Case Prep Party

[lightman]

Has anyone done this? I'm staring at 5 or 6 large tubs of once fired 223 brass, and a couple of my hunting buddies are in the same situation. The Wife will be gone all weekend, and I'm kinda looking for something to do. I think several of us are going to have a case prep party and maybe a beer tasting. Probably gather up in the shop Sunday afternoon.

I plan to set up the Giraud trimmer and annealing machine, charge up all of my drill batteries, and assign everyone a task. Probably have someone on the trimmer (me), someone uniforming primer pockets, someone beburring flash holes, someone reaming or swaging primer crimps if anyone has military cases, and someone watching the annealing machine and carrying beer to the rest of us. Yeah, I know drinking and loading is a bad idea, but case prep is pretty forgiving and most of us don't drink enough to get stupid.

This seems like a good way to make the dull chore of case prep more fun, and I'm expecting it to go pretty fast. If any of you have done this, lets hear about how it went. I would also welcome any ideas. Once again, please don't let the beer lead you to think we are dangerous. All ideas and comments are welcome! Lightman

 

[P7id10t]

Now THAT'S the spirit !!!

 

[sierracharlie338]

Sounds like a good time.


Sierracharlie out....

 

[Big Z]

You're not supposed to drink beer when prepping brass?

 

[Beluebow]

All I can say is to bad your not closer I'd help,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,with the beer!!!!

 

[turbo54]

Here are a few thoughts in no particular order:

I hope you have a progressive press!

I've had best luck doing these hi volume runs using a Lee decapping die, then an FLS die with no decapping stem or expander, and then a Sinclair expander mandrel for final neck sizing. Before getting the Lee decapping die, I would bend or break a decapping stem about once every 1500 pieces...

...beware that some 223 cases have extremely small flash holes (IMI comes to mind), and will bend/break your pin. The Lee, adjusted correctly, will just push up and can be put back into service in less than a minute.

Set your sizing die carefully, as different headstamps size a little differently. Consider your intended use, and size accordingly. For my intended usage, I was concerned with 100% reliability, and not so much case life, so I set my die to size cases to SAAMI GO minus .004" at the largest. Some cases it was sizing to GO minus .008".

A Giraud is an awesome tool, but 10k pieces of brass is a daunting task with one. Blisters on the fingertips and carpel tunnel... Dillon Rapid Trim is much better suited. Consider what chambers this ammo will be going into and analyze whether trimming is "required" or simply "nice". It would be way easier to skip this operation altogether if permissible.

Forget about primer pocket uniforming.

Swaging is a bottleneck operation, assuming the decapping/resizing is happening on a progressive. Almost a 2:1 ratio on throughput. I bought a second Dillon SS600 because of this.

Look into the modifications you can do to the SS600 to speed it up a little. One involves a cable running from the support stem to the handle (and a spring), which will automatically pull the case down into swaging position by pulling the handle, and then automatically flips the stem back up when you raise the handle. Another mod that can be done is an "auto eject" which simply spring loads the stem so that when you release the handle, it flings the case off the stem into a catch can. Anything you can do to ease this process will help.

Be sure to have a stuck case removal system (I use a .213" drill, 1/4-28 bolt, and a washer stack) because there is a high likelihood you'll stick a case or two while doing all this processing.

Consider your case-cleaning equipment, another potential bottleneck. Processing a ton of brass will wear out media, too. A Harbor Freight cement mixer and a couple pounds of stainless media handles a lot of brass very quickly.

A single Sunday afternoon/evening is not going to get you very far...

With two guys, running a casefeeder equipped Dillon 650 and a single SS600, Giraud, and keeping the tumbler running at 100% duty cycle, it took five 5+ hour sessions to process ~15k pieces.

 

[turbo54]

More thoughts:

Check sized cases often to be sure your FLS is doing what you want it to. I'd say a check every 100-200 is a good idea.

Quarantine cases coming out of each operation before dumping into the "big" tub. Perform at least *some* level of quality control before release them from quarantine, otherwise you've just contaminated your entire "tub" with questionable brass.

Set your Dillon SS600 so that it is capable of OVERswaging any/every headstamp, and then swage by "feel". You'll get a feel for how much is enough. Otherwise, you'll have to set the swager for each individual headstamp, and then you'll have to sort headstamps - not cool.

 

[BC 6.8]

This would be a good idea. I'm about 1/2 way through processing 500 pieces of 1x fired LC brass. So far it has taken 30 minutes to decap, 4 hrs to uniform and ream primer pockets, and a little over an hour to deburr the flash holes. Now I have to size, trim, and chamfer. Thank goodness I have a WFT for the trimming.

 

[smschulz]

Seems like case cleaning would be the big bottleneck.
Good Luck.

 

[P7id10t]

More thoughts:

Check sized cases often to be sure your FLS is doing what you want it to. I'd say a check every 100-200 is a good idea.

Quarantine cases coming out of each operation before dumping into the "big" tub. Perform at least *some* level of quality control before release them from quarantine, otherwise you've just contaminated your entire "tub" with questionable brass.

Set your Dillon SS600 so that it is capable of OVERswaging any/every headstamp, and then swage by "feel". You'll get a feel for how much is enough. Otherwise, you'll have to set the swager for each individual headstamp, and then you'll have to sort headstamps - not cool.

Dude! Buzz-Kill !!!

 

[sinister]

Several state rifle teams do these kind of parties (minus beer but add some kind of chow -- pasta, pizza, burgers, tacos, or burritos) with their junior shooters.

The kids and/or their dads bring their 5.56 brass in cans, either tumbling before or at the party to get the range dust, grit, or mud off.

If you have a mass annealer a couple of kids run the brass through.

All cases are then lubed and run through a small-base die and de-primed.

Next station goes to a couple of kids on Giraud trimmers (buy some nice light work gloves at Home Depot, Lowes, or your local DIY store to cut down on blisters). If it was once-fired GI brass someone gets tasked to run cases through the Dillon swager.

Some folks then just box or divvy out the brass and everyone goes home, or they might add another step.

Back at home cases get another tumble to get the lube off.

Next step checks for cracks, splits, and impending separations, poke any media out of flash holes, and hand-prime.

 

[lightman]

Turbo, all of your points are appreciated. All of the guys will be bringing their own brass, and they were advised to have it sized and polished. This would really be a big holdup, and I've worked all week getting mine ready. There is no way we could do all of that in an afternoon! The Lee decapper and Sinclair expander are nice tools, and exactly what I used on mine. I also have a Dillon 600, but I'm not even sure if any of the guys have military brass. I will check out those mods that you mentioned. I always do the primer pocket stuff, but I know that it only has a small, if any affect on group size. All of us want it done, so I plan to put a couple of guys on cordless drills. I've never bought a case prep station, mostly because I have always had a cordless drill or two. I'll probably be the main guy on the trimmer, mostly because its mine and I already have a feel for running it. I also have farmers hands, but I'm not too proud to ask for relief! I'll have another guy feeding and watching the annealing machine.

The prep that I have done this week really has me looking at larger tumblers. I run two of the larger Dillon, but I'm looking seriously at a Big Dawg tumbler, or possibly a cement mixer. I buy corncob and walnut hulls by the 40# bag, already.

I do have a progressive loader, and it makes more accurate ammo than some people think. I also have the tools to deal with a stuck case, and I keep extra decapping rods and pins. One of the guys has already broken a few, this week!

I'm pretty good at planing jobs, and I have put some thought into this project. Most of us are looking foreward to Sunday. Still, all of your comments and suggestions were welcome. I'll follow up with a progress report, and the things that worked or failed. Thanks, Guys Lightman