About to Start - Will be asking for advice

U

USAF Ret

New member
I got my table set up this weekend and mounted my vice. I am starting with 308. I got some Hornady 150 grain FMJ at a really good price, so I will start with those so I don't somehow mess up with my more expensive hunting bullets. Most of my brass is Norma. I downloaded the Hornday loading app to my phone, but also have a Speer and Hodgdon manual. I have also downloaded Nosler data (their PDF sheets are the best).

I have from CCI large rifle primers and have several powders listed on all of the load sheets for 308. As suggested by everyone, I will be starting with min. loads and work my way up. My Christmas present will be a chronograph, prior to me actually shooting to start my data sheets.

I will be taking my time with each step in the process. I will also be watching the RCBS videos from YouTube.

I am going to start going through my brass this coming weekend and check it all for dents and damage. I got a tumbler and a bucket of treated corn material to clean the brass. The tumbler looks pretty easy, but have no idea how much material to put in there are how long to run it. It did not come with any instructions.

As I go through each step, I will be reaching out to make sure I am not going in a wrong direction, especially with case sizing.

I always appreciate the help for a new reloader.
 
If the Hornady 150 grain FMJ are the #3037, you should be able to make some pretty accurate ammo with those.
 
USAF, you may find the treated media leaves visible dust, esp. the red stuff. There may be dust with untreated but it is harder to see. In any event, after I separate the brass from the media I use an old bath towel to dump the brass onto and roll them around a bit to get as much dust off as possible. I have a lab timer plugged into the wall receptacle and the tumbler plugged into the timer. I most often run it for an hour, rarely more than that unless the brass is really crummy. I fill the tumbler about 2/3 full and most of the time I don't tumble more than 50 rifle cases because after I come home from the range, I immediately tumble what I shot and put the clean cases in plastic food storage bags until I decide to deprime and resize.
 
cdoc42 said:
USAF, you may find the treated media leaves visible dust, esp. the red stuff. There may be dust with untreated but it is harder to see. In any event, after I separate the brass from the media I use an old bath towel to dump the brass onto and roll them around a bit to get as much dust off as possible. I have a lab timer plugged into the wall receptacle and the tumbler plugged into the timer. I most often run it for an hour, rarely more than that unless the brass is really crummy. I fill the tumbler about 2/3 full and most of the time I don't tumble more than 50 rifle cases because after I come home from the range, I immediately tumble what I shot and put the clean cases in plastic food storage bags until I decide to deprime and resize.
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Thank you for the advice. The tumbler I got has a timer. It is a National Metallic I got on sale from Midway. The media I have is Treated Corn Media 4.5# from Frankford Arsenal.

I will definitely use the towel trick and load to the capacity you suggested.

How often do you change out the media?
 
Make sure your tumbler is on a hard surface, not carpet. I prefer walnut as it seems to clean faster. Your directions shoukd tell you how full to fill your tumbler. Generally 3/4 full. It shoukd also tell you how much brass to put in. I would guess 200-300 pcs should fit. It will look over full until the brass gets inyo the media and gets filled up.

Go slow, take your time, follow your manuals dara, double check your work. You will be making great ammo in no time.

One thing. Before loading, chamber some of your resized brass to make sure it fits in the chamber of your gun if you dont have a good headspace gauge like a wilson.
 
Shadow9mm said:
Make sure your tumbler is on a hard surface, not carpet. I prefer walnut as it seems to clean faster. Your directions shoukd tell you how full to fill your tumbler. Generally 3/4 full. It shoukd also tell you how much brass to put in. I would guess 200-300 pcs should fit. It will look over full until the brass gets inyo the media and gets filled up.

Go slow, take your time, follow your manuals dara, double check your work. You will be making great ammo in no time.

One thing. Before loading, chamber some of your resized brass to make sure it fits in the chamber of your gun if you dont have a good headspace gauge like a wilson.
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Thanks Shadow. The tumbler literally had no manual. I will have to see if I can look one up online.

Great tip on the brass. Before or after trimming? I just ordered headspace gauges.
 
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So, my first mistake. The cleaner I got is a wet cleaner. I need a vibrating cleaner for the media I have or I need to get the stainless steel media and basket for the one I have. The newer model comes with it all. Mine is just the tumbler that was on sale and apparently discontinued. So, I have some ordering to do and I will have to wait a little longer. I am literally stupid.
 
You can use that wet cleaner with media too with no problems...just leave the liquid out.
Deprime first, is up to you, but you'll get many opinions on that question.
 
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Smoke & Recoil said:
You can use that wet cleaner with media too with no problems...just leave the liquid out.
Deprime first, is up to you, but you'll get many opinions on that question.
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I ordered a Lee universal deprimer. Pretty cheap and sounds like a good way to go. Deprime, clean, resize, check sizing and then clean again to get the lube off.

Learning a lot and it is getting expensive. I am ready to stop buying and start reloading already. Haha.
 
Not sure which headspace gauge you got. I have a Wilson. headspace measures from the base of the cartridge to the point on the shoulder where it touches the chamber. basically making sure the cartridge is not too big to fit long ways in the chamber. so trimming should not have any effect on its use.(I know this is not the proper textbook terminology, but its the best way I can thing of the explain its function, don't flame me)

headspace gauges are great but not entirely necessary. on the cheap you can just chamber a round to make sure the bolt will close on it. My wilson gauges have some other nice features and ways to use them but again not required.

As stated you can use your dry media in your wet tumbler, it will work. if you are dry tumbling, i would resize After tumbling. the corn cob has a way of getting stuck in the flash holes that is incredibly annoying. if you size after tumbling it clears your flash hole while you de-prime.

as far as time, like how long to leave it in the tumbler, depends on how dirty your brass is. I would use 1 hour increments. start at 1 hours, if it still looks dirty, or not shiny enough, put it in for another hour, repeat as needed. I would guess 2-3 hours total, but that is just a guess.

if you wet tumble you will want to de-prime first, it lets the water drain out of the casings much easier.

you can wet tumble without pins. IMHO the pins are a royal pain, and just make a mess. I use the frankford arsenal packets. you can also use dish washer pods. or dawn dish soap and lemi shine (citric acid dish washer additive) the main trick i found to wet tumbling is to do the final rinse with distilled water. my water is just too hard and leaves water spots on my brass.

With reloading there are lots of cool toys and widgets you can buy.

Press
Dies
scale
calipers
Loading Manual
tumbler (wet or dry)
Priming tool (sometimes built into press)
loading tray (store bough, home made, repurposed ammo box)
Brass trimmer
Components (Powder, Primer, Bullets, Brass)
Powder Funnel

Those are the basics. There are lots of cool toys and widgets. some make tasks easier. some save time. some work far better than others. Start with the basics, get a feel for what you need, otherwise you will wind up with a bunch of really cool tools you don't use very often.

The lee universal deprime tool is decent. Im still looking for a better one, have not found it yet.
 
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Another question, should I deprime before cleaning brass?
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I do both, sort of..

There are some cases I decap with a lee punch and a hammer (not a press die), and there are others I decap with the sizer die. I do not have a separate, special die for just punching out primers.

Fired brass, goes in the tumbler for a bit, basically just to clean off range grit, etc. Then it gets sized, (decapped too), and then it goes back into the tumbler for actual cleaning and lube removal (RCBS pump spray lube) and this also does clean the primer pockets a bit. Not spotless, but, some, usually enough. And yes bits of media DO like to stick in the flasholes.

What I do is dump the tumbler into a colander (Over a bucket), stir and "drain" the media into the bucket. Then one case at a time, I inspect, dump any media inside, and check the flashole poking it with an old horseshoe nail, dislodging any stuck media, then the case goes into a box/bag for storage until the next step in the loading cycle. Yes, its a bit slow and tedious, but it also ensures I take a good look at each case, and can also check length etc at the same point, if needed.

For most cases, I don't bother with gauges, a decent set of calipers will measure everything needed to be measured, along with the gun you're going to be shooting them from.
 
Don’t sweat it. I wet clean brass all the time and have never used any pins. Just a shot of Dawn and about 1/4 tsp of citric canning acid. Tumble for an hour, dump them on a towel and dry them off a bit by rolling them around, then in the oven on a dedicated cookie sheet at 175 deg to dry the inside out. I deprime first using a Lee Universal depriming die, this helps clean the primer pocket somewhat but also helps them dry faster in the oven. As an additional step for rifles I then lube and resize, then back in the tumbler with only Dawn to clean off the lube. And as a final step in the vibrator with walnut and some Nufinish for a longe lasting shine. I know this sounds over the top, but it’s not as tedious as it sounds and I like the end product.
 
Thanks everyone. I got both the wet and the dry tumbler now. Great advice on not needing the steel pins for cleaning and using dishwashing liquid instead. Y'all have given me a lot to play around with. Once I get cases cleaned and deprimed (still working on that order from everyone's inputs), I will reach back out. Thinking I may take a week and just do every piece of brass I have (I have a lot).
 
New reloiader

You are entering the intricate yet satisfying world of reloading. This should be a hobby that is enjoyable and satisfying to you as well as relaxing.
After 60+years of same I still enjoy the process of constructing the most accurate loads for specific firearms I can.
A few suggestions:
Hornady and/or Redding dies
Walnut media and a vibrating cleaner
Lee powder measuring dippers
Powder scale
Powder trickler
Resize one shell and see if it will drop effortlessly into your rifle chamber. If not adjust your does accordingly until a round will simply drop into the chamber and the bolt closes without effort. This shell can be used as your sample going forward.

Good luck!
 
No one mentioned a 1/2 cap of NuFinish car polish (Walmart or Harbor Freight) and a cut-up, used dryer sheet. Run the NuFinish and dryer sheet for 30 minutes before adding brass. Comes out sparkling, at least on the outside.

Also, you should will need a case gauge (or digital calipers), trimmer, and deburring/chamfer tool as necked rifle cases stretch after firing. I like the Lyman EZ Trim chucked in an electric screwdriver.

Be careful with corn cob because it tends to stick in primer flash holes. I've been using reptile bedding from PetSmart which is very inexpensive. I tumble for 2 - 4 hours depending on the number of cases. My suggestion is about an equal weight of cases and tumbling media, which is probably about 1/3 cases and 2/3 media.

There are several videos on reloading rifle and pistol calibers. Watch several. It sounds like you already have at least one reloading manual, but multiple manuals doesn't hurt because the maximum amount of powder varies between manuals.

Welcome to the rabbit hole.
 
"How often do you change out the media?"

When I have to tumble the cases longer than an hour to get the shine I expect. Although, being the frugal person that I am, I often simply add a capful of brass polish and/or Lemishine before I dump the media for good.
 
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