Reloading Pro Tips

[shooting4life]

A couple of pro tips I have learned recently that I thought could be very helpful to others.

To keep the dust down when cleaning brass, poor a table spoon or so of paint thinner into the media.

To make picking up primers easier I used a razor blade to turn the two flap pick up mouth to floor flaps. I used to hate picking up primers, now it is super fast and easy.

To reduce static electricity in your powder measurer use while the inside down with a dryer sheet before reloading.

What are your reloading Pro Tips?

[Divernhunter]

Pieces of dryer sheet in the brass tumbler reduces dust and dirt. It also extends the life of the media.
I have a RCBS Rockcucker for sizing but use a RCBS Jr press to seat bullets as I get more feel.
Use a handprimer for seating your primers. You can sort out the loose or overly tight one to use to fun ammo. Your groups will also shrink.
Do not drink while reloading or before starting.
Move your powder measure away from your press or at least run some throws of the handle into a cup before starting to charge more brass. The action of the press will cause the powder to settle and give some inaccurate throws if you do not.

[EL_NinO619]

Work OT so you can afford it.

['ol shooter]

A tip I learned is to start the bullet, back off, then resume. They go in a lot straighter, especially in bottleneck cases.

[uhlan1]

Pieces of dryer sheet in the brass tumbler reduces dust and dirt. It also extends the life of the media.
I have a RCBS Rockcucker for sizing but use a RCBS Jr press to seat bullets as I get more feel.
Use a handprimer for seating your primers. You can sort out the loose or overly tight one to use to fun ammo. Your groups will also shrink.
Do not drink while reloading or before starting.
Move your powder measure away from your press or at least run some throws of the handle into a cup before starting to charge more brass. The action of the press will cause the powder to settle and give some inaccurate throws if you do not.

What! No drinking? Dang! What about meth? Heroin? LSD?
You, Mr Divernhunter, are a bummer-drag on my trip.

[knucklehead0202]

I reload rifle stuff on a single-stage. i'll throw 50pcs of brass into the block, drop powder for all 50, then start seating bullets. bear in mind I'm using a lyman 1200dps powder thrower and my press is on the same, very small desk so I don't want to disrupt things. I shut the lyman off before seating bullets so I don't piss it off. they're very sensitive. I do drink when reloading, just not a lot, and when you measure every charge, really a non-issue. i'm talkin a couple beers, not a bottle of Jim Beam here people. bought my Dad the Hornady lock 'n load auto powder dispenser for his birthday and I want to try it out to see if it's better than my lyman. the RCBS totally looks like a turd and from I understand, is. I have no designs on a turret or progressive, as I only load 50 or 100 rds any given time. if you shoot high-volume, that's a different story. my reloading tip would be, if it's worth it, do it, if you're not willing to put forth the effort, just go buy ammo. it's a lot more work than it seems initially, and there's still things I wish I had, but it's a very rewarding experience, especially when your reloads shoot well.

[Whiterabbit]

to combat dust, I run the tumbler just before emptying it with the lid off and the shopvac running, holding the hose over the top. Sucks the dust out. It's not captured, it's GONE.

Speed is about ergonomics. Moving the bullet box or the loading tray from one side of the press to the other, or four inches forward makes all the difference in the rate to complete a task.

Biggest pro tip is what works for one person doesn't always work for me. And MORE importantly, what someone on calguns vehemently says something is wrong or doesn't work, it probably just doesn't work for them and might work for me. And does, sometimes.

Second biggest pro tip is to keep in mind that not every variance is 1 to 1 with respect to results downrange. Sometimes small variance yields big changes in downrage results. Sometimes LARGE variance at the loading bench result in little or no change in downrange performance. By striving to find loads that are "robust", then I can tolerate variance in neck length, charge weight, OAL, and more than is generally accepted on calguns and still get bullets to clover or even stack.

[DelDanko]

When about to reload a lot of ammo on a single stage press, invite friends over before hand.

[Chief-7700]

Have 1K of primers in tubes before starting.
If you think that something is wrong clear off the entire shell plate.
10 powder drops before starting and remove the decapping pin.
Let lubed brass dry before dumping them into the casefeeder.
Run the casefeeder on low speed.
Using blue painters tape, post powder type, grains of powder and powder measure setting on the powder measure at eye level. ( 231 4.8 PM=10)

[ShadowX]

Verify the primer tubes have the pin before you flip it around...

[Chief-7700]

Clean the bullet lube out of the crimp die.
Adjust your dies with a full shell plate.
Mark die lock rings with a Sharpie.

[Kodemonkey]

Verify the primer tubes have the pin before you flip it around...

LOL. Did that for the first time yesterday.

[Bug Splat]

Never have cold sweating drinks around your components.

I had to pull the bullets of 500 pistol rounds because the cup I was drinking from was dripping into my cases while in the case blocks. I had the cup across the bench and every time I picked it up to take a drink I passed over the loading blocks and it dripped in some of the sized and primed cases I had waiting to fill with powder. Only a handful of cases had water damaged powder but it took 2 squibs at the range for me to stop shooting and go home to investigate the problem. I had no idea why the powder was clumped up and it took a week before it dawned on me what I had done. It was a 2am "HOLY S**T, I know what happened" moment. I had to throw away all the powder from the pulled rounds and the primers too. Was a big waste of time and money and could have been very dangerous had I taken a guest shooting and he/she shot a round after the squib.

[jj805]

Never have cold sweating drinks around your components.

I had to pull the bullets of 500 pistol rounds because the cup I was drinking from was dripping into my cases while in the case blocks. I had the cup across the bench and every time I picked it up to take a drink I passed over the loading blocks and it dripped in some of the sized and primed cases I had waiting to fill with powder. Only a handful of cases had water damaged powder but it took 2 squibs at the range for me to stop shooting and go home to investigate the problem. I had no idea why the powder was clumped up and it took a week before it dawned on me what I had done. It was a 2am "HOLY S**T, I know what happened" moment. I had to throw away all the powder from the pulled rounds and the primers too. Was a big waste of time and money and could have been very dangerous had I taken a guest shooting and he/she shot a round after the squib.

I would have never thought of that. Thanks.

[waho]

Just out of curiosity why did you have to throw the primers away?