The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Reloading => Topic started by: MikeBjerum on July 31, 2017, 01:29:46 PM
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From time to time I hear what others are saying at shoots. Yesterday I picked up on comments about inspection. One top shooter was advising someone using his guns and ammunition that it is important to inspect every round for proper primer depth and case condition as they load the firearm, and several others talked about the issues caused when they get someone else's brass after a stage and jamming their press.
These are not items I am concerned about, because I inspect and sort as I go.
The following are the basics of my reloading process - What are yours?
1. Sitting in the recliner with pails - one of spent cases and hulls, and several for the different calibers and gauges and one for junk, I sort and give light inspection;
2. Brass goes into the vibratory cleaner;
2-a. Hulls are wiped clean and inspected;
3. Following cleaning ALL brass is inspected for cracks, excessive bulging, incomplete cleaning, and double check on caliber;
4. Brass and hulls are counted and packaged for storage;
At the beginning of actual reloading session:
1. Proper caliber set is installed and adjusted (if not already set up);
2. Proper powder is verified or added;
3. Powder drop(s) are checked for proper amount(s);
3-a. Proper shot drop is verified;
4. Primer is checked to assure proper primers are in place;
5. Bullets are selected and in place;
5-a. Proper wads are in place;
6. First few rounds are measured and checked for all seating and crimping, and for all measurements. I also test fire;
7. At given points several rounds are measured and checked (I do at 100, when I am adding primers). This check often includes a test fire.
8. Final inspection of each cartridge or shell as it is packaged.
Because I use small catch containers, and I don't empty them until final inspection, I have what would be considered a "lot." If I find a seating, crimping, bulging or other issue, I have only a small number to look into to catch all of the affected.
Some call me anal, and some do not. Some think I waste a lot of time, and some do not. However, I do not believe that my methods take any more time than any other person that looks for the quality and reliability that I do - I just do it all in one cycle rather than through the entire shooting process.
Because of my process, my reloads are as, or better, than factory in terms of reliability, and I have no issues while reloading or shooting.
Share your process. Express your opinions. Rip me apart.* Let's discuss and learn!
* If you rip me apart, be sure and share your process so I can rip you back ;)
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Sounds reasonable to me. He who does not reload that has the stuff to do it but not the time.
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Sounds good Mike. I only reload pistol ammo and I have a Lee Turret press, so it's 4 handle pulls per round. At that speed I can check my brass. Starting a new run I get set up and measure a few rounds. I only do 50-150 rounds in a setting, then leave it all there. When I go back, I weigh the first couple of rounds again.
Like you I have little or no trouble shooting. I once had a squib in 357 where I had skipped the powder charge in my very early days of reloading. The bullet was stuck between the chamber and barrel. I had to tap it back into the casing to free up the gun. After that I have never missed or doubled a charge.
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For 9mm only,
Put only the sizer/decapper die in the LnL progressive.
Run 1,100 brass. Other than the obvious, don't really "check" them at this point.
Then I put them, 50 at a time, in a chamber check block. Weed out splits and bulged ones.
Put the rest of the dies in the press.
Load up the primer tubes (4 of them plus the feeder tube in the press)
Fill the powder hopper. Run it 10 times, then measure/set the amount of powder throw.
Start loading away. 100 at a time, then stop, recheck powder, refill primers.
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Since I don't reload, I am wondering how often you find your powder measurement "drifts" off setting. I understand it will always be wise to verify the powder setting has not changed regardless of whether it ever has or not. But, I am curious.
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Since I don't reload, I am wondering how often you find your powder measurement "drifts" off setting. I understand it will always be wise to verify the powder setting has not changed regardless of whether it ever has or not. But, I am curious.
Temperature, humidity, vibration, weight of powder in column are all things that contribute to drift.
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Temperature, humidity, vibration, weight of powder in column are all things that contribute to drift.
I have my presses in the lower level (4' in the ground) of the house, and we run dehumidifier all the time, so the climate doesn't change much. However, I do find that variations in powder levels in the drop and speed of cycle can make a big difference. I have found that the best way to maintain consistency is to cycle the press slowly, and to keep the powder drop about 1/2 full (fill to 2/3 and don't go below 1/3).
One of the best moves I made to maintain consistent powder drops was stabilizing the bench. My bench is a five foot Craftsman metal workbench with wood top. I attached a 2x4 across the back, and I screwed it into every stud behind it. I then stack all possible bullets along the back edge of the bench top. There is no shake, shudder, or vibration with any of the presses.
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Alf, Good point on the size check. I have been doing so much cowboy loading that I forgot to mention that. For the semi-autos I size check every cartridge as I inspect.
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I gain so much more accuracy when reloading versus not. I found it is always good to go back to the basics and I'm constantly looking for ways to improve reloading. I included one of the resources I use to just fine tune my ammo.
https://www.pewpewtactical.com/ammo-reloading/ (https://www.pewpewtactical.com/ammo-reloading/)
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That's not a bad website.
By the way, welcome to the forum.
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I load only 9mm, use the same propellant charge, and change only the projectiles (loaded to the same OAL)... I shoot 124 JHPs for practice in the carry G43, and 135 polymer coated lead for the competition PCC and G34... my loader has a case feeder, and the brass is not inspected going into the hopper, but has been cleaned... I stand, and under a light watch the new case as it enters the loading cycle, primarily for stepped brass that can separate easily in the blow back PCC, and nested cases or .380s are pretty easy to catch... the final eye glance is to the bullet seating station just prior to placing the bullet , which is checked to make sure powder has been added, and a secondary check for stepped brass... I store loaded cartridges in ziploc bags and turn them over a couple of times to look for loose propellant signifying a missing primer...I inspect the primers for problems when I load the magazines.... a final inspection when I use the clear polymer ETS mags for the PCC... a quick glance to make sure I see primers in the stick
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My Process starts of like others.
1) Come home from the range dump the bras bag into a 5 Gallon bucket to be sortied later.
2) Sort the brass by size into other 5 gallon buckets by size (dirty)
3) Place brass into tumbler with walnut media until clean often overnight
4) Remove from media
5) Again sort and count
6) Deprime and recase (100 round plastic boxes)
7) Trim cases and ream primer pockets (223/5.56)
8) Prime and recase
I separate Deprime and reprime in separate steps because of the way my press deprimes sending spent primers flying all over the floor. Then when repriming the less than 10 percent fall out of the holder and I got tired of trying to identify which 1 good primer fell in with the 200 spent primers that missed the collection bucket.
9 Weigh empty case
10 Install powder
11 Weigh case with powder (subtract to determine powder throw)
12 Install and crimp bullet
13 Weigh complete subtract from with power to monitor bullet weight and watch of over charge
14 Measure overall length (first 5 assuming no adjustments and then every fifth)
Other than step 14 this process is 100%.
on the last 5 steps I have been only able to hit a 50 rounds an hour pace batching the last steps in sets of 10 on a turret press with auto index turned off. A lot is driven by the fact that the charge weight is often off and there is a rework loop for steps 10 and 11. I have switched power measures and still have the issue.
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Right now I'm only loading for CAS, I'm loading on a Dillon650 and my procedure is when I get back from a match,I dump the brass into the cleaner,which is plugged into a timer that runs it for a 90 minutes a day, when I find time I dump the brass into a bucket and separate by head stamp, I use Starline exclusively for the rifle, R-P or Winchester for the pistols.After separating the brass I put it in the Styrofoam trays inspecting them for cracks. When I'm ready to load I put the brass into the tube, check the primer level and start pulling the handle. I can fit 18 in the tube at a time and will top off before the last piece is dropped off. When I'm done with that 50 rounds I place then back into the trays, checking for any mistakes and put a label on the box with the date and load data.Doing it this way has lowered the number of bad rounds/ squibs to almost zero. I told my son I want a cartridge feeder for Christmas this year. ;D ;D