Slowly but surely....

[Reserve161]

Well, I got a Lee 50th Anniversary Press kit for my birthday back in January.
Yesterday and today I finally got it set up and hopefully ready for business.

So far, I de-capped a .45 case, then put the same primer back in. Good learning
experience.

I have all the components except powder, so I am still on hold.

Some questions, though, in these early stages.

1. I've purchased and used some green corn cob media for cleaning. How long or
how many batches of casings should I use the media for?

2. Any preferences on media? Crushed walnut or corn cob?

3. What do you do with the media when it is expired?

4. Is it wrong to de-cap and prime a bunch of shells then store them in boxes
until I get powder to finish the job? Or will the primers collect moisture and go
bad?

Thanks in advance. As you may tell, I'm excited about getting into this reloading
hobby.

To begin with, I will be doing .45acp only for my RIA 5" Match pistol. I also have a
3.5" RIA commander size that will get some of the rounds run through it.

Someday, I may graduate to 7.62 x 54R for my Mosin Nagant and also 9mm or whatever
my wife picks when she buys a weapon.

Thanks!
Bryan

[Don2]

Well, I got a Lee 50th Anniversary Press kit for my birthday back in January.
Yesterday and today I finally got it set up and hopefully ready for business.

So far, I de-capped a .45 case, then put the same primer back in. Good learning
experience. When I started, I did that too, and made up dummy loads for a while so I could get used to the operations before I started loading live rounds. I think its great way to start...PLUS read,read,read everything you can get your hands on FIRST and UNDERSTAND it before you start.

I have all the components except powder, so I am still on hold.

Some questions, though, in these early stages.

1. I've purchased and used some green corn cob media for cleaning. How long or
how many batches of casings should I use the media for?
Myself, I like the plain media without the powdered polishing media added. It will have a green or red dust all over everything. The one I used once was red.
I use plain walnut media with a little Nu-Finish added to it. It will clean and polish very well. You'll find out that a lot of people use Nu-Finish instead of the Lyman or RCBS colored media.
You should get many thousands of pieces of brass cleaned with new media before it starts not doing a very good job. Use used drier sheets cut up in quarters or halfs to trap media dust in bowl, then throw away. Remember, that dust has "Bad Stuff" in it so treat it accordingly.

2. Any preferences on media? Crushed walnut or corn cob?
See above

3. What do you do with the media when it is expired?
I just dump it in a bag and put in trash. I'm sure someone will say I'm dead wrong..But it's not as bad as most stuff in the trash?????

4. Is it wrong to de-cap and prime a bunch of shells then store them in boxes
until I get powder to finish the job? Or will the primers collect moisture and go
bad?
I have done this many times, you can buy NEW brass already primed too that comes in a plastic bag. So its no big deal unless you live in a dark cold and wet cave.
Thanks in advance. As you may tell, I'm excited about getting into this reloading
hobby.

I have been loving it for many years, I still get a thrill when making a new batch of ammo.
It's my hobby, not my job.

To begin with, I will be doing .45acp only for my RIA 5" Match pistol. I also have a
3.5" RIA commander size that will get some of the rounds run through it.

Someday, I may graduate to 7.62 x 54R for my Mosin Nagant and also 9mm or whatever
my wife picks when she buys a weapon.

Thanks!
Bryan

Don2

[Jumping Frog]

Well, I started to answer, but then realized I agreed with everything Don had taken the time to type. So he saved me a lot of work!

BTW, notice that primers are not sold in hermetically sealed packages. They are just inside cardboard and exposed to the atmosphere during the entire supply chain. They are more durable than you think.

Now I've got a thousand or so new .40 bullets to go to the shop and size/lube instead of browsing forums.

[Don2]

Well, I started to answer, but then realized I agreed with everything Don had taken the time to type. So he saved me a lot of work!

BTW, notice that primers are not sold in hermetically sealed packages. They are just inside cardboard and exposed to the atmosphere during the entire supply chain. They are more durable than you think.

Now I've got a thousand or so new .40 bullets to go to the shop and size/lube instead of browsing forums.

You know, I just thought about what you said...I use to spend way too much time on reloading forums until I dropped them to about only 3 of them.
I have a bunch of brass to load too, but between family stuff and life, I just have not made the time YET.
I really need to load my plinking 38sp swc loads, I'm running dangerously low.
I've got everything ready including my 158gn swc's I casted a while back.

Ya, I was going to mention what you said about primers coming in open edge box's, I know someone would take up the slack I missed

Also not to mention I have about 1500 38 special brass primmed in large plastic jugs waiting on me..

Have fun Reserve161 getting set up and loading your first ammo, it's a good feeling shooting ammo you rolled yourself

Don2

[Reserve161]

Thank you both, Don and Bob, for your answers!
I certainly plan on having fun with this, but also want to approach it as safely as
can be.

I'm sure I will have more questions as I go, and this forum is a wonderful resource!

Thanks again!
Bryan

[Don2]

Thank you both, Don and Bob, for your answers!
I certainly plan on having fun with this, but also want to approach it as safely as
can be.

I'm sure I will have more questions as I go, and this forum is a wonderful resource!

Thanks again!
Bryan

Well Bryan, you said the magic word...SAFETY
I liked the way you said you were going to make some dummy rounds too. You can practice by depriming the brass, cleaning it or just removing any grit so it does not scratch the inside of your sizer die.
Then reprime the old primer, seat a bullet, and check the OAL. finally seeing how it functions in your pistol. ( It won't fire )

Like I said I did that a bunch of times when I started, plus you can practice setting up the dies correctly by their instructions or you can even look on youtube, there are a lot of good videos there. I like a guy called AmmoSmith there.

I think you said you bought a kit? Make sure you have a good scale to weigh your powder with.
Calipers for checking OAL etc....but also put some time into reading reloading manuals. Lymans is a very good one to have.

Have fun and be safe. ( Don't forget to wear safety glasses when priming and through the loading process. )

Don

[mr surveyor]

well over half of my brass is always sitting back waiting for powder and boolits. As soon as I have enough dirties to mess with I'll deprime/resize and flair the case mouth, and dump them into the ultrasonic cleaner. When the majority of the gunk is off (outside and inside), and the primer pockets are squeaky clean, I dump them out on an old towell to air dry. Then, in a night or two when I decide to take the time, I prime them and put them into 50 round boxes for the future. I can break up my reloading sessions into very short segments of time that way, and always have primed, ready to load brass on hand for that new load or new boolit I want to try out. Besides, storing a substantial number of primers in those well fitted holes in the brass just seems to make sense


surv

[Justinbhutto]

i like to tumble just before reloading so thir nice and shiny. i would wait to prime until I was ready, but i have a progressive press; do do whats best for you. I don't see any disadvantage to priming ahead of time, except you shouldt tumble the primed cases.

[rotor]

It sounds like we are all in the same boat. I too got one of the Lee 50th setups. I also bought a stainless steel tumbler. What I do is deprime using the lee universal deprimer, tumble in the stainless steel jobby, pack away the clean and deprimed cases and I have the pistol primers, need powder yet but its on order, and need bullets which are really hard to find. Eventually will be able to churn out loaded cartridges. I really like the stainless steel tumblers. Amazing job and nothing to throw away. Lots of fun and slow learning process. Much money invested so far.

[Jumping Frog]

As soon as I have enough dirties to mess with I'll deprime/resize and flair the case mouth, and dump them into the ultrasonic cleaner. When the majority of the gunk is off (outside and inside), and the primer pockets are squeaky clean,

I would not recommend size/deprime and flaring dirty cases. You'll scratch your dies over time. One of the reasons we clean cases is so we protect the dies.

[mr surveyor]

my brass is pretty clean before it goes through the (carbide) dies. If it has any appreciable residue on the outside, it goes into the u/s cleaner first, although it' rarely needs it since my brass rarely touches the ground. The only bottom feeder brass I load is .45 acp, and that brass definately does get a sufficient washing before it sees the dies, then it still gets another cleaning after depriming ... I prefer clean primer pockets, especially in brass I intend to get a dozen or so uses from.

[Don2]

Any metallurgists out there?
Just wondering if there are grades of carbide that are softer than others ?
I'm sure there are, I'm just not an expert.

Reason I ask is, I read a few times where handloaders said they had scratched their carbide sizers some how, now they were getting streaks/scratches on their brass?
Don't really know if its true, but sounds possible in inexpensive carbide items. (Like some carbide sizer dies )

Just a friendly question to someone who knows.

I'm not trying to take over the original post, just going with the flow.
Don

[Don2]

Only ammo I load where I bother cleaning primers pockets is when I'm experimenting with some rifle loads - handgun, I doubt I've ever cleaned a single one in 3 1/2 decades of reloading.

Your right about the primer pockets.
Although most of the pockets come out very clean for the most part from my commercial tumbler I happen to get at a great price.( Thanks to a good buddy )

Even with my old rcbs tumbler with walnut media and nu-finish, they came out great.

I did clean all the primer pockets when I started, but then found it was a big waste of time especially for plinking rounds, some types of ammo I still clean.

3.5 decades hu? Wow...I have only half that time in reloading, but it feels like forever because its fun. I started when we moved to the country and a neighbor and his friend set me up in my shop. They were both in the Military long ago and has been loading ever since...I was glad to have such good teachers...!!

Don