What did you do at your reloading bench today?

lazarus · Feb 15, 2021

mpickering said:
A weekend of decapping, tumbling, cleaning and swaging. I have a lot of Lake City brass that needs processing. I did about 800 rounds over the weekend and broke out the new sonic cleaner to see how that cleans the brass. Did a pretty good job. Now I'm into a rhythm of a few hundred rounds decapped standing at the bench, sitting down and watching some Prime or Netflix with the Super Swage in my lap, tossing them into the tumbler and then a couple iterations on the cleaner and let dry. Load the processed brass back into their boxes and mark them as "D,S,T,C": Decapped, Swaged, Tumbled and Cleaned. Later I'll either use them in loading sessions later or resize and trim and mark the boxes accordingly.

I am little OCD about this and I see building up component stocks ready for loading to be the goal. It is therapeutic to process brass and I am a bit of a hoarder so I like seeing dirty bags of brass come out shiny and ready for use on the other end. Heck if I keep it up I could sell processed brass and make a little money at it if the ammunition shortage remains like this for the foreseeable future. A lot of folks don't want to deal with military brass. I'll take all I can get my hands on right now. I have a few thousand more pieces of once-fired on order.

Matt

Once my Lee App swage kit shows up I am all over military brass. Until then it stays separate though.

Melnic · Feb 15, 2021

lazarus said:
Once my Lee App swage kit shows up I am all over military brass. Until then it stays separate though.

I'm debating taking a purple sharpie to the heads of every 223 I have loaded just so that when I pick them up, I know I don't have to swage them again. Cause I HATE swaging.
Anyone else try to sort out range pick ups vs their reloads?

GunBum · Feb 15, 2021

Melnic said:
I'm debating taking a purple sharpie to the heads of every 223 I have loaded just so that when I pick them up, I know I don't have to swage them again. Cause I HATE swaging.
Anyone else try to sort out range pick ups vs their reloads?

Yes sir.

That’s standard SOP for me. I’ve also been known to turn down the adjustable gas block so the brass don’t run away. :lol2:

atblis · Feb 15, 2021

I bought one of the brassgoat shell catchers and it seems to work pretty well recommend...

Neutron · Feb 15, 2021

I took apart my Lee Auto Breach lock Press and put it on eBay. I do better with my Turret press.

Pinecone · Feb 16, 2021

Melnic said:
I'm debating taking a purple sharpie to the heads of every 223 I have loaded just so that when I pick them up, I know I don't have to swage them again. Cause I HATE swaging.
Anyone else try to sort out range pick ups vs their reloads?

I load mainly CCI 450 primers.

They are silver.

Mil primers are brass colored.

So silver primers have been swaged, brass primers probably have not been.

I just got a Lee APP, so swaging will be less of a chore. And if I reswage some, no big deal.

KingClown · Feb 16, 2021

I stared at it longingly while rebuilding an axle since I have no small pistol or rifle primers I can only sit down and pretend

GunBum · Feb 16, 2021

KingClown said:
I stared at it longingly while rebuilding an axle since I have no small pistol or rifle primers I can only sit down and pretend

Brass prep...

I am about 1/3 of the way through all the piles of brass I collected since the last dark era. By the time these dark times are over, I’ll have a hoard of shiny, ready to load brass instead of a hoard of dirty garbage. :lol2:

lazarus · Feb 16, 2021

Pinecone said:
I load mainly CCI 450 primers.

They are silver.

Mil primers are brass colored.

So silver primers have been swaged, brass primers probably have not been.

I just got a Lee APP, so swaging will be less of a chore. And if I reswage some, no big deal.

Hmm, never thought about that.

I didn’t think about marking cases. Not sure how I’ll go about it. Might not be the worst on reswaging the same case. But rather just stacking stuff separately and only processing through new Mil brass. The lee app laws stuff fast, but it isn’t a zero time activity.

KRC · Feb 17, 2021

Melnic said:
I'm debating taking a purple sharpie to the heads of every 223 I have loaded just so that when I pick them up, I know I don't have to swage them again. Cause I HATE swaging.
Anyone else try to sort out range pick ups vs their reloads?

Brass can be marked with a cheapo engraving tool. Almost all my cases are identified by alpha-numerical engraving. The engraving becomes somewhat less distinct with use but is still visible after MANY reloadings.

Sometimes I add a magic marker identifier for easy reading at the range.

KingClown · Feb 17, 2021

GunBum said:
Brass prep...

I am about 1/3 of the way through all the piles of brass I collected since the last dark era. By the time these dark times are over, I’ll have a hoard of shiny, ready to load brass instead of a hoard of dirty garbage.

Got 3000 9mm cases prepped and waiting. Everything else I use is all loaded.

davsco · Feb 17, 2021

finally bolted my table to the wall. processed some 223 brass though awaiting a dillon primer pocket swager. over the long weekend finished loading up 2k 124g 9mm.

Pinecone · Feb 17, 2021

KRC said:
Brass can be marked with a cheapo engraving tool. Almost all my cases are identified by alpha-numerical engraving. The engraving becomes somewhat less distinct with use but is still visible after MANY reloadings.

Sometimes I add a magic marker identifier for easy reading at the range.

Let's see, I will toss a case for being creased, and you want to cut into the case????

Making a thinner spot and creating stress risers?

Nope, not for me.

BUFF7MM · Feb 17, 2021

Pinecone said:
Let's see, I will toss a case for being creased, and you want to cut into the case????

Making a thinner spot and creating stress risers?

Nope, not for me.

Yep I’d have to agree with you on this one. No need to put any more stress on a case than it already gets.

platekiller · Feb 17, 2021

KingClown said:
I stared at it longingly while rebuilding an axle since I have no small pistol or rifle primers I can only sit down and pretend

Have any trade items? Might want to throw something in the barter thread. Also what area of MD are you in?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

KRC · Feb 17, 2021

For those that are commenting on etching an identifier on cases that have no firsthand knowledge or experience with this, I do not recommend using this method! And certainly everyone is entitled to their opinion . . .

For others - for your consideration - I have been marking cases like this for 6PPC, 30BR, 22-250, 22-250 Ackley, .223 Wylde, 224 Valkyrie, 6.5x55Swedish, 6.5CM, .308, 22BR, 6BR, 221Fireball, even 6.5x300 Weatherby-Wright Hoyer (not the current 6.5x300 Weatherby) etc. for about three decades with NO ISSUES. While I generally find precision nodes and load well below book maximums, I have loaded etched cases hot enough to pierce primers and send primer metal into the firing pin hole (not often - the rest of that load gets dismantled!) NO ISSUES. Virtually all of my cases are marked this way, including (especially) cases shot in sanctioned competition from 100 to 600 yards.

PS - If you read my posts you will note I try not to tell people what is a "better" or "correct" or "best" way to do things. I try to relate my experiences, usually with an explanation of why I do something the way I do, and suggest others consider the information.

PowPow · Feb 17, 2021

Pinecone said:
Let's see, I will toss a case for being creased, and you want to cut into the case????

Making a thinner spot and creating stress risers?

Nope, not for me.

My first thought as well. Magic markers for the win.

GunBum · Feb 17, 2021

Another 500 small rifle primers wasted. :innocent0

55gr FMJ 5.56 Nato :party29:

I’ll do another 500 tomorrow.

Muleskinner · Feb 17, 2021

KRC said:
For those that are commenting on etching an identifier on cases that have no firsthand knowledge or experience with this, I do not recommend using this method! And certainly everyone is entitled to their opinion . . .

For others - for your consideration - I have been marking cases like this for 6PPC, 30BR, 22-250, 22-250 Ackley, .223 Wylde, 224 Valkyrie, 6.5x55Swedish, 6.5CM, .308, 22BR, 6BR, 221Fireball, even 6.5x300 Weatherby-Wright Hoyer (not the current 6.5x300 Weatherby) etc. for about three decades with NO ISSUES. While I generally find precision nodes and load well below book maximums, I have loaded etched cases hot enough to pierce primers and send primer metal into the firing pin hole (not often - the rest of that load gets dismantled!) NO ISSUES. Virtually all of my cases are marked this way, including (especially) cases shot in sanctioned competition from 100 to 600 yards.

PS - If you read my posts you will note I try not to tell people what is a "better" or "correct" or "best" way to do things. I try to relate my experiences, usually with an explanation of why I do something the way I do, and suggest others consider the information.

You could always color your brass. This article has instructions on how to DYE brass into different shades

http://www.homegunsmith.com/archive/T7360.html

lazarus · Feb 17, 2021

Not really at my reloading bench, but I emptied 50 38spc and 20 9mm reloads at the range. And shot about another 50 rounds of 9mm Wolf steel and FC.

Well and some Wolf and Barnaul 7.62x39 through an SKS I put up in the classifieds (checking function before I sell it).

Testing out a new G34 slide on my 17 frame (and shoot my old Colt). Shot like a dream! I like my G17, but I think I light love a 34. The extra length and bit of extra weight makes recoil that much less (not that 9 is super strong) and the extra sight radius is nice.

What did you do at your reloading bench today?

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