Bulk 556 Brass prep and reloading process

[TNTall]

Yeah, don’t go from a wet tumble to a media/vibratory tumble. I use an old food dehydrator to dry (so I don’t have to use the oven).

In fact it pretty much looks like this, but this is “for brass”.

https://www.amazon.com/Frankford-Ars.../dp/B00RPABBG0

I wonder if you can make beef jerky in a brass dryer haha.

I think I'm gonna put off getting into wet tumbling for now. Corncob has been good to me, and it seems simpler.

[B52U]

I wonder if you can make beef jerky in a brass dryer haha.

I think I'm gonna put off getting into wet tumbling for now. Corncob has been good to me, and it seems simpler.

This is the way!

I know the wet tumbler guys will roast me for that, but you are thinking pragmatically for maximum efficiency. Purty brass ain't worth dealing with moisture IMHO. But I totally admit being jealous of the nice results of the wet method for aesthetics.

[PracticalRifleman]

This is the way!

I know the wet tumbler guys will roast me for that, but you are thinking pragmatically for maximum efficiency. Purty brass ain't worth dealing with moisture IMHO. But I totally admit being jealous of the nice results of the wet method for aesthetics.

The nice thing about the wet tumbler is that it gets the inside of the brass clean, including primer pockets. No dust, no residue. 20 minutes in the oven and it’s ready to go.


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[markm]

Yeah. The cosmetics of SS wet tumble are nice, but the actual overall cleaner brass going through the dies and press are something I can't do without. When it's warm here, the brass can sun dry on an old tshirt in 15 min. Otherwise I just dry tumble it. It's a little extra work, but worth it for me.

Also... the wet tumblers are nice when you want to toss a crusty silencer mount in with some brass too.

[chadbag]

I'm stilllll working up to reloading .223/5.56, so this thread is of interest to me...

WTH is "Hot Shot"? Why not just use Dillon's lube, or make your own (just lanolin and alcohol)?

Agreed. I used Hot Shot once and got stuck cases in my trim die. I probably screwed up (this was long ago) but have not touched the stuff since. I just use the Dillon stuff.

[chadbag]

Agreed. And again... belling should not be in this conversation AT ALL. As pointed out, That's a pistol loading issue.

To be fair, a very slight bell can be useful for flat based bullets, if you load those. I just got a 30 cal pistol powder die to do 300 BLK with flat based bullets. But agreed, in general, belling is for pistol ammo. If you do need to bell rifle for troublesome flat based bullets, just the very slightest one is enough.

[chadbag]

I just got this wet tumbler -- not used it yet. But it seems to be the bees knees from comments on other forums.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I use a 650 to prep and a 1050 to load 223 (other calibers I do on 650 in two passes or for low volume stuff on the 550). I decap, use the dillon trimmer, and then a neck expander on the 650. Then I run it around the 1050 to load. Basically similar to what has already been explained here.

[T2C]

I’ve got the RCBS with their power unit. I rarely use it anymore because I got so much variance in length after trimming as well as neck distortion that increases runout. Ultimately that only matters for precision loads shot at long ranges but it was enough I rarely use mine anymore.

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I don't have experience with the RCBS power trimmer. I have the hand crank version I bought in the early 1990's. It took a little work to make sure the trimmer is properly aligned and it pays to check it after trimming 1,000 pieces of brass.

Variance in length for me is +/- .002" from my target trim length, which is halfway between maximum and trim length. Most of the trimmed brass is at my target length. Brass is concentric enough to develop loads that will shoot 1 MOA at 300 yards with a good rifle. I manually operate the trimmer if I am working up 600 yard loads.

Spray on case lubes save a lot of time, but I don't use them. I apply Unique case lube to the body of the case by hand in addition to the dry neck lube. Each piece of processed rifle brass gets inspected before priming.

[Ned Christiansen]

Any time I want to stick a case in a die I use some kind of spray lube. It never fails! You guys must have the technique down better but I stopped trying years ago.

I used to do all my trimming in the surface grinder-- which I realize not everyone has..... it's super fast and accurate but then each one still has to be deburred. I have the 3-way cutters for a few calibers now and a rig with a ball bearing in it which I've used just a little. A local guy made it but I think someone offers the design commercially. It's slick, it stops the case on the shoulder.

I don't reload rifle calibers very often, I tend to do it once in a while in fairly large batches.... so I'm a little foggy on exactly what I have, but these 2000 5.56's I just got processed, I'm gonna need to go through and deburr them all so I will be refamiliarizing ere long......

[opngrnd]

I tried not using the expander ball with the M die in the next station. It ended up leaving the case mouths balled inwards which would shave brass. I can't seem to find a RCBS expander neck die in stock anywhere.

Edit- I've only been using the bottom portion of the M Die that measures .221x. If I use the top portion that measures .225, will the Lee FCD close any belling with sufficient tension? What's the diameter of the RCBS stem at the top of the brass's contact where you guys are having success?