case prep

[Bezoar]

why should one go through all the trouble and cost of tumbling, vibrators, equipment, etc when i see reloading tutorials that are basically


take fired case, deprime, clean primer pocket with hand tool, wipe outside of case down with brass/copper wool, swab inside of case with piece of brass/copper wool on a patch jag.

then resize , prime, charge, seat a bullet?

 

[eisenhower]

It's easier to just drop them in a tumbler before going out coming back a few hours later and their clean. Tumbles don't cost very must depending on what you get.

 

[Walkalong]

Fast, easy, pretty.

 

[FROGO207]

It all comes down to how OCD you are.
When I started reloading, my revolver rounds would never touch the ground. I just inspected them for splits, size, prime, and reload as needed. They were some grungy/dirty but always hit where I wanted them to. Now 30+ years later I have graduated to SS pins and a Thumlers to make mine look prettier than factory ammo cause I can.

 

[bob4]

If I could get to the range everyday and afford to shoot a few hundred rounds every day I would have less time for case prep. Seeings I don't do that I have more time for case prep and let's me do something with the hobby.

 

[kwg020]

Cleanliness is next to the dependability God. It's easy to spot issues when the brass looks all the same and clean and shiney brass makes the job easier. kwg

 

[howiepa]

There's also the potential of dirty brass scratching your dies or dirtying your press. I know when I run my decapping sessions, my LnL is fairly filthy afterwards and requires some cleaning so the primer slide won't bind and the shellplate will index smoothly. I learned my lesson: don't stop an ammo run to fix easily avoidable issues related to clean cases.

 

[USSR]

why should one go through all the trouble and cost of tumbling, vibrators, equipment, etc when i see reloading tutorials that are basically


take fired case, deprime, clean primer pocket with hand tool, wipe outside of case down with brass/copper wool, swab inside of case with piece of brass/copper wool on a patch jag.

then resize , prime, charge, seat a bullet?

Because there's more than one way to skin a cat, and some ways are better than others.

Don

 

[Mohave-Tec]

OP, that just sounds like too much work.

 

[amlevin]

The difference between manuals and tutorials is that they are using brass that's only been once-fired or cleaned many times before the last firing.

Cleaning is necessary to make sure you don't have a buildup of crud that will eventually cause problems with dies and rifle/handgun.

A lot of people obsess over looks but I'm more into function. For that reason I use the Stainless Steel Pin Media to clean my cases inside and out. No carbon buildup inside or primer pockets that need cleaning.

Expensive? A one time cost that amortizes itself over many, many, years.

Too much work? The tumbler does all the work and it only takes me about 10 minutes to run the cleaned cases in the media separator, rinse, and set out to dry on a towel ( I then anneal them at this point so drying is real quick)

Hand Loading is all about following ALL the steps, not trying to figure out which ones you can leave out. Someday you'll leave an important one out and get bit in your "Southern Hemisphere's".

 

[GW Staar]

What Mohave-Tec is trying to say is, How long do you think you would take you to burnish pile of this with wool:

To get this (inside and out):



when you can run this:


For 4 hours while you are at work.

 

[Otto]

why should one go through all the trouble and cost of tumbling, vibrators, equipment, etc .....

The answer will be apparent after you've cleaned a few thousand pieces of brass by hand.

 

[witchhunter]

I think most of us are proud of our loaded ammo. When I first started, I would shoot, load, shoot, repeat. Then I saw what tumbled brass looked like and got me one! I started out with some nickel plated .357 brass and loaded em until the necks split. When I loaded rifle, it was like you say, but it was too hard to get the lube off one at a time. I have two tumblers now.

 

[murf]

so manufacturers can sell more case tumblers.

murf

 

[AABEN]

You can do 300 223 brass in a short time. That is a lot faster than hand!

 

[vongh]

I prefer clean brass for inspection purposes. With a tumbler you let it go and go about your day instead of spending your day cleaning brass but that's already been mentioned.

 

[rcmodel]

why should one go through all the trouble and cost of tumbling, vibrators, equipment, etc

Why would one go to all the trouble and cost of reloading in the first place when you can buy clean & shiny factory ammo?

Myself?
I clean & polish in a tumbler for several reasons.

Not the least of which is my hands & reloading equipment stay cleaner while reloading.

The other one is, it is cheap, and my hands stay cleaner.

The other one is, my reloaded look better then factory loads.

rc

 

[45lcshooter]

also clean brass cycles better in firearms. its like taking 2 trees and rubbing them together if you don't tumble(if its a bolt action, or semi gun). take the bark off the trees and roll them on the ground for a few hours to get all the branches knocked off, and that would be like your tumbled brass. Kind of dumb analogy but its the only thing i could come up with on an early Sunday morning.

 

[fourdollarbill]

I shoot to reload so I find case prep a very satisfying past time. You should see a 357 case perfectly done up, trimmed, chamfered, flash hole de-burred, polished and ready for an evening out. Also I think clean inside and out saves the dies but some may disagree.

 

[Blue68f100]

When I started reloading almost 4 decades ago I used Ni 357 Mag brass because all I needed to do was wipe it down to clean. I did not have the space or funds for a tumbler back then. But like other have said a tumbler is just quicker and easier these days. The main thing is that you do not want an abrasive on the brass when you run it through the resizer. How ever you get there is up to you. Shinney brass does not shoot any better than dull/tarnished brass as long as it clean.

 

[oldreloader]

Why would one go to all the trouble and cost of reloading in the first place when you can buy clean & shiny factory ammo?

Myself?
I clean & polish in a tumbler for several reasons.

Not the least of which is my hands & reloading equipment stay cleaner while reloading.

The other one is, it is cheap, and my hands stay cleaner.

The other one is, my reloaded look better then factory loads.

rc

plus I can see defects better

 

[blarby]

Mainly it gives us a big leg up on those poor saps shooting dirty russian factory ammo at the range.

Superiority in function AND form is big for handloaders. Big. So are bragging rights.

Besides, the first time a trophy buck sees that glimmer of spirit released as you chamber that perfect shiny round and just flops over of his own accord, its all worth it.

True story !

 

[blarby]

offtopic :

Bezoar

Not that I should be the last to question screen names, but any relation to trichobezoar ?

 

[Swampman]

why should one go through all the trouble and cost of tumbling, vibrators, equipment, etc when i see reloading tutorials that are basically

take fired case, deprime, clean primer pocket with hand tool, wipe outside of case down with brass/copper wool, swab inside of case with piece of brass/copper wool on a patch jag.
then resize , prime, charge, seat a bullet?

You're going to try simplifying things and avoiding extra steps by individually polishing the INSIDES of all your cases?

 

[gamestalker]

I remember my humble beginnings, and I too remember polishing each one by hand, I actually got pretty in depth with it. Then I bought a tumbler, end of story.

GS