re-loading question
- Thread starter curly45
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50 shooter
New member
If you run your brass in a tumbler, it takes about a couple of hours to make them shine. This is in corncob media with a little bit of polish.
You might have to use walnut media first if the brass is really tarnished. Just depends on how clean and shiny you want the brass to be.
Basically all you need to do is make sure theres no heavy dirt/dust on the brass before running it through your dies.
There are other methods of cleaning brass but for a beginner, using a tumbler and media is the easiest/most convenient.
As for brass life...
Pistol brass is pretty much good to reload until it splits. Heavy caliber stuff like .44 Mag, .454 Casull... will wear out faster if you load full power ammo.
Rifle brass, most guys toss after about 5 loadings. This can be extended if you anneal your brass, don't run max loads...
A good book to buy if you're a new loader is the ABC's of reloading. Lots of helpful information in the book.
You might have to use walnut media first if the brass is really tarnished. Just depends on how clean and shiny you want the brass to be.
Basically all you need to do is make sure theres no heavy dirt/dust on the brass before running it through your dies.
There are other methods of cleaning brass but for a beginner, using a tumbler and media is the easiest/most convenient.
As for brass life...
Pistol brass is pretty much good to reload until it splits. Heavy caliber stuff like .44 Mag, .454 Casull... will wear out faster if you load full power ammo.
Rifle brass, most guys toss after about 5 loadings. This can be extended if you anneal your brass, don't run max loads...
A good book to buy if you're a new loader is the ABC's of reloading. Lots of helpful information in the book.
Geezerbiker
New member
Make sure whatever polish you use doesn't contain ammonia. Polishes with ammonia will leach the copper out of the cases and weaken them.
Tony
Tony
Cleaning cases: All you need to do is wipe off the case exterior. 30 minutes in 20/40 corn is more than clean enough. 8-12 minutes in ultrasonic cleaner will remove all dirt and soot, inside and out, from the cases. 6-8 hours in water (with Dawn/citric acid or without) and stainless steel pins will remove all dirt and soot, inside and out, and leave the cases looking nearly new.
You could leave cases in wet or dry media for weeks without any issue.
Cases are discarded when they either have a crack or can't hold a primer any longer.
This is NOT something to fret over.
You could leave cases in wet or dry media for weeks without any issue.
Cases are discarded when they either have a crack or can't hold a primer any longer.
This is NOT something to fret over.
Cases need to be clean, not shiny. There's no need for any kind of polish either. Not that polish will hurt. It's just not necessary.
NU-Finish is sold for polishing a car's paint. Except the car types say it's not truthfully marketed. They say it's not a polish or wax.
Keep 'em in the tumbler until there's no crud on 'em. A couple hours usually.
Case life depends entirely on the load used.
"...after about 5 loadings..." No need for that either. I have rifle cases, some loaded close to Max, that I've loaded way more than 5 times. Have one cracked neck, pitch that one and anneal the rest. Annealing is not heating 'em red hot either. That's too hot. Heat 'em with as regular propane torch until the brass changes colour only.
NU-Finish is sold for polishing a car's paint. Except the car types say it's not truthfully marketed. They say it's not a polish or wax.
Keep 'em in the tumbler until there's no crud on 'em. A couple hours usually.
Case life depends entirely on the load used.
"...after about 5 loadings..." No need for that either. I have rifle cases, some loaded close to Max, that I've loaded way more than 5 times. Have one cracked neck, pitch that one and anneal the rest. Annealing is not heating 'em red hot either. That's too hot. Heat 'em with as regular propane torch until the brass changes colour only.
Curly45,
The life expectancy depends heavily on the cartridge, the pressure level of the load, how tight the chamber you are shooting it in is, how hard the brass is, and also on the resizing tools and method you to use, so there is no simple answer. I've gotten over 50 reloadings out of 45 Auto brass firing target loads. Some rifle brass can last that long if you anneal the necks periodically and are running them in tight chambers at load levels that are not excessive. On the other end of the scale, M14 match shooters used to reload hard military brass no more than four times, as the rough handling in those guns and hardness tended to put them at risk of head separation in the middle of a rapid fire string, not to mention throwing a case head with sharp edges at the fellow shooting next to you. Norma says they inspect their high power rifle brass to be sure to withstand at least 10 reloadings, but over-hot loads of belted magnum brass can have some of it stop on the third reloading.
So the answer to your question about brass life is, "it depends".
The life expectancy depends heavily on the cartridge, the pressure level of the load, how tight the chamber you are shooting it in is, how hard the brass is, and also on the resizing tools and method you to use, so there is no simple answer. I've gotten over 50 reloadings out of 45 Auto brass firing target loads. Some rifle brass can last that long if you anneal the necks periodically and are running them in tight chambers at load levels that are not excessive. On the other end of the scale, M14 match shooters used to reload hard military brass no more than four times, as the rough handling in those guns and hardness tended to put them at risk of head separation in the middle of a rapid fire string, not to mention throwing a case head with sharp edges at the fellow shooting next to you. Norma says they inspect their high power rifle brass to be sure to withstand at least 10 reloadings, but over-hot loads of belted magnum brass can have some of it stop on the third reloading.
So the answer to your question about brass life is, "it depends".
When it comes to straight-wall pistol cases, the amount of flare (bell, etc.) that is used and the amount of crimp that is used is a significant factor. For extending case life, minimum bell and minimum (look at factory rounds and you will see that they do not use all that much) crimp is an important factor.
NU-finish is a plastic containing abrasive media.
MSDS says:
Naphtha (petroleum), hydrotreated light 10 – < 25%
Calcined flint clay 5 – < 10%
Distillates (petroleum), hydrotreated light 5 – < 10%
Amides, tall-oil fatty, N,N- bis(hydroxyethyl) %1 – < 5
1,2-Benzisothiazolin-3-one < 1%
MSDS says:
Naphtha (petroleum), hydrotreated light 10 – < 25%
Calcined flint clay 5 – < 10%
Distillates (petroleum), hydrotreated light 5 – < 10%
Amides, tall-oil fatty, N,N- bis(hydroxyethyl) %1 – < 5
1,2-Benzisothiazolin-3-one < 1%
As others have said, brass just needs to be clean of dirt and debris and not shiny. I usually run a few hours in walnut hull media and get a satin finish but you could get by with an hour or less.
Case life, once again, depends. Almost all pistol brass will last until your more likely to lose it. Magnum revolver rounds loaded hot are an exception, but even then I’ve gotten 14-15 leadings from .357 brass, and not watered down loads either.
Rifle brass. Unclenick gives a great answer. You could have a milder load run through a sloppy chamber and it work hardens and splits faster than hot loads for a tight chambered rifle. Almost all of my rifle loading now is for milsurp rounds... so I know a bit about sloppy chambers and lower pressure (than today’s standard for your heavy rifle loads) rounds. Your brass type can also play a role in number of loads. I don’t know if federal changed anything or not, but their old brass in .270 or .30-06 I would get 4 loads max before they wouldn’t hold primers anymore. I’ve not had this experience with Remington brass.
Case life, once again, depends. Almost all pistol brass will last until your more likely to lose it. Magnum revolver rounds loaded hot are an exception, but even then I’ve gotten 14-15 leadings from .357 brass, and not watered down loads either.
Rifle brass. Unclenick gives a great answer. You could have a milder load run through a sloppy chamber and it work hardens and splits faster than hot loads for a tight chambered rifle. Almost all of my rifle loading now is for milsurp rounds... so I know a bit about sloppy chambers and lower pressure (than today’s standard for your heavy rifle loads) rounds. Your brass type can also play a role in number of loads. I don’t know if federal changed anything or not, but their old brass in .270 or .30-06 I would get 4 loads max before they wouldn’t hold primers anymore. I’ve not had this experience with Remington brass.
Cleaning brass is a personal preference thing. Some want shiny new others just want clean. I'm somewhere in the middle.
I have a large square plastic peanut jar, kind ya get at Walmart, I fill it halfway with brass and then fill with water as hot as I can get it just until the brass is covered. I then add a squirt of dish soap and a spoon of Lemi-shine. I hand shake off and on for about .5/.75hr then rinse in hot water again. Dry it in an old toaster oven. Rifle brass after sizing I run it in the vibrator with cob for about 1 hr.
OH. and I do this with No pins.
I have a large square plastic peanut jar, kind ya get at Walmart, I fill it halfway with brass and then fill with water as hot as I can get it just until the brass is covered. I then add a squirt of dish soap and a spoon of Lemi-shine. I hand shake off and on for about .5/.75hr then rinse in hot water again. Dry it in an old toaster oven. Rifle brass after sizing I run it in the vibrator with cob for about 1 hr.
OH. and I do this with No pins.
Just want to be sure that I didn't misunderstand this comment. 6-8 hours? What tumbler are you using? My cases are spotless in 2-3 hours in my FART w/pins and FA cleaning soution.
Leave brass in wet media will turn your cases pink as the copper starts leaching out....in 6-8 hours, not even days.
Tumble, rinse, dry - that's your only option with acid solution.
I guess it depends on the concentration of the citric acid. But I do have a couple negative experiences with acid (not a hippie!). I used to add 3-4 drops of lemon juice with a couple hundred cases in about 1/2 gallon of water, would stir them around and let them sit. I once let it go for 4-5 hours and some turned pink. I don't bother doing it anymore. It used to be for when I would pick up cases that had dirt stuck in them. Now I just tumble it all as long as I get the dirt chunks out, and count the dirt as being part of the abrasives.
Here's a warning though - don't tumble too long. I used to tumble my brass overnight (hey, cleaner is better right?) but on my 9mm, the rims which used to have nice sharp edges and plenty of meat for the extractor to grab onto, are rounded on both sides. It hasn't cause any failures to extract but now I just tumble for a few hours. If I was using fresh walnut it would take even less time, like 2-3 hours. It probably wouldn't be a problem for 45 Colt since the whole darn rim would have to be sheared off to fail to headspace, but something to keep in mind.