Primer pocket cleaning...

[DucatiRon]

How are you 'hanging' your brass to dry? Just hanging it in a mesh bag? I would think that the stuff in the middle of the 'ball' in the bag would take a long time to dry.

Actually my betters half's old nylons I've found to work the best. Allows for a longer collum of brass vs one large ball of brass. Also being near a register vent I've never encountered this problem. Air flow helps alot to accelerate the drying process. Not so much the heat from the vent.

[dk99358]

I've only cleaned the primer pockets when loading rifle rounds. I check the flash hole on everything I load, but don't bother with primer pockets for pistol rounds. As another posted, I've never encountered a problem attributed to this.

This^. And the only reason I check the flash hole is for tumbling media, it's a simple matter to run a small straight blade screwdriver around the pocket while I'm dealing with the media. I tumble after depriming to remove lube, no other reason. Revolver rounds don't get the pockets cleaned because carbide dies require no lube so those cases don't get tumbled.

I don't reload for a semi auto so I don't have a bunch of dirt laden cases to deal with.

Dale

[imp81318]

4 hrs in the wet stainless seems to get the best results. I also use a mild citric acid to polish the brass while wet tumbling. Any longer than 4 the citric acid can lead to premature oxidation of the brass. When working with chemicals it is wise to know the limitations.

As far as drying times it varies. In the summer I've hung stuff outside and it's dry in 2 hrs or so. Brass can get really hot in the sun in a 90deg day. Same if you would use the oven on low heat method. In the winter I hang mine in the basement near a register/furnace vent and after a day or so it's dry. But I usually leave mine hang until I'm ready to load. I've also found after the wet bath rinsing with very hot water accelerates the dry time.

Thanks. Since you are de-priming, wet tumbling, then charging and loading, do you see a big benefit in speed to having a turret press over a single-stage?

I know I'm asking a ton of questions, but I just feel like there is so much information to try to wrap my head around to even decide if this is something that even makes sense to be considering getting into in the next year or so...

[DucatiRon]

Thanks. Since you are de-priming, wet tumbling, then charging and loading, do you see a big benefit in speed to having a turret press over a single-stage?

I know I'm asking a ton of questions, but I just feel like there is so much information to try to wrap my head around to even decide if this is something that even makes sense to be considering getting into in the next year or so...

Every press has a specific reason to be used. If your looking for near or match grade ammo a good single stage and single weighed powder charges are gonna get you there. A turrent with a powder dispenser is going to be faster but maybe not as close to match grade ammo but better than most factory ammo.

As per time the turrent is quicker than a single stage by a couple hundred rounds per hour and a progressive is a couple hundred rounds per hour faster than a turrent. It might not mean a lot to you now but the money you save after the initial investment will allow you to shoot more. And that means more reloading in the future.

Buying one or the other to start is fine but I'd highly recommend both. A big single stage is the trick. That will allow you to load bigger rifle cartridges in the future. You can buy a cheap RCBS Partner Press but limited to 223 caliber because of length of stroke. Same with a turrent I wouldnt load my 30-06 rounds on it. If you spend good money you'll have the equipment for life. Ask questions, watch you tube reloading videos, research , research, research before you buy.

Don't buy what you need now. Save your money and buy what you might need in the future. Or end up like me with 6 different presses. Don't be afraid to buy used either. Most parts are obtainable to do a quick rebuild if needed from the big 3.

No offense and I'm not judging you at all but if your not mechanically inclined enough to rebuild a used press your not mechanically inclined enough to reload ammo.

[imp81318]

So, the cheaper 'kit' presses aren't capable of loading .30-30 and/or 30-06? Most of the presses that I've been looking at (Lee classic, base lee turrets) have a 3.5" stroke, same as the RCBS Partner single stage.

And yeah, I'm definitely not afraid or adverse to buying a used press if the price is right. But when I look at the prices for the Lee 'kits' on MidwayUSA, I can't add up the individual components and make teh price work out cheaper if I buy them separate with a used press.

[DucatiRon]

Not so much but you can run out of room. Stuff like the RCBS Rock Chucker Has a 4" stroke and is built like a tank. Has plenty of room and the leverage needed. Also available in a master kit.

Where you run out of room is certain dies when seating bullets. I use a competion seating die for 223 in my partner press. With that seating die and a long bullet space is maxed out. You might get away with a standard seating die and some juggling of the bullet inside the die to seat it in a larger casing but the press really lacks the large support frame for sizing. Personally when it comes to single stage I don't think there is a press that can exceed the Rock Chucker. There are also plenty of upgrades for the Rock Chucker also. Check out the accesories on the RCBS website.

Was just looking at the turrents from Lee. The 4 hole turrent maxes out at just over 2" overall cartridge length and the other the Lee Classic maxes out at 3.313" and some 30-06 as per Wiki is already 3.34". Lee states anything over the 3.313 the press has to be advanced manually. So as I said before. Make sure what you buy for the future.