alfack
Member
How long does it take for you to do 1 round like this? Multiply it by 1000 and you have yourself a boring weekend
Where do you send your brass to be sized/trimmed and how much?
- Thread starter General Lee
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How long does it take for you to do 1 round like this? Multiply it by 1000 and you have yourself a boring weekend
R.W.Dale
Member
Exactly!!How long does it take for you to do 1 round like this? Multiply it by 1000 and you have yourself a boring weekend
I use the lee system exclusively too and am prolly faster with it than anyone here but there's no way I'll even entertain the notion of trimming 500 much less a couple thousand 223 cases this way in batch form.
If you managed to average 1 case a minute for 2000 rounds it would take you over 33 HOURS to just get the trimming done. But of course you'd never be able to average that.
snuffy
Member
I bought 1K lake city .223 from GIbrass.com. They all had to be resized, then trimmed by my above method. I can do them in 30 seconds, ready to cut the crimp from the primer pocket, prime, then finish loading. If I were to size, then trim, I could stay under a minute easily. I also use a VLD inside chamfer tool. It eases bullets into the case mouth better.
R.W.Dale
Member
Even if you can do ONE in 30 seconds you can't average close to that cause you have to eat, sleep, drink, poop and probably charge your power tool
Even at 30 seconds each, if you sat down and never looked up and just trimmed non stop it would take you almost NINE HOURS to just trim your brass. But again your average would be nowhere close to 30 seconds
No file trimming 1k worth of cases on a lee case gauge under the SUCK file.
I just checked and it's only about $45 more to buy 1000 processed ready to load 223 cases vs gi-brass'es price. AFCO Steel thinks my time is worth $18 per hr. So by this reasoning processed brass is almost FREE compared to raw once fired
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snuffy
Member
It prolly took about 10 days running a couple hours each day. I was in no hurry, and I used a variable speed corded drill. As long as I had lights, I had rotary power. Those cases sit ready to load, that was 2009 that I did those. Haven't shot much lately.
Not as fast as a giraud, but I think they're more square AND the long taper put in with a Lyman VLD chamfer tool is better. I just can't get past doubts about how consistent a giraud trimmer is, since it goes off the shoulder. How tight is the shell in the holder? Can it get off a bit, resulting in trimming off-square?
Some of their "processed brass" got mixed in with the un-processed brass I bought. Looks like they use a chamfer tool to remove the primer crimp. The chamfer looked to be half way up into the primer pocket! WAY too deep!
That's why I want to do it myself! The Hornady cutter leaves a nice radius on the edge of the primer pocket. Tried the RCBS swager, POS!
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Sunray
Member
Sending your brass out adds a big pile of money to your loading cost.
"...inaccurate steel cased stuff..." Isn't reloadable.
"...have several fast shooters..." If those are MG's, reloading isn't the answer for you. Paying for milsurp is.
"...inaccurate steel cased stuff..." Isn't reloadable.
"...have several fast shooters..." If those are MG's, reloading isn't the answer for you. Paying for milsurp is.
sniper5
Member
Lee case trimmer, RCBS chamfer tool, and Lee primer pocket tool + Drill press + bins makes for very fast batch processing. Use a mild steel plate on the drill press table to bottom the case trimmer stud.
alfack
Member
2.1 seconds per case. That's incredible!
amlevin
Member
I use the same setup as jmorris. When I put in the "ear buds" and get something with a good beat going I can turn out one case per second.
The carbide cutter in the Dillon Rapid Trim doesn't leave any burr, inside or outside the case. Loading boat-tailed, jacketed bullets doesn't require any chamfer.
Cleaning primer pockets goes almost as fast, again with the "tunes" keeping the rhythm going. An RCBS primer pocket cleaning brush in a chuck mounted on a fan motor does the work.
As long as I have electricity I can keep the brass moving. Only need to take a couple of breaks for "nature".
jmorris--
A piece sheet metal for a funnel and some pvc pipe and you can direct the cases directly from the eject chute to the bucket on the floor.
The carbide cutter in the Dillon Rapid Trim doesn't leave any burr, inside or outside the case. Loading boat-tailed, jacketed bullets doesn't require any chamfer.
Cleaning primer pockets goes almost as fast, again with the "tunes" keeping the rhythm going. An RCBS primer pocket cleaning brush in a chuck mounted on a fan motor does the work.
As long as I have electricity I can keep the brass moving. Only need to take a couple of breaks for "nature".
jmorris--
A piece sheet metal for a funnel and some pvc pipe and you can direct the cases directly from the eject chute to the bucket on the floor.
alfack
Member
You can lube resize and trim in 1 second? I'd have to see it to believe it.
snuffy
Member
I was going to ask if the dillon trimmer trims, and inside/outside chamfers.
You are wrong that a BT bullet requires no chamfer. Take a close look at the next one you seat without a chamfer. I mean a real close look! Like a 10X magnifier. See that burr scraped off the copper jacket? Now pull that bullet, look at the scraped up sides of the jacket. Any brass needs a chamfer, that's an additional step.
I use a RCBS case prep center for some brass. I can mount a inside/outside chamfer tool on 2 of the stations, a flash hole de-burring tool on another and a primer pocket cleaner on station 5. it's a lot slower than the lee system, so I only use it for some small quantity rifle hunting ammo.
jcwit
member
Man its nice being retired and not in such a hurry to do everything.
stonecoldy
Member
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I travel a lot for work. My home time is pretty important to me, therefore large quantities of 9mm or .223 brass either get a helping hand or are bought as factory ammo. I don't consider myself any less of a "handloader" than someone who follows their brass through every step. Must be nice to be home every night and take care care of everything others are five days behind on.
lvl1trauma
Member
A friend of mine sent a few K pieces of .223 brass and payment ($70, maybe) to a fella in Kali never to see either again. I look at it as the cost of his laziness. I don't know who it was he sent his brass and money to.
medalguy
Member
I'm retired but have little time for sizing/trimming large quantities of brass. I enjoy reloading as quiet time for myself, and it's relaxing to me. I do have some shoulder problems making FL resizing of 308 and 06 brass difficult if not downright painful at times. The other parts of reloading I enjoy and I may spend 4-5 hours at the press at a spell.
I don't mind paying someone to resize the large rifle brass for me so I can do the rest of the loading. As far as the burr left by Dillon trimmers, yes it's there but I can remove about 95% of it by simply tumbling about 30 minutes after trimming. At least that gets it to the point where any remaining burr isn't of any signifigance to me.
I do load for several machine guns but then I enjoy the loading process and I can load surplus tracer bullets which frankly I can't find as milsurp. My costs for .308 reload are .04 for brass (I buy military scrap from the base directly), .02 for primer (Wolf), .10 for pulldown ball bullet or .06 for tracer bullet, .07 for powder (pulldown Radway 4895) so even with .03 for size/trim my cost per round of reloaded ammo is .23 for ball and .19 for tracer ammo. I can't find milsurp for that price and this is loaded for optimal performance in my guns. And the second use of the brass brings the prices down to .19 for ball and .15 for tracer.
I don't mind paying someone to resize the large rifle brass for me so I can do the rest of the loading. As far as the burr left by Dillon trimmers, yes it's there but I can remove about 95% of it by simply tumbling about 30 minutes after trimming. At least that gets it to the point where any remaining burr isn't of any signifigance to me.
I do load for several machine guns but then I enjoy the loading process and I can load surplus tracer bullets which frankly I can't find as milsurp. My costs for .308 reload are .04 for brass (I buy military scrap from the base directly), .02 for primer (Wolf), .10 for pulldown ball bullet or .06 for tracer bullet, .07 for powder (pulldown Radway 4895) so even with .03 for size/trim my cost per round of reloaded ammo is .23 for ball and .19 for tracer ammo. I can't find milsurp for that price and this is loaded for optimal performance in my guns. And the second use of the brass brings the prices down to .19 for ball and .15 for tracer.
General Lee
Member
Wow... I didn't mean to start a big feud here. I resized/trimmed about 1k cases with my lee equipment which includes a lee ball grip trimmer and cordless drill with a chuck and case holder in it. I trim then use the chamfer tool to do inside then outside the case. I then put the primer picket cleaner in my drill and clean the primer pockets. I can knock out around a hundred rounds an hour. However when we are talking about prepping a thousand rounds I am sorry but fun is pretty well out the door.
I enjoy all other aspects of reloading which is why I am doing it. It is a hobby.
I also reload 300 Win Mag and 7mm Mag and I wouldn't pay anyone to do a round for me on those. However we are talking about 10's of rounds not 1000's.
I guess the best thing to do is to just do the brass as I shoot so it doesn't get piled up into super large quantities.
I enjoy all other aspects of reloading which is why I am doing it. It is a hobby.
I also reload 300 Win Mag and 7mm Mag and I wouldn't pay anyone to do a round for me on those. However we are talking about 10's of rounds not 1000's.
I guess the best thing to do is to just do the brass as I shoot so it doesn't get piled up into super large quantities.
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