to start processing brass in hopes of reloading it very soon!!!

I probably have 1000-1500 once-fired .223 cases (Remington) that I plan to work with initially.

Hoping you guys could shed some light on the order you prefer to do things in for prepping your cases for reloading?


NOTE:

My brass is freshly picked off of the range, and no prep work has been done. If I am up-to-speed on my reading on the subject, I sort of understand the order of the prep process to go something like:

1) Tumble
2) Lube
3) Decap and resize
4) Trim (as needed)
5) Clean primer pocket and/or flash hole (tool suggestions?)
6) Chamfer/debur case neck (also take a tool suggestion here?)

Also, I've been told that Remington cases don't have the military crimp on them, can any of you confirm or deny this?

And, does it sound like I'm on the right track (overall), or out of my mind?


As always, thanks for the help!

 

[xring44]

Looks like you are right on track!

Personally, I uniform the primer pockets, I have a RCBS tool that works in a cordless drill, this tool cuts the bottom of the primer pockets square.

I also uniform the flash holes, lee or RCBS makes this nifty little tool, it cuts the burr from the inside of the flash hole.

 

[qajaq59]

I'd say you have it down just fine. And look the brass over well as you do it, in case there are any split necks or whatever.

 

[Jacka L Ope]

As Xring mentioned, I also uniform the primer pockets on 7.62 & 5.56mm cartridges. It's certainly not required and adds more time to the cartridge case preparation process but what it does is improve upon military cartridge primer/bolt face clearance. By reaming and uniforming the primer pocket depth to .131" (industry specification is .132" max.), squaring the bottom corners and seating primers to a uniform depth of approximately .006" below flush (industry max. seating depth is .008"), it adds a margin of safety agains slam-fires when firing them from military-type autoloading rifles with unsprung firing pins.

 

[The Bushmaster]

The above posters have good ideas, but I would load a few hundred first to get the hang of it then go for the more complex components of reloading.

Tool for cleaning primer pockets? I place my cases in the boxes primer pocket up and clean them using a choke/throttle cable trimmed to 1" of the guide. Takes about or less then a minute to clean 50 primer pockets.

Uniforming the primer pockets is most necessary if you are into competition shooting. The most I do is to trim the burrs from the inside of the flash hole. Even that isn't really necessary.

 

[Falcore]

Sort the cases by manufacturer, weigh the cases for volume.
Do not use Federal A/E cases—discard them, they are not safe to reload.