Rehabing range brass - help!

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FlaXD

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I have not yet gotten a press but will be soon:) In the meantime I have been collecting range brass + my once fireds. For the moment I will be doing .40S&W and some .45.

I'm also ordering some reloading books but I'm chomping at the bit to do something! I have a tumbler so I'm looking for advice on what to do with the brass I have and in what order.

I've tossed the dented cases. What else should I look for? Should I sort by brand? Should I deprime before or after tumbling or leave that for the press? Measure each case? Basically the 101 on "pre-loading."

I've also seen people recommend getting media from pet stores. What section(s)? Hamster bedding? Kitty litter?:eek:

Sorry for such nube questions but I figured it's better to ask now than be sorry later. Thanks.
 
You have the brass and you have the tumbler. Get whatever tumbler media (I recommend the real thing from a reloading supply store until you understand what's what). You must tumble the brass at least 15 minutes before you resize/decap them. That way you won't inadvertently scratch the sizing die. Then tumble them for at least 1 hour. As you are not ready to load them. You will need to catalog them (Zip-lok bags work great for this) and store them until you are ready to reload them. I sort by head stamp and maintain a history on each 20 (rifle) and 50 (hangun) sets. Others don't. Getting a manual or two or more is a real great idea. They will answer about 90% of your questions. Be aware that it is common for a .45 ACP to dent the case about half way down the case. This is caused by the case striking the rear of the ejection port upon firing and not a problem. A lot of the "not-so-bad" dents will straighten out on the first firing. Severly dented or mashed flat cases should be discarded.:) Measure after you have resized/decapped.

Welcome to the fever...It's contagous.:D
 
If the case is only mildly dented or slightly dinged, there's no need to cull them: your sizing die will put them back into shape. Go ahead and cull the serious dents or crushed cases.

Personally, I tumble all my brass before I deprime. Some folks like to deprime first and let the tumbling media clean out the primer pocket. I guess it will boil down to personal preference.

I don't sort any of my pistol brass (rifle brass is another matter). All of mine goes into the same bucket, regardless of headstamp. Unless you're striving for the ultimate in ammo consistency, I see little point.

I buy my media en-bulk from a local police supply store and it costs $30 for 50 pounds.
 
Culling dinged cases...

I agree with the posted about not tossing out light to moderately dinged cases. I have been selling some to get a first reloading kit for an 18 year olds xmas gift. Those I sell are hand picked for no dents and the like but if they are clean your dies will straighten out the necks for the most part and little dents will get popped out when they are fired. I keep alot of the boogery ones for my range ammo and only "need' a few hundred for hunting fodder and the like. Do sort by headstamp for velocity and performance quality and consistancy. Trim as necessary, and do a good inspection of all cases and you can get pretty darned long life out of brass. When I started reloading at age 12 I fired the same several hundred 30-06 cases at least 10 times before they started even showing signs of getting wanked out.

Patty
 
I don't decap before cleaning any more. I've found the media doesn't get enough action in the primer pocket to do any real cleaning. I have used a Lee primer pocket cleaner and it works well but now that I've got a progressive I don't clean any of the primer pockets for the pistol ammo I load on that. Rifle and small batches of pistol ammo that I load on my RCB's single stage will get the primer pocket cleaned some times. For the most part it doesn't make a bit of difference whether the primer pocket is cleaned or not. If you run decapped brass in the tumbler you can get media stuck in the primer pocket and its a pain to remove.
 
FlaXD...Do clean out your primer pockets. I have just completed a 3 week test on the theory of not cleaning the primer pockets on .45 ACP. after 4 or 5 loadings and not cleaning the primer pockets the primers started to protrude above the case head. This could cause a slam fire in a lot of firearms. That's when the slide goes to battery and the bolt face sets off the round. I highly recommend cleaning the primer pockets. It's not that hard of a process. with the right tool and you get to inspect the case one more time.
 
So to summarize the answers to 2 questions:

1. Tumble before depriming? Yes, no and both.
2. Sort brass? Yes and no.

:)
 
Well...Ya should've known you'd a get opinions rather the a 1 2 3 list.:D

Read your manuals. They are the best guide you can have. Believe me...:)
 
As far as tumbling media goes, it does not take very much. I used a 5 lb bag for 6 months. I changed my bowl twice. Tumblers tend to clean better the more brass they have in them.
 
Like most people I dont sort pistol brass, rifle brass on the other hand is a different story. Seems that different brands have different capacities, LOL. I am a big fan of ziploc bags and a sharpie to keep up with the different headstamps.

I have been using walnut media since I got my tumblers, I also use a little Flitz media additive and use these little sheets you put in clothes dryers such as "bounce". Cut them in strips about an inch wide. They seem to collect most of the black gunk that results from tumbling. Just throw them away after cleaning your brass.

As far as the media goes, there are quite a number of different kinds you can use. Just experiment and find what works for you.
 
FlaXD,
When you sort your .40cal range brass, look for the Glock firing pin funky marks. The brass is usually bulged, near the head, and can be seen easily. I personally wouldnt use it, but others will say its ok. I tumble for an hour or two, than size/deprime, clean the primer pocket( Lee makes a great tool for small & large primers.) All the brass then goes into coffee cans, till I need them. Unless the brass is creased, I straighten the mouth dents with a tappered drift, but the resizing die takes care of most of the small ones. Be safe, reloading is fun and rewarding.:)
 
My accuracy requirements are not great, I mostly shoot IDPA where reliability is more important. So I pick up all the range brass my arthritis will allow, sorting as I go with a bag for 9mm and a bag for .45 (I don't have any .40). I take it home, spread it out to dry if there has been rain in the past week, then dump it in the tumbler for several hours. I then run it through the Dillon.

The key after that is 100% gauge inspection.
Grade 1. Gauges OK, goes to match.
Grade 2. Doesn't quite gauge, goes to practice.
Grade 3. Doesn't gauge, period, goes to Pop 'n Drop practice.
Grade 4. Really bad. Largely A-MERC or 9mm Mak brass in with 9mm P. Pull down to recover components, trash brass.
 
you can make life easy by getting a lee hand-press and a universal decapper.


Some don't bother with it...but you can decap a whole mess of brass while watching your favorite tv shows and then tumble it up.


D
 
I tumble my brass with walnut from the pet store. I add two cap full of Nu-finish car polish. Tumble for 2 hours. I don't clean the primer pocket. I use a Lee classic turret press. To me it seems like a waste of time to keep putting the case in and taking it out. I put the case in and four handle pulls later it is ready to shoot. When I first started reloading I cleaned and decapped 1200 cases and when I looked at the primer pockets they didn't look like they needed to be cleaned. Thats just the way I like to do it. You will try a lot of different things and find out what you prefer. Good luck and stay safe.
Rusty
 
Watch out for foreign brass!!! One Berdan primmed case (the ones with 2 little holes in the bottom instead of one large one) will mess up the decapping pin on your die. If you can't tell rinse it out and check or toss it. rugerman
 
Somebody already mentioned it

FlaXD,
When you sort your .40cal range brass, look for the Glock firing pin funky marks. The brass is usually bulged, near the head, and can be seen easily
Click to expand...

I've seem some pretty bad bulges, so I don't bother with the Glocked brass either.
 
Dented Cases

Can anyone answer this one ? For the past few months i've been shooting Federal american eagle .45 acp 230 gr.ammo with my Kimber goldmatch and Kimber warrior with not one problem. My last visit at the range i shot 200 rounds and noticed that at least 100 rounds were dented. Around 50 rounds were dented with a pretty good dent and the other 50 had a very small dent on them. I shot 100 rounds in each gun but did'nt notice till the end of the day that the cases were dented so i don't no if it was one gun or both that were denting the cases. Everyone i talk to say this is normal. It just seems weird that the 2000 rounds that i shot and picked up the last few months have no dents at all. Same guns, same make ammo just bought at differant times.
 
If the dent is about half way back from the mouth and it is a small dent. Don't worry. It's just the case striking the ejection port of the slide. With 1911 style pistols this normal. Some brass will hit the port and some won't. Clean it, resize/decap it and reload it. Not a problem...
 
Thanks for the post Bushmaster. Yes, all the dents are in the middle and most are all small.
 
Sort the .40s from the .45s. Those .40s will get lodged in your .45s and youl'll be cussing before you know it!!!!
Click to expand...


The first time that I tumbled, I placed 9mm, .40S&W, and .45ACP, in the tumbler...together. What a friggin' mess!::cuss:

I soon figured out why 2/3 of my brass had disappeared after tumbling. They had all lodged themselves into the .45's in cute little stacks. DOH!:banghead:
 
Let the wind blow

The only bit I can add is an air compressor is your friend after tumbling. I put on my range muffs, open the doors for good ventilation and blow out each case as I inspect it. I deprime first, tumble, blow out the primer pockets, blow out the cases and look through the flash hole to verify its round and shows daylight. Sometimes I find a piece of tumbling media stuck in the flash hole on one side or the other. I also don't tumble every time, just about once in a half dozen firings ( or when I want to impress someone with shinny brass).
 
And do not ever mix .32acp brass with .38spcl or .357mag. They can fit even snugger than .45/.40. This can sometimes take the fun out of brass whoring.



Needlenose pliers are your friend.
 
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