Brass Processing

[warnera1102]

I feel like this topic has been beat to death but I see so many different options I'm now confused. I would like to use the equipment I currently have but I feel a bushing die maybe in my future. This is brand new 7mm Rem Mag ADG brass that has been loaded and fired one time. How does the process below look?
1) Decap
2) Dry Tumble
3) Anneal
4) Use RCBS Full length die to resize and bump shoulder back without the expander ball
5) Wilson Mandrel
6) Trim
7) Dry Tumble
8) Reload

 

[spife7980]

I usually tumble after sizing but before trimming just so the cases arent all slick and hard to hold when I try to stick them in the trimmer and then I follow with a brush through the neck. But as far as brass processing goes, you got it.

Edit: Oh, and my trimming operation also does the chamfer/deburr at the same time. So add that in if yours doesnt.

 

[Dthomas3523]

Anneal
Sonic clean
Dry
Lanolin/iso heet lube
Size/decap
Mandrel
Dry tumble
Trim/chamfer/deburr
Prime/powder/seat

 

[Baron23]

Anneal
Sonic clean
Dry
Lanolin/iso heet lube
Size/decap
Mandrel
Dry tumble
Trim/chamfer/deburr
Prime/powder/seat

May I ask, why anneal before cleaning? Don't you want as much extraneous carbon/gunk out of the neck area before heating to anneal it???

Thanks

 

[spife7980]

It doesnt matter.

 

[Dthomas3523]

May I ask, why anneal before cleaning? Don't you want as much extraneous carbon/gunk out of the neck area before heating to anneal it???

Thanks

Ya, it doesn’t matter. Have tested it countless times. Clean, not clean…..nothing changed at all.

That’s also why I don’t care if I decap before cleaning. Clean/not cleaned primer pockets don’t matter. And they get cleaned up a little when tumbling the lube off.

 

[kindabitey]

Anneal
Decap
Size/ mandrel
Wet clean w/o pins (wash wax combo, whatever's on sale)
Trim/ chamfer
Prime
Load

 

[warnera1102]

Thank you guys very much. I started processing the new brass today.

Typically how many firings do you see before the shoulder expands to match the chamber shoulder area completely.
The reason for the question is I typically bump the shoulder back 0.002". The new one fired brass has a base to neck datum of 4.118"-4.122" (most are 4.120") I removed the firing pin to see how tight the brass is, the brass is loose as if i have already bumped the shoulder.It maybe a hair tight at 4.122", like the bolt wont fall down completely on it own. I tried an older piece of hornday brass that has been shot/reloaded at 4.126 and it was very tight. This makes me to belive the shoulder of the brass is making contact. I set up my dies for a trial and bumped the shoulder back .001" at a time. The bolt got loose at 4.123"-4.122". My thought it to keep everything at 4.120" unless it is already under. I just assumed that the shoulder would expand to 100% of the chamber volume when fired, unless it is shrinking after the initial heat/expansion.
Im i over thinking this? This is a 7mm Rem Mag if that helps with ADG brass.

 

[Dthomas3523]

Thank you guys very much. I started processing the new brass today.

Typically how many firings do you see before the shoulder expands to match the chamber shoulder area completely.
The reason for the question is I typically bump the shoulder back 0.002". The new one fired brass has a base to neck datum of 4.118"-4.122" (most are 4.120") I removed the firing pin to see how tight the brass is, the brass is loose as if i have already bumped the shoulder.It maybe a hair tight at 4.122", like the bolt wont fall down completely on it own. I tried an older piece of hornday brass that has been shot/reloaded at 4.126 and it was very tight. This makes me to belive the shoulder of the brass is making contact. I set up my dies for a trial and bumped the shoulder back .001" at a time. The bolt got loose at 4.123"-4.122". My thought it to keep everything at 4.120" unless it is already under. I just assumed that the shoulder would expand to 100% of the chamber volume when fired, unless it is shrinking after the initial heat/expansion.
Im i over thinking this? This is a 7mm Rem Mag if that helps with ADG brass.

Some chambers may take 2-3 firings to fully form.

If the bolt falls freely or closes the way you want it to, then hold off bumping until it starts being tighter than desired.

F/L sizing and shoulder bump is designed to be minimally sizing down a fully fireformed case. Sometimes that’s not just a single firing.

Once it is fully formed, your bolt shouldn’t fall free anymore and then you are g2g to size/binm every firing.

 

[warnera1102]

Thank you, now I feel a little better.
If you have variation in height (4.122") in a lot, would you bump them all back to the nominal of 4.118" in the lot for the next round of loading?

 

[spife7980]

If you found that it got tight around 4.122 then I would set the die up so that the 4.122 get bumped back to 4.120 and so that the 4.118 dont get bumped back at all. In fact, if the base gets sized enough those 4.118 shoulders may actual grow to 4.119 in length since they have empty space above them or until they hit the wall of the die at 4.120.