Down the rabbit hole for a beginner

[longrange1]

Some folks go to great lengths to get that shiny brass, its all about bling

I use once fired milspec brass so thats dull and grimy from the get go. I use walnut media with the CV750 along with a polish additive that I got from CH4D. After 2,000 pieces of brass the walnut media is toast.

If you use wet thumbling, that will strip clean the brass including the carbon from the case neck. So if you seating a bullet, just apply mica/dry neck lube to the case neck prior to bullet seating. If you don't then you will screw-up the bullet's copper jacket. BTDT

if you or someone you know is screwing up jackets its from to much neck tension or tumbling to long...ive been stainless tumbling for about 5yrs now i run .003 neck tension and have no issues what so ever.

i tumble with yellow ajax a 1/4 teaspoon of lemi shine in cold water for 90mins and my brass has a light brown tint in the neck and case after tumbling.

[tonyjr]

Buying the best is fine , but it is like buying a 300,000 car and not knowing how to drive . Start with a single stage or if you are that picky , a Lee hand loader .
Whatever you get , plan on hours setting up and messing up a few parts .
Like someone said - down time will really upset you .
What ever you get , buy a spare parts kit with it .
When I get a new caliber , I buy at least 2 sets of dies [ 3 if all I can find a the 2 die sets ]
From your post , you are in Monterey county - try to buy locally - where someone can say " this is wrong / broke and show you . "
It is worth driving to see someone use a press you are getting , even a single stage . Being able to ask why or how .
When I bought my loadmaster , I was back at store 4 or 5 saturdays in a row . [ That is when the Lee factory guy was there - I don't think they do that any more . ]
I would also go to a couple of gun shows and talk to people buying powder / primers / cases .
If you have M T cases , go to the range and talk to people picking up brass .

[OpenSightsOnly]

if you or someone you know is screwing up jackets its from to much neck tension or tumbling to long...ive been stainless tumbling for about 5yrs now i run .003 neck tension and have no issues what so ever.

i tumble with yellow ajax a 1/4 teaspoon of lemi shine in cold water for 90mins and my brass has a light brown tint in the neck and case after tumbling.

I bought a batch of processed brass (wet tumbled, sized, trimmed, etc) years ago when I first started reloading. That brass was clean and shiny from the case neck to the primer pocket.

I don't buy processed brass anymore as I process them myself. The only pre-processing I would allow is dry tumbling and de-priming if they do just that.

[longrange1]

I bought a batch of processed brass (wet tumbled, sized, trimmed, etc) years ago when I first started reloading. That brass was clean and shiny from the case neck to the primer pocket.

I don't buy processed brass anymore as I process them myself. The only pre-processing I would allow is dry tumbling and de-priming if they do just that.

yeah that sounds like tumbled to long and necks sized to small.
i bought some processed 300wm brass during the great drought that was the same way you describe...i had to resize all the necks before i could load it.

[Kwikvette]

You have asked numerous times who makes the best press and dies. That is like asking who makes the best truck. You will get 5 opinions from 5 people which leave you more confused.

Didn't ask multiple times; others mentioned it to cover the main differences between one set and another. Some offer features that I won't be able to utilize until I know the heck I'm doing and even then it'll be awhile.

We already covered the "best car/truck" analogy earlier, you're skipping posts

But I do appreciate your input earlier. I value all the experience shared here.

[longrange1]

Fresh outta the SSTer...



Dried...it's more of a brown tint...



And everyone loves bling...




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[tonyjr]

longrange1
What is the name of your tumbler ?
What are you using as a media and if just water / soap - how long ?
Is it easy to rinse off brass ?
Sometimes it takes me an hour just to rinse and remove pins [ F A tumbler ]
The other night it was so bad , I ordered a RCBS Case / Media Separator .
I normally use the vibrator , but it was busy .
FYI - the vibrator , tumbler and sonic are all on a harbor freight power strip with Xmas tree timers set at 2 hours .
I have been thinking about throw lube in the water without pins to try and remove a step . But was wondering if rising removes all the lube .

[longrange1]

Tony this is the kit i bought...

http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com/stm-complete-package.html

The separator works very well to remove the pins from the cases but for me it's just as easy to rinse the cases in the drum and pull the cases out by hand and shake the pins out and rinse again as I'm pulling them out.

I've tried just about every combo with the mix you can think of...different soaps,water temps,tumble times ect and this is what works best out of everything I've tried....


100-150 308 family size cases...
1 teaspoon Yellow Ajax dish soap
1/4 teaspoon lemi shine
Cold water about 1/4" below top of drum
Tumble for 90 minutes

If your tumbling less brass just adjust the mix a little...50 cases I use half the above soap and lemi shine same amount of water and same tumble time...I've tumbled up to 200 cases with the mix above and they came out nice.

Easy way to know if your mix is off is if you have a lot of foam when done tumbling your using to much soap...if your brass is dull not enough lemi shine or very dirty pins...if you get discolored spots it's to much lemi shine...if your brass is shinny inside your tumbling to long.

My primer pockets are not all the way clean but then I've tumbled for 3.5hrs before and there was still carbon in the edges of the pockets...besides I hit them with a primer pocket uniforming tool every 2nd wash...and like I said I've had this tumbler about 5yrs now and it runs at least 3 times a month and no issues.


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[tonyjr]

longrange1
Thanks - I bookmarked them . Never heard of them
Next week I am going to Mexico and if house / and ranch are O K I'll have money when I get back . I have a FA tumbler now , a FA vibrator couple HF tumbler [ little ones ] and a couple of sonic's .
I have a total of 8 others that reload here and at times everything is in use .
Right now I only cut keys for church , relatives and neighbors - so key cutting station will be gone soon after I get back .

[tonyjr]

longrange1
I ordered lemi shine - shipping is high , but I should be on their list now .
Thanks again

[NYT]

Just an update;

I've got the Co-Ax single stage press in my cart (for 2 days now) but waiting until tomorrow to see if I can get a discount/coupon via phone from Midway.

I'm undecided on dies at the moment, but if I don't get the dies I'll add a few other items to the cart IE brass, projectiles, trimmer, etc.

I have a ton of brass sitting aside in a cardboard box and I may go as far as cleaning it all up on the side before I finish buying everything I need.

i just bought a co-ax from cabelas using my svm cards:

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Forst...ess/741213.uts.

$280 plus active junky 10%

[Kwikvette]

i just bought a co-ax from cabelas using my svm cards:

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Forst...ess/741213.uts.

$280 plus active junky 10%

Well, that does it.

Ordering the press and dispenser. Btw that promo code doesn't work?

[Bigedski]

Dude pass on the single stage press, go directly to a progressive.
What is your time worth, with a progressive you will save lots of time and have lots of ammo.

[RestrictedColt]

My first cleaner was a Harbor Freight double drum rock tumbler, they also have a single drum. It's quieter than the couple vibratories and the much larger Frankford Aresenal tumbler I later bought for doing bigger batches. Ultrasonic is even quieter but from my research they seem to only work really well with commercial cleaning fluids. You could put a barrier around the rock tumbler and quiet it down some more.

With the Frankford Arsenal pins and just dish soap & water I have cases done within an hour or less most of the time, a dash of lemi shine gets them gleaming like jewelry. Getting the insides of cases clean requires pins, or some other media, and the higher the ratio of pins to brass the faster it happens. I've done small batches of .338 cases in about 30 minutes using lots of pins with 30ish cases.

As for the progressive vs. single; despite all the warnings not to I went straight to a progressive, a Hornady LNL AP. One can 'single stage' a progressive but can't go the other way around. If you're absolutely positive you'll never care to do fast easy volume then go single. One thing against progressives, other than the obvious cost & size, is that you'll likely have to tinker with it where a single stage is about as complicated as a hammer. I love being able to make ammo in less time than it takes to load into mags.

[NYT]

Well, that does it.

Ordering the press and dispenser. Btw that promo code doesn't work?

no promo code, go here:

https://www.activejunky.com

sign up for an account and get 10% cash back.

svm cards here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/100-Cabelas-Gift-Card-For-Only-82-FREE-Mail-Delivery-/292217465536?epid=695070428&hash=item440984aac0:g:sOMAAOSwEzxYRtS6