Marathon decapping session pains.

[TomReloaded]

Decapping a pistol case isn't just an extra step. It's like doing the same step twice, arbitrarily, for no reason.

I've bucket washed thousands of cases all at once, all with primers in. I can't imagine decapping them first and doing the whole first step twice!

I'm sort of shocked only a couple of us are scratching our heads about this. It's a major waste of time for no benefit. There is literally no reason to do that at all.

I've found powders and loads that leave the brass shiny and clean after firing. I went a step further and eliminated any brass cleaning at all. I know people freak out about that one, but going waaay further and decapping a pistol case to wet tumble just seems like insanity.

It ends up not being just a few extra steps. It ends up being an unreasonable task. I'm bulk loading on a single stage press. Cranking out 200-300 rounds the night before a range trip is no big deal, but im not doubling up steps, or double washing. Instead of a couple casual hours of work, that ends up an endless cycle of prep with no finished product.

[SixPointEight]

Decapping a pistol case isn't just an extra step. It's like doing the same step twice, arbitrarily, for no reason.

I've bucket washed thousands of cases all at once, all with primers in. I can't imagine decapping them first and doing the whole first step twice!

I'm sort of shocked only a couple of us are scratching our heads about this. It's a major waste of time for no benefit. There is literally no reason to do that at all.

I've found powders and loads that leave the brass shiny and clean after firing. I went a step further and eliminated any brass cleaning at all. I know people freak out about that one, but going waaay further and decapping a pistol case to wet tumble just seems like insanity.

It ends up not being just a few extra steps. It ends up being an unreasonable task. I'm bulk loading on a single stage press. Cranking out 200-300 rounds the night before a range trip is no big deal, but im not doubling up steps, or double washing. Instead of a couple casual hours of work, that ends up an endless cycle of prep with no finished product.

If you're using traditional dry media, I totally agree. Dry media won't clean primer pockets, and will just get stuck in the flash holes.

People who go with stainless media usually do so because they want shiny "perfect", better than factory brass. Part of that is letting the stainless media clean the primer pockets. Another advantage is that you don't have primer cups with burned compound holding in water when you try to dry the cases. That's the reason.

As for doing the same step twice, it's really not. You use a universal decapper, and have deprimed, unsized brass. You run that through the stainless media. Personally I leave a Lee C-press setup with a universal decapping die, and use it to decap all kinds of brass so that I can have stuff ready to go into the stainless tumbler. After tumbled, brass goes into buckets, and when I want to load, I go scoop some clean brass from the buckets. When reloading, you do the sizing step. Did I add a step? Yes. Did I do the same step twice? No because I don't want to run dirt through my sizing die.

Some people aim to minimize step and efficiency. IE, you skip cleaning and chose powders that allow you to do that. Others value other things. Perhaps the most accurate load, or the softest shooting powder. Soft shooting loads will often produce more soot and dirt, requiring us to clean cases. But reloading is a hobby and a process. OP wants to do it a certain way (with mirror-bright, perfectly shiny cases). The couple people who are scratching their heads, are just crapping on the OPs way of doing things because it doesn't align with their own personal methodologies.

But if you want to talk about wasting time and doing things twice, you're loading on a single stage. Every second the OP "wastes" decapping and wet tumbling, he will more than make up on his Dillon progressive loader. So while you feel he's doing the same step twice, you're literally doing the same step and pulling the handle 3-4x per round, he's pulling the handle about once per round. So while you knock out 200-300 rounds in a night, he'll be able to crank out 800-1000 an hour (if he really wants to, most people load at 400-600 per hour as a comfortable pace)

[TomReloaded]

I'm not sure if it's about methodology anymore. I've been seeing it more and more, and it seems that people believe these steps (shiny brass and spotless primer pockets) are in some way necessary to reloading. People who are getting started start factoring in very lengthy, time consuming, and expensive procedures that are completely unnecessary, especially to someone just gearing up.

Even the OP's post seemed unpleasant at best. It's supposed to be fun, and it definitely can be easier!

I was doing a quick wash and heated dry, and I stopped because even with a slow poke SS press, I could be done loading my whole batch before I could finish cleaning a load of brass. It's not for everyone and I'm not trying to sell my way, I'm just not sure if decapping on a separate stage actually meets people's expected results.

In short, pistol case primer pockets don't need cleaning. I don't think new reloaders should be lead to the impression that it's a necessary step. If you want to do it, great, just know you don't have to.

[Sapperforward]

I've had an absolute blast starting this process. My original post was basically me explaining that I jumped in feet first and way overworked myself in the process. I had to learn my limits. I'm still learning them. I had no idea I could even overwork myself doing such an easy thing.

I've been simplifying my process as I learn.

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[Bigedski]

You should be sizing and decapping in the same die.

[SixPointEight]

I'm not sure if it's about methodology anymore. I've been seeing it more and more, and it seems that people believe these steps (shiny brass and spotless primer pockets) are in some way necessary to reloading. People who are getting started start factoring in very lengthy, time consuming, and expensive procedures that are completely unnecessary, especially to someone just gearing up.

Even the OP's post seemed unpleasant at best. It's supposed to be fun, and it definitely can be easier!

I was doing a quick wash and heated dry, and I stopped because even with a slow poke SS press, I could be done loading my whole batch before I could finish cleaning a load of brass. It's not for everyone and I'm not trying to sell my way, I'm just not sure if decapping on a separate stage actually meets people's expected results.

In short, pistol case primer pockets don't need cleaning. I don't think new reloaders should be lead to the impression that it's a necessary step. If you want to do it, great, just know you don't have to.

Absolutely right! Before I was born, they used to wipe brass on a rag (before they had tumblers). Half of what I do in my reloading process isn't necessary, but I'm "booty-blind" by all the bling!

You COULD be sizing and decapping in the same die.

Fixed it for you. He is using a universal decapping die, which will not do the resizing for him. He will resize on his 650 in the resizing die, which has the capability of decapping, but he can remove the stem if he wants since that's already been done

[wbunning]

If you're using traditional dry media, I totally agree. Dry media won't clean primer pockets, and will just get stuck in the flash holes.

People who go with stainless media usually do so because they want shiny "perfect", better than factory brass. Part of that is letting the stainless media clean the primer pockets. Another advantage is that you don't have primer cups with burned compound holding in water when you try to dry the cases. That's the reason.

As for doing the same step twice, it's really not. You use a universal decapper, and have deprimed, unsized brass. You run that through the stainless media. Personally I leave a Lee C-press setup with a universal decapping die, and use it to decap all kinds of brass so that I can have stuff ready to go into the stainless tumbler. After tumbled, brass goes into buckets, and when I want to load, I go scoop some clean brass from the buckets. When reloading, you do the sizing step. Did I add a step? Yes. Did I do the same step twice? No because I don't want to run dirt through my sizing die.

Some people aim to minimize step and efficiency. IE, you skip cleaning and chose powders that allow you to do that. Others value other things. Perhaps the most accurate load, or the softest shooting powder. Soft shooting loads will often produce more soot and dirt, requiring us to clean cases. But reloading is a hobby and a process. OP wants to do it a certain way (with mirror-bright, perfectly shiny cases). The couple people who are scratching their heads, are just crapping on the OPs way of doing things because it doesn't align with their own personal methodologies.

But if you want to talk about wasting time and doing things twice, you're loading on a single stage. Every second the OP "wastes" decapping and wet tumbling, he will more than make up on his Dillon progressive loader. So while you feel he's doing the same step twice, you're literally doing the same step and pulling the handle 3-4x per round, he's pulling the handle about once per round. So while you knock out 200-300 rounds in a night, he'll be able to crank out 800-1000 an hour (if he really wants to, most people load at 400-600 per hour as a comfortable pace)

^^ This is pretty much my M.O. I like my cases cleaned before I handle them again. Using a S/S only, one touches the cases 8-10 more times before the cartridge is complete. With dirty brass, that's a lot of residue getting on my fingers so gloves become a good idea, and I hate them. The first time I saw all the mud come out of my wet tumbler, I was sold. I want all that crap off my cases before I handle them again. And, I LIKE my pockets clean. So there.

[NorCalFocus]

I've had an absolute blast starting this process. My original post was basically me explaining that I jumped in feet first and way overworked myself in the process. I had to learn my limits. I'm still learning them. I had no idea I could even overwork myself doing such an easy thing.

I've been simplifying my process as I learn.

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What you'll find as you continue forward is the steps that take the longest or are the biggest pain for you. Then you'll find that there are tools out there to make those steps easier or faster. You're not changing your steps, you're just finding better ways of doing them.

For me the biggest pain was trimming. Well it was more the chamfer and deburring. My trimmer was fine so I added a Hornady Trio. Now my complete trimming process is powered. Next is my priming setup.

[1bulletBarney]

For OP or others new to reloading...

I keep things simple for my 9mm and 45ACP plinking reloads...

1-Scrounge and save all the brass I can hoard...

2-Dry tumble brass...

3-Decap/resize on a Lee Breech lock SS press. I go in 45 minute to 1 hour sessions until I am done. I am in no hurry...

/note/ I stopped cleaning primmer pockets as this was a dirty, time consuming process that had no effect on the finished product...

4-I sort brass by case head for common brands, there is a bin for "mixed" brass. This way I weed out those pesky 45ACP small primer pocket brass that I find. Sorting brass is a extra step but this is what I do...

5-I hand prime off the press...

/note/ All brass prep and hand priming is done in bulk...

6-I do powder charges in 100 round blocks with a RCBS Uniflow as a separate step off the press. I verify a charge every 15th drop and visually check the 100 charged cases that sit in the reloading trays. It is hard to screw up and double charge or miss charging a case doing things this way...

7-I flare, seat and taper crimp on a LCT press. Caliber changes are simple...

My first eventual rifle round to reload will be 30-30 Winchester, that will introduce me to the case trimming aspect of necked rifle brass prep...

The learning curve was much easier starting out with a SS press. I could not imagine starting out reloading jumping into a progressive press out the gate. I know the trade off is quanity, I don't need to load 600 rounds in 1 hour. I am happy with the simple and efficient process that works for me...

[pacrat]

I'm also an old timey single stay guy.

OP, are you "Short Stroking" the handle for depriming? A lot less movement and things go very fast. Move the ram just far enough to pop the primer, then lower it just enough to comfortably clear the die for removal and reinsertion of next case. I do the same short stroke technique for "sizing" short pistol cases.

Personally, I don't pre-deprime cases before tumbling. I could care less if there is a little crud in the pocket of pistol cases.

[Sapperforward]

I'm also an old timey single stay guy.

OP, are you "Short Stroking" the handle for depriming? A lot less movement and things go very fast. Move the ram just far enough to pop the primer, then lower it just enough to comfortably clear the die for removal and reinsertion of next case. I do the same short stroke technique for "sizing" short pistol cases.

Personally, I don't pre-deprime cases before tumbling. I could care less if there is a little crud in the pocket of pistol cases.

I figured out short stroking after some spent primers got caught in the chute and limited movement to exactly how far I needed to throw the lever and knock out spent primers. Rather than clear it I left it for a few pulls to see how well it would work. I cleared the jam and have used that method since.

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