How far do you guys go....

[Farlsincharge]

Just trying to get a feel for the community and see how many are doing what. I know the options aren't perfect, just pick the one you feel best pertains to you.

 

[Cummins4x4]

I picked option 4 but I also debur the flash hole on the first prep

 

[notsorichguy]

#4 for me too..... I only trim when nessisary tho. I don't generally reload for "match" accuracy, just higher performance at a cheaper price than I can buy.... so I generally only trim once they go beyond max length.....

 

[Budweiser2]

#4 for me also. I trim when necessary.

Straight Shooting

Budweiser2

 

[Rod B]

Another advocate of #4.

 

[Onagoth]

#4 here,

 

[Ishootguns]

pistol or rifle?

 

[CyaN1de]

Tumble,Resize,Trim,clean pocket,uniform flash hole,weigh,neck turn

Depending on what people are doing with their brass (hunting or competing), the amount of prep will vary.

 

[BigUglyMan]

#7 first time minus the "Tumble" option. After that it's #1 plus clean primer pocket and check length.

 

[beltfed]

tumble, re-size, trim, load

 

[maynard]

Cleaning primer pockets is a waste of time.

 

[curtmg]

Depends, if the tumbler and trimmer are at Timberwolfe's, then I guess I skip them. Right now they are here, so I picked #4. I usually have enough brass to last the times when it's his turn with the stuff.

 

[todbartell]

Tumble, resize, trim and sometimes weight sort. Almost never clean a primer pocket and rarely take the flash hole deburring tool to them, only when its half blocked

 

[stevebc]

Money spent on a tumbler could be better spent on components, imo. It would be nice to have shiny brass, but it's not necessary, as long as you're careful about it's condition.
Which is a fancy way of saying that I can't afford a tumbler...

 

[glang1]

Money spent on a tumbler could be better spent on components, imo. It would be nice to have shiny brass, but it's not necessary, as long as you're careful about it's condition.
Which is a fancy way of saying that I can't afford a tumbler...

I'll have to disagree on this point. IMHO money spent on a tumbler is money well spent. I realize there are other manual labor intensive ways to clean brass, but the tumbler does a good job. Dirty brass can scratch your sizing die, or worst your rifle's chamber.

 

[wapitiwhacker]

No tumbler, but because I don't load huge numbers in a session. I go over all the brass with a piece of scotchbrite, to get it cleaned up. Inspecting the brass as I clean it.

 

[6gm6]

Pistol and plinking loads for rifle: Tumble, resize
Hunting rifle loads Corncob tumble, resize, trim, walnut tumble.

 

[Boomer]

I've pretty much quit tumbling rifle brass now that I have an ultrasonic cleaner. All of my brass has the primer pockets uniformed and the flash holes deburred before I load new brass, or when I pick up once fired brass at the range. I use the primer pocket uniformer to clean the primer pockets after each firing.

When I pick up range brass, I will attempt to trim below the factory crimp provided this does not shorten the neck beyond the limit of my Giraud trimmer. I screwed up one cutter when I wasn't watching close enough and it hit the die. I've found trimming away the factory crimp not to be a problem with .270 or .30/06 brass, but some .308 brass seems to have a pretty short neck out of the box.

For the last while I've been annealing my bottle neck cases after each firing and it has resulted in no detriment, so I may continue to do so. Work hardened necks result in a wider extreme spread in velocity. When I load match brass I start to pay attention to case weight, concentricity, neck uniformity, I take care to bump the shoulder back a minimum amount and so on, but precision loading makes up a small percentage of the rounds I load annually.

 

[DFarmer]

I picked # 4 but I rarely clean the primer pockets.

 

[blacksmithden]

Tumble, resize/necksize, trim, chamfer/debur the case neck. I have 2 primer pocket cleaners that I used to use but eliminated the process because it never made any difference in my groups. I shot long range, but with the rifles I've got, I couldn't call myself a super-duper precision shooter. Still get 3/4" groups with my $329.00 Steven mod 200 and my home cast bullets though