What did you do in the reloading room recently?

84ta406 said:
What do you shoot out of the DW? I've always been worried about leading my barrel etc. So I shoot XTPs and Sierra bullets out of mine that I find cheap but I need some alternatives besides full house magnum loads.
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Well aside from some jacketed Speer bullets that I got for cheap, I use Zero 240 gr JSPs which can be had for about 13.7 cents each shipped. I still have a bunch of 180 gr XTP loads which I shoot on occasion as the blast is nuts [laugh]

I only use jacketed for magnums. For light powder puff loads I had been using plated bullets but more recently I stated using some coated cowboy action bullets from Missouri Bullet Co. which work well and are just a hair cheaper than the jacketed Zero bullets. But they don’t require as much powder so...
 
gerrycaruso said:
I'm having a problem with reloads in an AR15. Some rounds don't chamber completly and when I pull the trigger, I get a click instead of a bang. Extraction is very difficult. I'm guessing the sizing die is worn so today I'll try some ammo loaded with a different sizing die. This problem occurs in several rifles and does not occur with factory ammo. If it's not a sizing issue, I'm at a loss.
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Not all chambers, bolts and resizing dies are the same. All those specs are stacked and can get funky. I wouldn't think your die is worn out. Mine has done many, many thousands of crappy range brass. Is the case sticking on the sides or the length or both? Start with the Hornady headspace gauge to see where your chamber is at. I've noticed differences between chambers and resizing dies. You can change the length of your headspace in your reloading die pushing the shoulder back. If you're loading for precision use a dedicated die for that particular rifle so it will be perfect.
 
xtry51 said:
I remember thinking it was amazing to hear people were stocking 10k+ primers when I first started reloading. Then Sandy Hook happened years later and I found out why people stacked so deep.

I primarily only stock CCI400. I use them for rifle and pistol. Simplifies the inventory. I do stock smaller quantities of CCI41s for hotter 77gr loads.
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I remember the first time I bought a case of ammo. I was thinking "welp, that was a lot of money to spend but at least I have all this ammo." [laugh]
 
I found that I tend to shoot a lot more in a range session when my reserves are in between 'fat&happy' and panick mode

@headednorth: same thing here, thought a case would last for years. Quickly lost the new shooter shine.

Before CV crazy I took my son and nephew so the nephew, who just turned 18, could touch a firearm for the first time. Took at least 800 rounds of various center fire and an unopened 525 of 22. Not a lot of center fire came home and only half a box of 22.
Almost a case gone in a morning...
 
I hope this is a good place to post my question instead of making a new thread.

So for you experienced reloader’s, after you remove the primer and clean the primer pocket, do you clean the inside of the shell where the primer ignited?

I ask this since below is how I am cleaning my brass but the inside as I describe above still has what appears to be “dirty”.
Run the brass through a tumbler with some finish (I apologize but I cannot recall the name right now but EC suggested this in his class), a few cut pieces from a used dryer sheet.

Run the shell through the resize and depriming die.

Clean primer pocket with a little Lee primer pocket cleaner.

Once more through the tumbler.

Anything else you folks are doing besides maybe using an ultra sonic cleaner?
 
exojam said:
I hope this is a good place to post my question instead of making a new thread.

So for you experienced reloader’s, after you remove the primer and clean the primer pocket, do you clean the inside of the shell where the primer ignited?

I ask this since below is how I am cleaning my brass but the inside as I describe above still has what appears to be “dirty”.
Run the brass through a tumbler with some finish (I apologize but I cannot recall the name right now but EC suggested this in his class), a few cut pieces from a used dryer sheet.

Run the shell through the resize and depriming die.

Clean primer pocket with a little Lee primer pocket cleaner.

Once more through the tumbler.

Anything else you folks are doing besides maybe using an ultra sonic cleaner?
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What caliber?
I've never cleaned primer pockets, ever. That goes for pistol and rifle. I'm not a PRS shooter who shoots 1000+ yards and wants the best possible accuracy - not sure if cleaning primer pockets increases accuracy?....Someone else like @akma @Mountain @PatMcD @northny @mac1911 might be able to chime in on that.

Pistol brass just gets tumbled clean and onto the press. No primer pocket cleaning.

Rifle brass gets tumbled clean, resized/deprimed, and then tumbled again to remove the lube. No primer pocket cleaning.

For pistol, there's absolutely no reason to have spotless brass inside and out - just clean enough on the outside to prevent damaging your dies. For rifle brass I don't know - depends on what you're shooting? My scoped K31 rifle can shoot half inch groups at 100 yards with brass that has just been tumbled clean with no primer pocket cleaning so I must be doing something right? [laugh] YMMV.
 
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exojam said:
I hope this is a good place to post my question instead of making a new thread.

So for you experienced reloader’s, after you remove the primer and clean the primer pocket, do you clean the inside of the shell where the primer ignited?

I ask this since below is how I am cleaning my brass but the inside as I describe above still has what appears to be “dirty”.
Run the brass through a tumbler with some finish (I apologize but I cannot recall the name right now but EC suggested this in his class), a few cut pieces from a used dryer sheet.

Run the shell through the resize and depriming die.

Clean primer pocket with a little Lee primer pocket cleaner.

Once more through the tumbler.

Anything else you folks are doing besides maybe using an ultra sonic cleaner?
Click to expand...

I use an ultrasonic but all you need to do for 99% of ammo is clean it well enough to not have dirt and grit damage your dies.
 
My question was mainly concerning 9 and 10mm handgun shells.

But I find it interesting that you do not clean the primer pockets Andrew.

I have attached two photos of some 9 that I cleaned. One I have cleaned the primer pocket and the other I have not. You would really put a new primer in a pocket that looks like the uncleaned one?

At least I am glad I do not need to worry about the inside part I was enquiring about.

2E7EC1F5-85C7-47A7-8B29-5608AD9A1375.jpeg E5F57842-4421-4E96-9A30-07031DABD346.jpeg
 
exojam said:
I hope this is a good place to post my question instead of making a new thread.

So for you experienced reloader’s, after you remove the primer and clean the primer pocket, do you clean the inside of the shell where the primer ignited?

I ask this since below is how I am cleaning my brass but the inside as I describe above still has what appears to be “dirty”.
Run the brass through a tumbler with some finish (I apologize but I cannot recall the name right now but EC suggested this in his class), a few cut pieces from a used dryer sheet.

Run the shell through the resize and depriming die.

Clean primer pocket with a little Lee primer pocket cleaner.

Once more through the tumbler.

Anything else you folks are doing besides maybe using an ultra sonic cleaner?
Click to expand...
To be honest, I dont even clean the primer pocket, never mind the inside of the case. Tumble, load, then tumble again when Im done to get the lube off.
 
exojam said:
My question was mainly concerning 9 and 10mm handgun shells.

But I find it interesting that you do not clean the primer pockets Andrew.

I have attached two photos of some 9 that I cleaned. One I have cleaned the primer pocket and the other I have not. You would really put a new primer in a pocket that looks like the uncleaned one?

At least I am glad I do not need to worry about the inside part I was enquiring about.

View attachment 349559View attachment 349560
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They do look dirty but as long as the primers will seat, then yes I would reload those.
 
The only reasons I could see for cleaning a primer pocket would be to insure the new primer sits flush and/or the flash hole isnt blocked with crud but in my experience I dont think Ive ever seen enough dirt inside a pocket to cause either of those issues. Life's too short to clean primer pockets, lol.
 
Thank for the replies concerning the inside of the case.

As for the primer pocket, I just pulled out the manual EC provided when I took his reloading coarse and there is a section (actually a picture) of a Neck Brush and Primer Pocket Cleaner. So I think for the extra few minutes it take to place that Lee pocket cleaner in my drill press running at a lower RPM I think I will continue to clean them just based off of the results I showed in those two pictures.

Maybe it is the OCD in me, well I know it is.

Thanks again guys.
 
exojam said:
Thank for the replies concerning the inside of the case.

As for the primer pocket, I just pulled out the manual EC provided when I took his reloading coarse and there is a section (actually a picture) of a Neck Brush and Primer Pocket Cleaner. So I think for the extra few minutes it take to place that Lee pocket cleaner in my drill press running at a lower RPM I think I will continue to clean them just based off of the results I showed in those two pictures.

Maybe it is the OCD in me, well I know it is.

Thanks again guys.
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Yeah that's definitely an OCD thing [laugh]
You won't have more accurate ammo if you clean the primer pockets. But hey whatever floats your boat.
 
exojam said:
You should see how I clean my LP’s, now that is a major OCD.
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I don't think I'm OCD, but I do use a Nitty Gritty vacuum LP cleaner.

Back to primer pocket cleaning, I like some of the others that responded said do not ever clean primer pockets. I don't even clean my brass if I shoot indoors. This is for rifle and pistol calibers. When loading pistol, I usually size and pop the spent primer, seat a new primer, load powder, seat bullet, crimp if desired. All done on one rotation of the turret press. Thousands of rounds and several different calibers for myself and my SIL and never had an issue.

At some point if you shoot large enough quantities you may realize that cleaning the primer pockets is biting into your reloading output.
 
76Too said:
Anyone ever had their dog eat Hi-Tek powder? I can’t seem to find an MSDS on it.

Asking for a friend...
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For an MSDS you may try some of the bullet manufacturers that use the coating. Another thought is to reach our to J&M Specialized Products in Australia. They created the coating and have a Facebook page.
 

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