Questions on brass prep... How to go about etc.

[MrOneEyedBoh]

Im new into reloading and I bought a decent amount of brass because it was cheaper. What Im wondering is should I use/load up on all of the new brass first ? And then clean all of the spent brass at once? Or should I just use say 100 shells and just keep loading/cleaning them. And once they are dead, move on to another 100 shells?

I dont think I'll shoot THAT much,so is buying a brass annealer worth it for a hobbyist reloader? Ive read that the brass should be annealed about 2-3 reloadings?

I have a traditional walnut vibratory tumbler now, is it worth making a wet SS tumbler? I know it just makes them shiner, but there isn't a significant difference right? In terms of the way the brass preforms? Does the SS get the primer pockets THAT much cleaner?

Thanks guys.

 

[MitchAlsup]

Re: Questions on brass prep... How to go about etc.

I run in lots of 100 cases. When they are dead, I move on to the next lot of 100 caes.

As to annealing, it all depends on lots of stuff. I have a set of cases (50) that have been through 30+ reload cycles without being annealed. Although these cases are ablut dead. I lost two to body cracks, and culled 2 to ICHS (bent paper clip trick).

To be fair, these caes are neck only sized in two steps from 0.3445 to 0.338 to 0.332 with two bushings. The cases are body sized when they are more than 0.0015 longer than desired one the RCBS case micrometer, and I push the shoulders back 0.002 at this time.

I have been perfectly happy with a vibratory tumbler and corn media left to run overnight.

I use a primer pocket uniformer to clean the primer pockets, and trim, chamfer, and deburr eah reload cycle.

 

[gijoetx]

Re: Questions on brass prep... How to go about etc.

honestly with how much brass you should load up, that is up to you. I bet you could get a hundred different answers on that. If you are just getting started you got plenty of time to get new tools and what not if you want to pursue a certain aspect of reloading. There are lots of guys who dont anneal and there are lots of guys who swear up and down that its a must. I started with the basics, continued to learn, read and apply new things to my toolbox. Reloading is a huge world with lots of facts and lots of opinions. My suggestion is to just take it all stride and learn as you go. Hope this helps buddy.

 

[ShtrRdy]

Re: Questions on brass prep... How to go about etc.

What I tend to do is put together two groups of 50 so that while I'm shooting one group I can be reloading the other group. If you shoot a lot you might want to organize into two groups of 100.

For pistol shooting I use groups of 500.

 

[Rainier42]

Re: Questions on brass prep... How to go about etc.

I reload in groups of 60. I find with much more than that it just takes me too long.

 

[MrOneEyedBoh]

Re: Questions on brass prep... How to go about etc.

Thanks I'll stick to lots of 100 and process them in batches I guess of 50. Thanks guys!

 

[1lnbrdg]

Re: Questions on brass prep... How to go about etc.

I try to work in groups of 3,000 or more. YMMV

I keep some sort of work going on a batch all the time whether it's .223, .308 or one of the pistol flavors.

 

[MrOneEyedBoh]

Re: Questions on brass prep... How to go about etc.

Even for precision rounds?