Reloading tips

[JeffsSig]

Lets post and discuss some reloading tips.

I know there is plenty out there but thought if we can get a few in one place others might find it useful.

Tip: For those with electronic scales that seem to loose accurate readings after a few weighs I have found using some really soft foam under the scale helps. The foam seems to absorb the vibrations ( from moving around and such) and allow the scale to read quicker.

Tip: I started by lubing the brass before I re-sized it by hand and with a lube pad. I found a can of spray called One Shot. I now put my cleaned brass in a bag and spray a few times on to the brass and then mix the brass up in the bag. I do this 2 times to get a good coverage of the spray lube on the brass.

Tip: Most of us use a tumbler and media to clean brass. I had a hard time looking in the books and on the internet finding out how much media to use.

I have found out to use a 60/40 mix of brass and media. 60% brass to 40% media by volume of what my tumbler will hold filled to 3/4 full.

I have been getting the best and quickest results like this.

Tip: I did some research on is it ok to NOT clean primer pockets. I found many on the net says it is OK to not clean and just press a new primer in and forget it. After testing some ammo that I did not clean vs some I did clean the pocket on I see more accurate ammo with the cleaned.

On 223/5.56 brass I use a small flat tip screwdriver along with an ice pick that makes the pockets look almost new. Yes this slow but it gives me time to inspect each piece of brass plus remove any media that might be lodged in the primer hole.

Tip: My biggest tip I can give and have found to help my ammo is to be constant and clean. Load your powder the same way each time. Clean your brass. By this I mean I wipe each piece of brass down with a cloth as I clean the primer pockets. Yes it slow. But I feel ammo when shot is dirty why add more with dirty brass or to much lube on the brass.

These tips I have found loading 223 and 308 brass and running a single stage press.

I look forward to reading others TIPS and discussions about tips.

Edited March 12, 2012 by JeffsSig

[Dolomite_supafly]

I'll throw a few tips in as well.

To clean without a tumbler use Lemishine. Mix 1-2 tsp of Lemishine to enough hot water to cover your brass. Then put the brass in a container then pour the water mixture or the brass. Give it about a minute of vigorous shaking then let it set for 24 hours. Make sure to rinse it with clean water and dry before use. It comes out just about as good as tumbling and even gets the primer pockets.

For lube I use a mix of 100% pure lanolin and rubbing alcohol. The ratio is 1 part lanolin to 6 parts alcohol. Try to get at least 91% alcohol. Boil water in a tub then remove it from the heat. Open the lanolin and alcohol and put them in the water to warm for about 5 minutes. Them put the alcohol in a spray bottle then add the lanolin. Shake well and it will infuse and never separate.

I'll think of more later. I am a bit distracted at the moment.

Dolomite

[Jonnin]

Put all your cases in a plastic bag with some lube & shake it for a while. Lube all the cases at once pretty fast, a very thin spray type lube works great here.

Trim your brass into your media. The sharp little shavings seem to help clean the brass faster. They do, however, get removed fast if you use a dryer sheet (which you probably should).

If a primer came out, a primer will usually go in. For brass with the crimps, you can try, if its too hard, rotate the case a few degrees, try again, repeat, it will usually go in before you get 1/2 way around. If you get past 1/2 way without it seating easily, toss it aside (either recycle it or ream out the pocket later). You should never need excessive force to seat a primer, just try gently and it will work or not (but it usually will once rotated the "right" way).

If you are going to clean the primer pockets, you can get a very cheap wire brush designed for the job at a reloading supply store (get both sizes, of course). These fit into a cordless screwdriver/drill --- 2 seconds per case and its usually done.

If really serious about the ammo quality, when you trim your brass, set aside cases that did not trim. They may be shorter than the rest, and will not crimp the same way, seat the same way, etc. Only use cases that the trimmer actually cut into a little bit. The short cases can be used to plink or something later --- they are still fine for general shooting.

[Lumber_Jack]

Good info, posting to follow this thread

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Have heard of folks getting big blocks of marble or one of those 2 foot square concrete pavers to sit on the bench, for an electronic scale to sit on and damp vibration. My bench isn't wobbly but I never figured that would kill enough vibration on my bench so I currently set the scale on an up-ended concrete block on the concrete floor, close to the press by the bench. That seems steady enough. Some folks will dedicate a very-steady small table for the scale alone. Possibly with a marble or concrete top surface.

[USMCJG]

Tip- Keep cordless phones, flourescent lights, cell phones, most any electronic device away from your digital scale. Most electronic devices emit RFs that can interfere with your scale. 10ft. clear is a good rule of thumb. Phones and flourescent lights are typically the two things that many people may have near their scales that can cause problems. Incandescent lighting is the way to go to light your bench.

Tip- Redding Primer Pocket Uniformers not only do a great, foolproof job of uniforming primer pockets, they also make excellent primer pocket cleaners once the pockets have been uniformed.

Tip- If you use an RCBS Chargemaster Combo, don't forget to close the dang drain spout after you empty the reservoir. I learned that the hard way, forgot I learned it, then learned it the hard way again. This probably applies to other digital powder dispensers as well.

[MarkInNashville]

Tip - Cut up some fabric or even paper-towels and put in the tumbler. The very light grit, dust and (possabilily) the media itsself as it is being turned to dust attaches itself. I use old dryer sheets after I cannot smell the Bounce on them any more cut into eights.

Tip - Toss a few handfulls of gound walnut media (I use the cheapest lizzerd-litter I can find at pet stores) in with the corncob; seems to speed up the polishing action.

[MarkInNashville]

Have heard of folks getting big blocks of marble or one of those 2 foot square concrete pavers to sit on the bench, for an electronic scale to sit on and damp vibration. My bench isn't wobbly but I never figured that would kill enough vibration on my bench so I currently set the scale on an up-ended concrete block on the concrete floor, close to the press by the bench. That seems steady enough. Some folks will dedicate a very-steady small table for the scale alone. Possibly with a marble or concrete top surface.

For what it's worth I work at an environmental laboratory. We have scales (labratory grade scales are called "balances") that are accurate to 6 places to the right of the decmial when measureing grams. These must sit on a table made entireally from concrete and\or marble and are usually glued together with special adhesive and uses very heavy bracket of stainless steel. Also they all have built-in bubble levels.

Edited March 13, 2012 by MarkInNashville

[I_Like_Pie]

After a lot of reloading over many decades...I have found that a beam scale is much less fussy, much easier to maintain, much more consistent, and just as fast as an electronic scale.

Also I build in cleaning the primer pockets to my process.

1) dump in tumbler

2) deprime (removes media) - never deprime then tumble.

3) clean and check pockets (also check for splits and worn out brass at this stage)

4) trim bottleneck brass. Straight walled brass needs to be trimmed when new sometimes, but that it the only time (it does not stretch - someone tells you different they are dumb or lying)

5-* continue as normal

[Guest Lester Weevils]

For what it's worth I work at an environmental laboratory. We have scales (labratory grade scales are called "balances") that are accurate to 6 places to the right of the decmial when measureing grams. These must sit on a table made entireally from concrete and\or marble and are usually glued together with special adhesive and uses very heavy bracket of stainless steel. Also they all have built-in bubble levels.

Thanks Mark for the great info. It wouldn't be crazy difficult to make a small concrete weighing table, at least if one didn't plan to move it very often.

After a lot of reloading over many decades...I have found that a beam scale is much less fussy, much easier to maintain, much more consistent, and just as fast as an electronic scale.

Thanks Pie

Some of the small inexpensive gunpowder beam balances seem set up for pretty good accuracy at sub-grain resolution. It is silly to criticize something tiny and cheap that works, but one time got the idea that it would be neat to have a "fancier" specimen. Just for the love of fine gadgets.

Long ago in school science courses the triple-beam balances seemed very accurate but can't recall their typical resolution back then. A couple of years ago thought it would be kewl to get a deadly-accurate old fashioned shiny triple-beam balance and went searching that americanweigh.com site. They have some fairly pricey nice-looking beam balances, but was surprised that the resolution was typically in the 0.1 to 1 gram ballpark, at best borderline acceptable for pistol powder weighing. And those models had rather narrow weighing ranges compared to generic electronic scales. Not only was the resolution bad, but the dynamic range was also narrow.

I remembered the old beam balances in school more accurate than that, but maybe remembering wrong. Maybe the school lab balances didn't have very good resolution either? Is it the case that old lab-quality beam balances were deadly accurate but are just not commonly sold any more?

Last time I recall using a scale in school was about 1974 in a psychobiology class. Needed to weigh 10 mg of a drug to inject white rats for behavioral experiment. The perfessor handed me a one pound jar of drug and led me to the back room where they had this huge fancy early electronic scale with milligram resolution. Never seen such a thing before. It didn't have a draft cover and they had to shut the door to the store room and you had to avoid breathing too hard or moving around in the room when the scale was in use. A long settling time with such low weights.

[enfield]

I checked my RCBS beam balance with check weights and found that it measured the 500 grain weight as 502 grains -- a .4% error at full scale. I trust it.

When setting up the powder measure (for 5 grains, for example), I adjust it until it's pretty close to 5 grains per the balance, and then set the balance to weigh 10 charges (50 grains). I throw 10 consecutive charges into the pan, weigh it, and fine-adjust the powder measure so that it throws exactly 50 grains with 10 charges. Anal perhaps, but then I'm sure I'm throwing accurate charges.

[mikegideon]

Anal perhaps, but then I'm sure I'm throwing accurate charges.

That's not anal. I know a couple of guys that can tell you the average weight of a grain of Varget. If I was using a powder drop, I would probably use a beam scale too. They don't drift like most electronic scales can.