Volume Brass Processing

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Viper5243

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If you had a pretty good, ongoing supply of once fired brass (LC 5.56 and 308) and wanted to start processing it to resell as "ready to load" brass, what would your setup be? Price is not an extreme issue for startup, but a machine like a Camdex is out of the question.

The only thing im set on right now is a Dillon 1050 and using SS media to get completely clean cases. I would be doing 5.56, 308 and possibly 9mm. My thread is mostly how to do the bulk of the processing of the 5.56 and 308 being that case lubing will be needed.
 
I think I would seriously consider just selling it without all the work of cleaning it all.

When you consider the time you will have into cleaning, plus the cost of the machine and media, what you may have to end up charging may be prohibitive for most people.
 
I already have the tumbler (cement mixer) and the SS media. I wouldn't be trying to pay off the press from the first batch of brass. I planned on getting a 1050 anyway for my own personal reloading. I regularly see fully processed brass going for almost $0.10 a piece, and polished only brass going for what comes out to about $0.04 each. For the initial cost of the machine and the amount of brass i can get it is worth it for me to sell it ready to load, even at $0.08 each.
 
Clean the range junk off it and sell it. I won't buy processed brass because I don't know what you have done, not done or missed. I would still resize the cases, work over the primer pocket and trim so the extra cost is not worth it. I just got finished with 1500 pieces of 223 brass I purchased a couple years ago that had some processing. Well about 300 pieces ended up in the trash because they were trimmed way to short or had so much trimming slag around the mouth that the case mouth got distorted when sized. We are reloaders that is what we do if you want to sell brass just sell brass and save yourself a lot of work and expense for very little return. After having watched a few YouTube videos I don't trust anyone elses work, why would you trim before resizing? Don't people know that cases can grow when resized?
 
volume processing

I like your idea.

I process 223's in batches of 500 on my 550b. After the initial case cleaning, the cases go into a large stainless bowl where the case lube is applied. I put a drop of about half the the size of an Centrum Silver vitamin pill in one hand and work it all over both hands to really spread it out. Then, I work my hands through all the brass in the large bowl. Sort of like tossing a salad. The next step is to start running them through the resize/deprime operation. About every 10th case gets a pass of a bore brush that has a light film of motor oil.

After the resize/deprime, all the cases go back into the polisher to eliminate any oil in the case or lube on the outside.

A 1050 would make this a joy due to the built in case trimmer, pocket swage, and speed.

I wish you well in your project.
 
The most i have done with my "tumbler" is close to 10 gallons at one shot with room for more. Toss it in and leave it for a few hours. For the 1050 i'd get the possness autodrive. I wouldn't sit there and hand crank thousands of rounds. Screw that. I do that with my BMG press already. I will be getting into 300 whisper/blackout soon and would be making my own brass for it.

I know some guys want to do their own brass. They enjoy doing it just as i do. But their are also lots of people who don't want to put the time or money into processing their brass to certain points. Some want clean primer pockets, some don't care.
 
Check out ar15.com's reloading for-sale section. That'll help you establish true-market market price.

Shiny-brass will absolutely help it sell. Some people will want processed brass, others will want unprocessed. But at the very minimum, I would tumble everything for presentation.
 
Arfcom is where i have been getting my pricing from. I have sold basic walnut tumbled brass there already. I stopped and am holding off till i get the press in so i can at least deprime and tumble with SS media
 
I process 223 brass in batches of 1000. My setup looks like this:

Station 1: RCBS Lube Die
Station 3: RCBS Trim Die
Station 5: RCBS Sizer Die (only the expander ball is used)

I think setting up something like this on the 1050 with it's built-in primer pocket swager would do the trick.

Having said that, my observation is that the market for *processed* brass is soft. People don't seem to want to pay the premium for processed brass over unprocessed brass.
 
I didn't want to brake the bank either so I built a lot of my stuff.

Brass sorter, 12.2 gallon tumbler, case annealer, I have been using a 650 to trim and a bullet fed 1050 to load but now that I have the 1050 powered by a gearmotor I plan to set it up to trim (if you didn't already know the 1050 swages primer pockets also).


sorter.jpg

DSC02490.jpg

DSC01810.jpg

trimmer.jpg
 
You will still want a corncob dry tumbler to knock the lube off the cases, I use the big Dillon tumbler.
 
I won't buy processed brass at all, especially bottle neck cases! I will buy cleaned brass. I want to inspect it, size it for MY headspace (why overwork by another F/L), etc. If I want perfect brass, I'll buy new. I don't have personal liability insurance for kabooms, I suspect you don't either.
 
Comment for those that say they won't buy processed brass. No problem, there are lots of others that will.

I would if it was reasonably priced, I knew what the "process" was, and there was a "Satisfaction Warranty".

Some people want only a few hundred pieces of brass to get started and want to save some $$.

To answer the OP's question, a Cement Mixer which I would have the drum coated with some spray on bed liner material, Stainless Pin media, and a Dillon Rapid Trim would be essentials for a volume operation. Since the rapid trim requires lube I would use a lanolin/alcohol spray similar to the Dillon and then remove with a detergent/water wash followed by air dry under a blower. The cases already are burnished from the Stainless Pin media so no more polish is needed.

The nice thing about using the 1050 is there is an integral primer pocket swaging station and plenty of positions to mount the rapid trim as well as an expander die to finish the process. Ready to load brass for a reasonable price isn't all that bad to a beginner.

Be sure and explain what you do to the brass in detainl, the finished length, and the fact that all primer pockets are swaged rather than the "countersink" method used on some of the "processed brass" (which in all too many cases is really "counter bored" with a huge recess instead of a mild chamfer).

As for "annealing" I'd offer the service as an "extra" for a slight upcharge.

I hope you're thinking in quantities in the 10's of thousands as it will take a lot to amortize the investment in equipment. It takes a lot of "pennies here and pennies there" to add up to just the price of a 1050 alone.
 
I tend to jump into things like this. Tired of paying rent, bought a house. Tired of paying for decals, buy a vinyl cutter. Spending a ton of money on simple barrel work, buy a lathe.

To answer some of the things above. The cement mixer is a plastic/polymer drum, not steel. So much quieter and hard on the brass. I'm not really looking into getting into annealing. Amlevin is right. Fully processed brass is not for everyone. But there are lots of people it is for. So offering different stages of processing is also an option. I would escribing everything that is done to the brass in the ads/auctions (SS tumbling, trimming to .***, sizing etc). Providing a service people are happy with at a good price is my aim. Not looking to break the bank. I enjoy doing this kinda stuff and seeing the end result of my work. And then there is just something nice about buckets of shiny brass :D
 
There are some companies already doing this, my intest is NOT to discourage, but present possible problem areas to think about. There is a liability question although not as great as making and selling re-loaded ammo. What is the cost differential between cleaned and new brass; what price point can you sell at between those? If you have that much brass around, you might sell cleaned brass for a starter and then see where it goes from there.
 
A 1050 with the dillon trimmer and an autodrive will do what you want with very little effort for under $3000. If you have the ability to build the autodrive yourself you could make it happen under $2000.

Of course you could also get a single stage and hand trimmer and make it happen under $200 but it would take a lot more of your time to process cases.
 
If you are doing a Dillon 1050, why not sell the brass primed? Ordinary people can't ship primers (Hazmat), but primed brass is not hazmat.
 
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My problem is getting primers. Not cost efficient to send primers to AK then deal with shipping them back down.
 
Just as an in-general experience, I've not had too much difficulty selling processed brass. Generally, I'll decap and tumble it, but won't do anything else. I'll advertise it as such, and it'll usually sell. Maybe not immediately, but it will be gone in a month or two if I'm actually trying to get rid of it.


Sold maybe 4-500 .45acp pieces a few months ago, and 500 .40s&w pieces over the past few months, mostly at gun shows. I always price it to sell, if you know what I mean, so it doesn't last long. But I wouldn't want to count on it as any sort of residual income or anything...
 
I'd be interested depending on the quantity. I shoot a lot of .223 and don't want to trim it. Don't yet have the full setup for myself yet.
 
Here's a link for you of a guy that used to do it. Think he's taking a break now for a bit. I've read of a lot of people using him and liked the work. Might be some insight for you on how he does it as far as pricing and policy.

http://www.custombrassprocessing.com/index.html

Buy a Dillon Super 1050, the Dillon trimmer, and have at it.
 
Here's a link for you of a guy that used to do it. Think he's taking a break now for a bit. I've read of a lot of people using him and liked the work. Might be some insight for you on how he does it as far as pricing and policy.

http://www.custombrassprocessing.com/index.html
Click to expand...

Click on that picture under his menu on the left side of the homepage.

When he says break he means break. Ouch!

Seedtick

:)
 
Another data point to consider: I really enjoy processing brass - except for swaging.

Consider offering your brass decapped, swaged and polished but not sized or trimmed.
 
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