Reloading equipment

[pitandkahr]

Oh, and I shoot WWB, Federal and Speer at the range. Usually 115 but higher when I find it on sale.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ilmbaba]

You don't necessarily need to spend money on a tumbler. I found a recipe on The Handloaders Bench that works fine and saves me a bunch of money (which I now spend on more "stuff").

1 Quart Hot Water
1 Cup White Vinegar
1 Tbls Salt (any kind)
1 Tbls Liquid Dish Soap (I by the cheapest WallyWorld stuff I can find)

Put your brass in there and stir it up every five minutes for 1/2 hour.
When the 1/2 hour is done, rinse thoroughly until all chemical and soap is gone.
Turn on your oven on the lowest setting.
Put brass on a baking tray and they will be completely dry in 1/2 hour or so.
WARNING - If you use your wife's Non-Stick Baking Sheets, you will be a much happier guy if you put some tin foil on the sheet before the brass. I'm just sayin'...

I've done this for .38, .357, .44, and .45. They come out clean and dirt free. The brass may not shine quite as bright as with a sonic cleaner, but for the $0.20 cents worth of vinegar, soap, and salt, it's a fair trade-off. Besides, the cartridges are usually hidden inside the gun anyway.

Thanks.

[Bawanna]

Out of curiosity and I don't see where it would make much difference but do you soak deprimed or prior to depriming.

Seems like it would clean out the primer pocket too if you did it afterwards.

[dkmatthews]

Come to think of it, you could probably use something like a baby bottle holder (plastic mesh) or a mesh bag to put a bunch of brass in your dishwasher... Once again, check with SWMBO before doing anything that might be damaging to your life or marriage.

[ilmbaba]

Out of curiosity and I don't see where it would make much difference but do you soak deprimed or prior to depriming.

Seems like it would clean out the primer pocket too if you did it afterwards.

I started out depriming first, but then realized that I was running all that dirty brass through the decapper/sizing die, and thought I might mess it up. Since then, I soak first, then deprime them. My kit included a primer hole cleaner, so if anything looks bad, I just do a quick swipe.

As far as the dishwasher, I don't know how that would turn out, since you'd be missing the salt and the vinegar (unless, of course, you had Fish & Chips for dinner).

[Bawanna]

I started out depriming first, but then realized that I was running all that dirty brass through the decapper/sizing die, and thought I might mess it up. Since then, I soak first, then deprime them. My kit included a primer hole cleaner, so if anything looks bad, I just do a quick swipe.

As far as the dishwasher, I don't know how that would turn out, since you'd be missing the salt and the vinegar (unless, of course, you had Fish & Chips for dinner).

That was kind of my thinking as well. Also depriming after insures theres no obstructions. Seems short of cleaning before and after depriming theres no real good way of cleaning the primer pocket short of a hand tool or one of those case prep machines.

I used to be obsessed with clean primer pockets but I'm getting over it these days. Never have failures.

[dkmatthews]

I used to be obsessed with clean pockets.

Can't you just visit the casinos on the reservations to have your pockets cleaned? ;-)

[dkmatthews]

As far as the dishwasher, I don't know how that would turn out, since you'd be missing the salt and the vinegar (unless, of course, you had Fish & Chips for dinner).

If you can't get away with using the dishwasher, you could put a painter stirring attachment on your drill, suspend it over the brass in a five gallon bucket and use the trigger lock to have it stir for you.

[ilmbaba]

Can't you just visit the casinos on the reservations to have your pockets cleaned? ;-)

Been there....done that. Entered a Poker Tournament once. First prize was a week in Philadelphia. Second prize was two weeks in Philadelphia (thank you W.C. Fields).

[AIRret]

Wow, great lots of good information. I think we will stay away from progressive presses until we get some experience under our belts.
We are on the road right now so the actual reloading will have to wait a little while. But we definitely want to be set up and running before the november elections.