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 Reloader recomendations 
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Old Growth wrote:
Breck wrote:
Some critical tools/equipment on my bench are:

A Lyman case trimmer
A Lyman Case Prep Center Express
An RCBS Swaging Die
A Lee Universal Decapping Die
A good set of calipers is a must
A good beam scale
A quality electronic scale. I have one that weighs to the 0.01 of a grain.
My Frankford rotary wet tumbler is the bee's knees.



Whats the swaging die do? Do I need one for each caliber?

What about a decapping die? Its purpose? Since you said universal, Im going to assume it works for more than one caliber?


You only need a swaging tool if you are going to reload miltary brass. (usually just 5.56 and 7.62 NATO). Most military brass has the primer crimped in. The swager removes the crimp so that you can seat a new primer.

The decapping die removes the old primer without sizing. If you have a wet tumbler, popping out the old primer allows your tumbling media to clean the primer pocket. By wet tumbling your brass before sizing, the wet tumbler cleans the inside of your cases and is much easier on your resizing dies. The Universal decapping die works with pretty much every caliber.


Sat Dec 31, 2016 1:24 am
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A good reloading manual should be at the top of your list. Reading and understanding it will help clarify a lot of the things you have questions about, and possibly prevent you from making dangerous mistakes, especially if you intend on jumping straight into progressive reloading.
Case prep is a critical part of the reloading process, and requires a whole host of tools to do right.
Again, a good reloading manual will spell a lot of this out.


Sat Dec 31, 2016 5:18 am
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There will be no single consensus.

Frankly you need both. I would start with the Lee Classic cast and a totally separate single grubby press ($30) for decapping*. Use this stuff in the manual mode until you get it down pat. I won't say "confident", never be too confident. Check everything. You KNOW when you will be ready, and yes it will cost more money to buy a progressive, but it's not at all like you will throw out or sell your first press. Just keep it set for .357/.41/.44 Mags or whatever you go revolver with, for example.

*Now the first step in getting the cases ready. I'm pretty anal and use a process that keeps me in the ready to go brass stage 24/7. First and foremost I treat brass prep as a totally stand alone process. I deprime (decap) on a $30 press with a universal decap die. I just go to town on the thing. It's a filthy process that I just don't want near anything involving making "new" ammo. Yes I know, who cares, the inline process works, blah, blah blah......anyway after depriming I use wet tumbling with ss pins (boo hiss :thumbsup2:). My balls, I mean my brass is looking good! Water, lemishine, wash and wax car soap. Rinse well, separate, dry in stacked Walmart food dehydrator, store. When I need to reload, just pull out the correct caliber brass and GO. Easy peasy.

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Sat Dec 31, 2016 6:43 am
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Olympia173 wrote:
A good reloading manual should be at the top of your list. Reading and understanding it will help clarify a lot of the things you have questions about, and possibly prevent you from making dangerous mistakes, especially if you intend on jumping straight into progressive reloading.
Case prep is a critical part of the reloading process, and requires a whole host of tools to do right.
Again, a good reloading manual will spell a lot of this out.


This right here!

I have (I think) about every manual made. Bedtime reading.

Case prep - yep!

And indeed, read read read. Then you will have questions.

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Sat Dec 31, 2016 6:46 am
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Olympia173 wrote:
A good reloading manual should be at the top of your list.


Absolutely. Read the book, surf the web and read, read, read.

I have a Lee universal decapping die and I love it . . . but I only use it for special situations, such as if I'm loading previously-prepped rifle brass and I seat a primer, then mess up the brass. I'll use the universal decapping die to remove the live primer (so I can re-use it), to avoid the hassle of lubing and cleaning the brass so I can run it through a normal sizer/decapper die. It's a $10 investment that I've used many times.

However, all of my normal decapping is done during the sizing process, using a normal sizing die. Pablo's comments about decapping being a dirty process that he keeps away from the rest of his reloading process are interesting. I've never thought that way, and I'd never buy a separate press for it. Even if you DID decide to decap separately, you can still do that in the progressive . . . and remember, a progressive is way faster than a single-stage even for single operations like that, because you put the brass in one side and it will auto-eject the brass after completion. You don't need to keep your left hand busy loading brass, removing brass, loading brass, removing brass, etc.

Flaring a case is generally done when you have a straight (non-boattail) bullet, to give the bullet a way to start into the case without scraping off the edges of the bullet. Generally you flare for pistol and do not for rifle, but there are exceptions. If you flare the case, then after you seat the bullet you want to crimp the case; this removes the flare and in some cases goes even farther, to press the edges of the case into the bullet to hold it tight.

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Sat Dec 31, 2016 6:57 am
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How does a bullet get pressed into a bottleneck rifle shell without xpanding it and not shave off any material?

Also what are the preferred cleaning methods? SS pins? Wet? Tumbling medium?
What's everybody use and why?


Sat Dec 31, 2016 7:06 am
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MadPick wrote:
Pablo's comments about decapping being a dirty process that he keeps away from the rest of his reloading process are interesting. I've never thought that way, and I'd never buy a separate press for it. Even if you DID decide to decap separately, you can still do that in the progressive . . . and remember, a progressive is way faster than a single-stage even for single operations like that, because you put the brass in one side and it will auto-eject the brass after completion. You don't need to keep your left hand busy loading brass, removing brass, loading brass, removing brass, etc.


Not gonna argue with any of that. I will just say brass prep is a totally separate thing for me. It's how I roll. It's important to know as far as the finished round some steps are way way less important than others. Knowing the KEY things is critical.

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Sat Dec 31, 2016 7:06 am
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Since I already have the old Hollywood, I'm going to use
It for any single operations suggested. It's old, stout and very high quality looking.


Sat Dec 31, 2016 7:09 am
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Old Growth wrote:
How does a bullet get pressed into a bottleneck rifle shell without xpanding it and not shave off any material?

Also what are the preferred cleaning methods? SS pins? Wet? Tumbling medium?
What's everybody use and why?


Bullet base is tapered.

Dry v. wet can be a fun "discussion"

http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com/tips/

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... ry=0&page=

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Sat Dec 31, 2016 7:10 am
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Pablo wrote:
I deprime (decap) on a $30 press with a universal decap die. I just go to town on the thing. It's a filthy process that I just don't want near anything involving making "new" ammo. Yes I know, who cares, the inline process works, blah, blah blah......anyway after depriming I use wet tumbling with ss pins (boo hiss :thumbsup2:). My balls, I mean my brass is looking good! Water, lemishine, wash and wax car soap. Rinse well, separate, dry in stacked Walmart food dehydrator, store. When I need to reload, just pull out the correct caliber brass and GO. Easy peasy.



I deprime everything first as well only I use a Frankford Arsenal hand depriming tool. It captures the spent primer and crud in a removable container and unlike de-priming with a press I get a good feel for pieces of brass that have worn out primer pockets. I can sit and watch TV with three bowl's in my lap. One filled with fired brass, one with de-primed brass that's OK and one that has the rejects.

SS Pin media with Lemi-shine and Dawn detergent take care of the cleaning process and for drying? I just anneal. Dries the case instantly and by annealing after every firing I get fantastic case life (other than over-sized primer pockets from hot loads). Annealing also assures that bullet release will be uniform when fired which leads to some great accuracy.

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Sat Dec 31, 2016 7:28 am
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deadshot2 wrote:

SS Pin media with Lemi-shine and Dawn detergent take care of the cleaning process and for drying? I just anneal. Dries the case instantly and by annealing after every firing I get fantastic case life (other than over-sized primer pockets from hot loads). Annealing also assures that bullet release will be uniform when fired which leads to some great accuracy.


You anneal you pistol ammo?

What oven do you use?

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Sat Dec 31, 2016 7:47 am
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So I got the Hornady Progressive AP LNL on Amazon for under $400. Shipping time is a little slow (1-2 months) but Im in no hurry and Im kinda cheap so I liked the price.


Sat Dec 31, 2016 7:57 pm
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Old Growth wrote:
So I got the Hornady Progressive AP LNL on Amazon for under $400. Shipping time is a little slow (1-2 months) but Im in no hurry and Im kinda cheap so I liked the price.


Good deal. thumbsup

You'll appreciate the extra month or two to keep reading and figure out the basics.

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Sat Dec 31, 2016 8:01 pm
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Old Growth wrote:
So I got the Hornady Progressive AP LNL on Amazon for under $400. Shipping time is a little slow (1-2 months) but Im in no hurry and Im kinda cheap so I liked the price.

Congrats and Welcome to the Red runner club!

Stock up on the die bushings, get more than you need, buy them in the 10packs. Also buy a pack of the Case retainer springs

Soon enough you will get to this point...
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it's too plastic, even for me.
it's like old, overworked, plastic everywhere old pornwhore amounts of plastic.


Sat Dec 31, 2016 8:15 pm
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De-primer:
http://www.cabelas.com/product/FRANKFOR ... 6CQ_st%3Db

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Sat Dec 31, 2016 8:41 pm
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