Minor reloading questions.

[thunderbolt]

For my birthday I bought myself an RCBS reloader kit and all the stuff to prep and reload my calibers and so far its been great but I have some small questions and the search isn't helping so please bear with me.

I'm tumbling my brass with walnut media and finishing it off with corncob for that high sheen but I'm getting tired of picking corn out of my flash holes. Admittedly I'm decapping the brass before I tumble it because I thought maybe it'd get the primer pocket clean but even without decapping first I'm picking it out of my shells. Is this just an evil of corncob? I do love that shine.

I've worked up a couple batches so far and had really good success so far but now I'm wondering how hot I can push the loads. I started out with a medium load slightly below the middle between minimum and maximum but I've read how even max loads have been neutered in recent publishings. Should I leave well enough alone or push for that extra 100 FPS?

Lastly I have too much brass. (Maybe that's not true, as I get further along in reloading I sometimes worry I might not have enough.) Anyway I have a lot, mostly .223 and .45 ACP and had this brilliant idea of prepping it and offering it up for my fellow calgunners to help offset the cost of my new reloading addiction. How much could matched headstamp, cleaned/polished, and full resized brass go for? I don't wanna trim them after resizing because OAL of cases can be a personal issue.

Thanks for all the help in getting into reloading. Between CGN and youtube I don't understand why everyone isn't doing this.

[rsrocket1]

1. Keep the primers in and try adding some NuFinish car polish to the walnut media. Pour a small ribbon of polish around the media with the tumbler on and no shells inside. Let it run for a few minutes to let it spread around, then add the shells and cut up used dryer sheet to eliminate the dust. No need for any additional polishing and you will knock out any walnut pieces as you deprime.

2. You ought to be loading for accuracy and not outright muzzle velocity. What good is that extra 100fps if it erodes your barrel that much faster, risks a kaboom, and spits bullets all over the broad side of a barn?

3. Take a look at the classifieds for what others are selling cases for. Also look on other forums' classified ads. Too little and although folks will jump on it, you may regret not charging enough. Then again if you sell just a little less than what others are chargind, you'll move the stuff quickly. Too much and no one will touch it and it will sit there gathering dust.

[freonr22]

they make different sizes of corn cob... the stuff at petsmart is too large. also for lube, try imperial sizing wax=excellent. for trimming.. really hard to beat possumhollow in a drill or drill press for a cost of $30... ymmv

[Bill Steele]

Welcome to the addiction.

For my birthday I bought myself an RCBS reloader kit and all the stuff to prep and reload my calibers and so far its been great but I have some small questions and the search isn't helping so please bear with me.

I'm tumbling my brass with walnut media and finishing it off with corncob for that high sheen but I'm getting tired of picking corn out of my flash holes. Admittedly I'm decapping the brass before I tumble it because I thought maybe it'd get the primer pocket clean but even without decapping first I'm picking it out of my shells. Is this just an evil of corncob? I do love that shine.

I've worked up a couple batches so far and had really good success so far but now I'm wondering how hot I can push the loads. I started out with a medium load slightly below the middle between minimum and maximum but I've read how even max loads have been neutered in recent publishings. Should I leave well enough alone or push for that extra 100 FPS?

Lastly I have too much brass. (Maybe that's not true, as I get further along in reloading I sometimes worry I might not have enough.) Anyway I have a lot, mostly .223 and .45 ACP and had this brilliant idea of prepping it and offering it up for my fellow calgunners to help offset the cost of my new reloading addiction. How much could matched headstamp, cleaned/polished, and full resized brass go for? I don't wanna trim them after resizing because OAL of cases can be a personal issue.

Thanks for all the help in getting into reloading. Between CGN and youtube I don't understand why everyone isn't doing this.

You got an excellent product for your first press kit.

I use walnut exclusively. If you put a little liquid polish into the media and run them a little longer (up to 10 hours for really tarnished brass), walnut alone will give you really shiney brass.

I read all the time about how the published data is lawyer induced overly safe side data. I disagree with this conclusion. Some published max loads I have used are overly conservative, many are not. Learning which is which must be a slow and careful process. Noob's to reloading should never go over published max loads and should only work up to those max loads slowly and cautiously.

As far as selling excess brass, the classified section of Calguns is a great place to do just that. Gunbroker is the place to look for competitive pricing for once fired brass.

Good luck and have fun!

[Briancnelson]

Quite a few of those max loads are really close to max safe loads. Especially in certain calibers.

Others are much lower.

In general, I've noticed from talking to other reloaders that the higher pressure caliber cartridges, such as 9mm and .40 are much closer to real max loads in the books than some of the lower pressure ones.

Personally, my reloads punch nice big, accurate holes in paper, ballistic gel, and whatever else I shoot them at, without ever having to worry about exceeding max loads. Unless you are some sort of cutting edge competitive shooter, I'd just leave it at the published loads.

[SixPointEight]

New reloader. Stick with published data. You need to REALLY know what you're doing and looking for before "venturing into the unknown"

[Sonnypie]

Ditto to the above.
What you should focus on is a good pet load that is accurate in your firearm.
Once you find those magic numbers, the search is over.

As for cobs in your corn hole, I reload in my shop (aka: Garage).
I do a lot out there and amongst other things I have compressed air piped around. So I blow off my brass after I have tumbled and racked it in my batch blocks.
Cleans it rat up.
I prefer to have the media polish up my flash holes.

I just re-did a bunch of unfired FA34 National Match ammo that had corrosive primers in them. (Around 1500 rounds, last of the case.)
Among my steps was to ream the primer pockets. Once the brass was run through the sizing/decapping die and reamed and chamfered in the necks, I tumbled it to deburr and finish polish it up.
Came out beautiful and ready to hand down to my inheritor.

Dad inherited this 30-06 ammo from a friend and we had done some of it over the years. I decided to get the rest done in case it is needed soon.

So add a compressor to your reloadin bench so you can "dust off" your polished brass.

I just ordered 300 bullets for my Pet Load for my high power rifle.
Reloadin is half the fun of shootin.

PS: Your "Pet Load" won't be max loads. it will be worked up from minimum loads to find the best tack driving accuracy your pop-stick can deliver.

[rdmmdr]

If you are going to sell processed brass go stainless, Much quicker then walnut, much quieter and media never wears out. Plus you get cleaner brass.

[mif_slim]

New reloader. Stick with published data. You need to REALLY know what you're doing and looking for before "venturing into the unknown"

FALSE!! You can custom load all you want!




















just do it within published data.

[Sonnypie]

If you are going to sell processed brass go stainless, Much quicker then walnut, much quieter and media never wears out. Plus you get cleaner brass.

If you were to go this way (I'd love to but I'm too old to recover the costs), there is an unlimited supply of pure water in your sinks RO water filter system.
No spots, my lady.

[thunderbolt]

I don't know if I have that much brass that I could justify that kind of ... um commitment. Unless of course I become that guy that hovers around your table and snags your brass out of the air. Maybe in a year or two when I upgrade to a progressive press I'll kick in for SS.

As for hot loads, I loaded my first batches at 45% and 55% above min loads. I think I'll see what 75% gets me in the next batch. Should be OK.

BTW, anyone have anything bad to say about Berry's Bullets? Just found a box of 55gr FMJ-BT 500 count on sale for $39.99. Might be a good plinkin slug.

[freonr22]

I don't know if I have that much brass that I could justify that kind of ... um commitment. Unless of course I become that guy that hovers around your table and snags your brass out of the air. Maybe in a year or two when I upgrade to a progressive press I'll kick in for SS.

As for hot loads I loading at 45% and 55% above min loads I think I'll see what 75% gets me in the next batch should be OK.

BTW, anyone have anything bad to say about Berry's Bullets? Just found a box of 55gr FMJ-BT 500 count on sale for $39.99. Might be a good plinkin slug.

PLEASE STOP!!

[Fyathyrio]

BTW, anyone have anything bad to say about Berry's Bullets? Just found a box of 55gr FMJ-BT 500 count on sale for $39.99. Might be a good plinkin slug.

They work great for my .45 and the wife's .357. Can't recall reading a bad word about 'em on here either. I run both at mid jacketed powder levels with great accuracy and no barrel or brass issues.

[ojisan]

As for hot loads, I loaded my first batches at 45% and 55% above min loads. I think I'll see what 75% gets me in the next batch. Should be OK.
.

Unless we are completely misunderstanding you, DO NOT DO THIS!

Depending on the cartridge and powder, if you are doing this and exceeding the max published loads, you are near a KABOOM already.

[thunderbolt]

Ok I see where many of you are misunderstanding me. It's my fault I was writing too fast and didn't intend to include that snipit. What I did is my book calls for between 22.8 gr (min)and 26.4 gr (max) of Varget powder. What I mean by 45% and 55% is the difference between the two. So my first load was at 24.4 grs and the next batch was loaded with 24.8 grs. A 75% load would be 25.5 grs which is below the max load and corresponds with a velocity of 3100 fps about 100 fps more then the loads I had previously run. If I'm doing this wrong please tell me. I don't want to blow up my rifle.