What do i need to start prepping brass?

[damndave]

I have tons of brass that I saved from shooting.

Don't have the garage space right now to start reloading, but want to prep the brass for when I do.

What would I need to get this show on the road?

[Jonathan Doe]

Which caliber are you planning to load? Rifle and handgun brass prep may be a little different. As matter of fact, I don't do anything on handgun brass. For rifle brass, I do: tumble, resize, trim, chamfer inside and outside of the case mouth, uniform primer pocket and deburr the flash hole. Obviously, if you use the same brass over, then you can skip several steps.

[damndave]

For now, it's going to be 223 and 308. 45acp in the future. Is 9mm or 40 s&w worth reloading?

[joelogic]

Prepping is nearly the same as loading. The only thing you can't do with a press is tumble. It depends on volume and type of brass for which route to go. I prepped 1k pieces of .308 LC on a rock chucker and then bought a XL650 the next day. Just hold off until you are ready to reload or send it out. Worth it? Again it depends on volume but to load fmj 9mm costs $.13 and factory ammo is ~$.023. So you tell me.

[Low-Pressure]

start with this

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=217655

then this

http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/43930-1.html

then buy the press and die sets you need when your ready to reload

[Linus]

Just like Joe says, prepping requires the same tools as reloading. So if you don't have the "space" to reload you won't have the space to prep. Your going to have to resize before you prep the brass, which requires a press, dies, tumbler & trimmer. Basically, all of the tools you need to reload will be used in prepping brass. My best advice would be to purchase a reloading manual and understand the full process of reloading, the steps and tools required.

[Gio]

Prepping is nearly the same as loading. The only thing you can't do with a press is tumble. It depends on volume and type of brass for which route to go. I prepped 1k pieces of .308 LC on a rock chucker and then bought a XL650 the next day. Just hold off until you are ready to reload or send it out. Worth it? Again it depends on volume but to load fmj 9mm costs $.13 and factory ammo is ~$.023. So you tell me.

+1 To me it was not worth prepping my brass so I sent mine to joe Now I have 2.5K left of brass that I should be able to get 4-5 reloads before trimming again. By then I will have gotten a Giraurd Trimmer and Dillon Super Swager. Around $400 or so before shipping for both if bought new, but you will be able to prep brass like a mad man!

I reload 9mm for 11 cents compared to .23-.35 for factory 9mm which means I get to shoot 2-3 times as much Key is buying in bulk, some folks cannot and will pay more but still less than buying factory.

-Gio

[base64]

I use carbide dies and a Lee hand-press to prep brass on my couch while I watch tv. Not the fastest way but fast enough and easy to do just about anywhere.

I'll also prime pistol brass with a Lee auto-prime in my living room.. not sure how safe this is but I DO wear safety glasses when working with primers just to be safe.

Some recent posts on portable benches will likely convince me to upgrade to a real press and keep it in a closet.

[FieldsofFire]

For now, it's going to be 223 and 308. 45acp in the future. Is 9mm or 40 s&w worth reloading?

Yeah, 9mm and .40S&W are worth reloading, to me anyway. I can load a box of 9mm under half the price of what Walmart sells factory for and the most important part, it's always available when I want it as long as I have the supplies and an hour to spend on the press; which will churn out 300+ completed rounds if I work at a leisurely pace.

Pistol cases are easy. Just tumble them or use another method to clean the cases off, give them a look-over before using them to see if they are cracked or starting to come apart, and then they are ready to hit the press. If you are going to use brass that has bulges in it like what comes out of a Glock .40S&W factory barrel, more work may be required to fully resize it to get that bulge out.

[earchivist]

I just pulled out a bunch of .44 Mag cases I've had sitting in the garage for the last 20 years. They were pretty grungy. A lot of cases had some oxidation, so I picked up a couple bottles of "Birchwood Casey" Brass Cartridge Case Cleaner. That's a liquid cleaner. I have a little Lee Hand press for my case preperation. So I deprimed the cases first, then did the liquid case cleaner, then into the tumbler. Good luck, and oh my yes reloading 9mm is worth it! If you don't count my labor, 50 rounds of 9mm JHP cost me $8.00.

[randy]

Sell the brass and use the money to cut down the cost of your ammo.

[dbear22]

I reload a lot of .40 for a fraction of what it cost to buy