Early jump on reloading

[peberly400]

I plan on reloading in the near future. I have been saving up quite a bit of brass (around 500-1000 rounds of 9mm, .40, .45 and about 200 of 308s.) I went to the range last night and picked up over 1400 rounds of brass on the floor! What a gold mine.

Since I am starting to accumulate the brass count I am wanting, I will be considering getting a re-loader here soon. My question is, is it worth it to go ahead and clean and de-prime the brass now? If so, what would you guys recommend I get, or do now before I get the re-loader? I am probably only going to reload handguns at first. Thanks for any input!

 

[hondatech2k2]

I deprime my brass first, then ream/clean the primer pocket, then clean/tumble the brass. Some people use a progressive press to deprime since it is much faster....I unfortunately do not own one yet so I use a single stage press to do all my work. Slower, but gets the job done...eventually.

 

[peberly400]

So do I need to deprime then clean? Or can I clean all the brass first then deprime them whenever? I don't have any actual equipment yet, but I am willing to buy some of the smaller tools needed to get a little bit of a head start

 

[Userdenied]

... I went to the range last night and picked up over 1400 rounds of brass on the floor! What a gold mine.

...

I have been saving the brass I fire as well for the time when I get into reloading, but I had no idea ranges would let you just pick up brass off the floor. It seems like they would either recycle it for a small bit of cash or require shooters to take their trash out with them.

Are some ranges just whoever feels like picking it up can have it?

 

[peberly400]

Tri-County around north webster area. Also Warsaw Gun Club allows you to pick up your brass and others (I always ask people first). I believe that the clubs would actually come out maybe once a week and pick it up.

Tri-County is an outdoor range open 7 days a week from Dusk-Dawn, and the warsaw Gun club is 24/7 in there indoor pistol range

 

[hondatech2k2]

So do I need to deprime then clean? Or can I clean all the brass first then deprime them whenever? I don't have any actual equipment yet, but I am willing to buy some of the smaller tools needed to get a little bit of a head start

I would recommend you deprime first then clean. You will see how much crud is left over around the primer pocket once the primer is removed.

 

[peberly400]

So I need to pick up one of these?

http://leeprecision.com/ergo-prime.html

Also, how to clean the pocket? Or will the pocket get cleaned when I clean all the brass?

 

[lon]

Sorry for the derail...

Tri-County is an outdoor range open 7 days a week from Dusk-Dawn...

According to the DNR site hours are as follows:

Range is open April through August from noon to 7 p.m. and September through March from noon. to 5 p.m.

DNR: Tri-County Look under the "rules" tab.

Those pretty much were the hours last time I was there, but it's been 3-4 years. I hate to see antbody make the trip, and have to wait

Hopefully they have changed their hours, and haven't updated the site...

 

[peberly400]

I am not sure. I guess the hear-say was basically during the hours of light. Sorry for any mis-information. Its a great range with a sporting clay range, dual pistol range, 4 50 yard ranges, and 2 100 yard ranges. All the brass left over is down and left on the ground.

Anyways, is that the de-priming tool I need? And from what I have been told I can wash my brass in the sink with some hot water and dawn and then let air dry? Any truth behind that?

 

[mac45]

If you deprime, then tumble, you'll have to run 'em thru the depriming die again to be sure the media is out of the flash hole. (Or at least check each flash hole carefully).
Not a huge deal, lots of folks prefer to do it that way. Just be aware of the extra step.

Just out of curiosity, how are you planning on depriming?

 

[peberly400]

I posted a link to what I thought I might need. Ergo-prime - Lee Precision

I am actually looking for some more information on it. I have a lot of free time, but not enough funds to buy the reloading kit. I can get most of the supply's and other equipment now though.

 

[lon]

Anyways, is that the de-priming tool I need? And from what I have been told I can wash my brass in the sink with some hot water and dawn and then let air dry? Any truth behind that?

I don't know what the street price of the Lee is, but for not much more $ you can get a RCBS hand priming tool. I've probably have 30-40,000 rounds thru mine, and its still going strong. You can also feel the primer bottoming out in the pocket pretty well, for a "high speed" tool.

The main reason to clean brass is to get any dirt or sand off the case, and keep it out of your die. Hot water and Dawn are fine, but you have to wait for them to dry.

Don't worry about uniforming primer pockets unless you have a precision rifle (3/4"@100yrds or less) or any pistol brass. I never clean primer pockets in pistol brass.

 

[mac45]

Whoops, you must have posted while I was typing. Didn't see your last.
The Lee tool you linked to is a priming tool.
DE-priming is typically done on a press, or with a punch and hammer like the Lee Loader.
Absent either of those, you're probably better off just picking up a cheap tumbler, (Midway or Harbor freight), and cleaning without depriming.
I did it that way for years. No problems at all.

 

[peberly400]

so pick up one of these 5 Lb. Metal Vibrator / Tumbler

So they don't make a handheld de-priming tool?

 

[peberly400]

Oh, and what media do you guys use in your tumblers?

 

[ckcollins2003]

They do make a handheld depriming tool, but there's no point in depriming now IMO since you can deprime on the press and resize at the same time.

Home Page There's your depriming tool if you really want it. As for what to do now, if you're in a rush to just do something with the brass, tumble it clean and sort it. I use walnut media in my tumbler. Some people use corncob. If your brass is really dirty, I'd use walnut. For a good shine, get some Flitz polish.

Also, you might stay away from Harbor Freight tumblers. I've heard nothing but bad reviews for them. For about the same price you can get a Lyman.

 

[peberly400]

Ok thanks. So ill go ahead and wash them all up tonight, them tumble them soon as I pick one up. I've got tons of free time, so the extra step of washing them wont hurt anything.

I guess I didn't completely realize that the machine de-primed the casing as well. Ill check out the lyman tumblers. I only want to buy everything once! Thanks for all the information!

 

[mac45]

For about the same price you can get a Lyman.

Been a long time since I had to price a tumbler.
You're right, the Lyman is actually cheaper at Midway, (and I don't think anyone would argue that Lyman isn't better quality than HF).

One observation tho.....
Looks like the Lyman, (and some of the others), have a slotted top.
Who thought that was a good idea?
Even ignoring the whole lead dust from primers thing, my loading area is less than 20' from the laundry room. A slotted top would be a deal breaker for me.
YMMV

 

[peberly400]

I thought the slotted top was for when you dump your media out, its almost like a pre separator?

 

[bluewraith]

I thought the slotted top was for when you dump your media out, its almost like a pre separator?

https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo...4951-got_bored_built_a_2_media_seperator.html
This, and a 5 gallon bucket work wonders for me.
I have a small rotary tumbler that will do about 100 .45acp cases at a time. 2 hours in corn cob media from Meijer (pet lizard bedding) and they are clean enough for me.

When I started out I deprimed all my brass by hand with a hammer and screwdriver... I highly suggest not bothering with that as the press is MUCH faster and easier. Just tumble your brass and get it all clean and ready to deprime/resize once you get the rest of your supplies. You can clean the primer pocket with a flat blade screwdriver once you get it deprimed, but a primer pocket cleaner is only $4-5 at the most.