Reloaders: What is your workflow?

[legion]

I now own Five Lee presses. This is what each is used for:

Lee Loadmaster: Dedicated to progressive reloading of "practice" .223

Lee Pro 1000: Dedicated to progressive reloading of "practice" 9mm

Lee Turret: Used for "match grade" .223 and 9mm, .38 Special, .32 S&W Long, and .30-30.

Lee Breech Lock single stage: This press usually has a dedicate universal decapping die on it. I also use it for swaging (resizing) bullets, and cutting military crimps out of spent brass.

Lee Classic .50 BMG: Used for loading all .50 BMG. I don't have a rifle that shoots this yet, but I bought some spent brass I've been playing around with...

For reloading, I do the following things:

Stage 1: Prep brass
1) Deprime brass
2) Resize brass--I use the Lee sizer tools, and then chamfer and deburr
3) Clean brass--I use Walnut medium first, then corn cob media to remove the walnut residue

Stage 2A: Reload Progressive
1) If brass is rifle brass, lubricate
2) Dump brass in hopper
3) Check powder and primer levels
4) Go!

Stage 2B: Reload Turret
1) Fire up Lyman scale (it takes 30 mins to warmup), select proper load, fill with powder, turn on autoload
2) If brass is rifle brass, lubricate
3) Put brass in loading block
4) Take shell, put in shell holder, perform each function on bullet, repeat

Stage 2C: Reload Single Stage
1) Fire up Lyman scale (it takes 30 mins to warmup), select proper load, fill with powder, turn on autoload
2) If brass is rifle brass, lubricate
3) Put brass in loading block face up
4) Remove a shell from loading block, prime and resize, replace in loading block face down (primer up), repeat
4a)Remove a shell from loading block, resize neck, replace in loading block face down, repeat (rifle only)
5) Remove a shell from loading block, load with powder, replace in loading block face up, repeat
6) Remove a shell from loading block, seat bullet, replace in loading block face down, repeat
7) Remove a shell from loading block, crimp, repeat

Stage 3: Cleanup
1) Load finished bullets into container for storage (I like the plastic MTM flip-top boxes)
2) Label container with date reloaded, caliber, bullet weight and type, and load number. I use a circled "P" to identify loads loaded on a progressive press, and a circled "M" for match loads for competition (which so far has just been the pistol league at work).
3) Record load data in load log. This includes date reloaded, caliber, bullet weight and type, load number, press type used, powder type and quantity, seat depth used, what type of prep the brass underwent (cleaning, resizing, crimp removal, primer pocket uniforming, and flash hole uniforming). When this load is shot, anything of note is later recorded in the log.
4) Clean powder scale.

[Joeaksa]

On a Dillon 650, you pull two small pins, slide the plate out and all of the dies and so on come out. Slide a new caliber in and you are ready to go in a minute or so.

You want to do it like they did it back in the 1960's, feel free but sure takes up a lot of room and time using your method.

[legion]

There's a lot more to reloading than just the actual reloading part.

I was curious if other people deprimed before cleaning their brass, or bothered resizing at all.

[Joeaksa]

Always deprime before tumbling. Otherwise the primer pocket is not cleaned.

[Rick Lee]

I cannot wait to get into this once I get set up in the new house.

[Joeaksa]

Call me when you are ready.

[legion]

I really need to get out to Arizona.

I have a standing invite from my wife's aunt and uncle to visit them in Phoenix. They live there from January-April. They live in Maine from June-September, and in the UP the rest of the time...

[Buckterrier]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

I cannot wait to get into this once I get set up in the new house.

It is quite enjoyable. I used to hand reload. But you really need to concentrate. I was out plinking with my model 29 shooting reloads I had done. Into a few rounds and the normal BANG!!!! No problem. Except the next shot the cylinder wouldn't turn. What the hell I'm thinking. I looked and the bullet is lodged between the cylinder and barrel. THANK GOD. If it had gone into the barrel I probably wouldn't be here typing this as the next shot would have blown the gun up in my face.
The shell had been primed but I neglected to charge the shell prior to crimping the bullet.
When I say hand reload I wasn't using a progressive machine. If I start reloading again, which I probably will I'll get one.

[Rick Lee]

I've done plenty of reloading and had a few that shouldn't have passed QC.

Legion, the Dillon store is a short drive away from the Scottsdale Gun Club and US Autoweapons. They are all incredible toy stores. US Autoweapons just took over the BMW bike dealer's retail space and is huge now. It's just about all class III stuff there.

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

Always deprime before tumbling. Otherwise the primer pocket is not cleaned.

I actually leave the primer in when tumbling, except for my BPCR cases. I've found the media simply clogs the primer pocket and flash hole, so it probably doesn't clean that pocket very well anyway. So, here is what I do:

Black powder only: neck size (full length die backed out four turns) and punch primer out.

Black powder only: stand cases up in cut off bleach bottle and immerse in white vinegar to neutralize salts in BP fouling.

Everything: tumble brass until clean.

Black powder only: clean the damn media out of the primer pocket.

Bottle necked rifle and straight rifle cases: lube with RCBS spray lube.

Smokeless: re-size and punch out primer. Straight cases get full length sized, bottle necked are neck sized.

Everything: measure a sample of cases for case length. Trim if necessary using RCBS rotary trimmer (hand crank).

Straight case: flare case mouth.

Smokeless: scrape out primer pockets.

Everything: re-prime.

All of the above is done without a loading block. I use old margarine tubs and just dump all the cases into one, transferring to the other as they are processed.

Everything: Adjust Lyman #55 measure to throw proper charge. Black powder by volume only, never weighed. Smokeless is weighed on RCBS # 5-0-5 balance beam scale to adjust measure. With ball or flake powders, only every tenth is weighed once the measure is set. With stick powders, an RCBS trickler is used to add last couple of grains to pan on scale because the measure won't throw them consistently enough.

Everything: charge all cases. Use 30" drop tube for black powder.

Black powder only: seat over powder wad, either .030" LDPE of vegetable fiber.

Everything: visually inspect all cases for proper charge (they are now standing up in a loading block).

Everything: seat bullet, crimping straight cases (except for black powder) and place in plastic MTM ammo boxes.

All of the above is done one at a time, on an old RCBS single stage press.

Fill out and affix label to box. Label has date, bullet (and alloy if applicable), lube (if applicable), wad type (black powder only), powder type and charge, primer type, case brand, how many reloads on cases, how many times they have been trimmed, and last chronograph results.

Enter all label data into reloading notebook for particular caliber and firearm(s).

Beyond that, and obviously done as entirely separate operations, is the bullet casting, sizing, and lubricating.

[azasadny]

In the past 2 days I've loaded 150 .357 Magnum and 300 .38 Special with my trusty Lyman Spar-T turret press, but today when I was reloading .380ACP the tuerret stopped indexing and no longer "clicks" into position when rotating the turret. I took it apart, cleaned and inspected and can't find anything obviously wrong, but it still fails to "lock" into position when I turn it. It may be time for me to get a progressive press...

[azasadny]

My workflow:

- sort and tumble all brass in corn cob/walnut shell media for at least 24 hours
- remove from media and shake out ea cartridge
- deprime and resize when I have at least 200 of a paricular caliber
- reprime and store until ready for reloading

For my reloading sessions:

- Find an appropriate "recipe"
- Setup the powder measurer (Hollywood Gun Co.)
- Setup the dies, measure everything carefully
- Set out the brass in a bucket, bullets in a small container and container of powder I'm using on the bench (back area)
- Load powder, measuring along the way, seat bullets and crimp, as required, measuring along the way
- Store completed ammo in plastic storage boxes, labeled and stowed safely
- Pat myself on the back and arrange range time to try out ammo

[Bill Douglas]

Keep it coming guys.. This is really interesting - I don't know a thing about reloading but will have to I guess if I get a .38 or .45.

Are there better or lessor brands of reloading gear. Is Lee the best way to go due to it's large popularity (the crowd is not usually wrong)? What's this Hornady stuff?

[jriera]

Probably I am not the best example as I use to shoot and reload semi-professionally ... 9mm, 38 Special, 38 Super and .45 ACP

Equipment: 3 Dillon 1050 (9mm, 38Sp, 45) and a Dillon 650 for 38 Super, all with bullet feeders

Monday: collect, sort and tumble brass, Load 38 Super
Tuesday: Separate calibers, Load 38 Super
Wednesday: Load 9 mm and 38 Special (about 2000 rounds of 9mm and 1000 of 38 Special), Load 38 Super
Thursday: Load 45 ACP (about 3000 rounds), Load 38 Super
Friday, Saturday and Sunday: sell as many rounds as possible, Load 38 Super

My personal 'consumption' was 100 rounds a day but I am known as someone using around 5,000 a week the two or three weeks before a major competition.

And yes, I had a 'normal' day job too

[azasadny]

Jordi,
Yep, we're in the same "club" as I've reloaded 23,000 of various caliber rifle and pistol in just over a year and I use a manual turret press (Lyman Spar-T). I reload .45ACP, .357Sig, 9mm, .380ACP, .32ACP, .25ACP, 40S&W, .223 Remington, .303 British, .308 Winchester, 38 Special and .357 Magnum

[azasadny]

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

Keep it coming guys.. This is really interesting - I don't know a thing about reloading but will have to I guess if I get a .38 or .45.

Are there better or lessor brands of reloading gear. Is Lee the best way to go due to it's large popularity (the crowd is not usually wrong)? What's this Hornady stuff?

I really like the Lee Precision dies, Dillon primer swager, Lyman turret press and Hollywood gun Co. powder measurer and Lyman 1500 electronic powder scale.

I'm going to buy the Hornady Lock-N-Load AP 1000 progressive press very soon as my last turret press wore out. I can't complain as the presses are about 40 years old and were used when I got them and they have served me well.

[1990C4S]

Like we can have an intelligent reloader thread without 'Frosty'.....

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by azasadny

Jordi,
Yep, we're in the same "club" as I've reloaded 23,000 of various caliber rifle and pistol in just over a year and I use a manual turret press (Lyman Spar-T). I reload .45ACP, .357Sig, 9mm, .380ACP, .32ACP, .25ACP, 40S&W, .223 Remington, .303 British, .308 Winchester, 38 Special and .357 Magnum

Jebus H you know who! I know whose house not to rob now! Always knew that Jordi would defend his place but you are as bad as he is!

Glad to see some reloaders on here. I always loved doing it and its a fun winter's past time for me.

[emcon5]

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

Always deprime before tumbling. Otherwise the primer pocket is not cleaned.

I never found the tumbler did that good of a job cleaning the pockets, I always ended up needing to hit them again with the pocket cleaner anyway, plus another pass through the sizing die to make sure there is no media stuck in the flash hole.

Tumble them first, plus they are clean for resizing.

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

I use old margarine tubs and just dump all the cases into one, transferring to the other as they are processed.

Same here, they stack really well. I also have a bunch of acro bins, but I always go for the tubs first.

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

Are there better or lessor brands of reloading gear. Is Lee the best way to go due to it's large popularity (the crowd is not usually wrong)? What's this Hornady stuff?

Lee is kind of the Harbor Freight of reloading tools. All of it is quite serviceable, but there is better quality stuff out there. That being said, I really like their collet dies for rifle, their trimming tools, and their "carbide speed dies" were a very clever solution for loading straight walled pistol cases on a single stage press (You screwed the die body into the press, then screwed the sizer, de-capper and bullet seater in separately). Too bad they are discontinued.

Lee presses and powder measure are both pretty good, but I wasn't impressed with the hand priming tool (it kept breaking) or the safety scale (wouldn't hold zero).

Here is how I do it:

For pistol (Dillon Square Deal B):
Throw them in the tumbler. When clean, remove them from the tumbler and throw them in an ammo can until ready to load.
When the time comes, pull them out of the ammo can and run them through the Dillon. I inspect the cases on the way out of the tumbler, and again before I put them in the Dillon, but otherwise that is it.

For bolt action rifle, single stage press (Rock Chucker):
into the tumbler, inspect and sort on the way out an in to tubs.
Neck size and deprime.
clean primer pockets.
Prime with RCBS Hand primer
ZERO THE SCALE
Set the powder measure where I want it, depending on the load, either at the desired charge weight or a 1/2 grain light, then trickle up.
Charge each case, typically I put the powder funnel onto the case and throw the powder into the funnel. Then eyeball into the case and make sure the powder fills it to where expected. Seat the bullet and put it in a plastic ammo box.
I write the load details on a piece of tape with a sharpie and stick it to the side.

Every other load I trim with a Lee hand trimmer, and clean up with a chamfer tool. I neck size only, and I would have so few that actually needed trimming after one load i decided it was a waste of time. Even doing this, more don't need trimming than do.

For self-loading rifles, I cheat, and buy once-fired, fully processed military brass. Usually run it through a neck sizer to remove any dings from shipping, then follow the steps outlined above.

Sadly this will need to change, as the sources of inexpensive surplus 30-06 are drying up, and I may need to start loading for my M1.

This is worth repeating though:
ZERO THE SCALE I got complacent on this one, and ended up with strange pressure problems I couldn't explain. I have 2 of the powder pans, and it turns out they don't weigh the same. Evidently one time the pans got switched, and I ended up with the light one on the scale that was zeroed with the heavier one.