Brass prep: What steps do you feel are a waste of time?

CoadyT said:
I probably shouldnt be posting here as im just starting to get into it. But on the caseprep end of things. Like i said im just starting out and feel its an important step and clean would be first on my list. After reading a bit i went to go pick up a cheap corn cob to start my process. When i was in the store i started talking to a local long range shooter and he was asking what i was after and if he could give some advice. He said that vib cleaning with corn cob is better than ss pins being that pins put little dents inside the case mouth. After hearing that i thought id just try his advice ... After a long vibe it still wasnt real clean so back to the reading. I read about just hot water lemon juice and dawn so i did that. And let me tell you ... Super shiny. You can litterally watch it change in about 5 seconds. So now im sticking with. Tumble ... Decap/prime ... Bath in the water lemon and dawn ... Dry in oven and tumble again with does a respectfull job on the pockets. And a quick tool before the bath would help.

Some SS pins guys might know if tiny dents are showing up inside your case mouth ??
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You do see some very small marks on the case body after SS tumbling, but not sure of the tumbling process causes this or just accentuated what is already there.

Do be careful with oven-drying...too high a temp for too long and you are annealing (softening) the case head and body, which can be dangerous.
 
K-C said:
This is my normal (and anal) routine

1) visual check followed by depriming (and remove pocket crimp if present)
2) 30 to 90 mins wet tumbling (hot water, a dribble of Dawn, 30-50 ml Citric Acid & S/S pins)
3) drain and rinse 3 times with cold water. Spin separate pins from brass.
4) towel dry followed by 30 to 45 mins on cookie tray in a warm oven
5) sparsely spray lube with Liquid Lanolin / Alcohol mix (1:10)
6) F/L resize preferably with SB Die (if I have one for that caliber)
7) trim to length, chamfer case mouth (usually with Lee Quick Trim Dies)
8) 20-30 mins dry tumbler (walnut media) to remove case lube (and shine them up a bit more)
9) check each flash hole for media and then prime cases
10) store in sealed containers with an included checklist until needed

steps 5 through 9 are obviously omitted with pistol brass. My Progressive presses prime the cases after the resizing stage...
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6) F/L resize preferably with SB Die (if I have one for that caliber)
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KC, since I'm just learning reloading, what is an SB die?
Thanks

Also, you guys that step #1 is deprime does that mean with a universal depriming die, so no lube is necessary at this point?
 
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I used to have use of a full ballistics lab and I would run my personal experiments through it. Each test was 20 rounds. Each round was measured for velocity and pressure and a pressure trace was captured. Adter 20 shots we got the Avergaes, high, low, SD and ES.

I once tested brass prep. Uniforming primer pockets made no difference. De burring the flash hole inside the case (Winchester 308 cases) made a noticeable improvement.

Don't ever drill out flash holes. Smaller is better.
 
Ganderite said:
Uniforming primer pockets made no difference. De burring the flash hole inside the case (Winchester 308 cases) made a noticeable improvement. Don't ever drill out flash holes. Smaller is better.
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Do the flash holes act as a kind of jet nozzle that flares out into the powder? So that a neat, small hole would have more efficiency and consistency?
 
Robert Nicholson said:
Do the flash holes act as a kind of jet nozzle that flares out into the powder? So that a neat, small hole would have more efficiency and consistency?
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I get to see some good scientific reports on ballistics. One of them was a test of ammo using different sized flash holes.

The test was prompted because an ammo company switched from Berdan (small flash oles) to Boxer (large flash hole). There were complaints about poorer ES and SD.

So they tested all the variables and discovered it was the larger flash hole that caused the problem. They found a straight inverse relationship to SD and flash hole size.

I don't recall if the report had a technical explanation of "why"? I just made a note of the facts.
 
every batch of new brass gets neck sized, primer pocket uniformed and flash holes deburred. trim for uniform lenth then inside and outside neck chamfering. for reloading the pocket gets cleaned, check lenth and clean only when dirty in an ultrasonic cleaner . I don't care about shiny brass. I don't aneal as the primer pockets loosen up before the necks crack. this is for hunting rifles.
 
Ganderite said:
I get to see some good scientific reports on ballistics. One of them was a test of ammo using different sized flash holes.

The test was prompted because an ammo company switched from Berdan (small flash oles) to Boxer (large flash hole). There were complaints about poorer ES and SD.

So they tested all the variables and discovered it was the larger flash hole that caused the problem. They found a straight inverse relationship to SD and flash hole size.

I don't recall if the report had a technical explanation of "why"? I just made a note of the facts.
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Ganderite, you are a wealth of info. Keep it up.
 
FirearmsEnthusiast said:
Do be careful with oven-drying...too high a temp for too long and you are annealing (softening) the case head and body, which can be dangerous.
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Just going to add a little more clarity to this; while heat migration in brass is rather fast, one would have to heat at about 500F for a very long time (an hour or more) to reach the annealing point. You'd have to get your oven as high as it could go and then go have a nap to exceed that point, I would think. Long past the point of simply drying.

Rooster
 
TonyMo said:
KC, since I'm just learning reloading, what is an SB die?
Thanks

Also, you guys that step #1 is deprime does that mean with a universal depriming die, so no lube is necessary at this point?
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Sorry Tony, SB stands for Small Base. That type of die would commonly be used to resize cases for use in a semi-auto or full auto firearm to aid in reliable feeding into the chamber.
Look at some of the posts from bigedp51, particularly with references to "a rat turd in a violin case" - this is one of them:
https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/1533681-Neck-sizing-bump-sizing-or-FL-Sizing-what-is-everyone-doing?p=13568596&viewfull=1#post13568596

Secondly, yes I use a Lee Universal Depriming Die initially.

Remember that I'm not necessarily correct in the way that I process my cases but I am ANAL ;) I also argue with myself regularly and always win that arguement...
 
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Ganderite said:
I used to have use of a full ballistics lab and I would run my personal experiments through it. Each test was 20 rounds. Each round was measured for velocity and pressure and a pressure trace was captured. Adter 20 shots we got the Avergaes, high, low, SD and ES.

I once tested brass prep. Uniforming primer pockets made no difference. De burring the flash hole inside the case (Winchester 308 cases) made a noticeable improvement.

Don't ever drill out flash holes. Smaller is better.
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I was hoping people had done some semi formal would share their results. I don't have the time, money, or shooting skills to find out exactly which steps help and which don't.

Thanks for the information!
 
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