Reloading for the condo dweller on a budget.

not meaning to hijack the thread, but.....

Have you tried "lemi-shine" in your solution? I use it in my pin tumbler, with a couple drops of dawn. Brass won't tarnish as long as I don't rinse with water.
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imagunnut, how do you get by without rinsing? My water comes out so dirty, I can not imagine not rinsing. Also, how do you get the pins to drop out of the cases without rinsing. I have found that the water tension is more than enough to hold some pins inside some of the cases. It has always been a fear for me that a pin would make it through the reloading process and end up tumbling down the barrel and becoming an obstruction for a subsequent shot fired.

I rinse using a Dillon media separator. I fill the tube to over flowing with water and leave the hose in there running while I crank back and forth on the handled allowing the cases to fill and empty with water over and over to get the pins washed out. Even with all these efforts I will some times find a pin or two on my dark colored drying towel.

But then I am usually wet tumbling at least 1k batches.
 
You don't need two tumblers

I use two vibratory tumblers, one with walnut and one with corn cob.
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You don't need two tumblers.
You just need two bowls.
Having multiple bowls is also really handy for carrying or temp storing brass.

I generally use a mixture, and tumble once, right after sizing, to remove the lubricant (white lithium grease), and polish.
 
Fact#1 you don't "save" money handloading. You simply can shoot MORE :D. Trying to use the term "budget" and "getting into handloading" don't really fit in the same sentence. Not only do you need to get the equipment (which you most certainly can find a great deal on a used complete setup from someone getting out of reloding) , you also need to purchase the components. I began handloading about 3-1/2 years ago and BEST decision I ever made. For about $1K I was very nicely up and running loading single stage for .223 and .308 precision long rifle. Your condo situation is a tough one. Utilizing a "temporary" load station is going to present some logistical problems. Handloading in a shed would be ok as long as your powder is not subject to high levels of humidity for extended periods of time. There's also the issue of excessive heat and cold limiting your time spent to reasonable temps. As for noisy tumblers, I have a Lyman tumbler using corn cobb and some Mothers car polish and my brass looks like new. I also lay a dish towel underneath my tumbler to minimize vibratory noise emitted through my workbench (which is where most of the noise reverberates from). As for my cost per round I can load up a match quality .308 cartridge that would have cost about $1.80/ea for about $.65 . Loading plinker "bulk" type ammo is an even greater savings. Handloading also has big advantages if you shoot some odd calibers myself I shoot .460 S&W mag pistol and that ammo is very hard to find and very expensive. Handloading .460 keeps it very reasonable.
 
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I also live in a condo, and handload handgun brass only. I got a wet tumbler from Harbor Freight and bought some SS media for it. Just noticed the tumbler is on sale right now. I like the setup but there are two things to be aware of. First, you need to decap before cleaning. Second, I noticed that my Lee carbide sizing die started scoring my brass. After a little research on the web, the best answer was that the brass was so clean that the friction from the die started pulling brass. So I cleaned the die and started lubing the cases and it works fine. It's more work than some would want to do but I enjoy the process.

For drying, I put the cases in the plastic ammo blocks that come as part of the packaging of factory ammo (must have holes in the bottom) and either (1) put on top of the HVAC register for a couple of days or (2) put on my car's dash on a sunny day (I wouldn't do this just anywhere—it advertises that you have guns) where the brass gets too hot to touch.

I made a bench from a Black and Decker Workmate, similar to what you can find if you do a Google search. It works fine but I have to use a small table to hold my other stuff.
 
FWIW, I just can't see dealing with the added steps of draining and drying brass just so that it looks like brand new right off the production line factory cases. There are enough steps involved in case prep without adding unnecessary ones. Does it shoot any better?
 
I just can't see dealing with the added steps of draining and drying brass just so that it looks like brand new
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The reason I wash in hot water with dish soap is to remove lead and other toxic residue from cases, before I handle them. Primers contain lead, and leave it as residue.
Another reason to clean cases is to not introduce dirt to your sizing die where it can cause damage.
When cases are clean and shiny, you know at a glance that they have been cleaned and don't need to be cleaned again.
Less crucial for pistol cases, than rifle.
 
By Budget/Condo I mean, I lack the funds/space for a dedicated bench with a large progressive setup and multiple tumblers etc... I will be doing this on a small scale a few hundred rounds at a time, couple times per month. I don't intend to purchase large amounts of powder nor do I intend to spend a lot of time fine tuning special loads for maximum anything. I want to shoot more as a primary goal. Extra powder can always be vac sealed and/or stored in an ammo can to eliminate moisture/humidity problems.

So far I've purchased a Hornady Magnum XL Sonic cleaner to clean the brass I've already accumulated. Although it was a bit pricey it's multi purpose, very effective, built like a tank and relatively quiet. It sounds roughly comparable to a running faucet. The first couple of batches were loaded to max and some of it has been sitting around for months. It was roughly 85% clean after a half hour. More time did not yield better results. Some primer pockets will still need to be cleaned by hand (possibly corrosive primers). However the batch I just ran through from some shooting yesterday was spotless 100% in under 5 minutes and only loaded about half of the capacity of the machine. The Hornady cleaning solution leaves it quite shiny as well. The heating feature is nice but mainly for the temp display rather than the heat itself which I have yet to turn on. 30 minutes on just clean with no heat brought the temp to over 150* not an issue with brass but could be if you were using this to clean other more sensitive items. The all stainless basket is a really nice feature since it hangs from the sides and suspends everything rather than sitting on the bottom potentially wearing the bottom out over time of which I have seen some complaints on other models. Also the basket can be removed right into the sink to be rinsed and then directly into the oven to dry if you like.

I also purchased a Frankford Arsenal hand de-capping tool. I have nothing but rave reviews for this. I bought it because it allows me to de-cap my brass to be cleaned whenever I want without having to touch a press and also because I was sitting on a lot of dirty brass and didn't yet have a press with any de-capping dies. It took a minute or two to get the hang of it but once I did I had close to 1000 brass cases de-primed and in the sonic cleaner in about an hour. It may become obsolete after I have the press setup but I may just keep it in the range bag for something to do when the slow pokes are checking targets down range. I would also prefer nice clean, de-primed brass in my sizing die.

Over the next few months I'll likely be purchasing the Lee Classic Turret Press and corresponding Lee Carbide dies to accompany it. Everyone I've talked too recommends Lee products and I've heard nothing but good things so far. The functionality seems reasonable for the price. But I have quite a bit of reading and maybe a class before I take the next steps...

Thanks for everyone's advice and help taking the first steps into reloading.
 
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FWIW, I just can't see dealing with the added steps of draining and drying brass just so that it looks like brand new right off the production line factory cases. There are enough steps involved in case prep without adding unnecessary ones. Does it shoot any better?
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No, but it feels so much better loading those shiny rounds one at a time into my revolvers. ;)

Actually, I figured someone might respond that way, saying what many of you are probably thinking. The reason I finally decided to go wet instead of dry is that I'm a little paranoid about lead particulates in the air. There's nearly zero chance of that with the wet route, and I actually enjoy the whole process.
 
A number of people have talked about dust in the air and lead particles. I dry tumble with corncob and have never noticed any dust floating around. I use a Frankford Arsenal tumbler with a solid lid and nothing gets out during the process. The dryer sheets do absorb a lot of the dust which is circulating within the tumbler but I sure don't see any escaping. Am I missing something here?
 
I wander the same thing. I have been doing this for almost 30 years and have never saw a hint of dust in the air with a vibrating tumbler and corn cob media. I even leave the lid off sometimes if I misplace the nut that screws it down. Never had a problem with the noise either. Because they aren't the least bit loud and they don't vibrate the floors or such in my experience. As far as a bench, I have never done that as it only makes sense to me to put it on a solid floor. Maybe I just use really good tumblers. Or the Hornady, Smart Reloader, and Frankford I have are just better tumblers out of the lots they were produced in? God Bless
 
You DO save money . . . .

To say that reloads don't save money because we shoot more is a non sequitur. On a shot for shot basis you do save money. Lots of it.

I'm reloading 9mm target loads for 8.3 cents a shot. You can't come anywhere close to that in factory ammo. I've shot thousands of 9mm reloads and have easily recouped the cost of my reloading gear.

I got into reloading so I could afford to shoot my 44 mag more. Last time I bought 44 mag factory ammo it was nearly a dollar a shot. I can reload for 25 -30 cents a shot depending on the components. The SAVINGS add up rapidly.

Live well, be safe
Prof Young
 
I sure don't see any escaping. Am I missing something here?
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I don't know; you might not be missing anything. But since I don't know, I'm playing it cautious. I'm not sure you can necessarily see lead particulates.

I've spoken with two guys in the past few months who told me that they have had elevated lead levels in their blood. Granted, it was probably more associated more with indoor shooting (with less than optimal ventilation) than reloading, but when you figure all the different routes by which you can pick up lead, I think it's just good to be cautious. Just a decision I've made for myself.
 
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