Loadable Brands

[Gunowner99]

Another stupid question. Do you all leave your media in your vibratory cleaner when done or do you store in a bag or something? I*m using walnut shells.

[frankski]

This is the thread I read it in

https://www.ar15.com/forums/armory/-...age=1#i5464334

Also, I will not touch rifle I promise until I have straight walled under my belt. I promise! Just asking as I see this stuff.

Based on a quick reading of the thread you linked, my main takeaway is some reloaders believe some FC brass isn’t as durable under heavy loads as they might expect. Others express an opposite view. All the more reason to segregate your brass by headstamp and number of times reloaded. Especially when loaded close to max. Which is good practice in any event.

[frankski]

Another stupid question. Do you all leave your media in your vibratory cleaner when done or do you store in a bag or something? I*m using walnut shells.

I don’t think it matters, as long as it doesn’t become contaminated by foreign matter wherever it’s stored between uses. Mine sits in the bucket under the sifter until needed again.

[Delkal]

One trick with the media is to get a 5 gallon bucket and a cheap collar store plastic colander that can fit in the top. The colander should have holes large enough so the media easily passes thru but small enough to hold the cases. When you are done tumbling pour everything out and shake / move around the cases will they are empty. I pour the media back in the tumbler. Even though it is a little more work I always pour the media outside so the dust doesn't go everywhere.

Another trick is to buy some Nu-finish car polish in the orange bottle and add half a cupful every few tumblings. It works as good or better than the commercial polishing compounds and is a fraction of the price.

[cephas]

Another trick.
Used dryer sheets in the media will cut down on dust and help keep the media clean. Cut it into four pieces and place in media.
The used ones will have any coating worked off of them and the fabric will be opened up to catch more dust.
Actually any tuft of paper towel will work but many prefer the dryer sheets.
Discard after use.

[wanneroo]

That said, start with straight wall pistol brass, ideally good old low pressure .38 special. When you feel you’ve mastered sizing, decapping, primer seating, powder measuring, and bullet seating, then move on to rifle.

I think it's a good way to get started to learn and master some basics before moving on to the peculiarities of loading rifle brass. 9mm and 45 ACP are simple as well. I load more 45 ACP than I shoot and buy Speer range brass for fun just to load it because it's so easy to do. Big fat cases, big fat bullets, load recipes are pretty straightforward.

[wanneroo]

This is the thread I read it in

https://www.ar15.com/forums/armory/-...age=1#i5464334

Also, I will not touch rifle I promise until I have straight walled under my belt. I promise! Just asking as I see this stuff.

What I found when I moved from pistol to rifle cases is rifle is much more case prep intensive. And there is a lot of variance within the reloading community in terms of how much case prep each individual reloader will do or wants to do. I've seen some folks with .223/5.56, they clean it and don't give a damn about trimming after resizing or what brand it is or what, they get it on the progressive press and bang it out in bulk. Others separate it all out by brand and do intensive prep on the cases.

Probably the best way to eliminate variables in brass if that is a concern is to buy brand new brass from a reputable manufacturer, which of course these days right now is tough to do with the panic in the marketplace right now. I ran into so many differences in the cut down 223/5.56 cases that was reformed into the 300 Blackout brass, that now for my "go to" 300 Blackout brass I buy brand new Starline cases that are nice and consistent and properly formed in the first place and the other cases are reserved for my "plinker" rounds where max performance and eliminating variables is not as important.

[JenniferG]

Another stupid question. Do you all leave your media in your vibratory cleaner when done or do you store in a bag or something? I*m using walnut shells.

I store my media in a 5 gallon bucket that has a lid for it. The original media I bought year ago came in the bucket. I also have a Midway sifter that fits in the bucket and when I'm done cleaning I dump the contents of the tumbler into the sifter and proceed to shake the media out the cases. When I'm all done tumbling I put the media in the five gallon bucket until I'm ready to tumble cases again. I also use walnut shell media. I buy it at the pet store. It's used for lizard cages and is half the price of buying from gun and reloading suppliers. It's also a little finer than the reloading suppliers. You need to change out the media every so often too because the primer chemical residue when it becomes airborne is a health hazard.

The media will get very dark with the residue after long term usage so keep some fresh media around to compare the color and replace when you think it's time. I normally clean my primer pockets over shop paper towels with a primer pocket cleaner because I ran into some problems seating some primers years ago where the primers were sitting a bit proud instead of slightly below the plane of the case head in the primer pocket. You can feel it with your fingers once you've done multiple cases or you can check it with a straight edge.

Here is the RCBS primer pocket brushes and the Lee Primer pocket cleaning tool. I use both because my hands get tired of using one then I switch to the other tool.



https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcos...eptile-bedding

[abner13]

I buy fine walnut in 25lb bags. Sold in bulk for sandblast cabinets , a 25lb bag costs what a 5lb bag costs when sold as reloading. I store it in 1gal spring water jugs. My Dillon FL-2000 takes about 1-1/2gal to do 1000 pistol or 500 rifle cases.

[Gunowner99]

Based on a quick reading of the thread you linked, my main takeaway is some reloaders believe some FC brass isn*t as durable under heavy loads as they might expect. Others express an opposite view. All the more reason to segregate your brass by headstamp and number of times reloaded. Especially when loaded close to max. Which is good practice in any event.

Well, what do you think about FC brass?