What's your reloading process?

[BoilerUP]

Looking to do a brief survey here....if you've got a pile of fired brass and want to reload them, what steps do you take in what order?

I ask because despite getting pretty decent results, I'm wondering if I'm missing something. My steps are:

Tumble clean
Deprime/FL resize
Wipe off sizing lube
Trim to length/chamfer mouth if necessary
Clean primer pocket
Prime
Charge with powder
Seat bullet

Thanks...

 

[Pinch_NO]

I like my brass clean so I use a universal deprimer first.

so it will be something like this:

deprime
Clean (wet tumble)&dry
Lube
Size - I am experimenting with first using a body die and then a neck tension to reduce work on the brass; might be going back to just FL sizing in one go again if not happy with results.
Trim
Clean again&dry
Prime
Powder
Bullet
Shoot

 

[hafejd30]

-Anneal
-Clean outside of necks with fine steel wool
- brush inside of necks
- (if FL sizing I lube/size/tumble)
- size neck with collet die (if using this)
- measure case OAL
- trim any .002” over (ex: 2.005” is what I want so anything over 2.006” gets trimmed)
- chamfer/debur
- brush inside of necks
- clean primer pocket
- prime
- powder
- seat
- measure every round OAL to ogive to ensure consistency
- run random selected rounds over Holland concentricity gauge if desired

- shoot into berm next to target, swear at self, repeat steps above

 

[blbennett1288]

1.) Deprime w/ Mighty Armory depriming die and clean primer pockets

2.) Tumble in fine walnut w/ NuFinish

3.) Anneal on Annealeez

4.) Lube w/ Forster HP lube

5.) Size w/ Full Length die, bump back 0.0015 (non-bushing), 0.0025 for semi auto

6.) Size necks w/ 21st Century expander Mandrel die

7.) Tumble in fine walnut w/ NuFinish

8.) Trim/Chamfer/Deburr w/ LE Wilson Timer and Lyman Hand VLD/debur tool

9.) Prime on CoAx

10.) Powder charge to single kernel w/ V3 Autothrower/trickler bluetooth enabled

11.) Seat w/ Forster micrometer die on CoAx

 

[rustyinbend]

1. Deprime
2. Wet Tumble w/ media (to clean)
3. Dry
4. Anneal
5. Lube
6. FL Size
7. Trim as necessary
8. Wet Tumble w/o media (to remove lube)
9. Dry
10. Charge
11. Seat
12. Shoot

Note ... every step includes continuous visual inspection for disqualifying defects.

 

[47guy]

i just switched up my process in late December....actually ive revamped my process a few times in the last year...this is what im doing now and working very well....

1 deprime
2 wet tumble with pins 30mins
3 dry
4 anneal
5 stand cases up and light spray inside necks with 1 shot
6 dump in bag spray with 1 shot
7 size on dillon 750...station #1 FL bushing die no expander station #4 expander mandrel
8 trim..dip necks in mollie..brush necks with nylon brush on lyman case prep center
9 prime..charge..seat on dillon 750...powder weighed on FX/auto trickler

 

[Gulep001]

-Anneal
-Walnut tumble (will skip cleaning sometimes if match/range was mostly concrete)
-Deprime - Mighty Armory on separate Dillon 550 toolhead
-FL size w bushing on station 1 and expander mandrel on station 2. I keep separate toolhead setups for each caliber. Wipe off lube or tumble
-Trim, debur, chamfer if needed
-Hand prime
-Drop powder w/ V3 Autotrickler. I use 2 powder cups w/ exact same weight. As i pull out one cup off scale, 2nd cup goes on scale, then drop 1st cup powder in to case, seat bullet in station 3. By the time bullet is seated, 2nd powder cup is ready to drop powder in next case

 

[TheOfficeT-Rex]

1. Lube (alcohol/lanolin)
2. Toolhead one
a. deprime
b. FL size, no expander
c. mandrel
3. remove lube (I've been playing with cleaning methods, ultrasonic, dry tumble, wipe downs, etc)
4. Trim (includes chamfer and debur)
5. Prime on CPS
6. Toolhead 2
a. powder drop from fx-120 and trickle
b. Seat bullet
7. Profit

Trying to slim down the process to things that I find that matter. For example, I don't do any primer pocket cleaning or uniforming anymore - 20 rounds of each and I couldn't shoot a difference. Lube removal is the next process improvement...

 

[Milo 2.5]

1. Tumble fired brass
2. Anneal
3. Retumble to remove oxidation from necks
4. Lube and size with bushing die, no expander
5. Tumble lube off
6. Prime and load 10 cases to verify all is still good, test at a predetermined distance
7. If GTG, prime all brass
8. Load as needed, I do not keep loaded ammo on hand, it is like beer in the fridge, have it, it is gone quickly

I do keep bulk 223 and pistol rds on hand.
I have eliminated many process from my routine, cleaning or uniforming primer pockets, neck turning, seating with inline seaters and an arbor press, sonic cleaning, etc...
I have top shelf equipment, and have a desired accuracy level that I maintain, by verifying along the way things never get too far out of balance. I have 4 custom LR rifles I load for today, down from 7, at 7 steps needed to go if i did not want to be reloading daily.
A fair share of issues that arise down the road can be eliminated in load dev, brass, primer, powder swap, signs are present. Brass we have available today is 10 times better than 10 yrs ago, have your chamber reamed around your choice of brass, I refuse to alter brass to work in a chamber.

 

[Rocketmandb]

1. Deprime (Harvey Deprimer)
2. Clean in ultrasonic with Boretech Case Clean - rinse - dry
EDIT: 3. Anneal (forgot to add this)
3. Size, hand lube with Unique prior to each sizing
4. Wipe lube off with cloth
5. Lube case necks with graphite - wipe the outside
6. Mandrel (21st Century) - lube each case as I go through them with graphite
7. Trim/chamfer if necessary - if I'm off by a few thousandths on length, I don't bother
8. Prime (21st Century)
9. Charge (AutoTrickler V3)
10. Seat (K&M arbor press, LE Wilson Seater)

 

[alamo5000]

Depends on the state of the brass.
1. If the brass is really dirty I will do a quick tumble of maybe 30 minutes so I don't get junk all up in my dies. I am experimenting if I even need media for this stage.
2. Deprime and resize. This might have more than one step as I am considering using an expander mandrel on certain rounds or have a different sizing method for some rifle rounds vs pistol etc. I don't trim most of the time but in instances when I do it would be in this step. Same with annealing. It's not universally needed so it depends on what.
3. Full tumble simply because I like clean brass. It gets off all the old case lube etc.
4. Mass priming. It might take me a week or even two weeks to prime 5,000 or 10,000 cases. If there was a way to automate that it would be helpful but so far I've found nothing reasonable to do that. This is by far the most time consuming part.
5. I store the primed brass in 3 or 5 gallon buckets WITH a sealed lid on it.
6. When I want to actually reload I can drop powder and seat bullets as needed.

Basically put my methodology allows me to break up monotonous tasks into more manageable chunks of time.

 

[Oldmauser]

1. Deprime with lee depriming die, clean primer pocket with lyman tool

1. Clean in ultrasonic cleaner
2. Anneal with diy tool
3. Size full length with forster sizing die
4. Size neck with 21st Century expander Mandrel die (lube neck with redding dry lube)
5. Trim with Hornady trimmer, chamfer&deburr with redding tool
6. Prime on forster coax
7. Powder charge with rcbs chargemaster lite
8. Seat with forster micrometer die

 

[ctso030]

1) deprime. 2) wet tumble with pins 3)anneal 4)resize 5) trim , chamfer 6) prime 7) load

 

[supercorndogs]

Anneal-after three firings on new brass, I haven't 100% decided but I will probably be going to every 3 firings after that also
Lube-One Shot or Lanolin with 99% spa
Size-Standard FL dies
Tumble lube off-Corn cob media
Measure to make sure the cases aren't too long for my chamber. Trim , chamfer, and debur if they are. Rarely are they.
prime
dip necks in dry lube
Charge with chargemester. No confirming charge weights with a beam scale, I just go as fast as the machine will let me.
seat bullets
shoot
repeat

 

[Steel head]

Wipe off cases if kinda dirty with steel wool.
Brush necks.
Anneal every 3-4th loading depending on cartridge.
Apply imperial or one shot depending on cartridge.
Size with body die.
Wipe off imperial.
Run case through Lee collet.
Trim/chamfer if necessary
Prime
Throw powder
Seat bullet with Forster seaters.

 

[MALLARD]

not a single person points or tips bullets ? no meplat trim ? bsc ? or bullet sorting of any kind ? no case sorting ? concentricity ? just load and go huh?props to the only person who actually measures his coal but if he didn't sort bsc/length of those projectiles its not a great measurement since the bs is what is contacting the lands

you don't need to anneal once fired brass, check the springback it's similar to that of virgin brass. And if your annealing with a torch the temp of the flame is too high anyways and your only cooking the outside of the case and the heat distribution is uneven...so why does that make sense? (cause you paid for it right) Even tumbling brass, how much cc do you think is really affected by a single shot ? it's like nothing. Measure your clean CC vs dirty it will be minimal difference. Brass fired a few times is another story. And why are people using mandrels ? You don't need to do that. Why do you think those bushing dies come with an undersized expander thingy that just holds the decapping pin in place?

but i guess if your expectations are low you can just do what these guys above are doing, that will get you the same results as those stupid youtubers are getting.

 

[supercorndogs]

Please define low vs high expectations and show how all that has made you a better reloader.

 

[Dthomas3523]

not a single person points or tips bullets ? no meplat trim ? bsc ? or bullet sorting of any kind ? no case sorting ? concentricity ? just load and go huh?props to the only person who actually measures his coal but if he didn't sort bsc/length of those projectiles its not a great measurement since the bs is what is contacting the lands

you don't need to anneal once fired brass, check the springback it's similar to that of virgin brass. And if your annealing with a torch the temp of the flame is too high anyways and your only cooking the outside of the case and the heat distribution is uneven...so why does that make sense? (cause you paid for it right) Even tumbling brass, how much cc do you think is really affected by a single shot ? it's like nothing. Measure your clean CC vs dirty it will be minimal difference. Brass fired a few times is another story. And why are people using mandrels ? You don't need to do that. Why do you think those bushing dies come with an undersized expander thingy that just holds the decapping pin in place?

but i guess if your expectations are low you can just do what these guys above are doing, that will get you the same results as those stupid youtubers are getting.

Depends on the game. You want to win high level 1k yd F class? You’ll be trimming and pointing billets.

Also, you can very well see a noticeable difference in ES using a mandrel vs the expander ball. Not always, but many times you will.

So, keep some perspective and context in posts. Unless you can provide us the major F class or BR competitions you’ve won using your system that gets the same results as those “stupid you tubers.”

 

[47guy]

not a single person points or tips bullets ? no meplat trim ? bsc ? or bullet sorting of any kind ? no case sorting ? concentrically ? just load and go huh?props to the only person who actually measures his coal but if he didn't sort bsc/length of those projectiles its not a great measurement since the bs is what is contacting the lands

you don't need to anneal once fired brass, check the springback it's similar to that of virgin brass. And if your annealing with a torch the temp of the flame is too high anyways and your only cooking the outside of the case and the heat distribution is uneven...so why does that make sense? (cause you paid for it right) Even tumbling brass, how much cc do you think is really affected by a single shot ? it's like nothing. Measure your clean CC vs dirty it will be minimal difference. Brass fired a few times is another story. And why are people using mandrels ? You don't need to do that. Why do you think those bushing dies come with an undersized expander thingy that just holds the decapping pin in place?

but i guess if your expectations are low you can just do what these guys above are doing, that will get you the same results as those stupid youtubers are getting.

i have....
trimmed meplats and tipped bullets
weigh sorted brass..bullets...and primers at one point
after weigh sorting bullets id sort by barring surface
turned necks
uniformed primer pockets and flash holes
used a body die and LCD
FL sized with bushing and expander ball
FL sized bushing only
FL sized with bushing and mandrel up necks
neck size only
seat bullets with in line dies and arbor press
dry lubed inside necks
one shot inside necks
play with different neck tensions from .0005 to .007
coated bullets with HBN
wet tumble with pins
dry tumble
anneal every time...every other time..every 3rd time not anneal at all
check and correct concentricity...correcting concentricity caused some of the worst ESs i ever got


ive probably missed a few things but you get the idea i spent 18mos and shot out 2 300wm barrels and a 260 barrel playing with all of this and most of it one change at a time then shoot at 900-1000yds to see what and how much of a difference it made...i live 10mins from where i shoot and would go out 4 times a day sometimes.....at one point i took a kitchen cabinet and set up a portable reloading box so i didnt have to run home to load more test ammo id spend 6-8hrs shooting/testing.

at the end of the day ALL of this stuff did not add up to enough change for the time i spend doing all of it for me to continue doing it....it got to the point that with all the prep involved it made me hate reloading so bad i stopped shooting for 2-3mos and i still do not like reload so ive taken what works to produce accurate/consistent ammo and left the rest behind.
i still do a little more than some but ive found ways to stream line things...like a dillon 750....i can deprime 120 cases in 6mins...i can FL size and mandrel up necks on the same 120 cases in 10mins if count the time it takes to dump them in a bag and hit them with one shot.

 

[Dthomas3523]

Context is key.

It seems it’s always guys who shoot steel who want to say their ammo does the same thing as the guys shooting paper @1k (this isn’t directed to @47guy ).

They shoot an occasional 1moa or less group @1k and think it’s the same as the guy shooting consistent 10’s and X’s @1k. It’s not and until you’ve gone down that rabbit hole, you have zero clue how good your ammo needs to be to consistently do that.

1 “flyer” that had something inconsistent about it that still hit the 2moa steel plate @ 1k just lost the match for someone playing a different game when it went into the 9 or 8 ring.

I too have gone way down the loading rabbit hole, and still enjoy making really good ammo. But I also know for shooting steel I can skip annealing, skip most or all load development, put a consistent charge weight in brass along with consistent seating depth and I’ll be around 30es and .5 moa without much issue. And that’s plenty good for steel/prs/nrl type shooting.

So, unless you’re comparing your loading process to those in the same game, your context is way out of line.

 

[47guy]

Context is key.

It seems it’s always guys who shoot steel who want to say their ammo does the same thing as the guys shooting paper @1k (this isn’t directed to @47guy ).

They shoot an occasional 1moa or less group @1k and think it’s the same as the guy shooting consistent 10’s and X’s @1k. It’s not and until you’ve gone down that rabbit hole, you have zero clue how good your ammo needs to be to consistently do that.

1 “flyer” that had something inconsistent about it that still hit the 2moa steel plate @ 1k just lost the match for someone playing a different game when it went into the 9 or 8 ring.

I too have gone way down the loading rabbit hole, and still enjoy making really good ammo. But I also know for shooting steel I can skip annealing, skip most or all load development, put a consistent charge weight in brass along with consistent seating depth and I’ll be around 30es and .5 moa without much issue. And that’s plenty good for steel/prs/nrl type shooting.

So, unless you’re comparing your loading process to those in the same game, your context is way out of line.

i did all of that stuff to see for myself the difference it would really make...i was over whelmed not long after i first started loading with all the info on the net so i got off the net and started testing...i was pretty new to loading at the time but have been shoot most of my life and honestly i do not think i was a consistent enough shooter to take advantage of all that and i still do not think i am but i do know that if reloading is like a second job ill loose interest....like i did.

i think it was worth the time because i learned a lot from it and also got tons of trigger time which IMHO is the most important thing there is in all of this.

 

[alamo5000]

Context is key.

I am loading up some 9mm range ammo with mixed brass. Should I make sure I uniform my primer pockets, make sure my neck tension is perfect with a custom make 9mm mandrel, anneal my brass, and seat all my primers within .001 tolerances?

I am thinking I need to weigh my cases and charge my cases down to the flake too.

I am being facetious if you couldn't tell that already.

 

[C.R. Adams]

For comp ammo:
deprime
wet tumble
anneal
lube
size with redding S die
dry tumble to remove lube
trim on giraud
do following on dillon:
prime
mandrel
charge - single pour after weighing load
seat bullet long
then seat to exact length on an arbor press

non comp:
deprime
wet tumble
anneal
lube
size
dry tumble
trim and chamfer
prime
charge
seat bullet

 

[BallisticPrimate]

tag

 

[acudaowner]

1. de prime / clean primer pocket and flash hole
2. anneal and resize as needed
3. wash and dry , and polish
4. Trim , chamfer and deburr
5. Re primer
6. powder and bullet
7. press
8. rinse and repeat
All written on laminated 3x5 cards I check off every step of the way just to add that anal redundancy factor to it all . lol also every case i load to shoot has on of the cards in it just incase someone else or I forgets where it is or goes all boxes are marked clearly so no more mixing 4th and 5th time reloaded brass in what ever calaber there is .

 

[Jackomason]

-Anneal (apparently only the outside of the brass )
- tumble in walnut (no polish)
- chamfer
-Lube with DIY dillon lube (outside only)
- de-cap, FL size, Sinclair carbide mandrel (dillon 550)
- wipe off lube if small batch and tumble if large
- de-cap (clear flash holes), powder, seat.
- powder on 2x chargemaster lites.

With trainer ammo the type S die does enough so I can do it all in one pass with one tool head. I just wipe the lube off loaded ammo.

 

[Scrumbag]

Deprime using Lee Universal decapping die
Sonic clean (I use a sprinkle of citric acid and a squirt of washing up liquid rather than specific brass cleaner)
Let dry
Lube on a pad (currently using up the last of the Imperial bio green - God I hate that stuff. Do not let it dry on and heaven forbid get cold and dry on your cases.)
FL resize
Trim to length
Chamfer / deburr
Wash to remove lube and any remaining swarf (washing up liquid and a drop of rinse aid)
Dry - Oven at 55C for an hour works pretty well I find.

Tend to do batches of brass so have plenty on hand. Case prep is the bit of reloading I hate the most. When I prime I check the primer pockets to see if clean, very occasionally one needs a cleaning but most don't need anything doing to them.

What I would really like is a dehydrator for rapid case drying in the garage...

 

[acudaowner]

1. shoot the round
2. when I get home from the range take the fired brass and de prim it I also hand clean the primer pocket and check to make sure they are good to be reloaded , I put the good ones in a box when filled I move it to the shed
3. I would anneal if I was doing it with the brass
4. I resize the necks and case to hold a bullet , and use the sizing mandrels to get the necks to my desired size
5. I bring the box back into the house and trim and deburr / chamfer then wash them so I only have to do this once , and dry
6. I make sure everything is what ever size I wanted and double check that the cases are dry and ready for primer and powder
7. the circle of life I reload the bullets to start the process all over again and again . I also am trying to keep log books on what i am loading I wanted to keep track on how many times each piece of brass was used but as someone poured all my brass into the same barrels it's a lost cause I for one can't tell my brass apart so It's is what it is till I start with a new bunch I will try harder to keep better records . Best of luck to you what ever way you decide to do .

 

[Bacarrat]

Decap
Clean
Anneal
Resize no expander
Trim
Clean Lube
Mandrel size the necks

Only done when I am going to go shoot.
Neck Lube
Prime
Load
Shoot

 

[Carlos Danger]

Lube
Deprime and size
Prime
Powder charge
Seat bullet

Progressive press pumps out fresh bangers in about 34 seconds.

 

[longrange772]

Man. If you want to create a thread on SH that gets a lot of replies, ask people their opinion on load development or processes. I'm not one of those nerds that has a meme generator on his phone, but someone needs to take that meme that has the guy walking down the long line of urinals to tell the other guy pissing that he shoots a 6.5 Creedmoor (Creedmore) and change it to describing his process for tumbling brass, lol

Maybe 2nd only to a thread on whether EC Tuners work.

 

[Feniks Technologies]

Man. If you want to create a thread on SH that gets a lot of replies, ask people their opinion on load development or processes. I'm not one of those nerds that has a meme generator on his phone, but someone needs to take that meme that has the guy walking down the long line of urinals to tell the other guy pissing that he shoots a 6.5 Creedmoor (Creedmore) and change it to describing his process for tumbling brass, lol

All you had to do was ask….

 

[High Desert duck]

It’s all about. Volume production for me.
Dry tumble 2-4 hours
Lube with Hornady 1-shot 25 at a time
Deprime/size/mandrel on Dillon 550
Dry tumble 30min-1hour
Trim on giraud
Clear flash holes and prime on a Dillon 550 at a time.
Drop powder with AutoTrickler v2.5
Seat bullet on rock crusher. While new powder drops

Works out to about 115 ish rounds per hour not counting the first tumble. I deprime and anneal first every once in a while (3-6 loads)

Edited because I can’t proof read