Hate waiting for tumbler or dryer, or media separating? Me too

[Dthomas3523]

So, I like to be able to prep brass when I want. Not put in tumbler. Then either dryer or media separater, etc etc. Whichever your preferred cleaning method.

We clean to be able to run brass in dies and chambers without problems. Anything more to get shiny is aesthetics.

So, here is my brass prep routine I’ve developed that is getting me single digit SD/ES.

***note*** I mostly neck turn for uniformity as I have a 21st century lathe that I can do 10 rnds in less than 2 min. When I don’t turn, I still see sub 20 ES. Single digit SD turning or not turning. But my ES drops way down turning****

Fired brass:

Anneal (amp annealer seems to burn off any major junk). And I use this time to make sure no sand/dirt in case.

Wipe down cases with micro fiber cloth.

Quick neck burnish with 0000 steel wool. (By hand, just a turn to knock carbon off)

Size/deprime with imperial wax and SAC custom die

Dip cases in acetone and wipe off (removes wax)

Brush inside of necks (.22 brush with 0000 steel wool wrapped) this knocks down the shit inside necks from annealing

Run mandrel to desired beck tension

Trim/Chamfer/deburr with giraud

Run .22mop sprayed with one shot into necks (can use moly. This is just cleaner and I can’t find a difference in performance). This knocks down any friction inside the necks so they all seat at the same psi in my hydro press with the exact same neck tension inside diameter. If something doesn’t seat the same or close, I can sort it out if needed.

Prime/powder/seat

This allows me to do 200 or more rounds all in one sitting, while watching Wither reruns on Netflix for the 80th time.

No waiting on brass to clean and such. Just get to it.

 

[Dthomas3523]

Here’s what brass looks like. Clean enough for use and not overly shiny.

 

[spife7980]

while watching Wither reruns on Netflix for the 80th time.

Wither?

 

[Ryridesmotox]

I life hacked it by getting a lyman (tacstar?) brass catcher I run on every rifle. I hate chasing brass and I hate losing brass I have prepped and annealed and shit. I know I look, Richard Simmons riding a male fitness model, gay. But I also never have to worry about my precious cases getting stepped on, or rolling away into some parallel dimension where all our fuckikg AR detents have flown off to.

I only really clean after resizing to get the lube off. And that's only for a half an hour or so. Just set it on a timer, and eat some lunch, go to the store, jerk off to richard simmons in a pink spandex body suit with a 1984 perm... and go back to loading.

 

[Dthomas3523]

I life hacked it by getting a lyman (tacstar?) brass catcher I run on every rifle. I hate chasing brass and I hate losing brass I have prepped and annealed and shit. I know I look, Richard Simmons riding a male fitness model, gay. But I also never have to worry about my precious cases getting stepped on, or rolling away into some parallel dimension where all our fuckikg AR detents have flown off to.

I only really clean after resizing to get the lube off. And that's only for a half an hour or so. Just set it on a timer, and eat some lunch, go to the store, jerk off to richard simmons in a pink spandex body suit with a 1984 perm... and go back to loading.

I ordered the expensive Mpa brass catcher for same reason. ?

 

[Dthomas3523]

Wither?

It’s like the Witcher. But the bootleg version.

 

[kthomas]

I don't mind tumbling brass in rice, it takes 45 min and I get other things done while tumbling. I wouldn't have the patience to go through the effort of wet tumbling that some do, getting the brass spit shining clean seems to be a lot more for vanity purposes and nice facebook pics then anything else.

I like your process. Reading this reminded me that I need to get a Giraud trimmer head for my 6BRA. Can't wait to get back in the country and do some reloading and shooting again.

 

[Dthomas3523]

I don't mind tumbling brass in rice, it takes 45 min and I get other things done while tumbling. I wouldn't have the patience to go through the effort of wet tumbling that some do, getting the brass spit shining clean seems to be a lot more for vanity purposes and nice facebook pics then anything else.

I like your process. Reading this reminded me that I need to get a Giraud trimmer head for my 6BRA. Can't wait to get back in the country and do some reloading and shooting again.

I had changed up to wet tumbling without the pins. I hated making sure the pins were out of all the brass.

It was definitely better. But, I still have to put them in dryer and wait a few hours or the next day. I like knocking out all my brass prep at once. I’d rather spend 3hrs straight than 2hrs spread out over 2 days.

Totally a personal preference. But this method seems to work. Probably a pain in the ass for anyone doing thousands of rounds at a time. I do 200 or so, a couple times a week.

 

[Steel head]

I like my cleaning routine better.
No mud no bother.

 

[918v]

I wet stainless tumble when I ain’t home. I air dry it overnight. If I need it to dry quicker I can always heat it up in the oven.

Then I neck size it in a Lee Collet Neck Die. Then in a FL die. Then I champher the neck. Then dunk it into graphite, then expand with a mandrel or not depending on the particular brand of brass I’m prepping.

My process is far superior to anything anyone has ever dreamed of.

 

[Dthomas3523]

I wet stainless tumble when I ain’t home. I air dry it overnight. If I need it to dry quicker I can always heat it up in the oven.

Then I neck size it in a Lee Collet Neck Die. Then in a FL die. Then I champher the neck. Then dunk it into graphite, then expand with a mandrel or not depending on the particular brand of brass I’m prepping.

My process is far superior to anything anyone has ever dreamed of.

I might try the two step sizing.

I should be able to just take the neck bushing out and use that to FL size/bump shoulder correct?

 

[Steel head]

I might try the two step sizing.

I should be able to just take the neck bushing out and use that to FL size/bump shoulder correct?

My 223 body die is a Redding S with no bushing.

 

[918v]

Yes. In effect your FL die is going to act like a body die. But a better way still is to use a FL die with a custom honed neck in conjunction with the LCND. The Lee die presizes the neck. The custom FL die then sizes the body while maintaining the neck in the center of the case centerline.

A bushing die is supposed to do the same thing but you cannot trust the die and the bushing are gonna be perfectly concentric.

 

[Raufoss]

Sorry but you loose so much time nibbling with the steel wool that tumbling and separating look faster...

I don’t mess with that non sense...Anneal , FL size , expand , straight in the tumbler w/rice , separate , prime , load and shoot.
Sub 15 ES and sub 5 SD within 40 shoots , all that on a 550C without an Hydro press , no scrubbing and no neck turning the brass to the point I need to give my piece of brass a name.

A 6 BRA or any other bastard child of the 6 BR is basically a load and shoot scenario with low ES/SD almost instantly.

 

[acudaowner]

just keep thinking about all that tumbled clean shinny brass and the old heinz ketchup commercials some good things are worth the wait

 

[Steel head]

just keep thinking about all that tumbled clean shinny brass and the old heinz ketchup commercials some good things are worth the wait

I’d clean my brass before I put that ? on my food.

 

[Ryridesmotox]

Yes. In effect your FL die is going to act like a body die. But a better way still is to use a FL die with a custom honed neck in conjunction with the LCND. The Lee die presizes the neck. The custom FL die then sizes the body while maintaining the neck in the center of the case centerline.

A bushing die is supposed to do the same thing but you cannot trust the die and the bushing are gonna be perfectly concentric.

Is size similarly but use a lee FL die with no expander. So I run it through the Lee Collet die second. It acts more like a Sinclair mandrel at that point.

 

[918v]

I do the opposite. I size in the LCND first because a case with a presized neck FL sizes better, straighter, more concentric.

What you’re doing is fixing a FL sized neck with a LCND. The problem is the case body is unsupported.

How’s your runout ?