We'll after much talk and deliberation I've decided to enter into the world of reloading.
I will be documenting my experience in a number of Journal Entries that hopefully will someday help a total newbie like myself. I will post local up to date pricing to not only monitor my own budget but also provide a cost template for those starting out... I'll also post all my f'ups so you seasoned boys can have a good laugh at my expence
It's been an interesting couple of months, reading all I can on here, other sites and my minty fresh copy of Lyman's 49th Edition Reloading Manual.
I've pinched pennies, shopped around and even fought tooth and nail at a rural gunshow for the now elusive small pistol primers.
To date I've put together the following:
5000-6000 9mm cases Free: range floor specials - thank you AMA
1900 SP Primers (Magtech and Winchester) 75.00 Ouch thank you Obama
1lb of Winchester 231 - 29.00
Lyman 1200 Pro Tumbler - 100.00
Lyman 49th Edition Reloading Manual 30.00
Nu Finish Polish - 8.00 - Canadian Tire
3lbs of Corn Cob Media - Petstore 7.00
P-100 Series 100rd 9mm Case Guard 6.00 - Gunshow
Solid Bench sized table Free - Thank you neighbor
Assorted Tupperware to house components - Free (don't tell my wife)
Tumbling:
Over the weekend while watching Cops on TV and polishing off a 6-pack I managed to sort about 2000 cases... thats 333.3 cases per beer I suggest new reloaders stick to this pace.
I decided to tumble 350 Winchester headstamped cases as I seemed to have alot of these and Winchester Powder is what I'll be charging them with. Of the 350 about 20-30 hit the "Bad Brass" bag which I will return to AMA's scrap brass bucket.
I tumbled them in approx 1lb of corn cob media with 1.5 cap fulls' of Nu Finish Polish for approx 3 hours... I came up with these specs by watching Youtube and searching suggested tumbling recipies on CGN...
I am happy with the results (considering many of these were heavily tarnished having spent a few days on the outdoor range ground)
I will be sorting through them again now that they are polished to remove any bad apples that missed my first inspection.
Here's a picture:
1) Note how much carbon and lead residue is on the bowl after just one tumble... this is why I highly suggest (thanks Sean for the tip) to WEAR GLOVES AND A MASK throughout this process... lead poisoning can turn your swimmers into sinkers and nobody wants that.
2) Discoloration of the media apparent... I did my best to combat this by using cut up USED dryer sheets which supposedly helps keep your media clean... unfortunately I cheaped out and bought dollar store dryer sheets and they fell apart more than anything... Bounty - you just made the pick list.
Today's Lesson:
Picking cat hair out of media spilled all over the floor sucks real bad... Autoflow is looking more and more appealing...
Hope you've enjoyed my first entry stay tuned for more!
I will be documenting my experience in a number of Journal Entries that hopefully will someday help a total newbie like myself. I will post local up to date pricing to not only monitor my own budget but also provide a cost template for those starting out... I'll also post all my f'ups so you seasoned boys can have a good laugh at my expence
It's been an interesting couple of months, reading all I can on here, other sites and my minty fresh copy of Lyman's 49th Edition Reloading Manual.
I've pinched pennies, shopped around and even fought tooth and nail at a rural gunshow for the now elusive small pistol primers.
To date I've put together the following:
5000-6000 9mm cases Free: range floor specials - thank you AMA
1900 SP Primers (Magtech and Winchester) 75.00 Ouch thank you Obama
1lb of Winchester 231 - 29.00
Lyman 1200 Pro Tumbler - 100.00
Lyman 49th Edition Reloading Manual 30.00
Nu Finish Polish - 8.00 - Canadian Tire
3lbs of Corn Cob Media - Petstore 7.00
P-100 Series 100rd 9mm Case Guard 6.00 - Gunshow
Solid Bench sized table Free - Thank you neighbor
Assorted Tupperware to house components - Free (don't tell my wife)
Tumbling:
Over the weekend while watching Cops on TV and polishing off a 6-pack I managed to sort about 2000 cases... thats 333.3 cases per beer I suggest new reloaders stick to this pace.
I decided to tumble 350 Winchester headstamped cases as I seemed to have alot of these and Winchester Powder is what I'll be charging them with. Of the 350 about 20-30 hit the "Bad Brass" bag which I will return to AMA's scrap brass bucket.
I tumbled them in approx 1lb of corn cob media with 1.5 cap fulls' of Nu Finish Polish for approx 3 hours... I came up with these specs by watching Youtube and searching suggested tumbling recipies on CGN...
I am happy with the results (considering many of these were heavily tarnished having spent a few days on the outdoor range ground)
I will be sorting through them again now that they are polished to remove any bad apples that missed my first inspection.
Here's a picture:
1) Note how much carbon and lead residue is on the bowl after just one tumble... this is why I highly suggest (thanks Sean for the tip) to WEAR GLOVES AND A MASK throughout this process... lead poisoning can turn your swimmers into sinkers and nobody wants that.
2) Discoloration of the media apparent... I did my best to combat this by using cut up USED dryer sheets which supposedly helps keep your media clean... unfortunately I cheaped out and bought dollar store dryer sheets and they fell apart more than anything... Bounty - you just made the pick list.
Today's Lesson:
Picking cat hair out of media spilled all over the floor sucks real bad... Autoflow is looking more and more appealing...
Hope you've enjoyed my first entry stay tuned for more!
