223 Reloaders

[Pewpewwagon]

Do you clean the lube off after resizing or after they are complete? If you clean after they are complete how often do you clean your dies?

 

[bonesurf]

I dont clean my dies very often. I do clean my brass after resizing just cause. pretty

 

[Pewpewwagon]

I dont clean my dies very often. I do clean my brass after resizing just cause. pretty

They do get nasty if you leave the lube. Stuff gets everywhere .

 

[Malibu]

Nearly all our .223/5.56 brass is picked up at our club. There is a literal ton of variation as such. We dry-tumble all of it first, then de-prime, size/trim, manage the primer pockets, chamfer case mouths, expand the necks, then wet tumble with pins and dry. It then goes into storage prior to loading.
Dies of any kind are fully cleaned in an ultrasonic cleaner at regular intervals. Sometimes the dies are left remaining in a Dillon tool head, in that cast the whole assembly is cleaned that way.
Dry tumbling before sizing helps to prevent scratched die interiors, but you must also occasionally replace the media being used.

 

[eeediot]

I use Hornady One Shot spray on lube. The lube stays on throughout my entire loading process and then gets tumbled off in a dry tumbler filled with rice once the ammo is finished. Every few years I toss my sizing dies in paint thinner to clean them off, let them dry, and then relube with One Shot.

 

[Enfielder]

I tumble the cases before resizing and then again afterwards to remove the case lube.

 

[DDranch/Anyracoon]

I fully process my brass, then clean with stainless pins/Dawn/citric acid & dry. Then load them up, shoot and start all over again

 

[Pewpewwagon]

I’ve always done small batches of 223. I want to reload a few hundred at a time now. I’m thinking I will process, clean, and prime a large amount for storage. When I’m ready to complete them, all I will have to do is powder charge, seat, and crimp. Hoping the last process I can get 200 completed pieces in an hour.

 

[ar15robert]

I wet tumble all brass before sizing. Will tumble first with just dawn soap.

Next step hornaday one shot resize,trim,and ream primer pocket if needed.

Then I’ll wet tumble again this time dawn and lemishine so it’s nice and shiny for the rest of process.

 

[smoothy8500]

Could always just give finished rounds a quick tumble in corn-cob media.....

 

[Malibu]

Could always just give finished rounds a quick tumble in corn-cob media.....

Sometimes I do that with reloads that are going into storage. I also wear cotton gloves when inserting the rounds into those plastic storage boxes to keep fingerprints from oxidizing the brass.

Last week I fired some .38 Special rounds I had loaded in 1982. Using the same revolver (S&W 6” model 28) the measured velocity was a bit less than when initially loaded, but all fifty fired without issue. I’m wondering if the lack of polishing of the interior of the case and primer pocket somehow started to deteriorate the powder (Bullseye) through some very slow chemical reaction…..
I’ve been tumbling de-primed brass for many years now to clean both inside and outside the case to avoid such an issue, if it is even an actual thing. Anyone else experiment or know about this?

 

[BigBossman]

I don't bother tumbling before processing.

Resize, trim, chamfer, swage primer pocket if needed.
Tumble clean, prime, charge, seat bullet, enjoy.

Caveat - I do it on a single stage.

 

[ChestnutBleach]

Generally do deprime (universal depriming die), clean, resize, swage, clean again, prime, powder, bullet, crimp. Cause brass is cleaned before touching a die (universal depriming die doesn’t touch/form the brass), I don’t clean dies too often.

 

[6MMBRA]

Plinking ammo clean(walnut), size/deprime on a single stage, clean(walnut), swage off press, finish loading on a 550.

Match ammo: deprime, clean (walnut), size on a single stage, clean (walnut). I finish up on the 550: mandrel, drop powder on an auto trickler/ingenuity precision, hand dump powder, seat bullet. I’m able to load a 100 rounds in 30 minutes or less.

 

[Pewpewwagon]

Sometimes I do that with reloads that are going into storage. I also wear cotton gloves when inserting the rounds into those plastic storage boxes to keep fingerprints from oxidizing the brass.

Last week I fired some .38 Special rounds I had loaded in 1982. Using the same revolver (S&W 6” model 28) the measured velocity was a bit less than when initially loaded, but all fifty fired without issue. I’m wondering if the lack of polishing of the interior of the case and primer pocket somehow started to deteriorate the powder (Bullseye) through some very slow chemical reaction…..
I’ve been tumbling de-primed brass for many years now to clean both inside and outside the case to avoid such an issue, if it is even an actual thing. Anyone else experiment or know about this?

1982! Was that also the last time you shot your revolver? Any reason you waited so long?

 

[Pewpewwagon]

I don't bother tumbling before processing.

Resize, trim, chamfer, swage primer pocket if needed.
Tumble clean, prime, charge, seat bullet, enjoy.

Caveat - I do it on a single stage.

My brass is pretty dirty/dusty. I also don’t tumble them for long periods. I don’t care how they look, just need them clean.

 

[Warpspeed]

Do you clean the lube off after resizing or after they are complete? If you clean after they are complete how often do you clean your dies?

After resizing, I clean the lube ( lanolin based ) by tumbling before trimming. If not, it gums up the trimmer I use. I trim on a Giraurd.

I clean the size die before each session and usually resize just over 1000 at a time.

 

[Malibu]

1982! Was that also the last time you shot your revolver? Any reason you waited so long?

I shoot revolvers often enough that I loose track of which is which, including a pair that I took along to the range today. That small leftover batch of .38 Special somehow didn’t make into the rotation schedule, and got shelved behind a batch of components in storage.