Processing military brass

[jhansman]

Hello all- My first time dealing with military .223 Rem (Lake City & some RORG) that I've deprimed and resized. Is swaging the next logical step (a good friend loaned me his Dillon Super Swage 600), or should I tumble it first? It's pretty dirty, so I thought I'd ask. TIA!

 

[electronrider]

If you tumbled it before you resized, then just wait till your done processing. If it is really dirty, you should have tumbled it before you sized it, as bad debris could have damaged your die.

I just finished this process up on about 1200 LC brass, now on to trimming.

 

[jhansman]

OK, I have about 2/3 of it that nothing has been done to, so I should first tumble, then move on to the decap/full resize step?

 

[rodregier]

Cleaning the brass first (tumble) is a good idea. Avoids scratching dies, and makes inspection/sorting more effective.

This is how I deal with 1X mil-spec bottleneck brass:

- Tumble to clean
- Sort by mfgr / rough inspect/recycle as scrap metel as necessary
- Spray lube bodies
- Deprime/resize (I use a carbide expander for necks)
- Gage for proper sizing
- Try resize once more for the gage failures - recycle those that are oversize
- Tumble (just dry corn cob is fine) to clean off lube
- Swage pockets (reject any the swage falls into w/o resistance)
- Remove pocket debris left by swage - pocket cleaner tool is easy way.
(little rim of brass gets knocked off the crimp)
- Trim to length as needed
- Inside and outside chamfer case mouths
- Dislodge any debris remaining in flash holes from lube removal tumble

Brass is now ready to load like new factory brass that doesn't have mouths or bodies dented in shipment.

I'm working my way thru some Norinco (headstamp C J) .223 right now...

 

[jhansman]

Hmm, I like the idea of tumbling to clean off the lube. I use Imperial sizing wax, which I normally wash off with hot water, but perhaps the corn cob is a better method. I have foot surgery coming up in a month, and I want this brass ready to at least swage. I'll need something to do while being forced to sit on my butt for week (or more), and it would be a good time to get all this brass ready to load.

 

[rodregier]

I mount my Super Swage 600 on a piece of 2x4 and lay it across my lap. This makes it easy to watch TV and swage cases, which is mostly by feel in any case.