Reloading questions

[KazIce]

Hi everyone!

I’ve been wanting to reload and was going to put it off until next year. After reading Dick284’s thread on looking shortages I opted to buy my stuff now. And wow the shortages are already here in just about every category. I’ve got most of my stuff, but a couple of things to get still and I have questions about that as well as some general questions that I haven’t figured out yet.

I’m probably going to be reloading around 400 rounds per year for my hunting group. Good thing we all use the same cartridge lol.

I’ve helped my dad reload back in the day and there is a wealth of great videos that have given me an excellent start.

Calipers
Okay so I need a caliper to make sure everything is going right after trimming and seating. I want to go digital, but is that the best or just lazy? Cabelas in Calgary has the analog hornady calipers, but I’m not rushing to get them. I have a feeling that I can get a great analog caliper for $75-125 and a great digital caliper would be double. Also, if you have a caliper recommendation that would be appreciated. If I can buy locally or online with a Canadian company even better.

Tumbling
Haven’t gotten one yet, but the Lyman 1200 tumbler seems perfect for me. According to their site, you should tumble before case prep and caster case prep because case lube can cause excessive pressure on the bolt face. True to just them promoting BS and wiping the cases off with a cloth will do?
Also I was thinking of the tumbling, and wouldn’t there be bits of walnut leftover as powder in the cases? So should I be blowing the cases out with clean, dry, compressed air? I’m wondering if the dust would impact firing performance.
Wet tumbling. Nothing I love more than super shines things! But adding a polishing compound made me wonder how would said compound impact performance with the compound inside the shell casing interacting with the powder. So if I wanted that super shiny look is there a step to remove the compound from the inside of shell?

Die maintenance
What’s the best way to take care of my dies? Just hit them with brake clean and then coat them in all purpose oil? Sure, some people never clean there dies, but I’d rather know I took care of my things as best I could.

All help is greatly appreciated everyone


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[260 Rem]

I load in the neighborhood of 3000 rounds per year ... and focus on “precision”. I reload in small batches so no long runs.
I have two digital calipers purchased from CDN Tire. They seem accurate enough for my needs.
I have never tumbled and for the relatively low volume you are reloading, wouldn’t bother. Clean brass shoots the best. Clean/shinny brass does not shoot any better.
After the initial cleaning of dies, I just wipe them clean occasionally with Kleenex. No oil. Just a wax based lube on the cases that are being sized. Typically, I lube only every 3rd or fourth case. (Until you get the feel, apply light lube to every case being FL sized).

[DiabeticKripple]

I’m still fairly new at reloading, but I just use mastercraft digital calipers, wet tumble after decapping, and after resizing. I only tumble the second time for 10-15 mins to get the lube off. I also don’t use the SS pins on the second tumble.

[6.5 shooter]

Princes auto had some last time I was there they seem to work as well as my old RCBS calipers from 35 years ago..but digital is a nice up grade ..when you buy calipers be sure to hold them up and make sure the jaws close nice and tight, no light seepage between them.

I tumble before I size my brass... keeps my dies from getting buggered up then I size and re tumble to remove the case lube if doing large batches, otherwise a quick wipe with a paper towel works just fine.

Lee makes a cheap shell holder that will fit in your 3/8" drill if you want super shiny brass, it and 0000 steel wool will do the trick.

[Dick284]

Calipers are easy, Can Tire, Princess Auto, Greggs, Acklands, even Home Depot.
Spend as much or as little as you want, personally I prefer my dial calipers, as they are plenty accurate, and don’t need batteries.

Tumbler is easy too, just mail order one, from Prophet River or Xreload, maybe Cabela’s has one but their reloading section sucks.

[ram crazy]

Originally Posted by 6.5 shooter

Princes auto had some last time I was there they seem to work as well as my old RCBS calipers from 35 years ago..but digital is a nice up grade ..when you buy calipers be sure to hold them up and make sure the jaws close nice and tight, no light seepage between them.

I tumble before I size my brass... keeps my dies from getting buggered up then I size and re tumble to remove the case lube if doing large batches, otherwise a quick wipe with a paper towel works just fine.

Lee makes a cheap shell holder that will fit in your 3/8" drill if you want super shiny brass, it and 0000 steel wool will do the trick.

Doesn’t your tumble material get contaminated when you re tumble to get the case lube off? Now you have to change out the material a lot sooner. All I ever do is just wipe the case lube off.

[DiabeticKripple]

Originally Posted by ram crazy

Doesn’t your tumble material get contaminated when you re tumble to get the case lube off? Now you have to change out the material a lot sooner. All I ever do is just wipe the case lube off.

Not in a wet tumbler!

[teledogs]

I decap and SS wet tumble before the brass sees a die. This helps keep dies clean and wet tumbling eliminates dust and pieces of walnut in the flash holes (super shiny too!). I have to inspect cases too with SS as to not leave a pin in the brass. Dies get dismantled and cleaned once a year, no oil added. I have had good luck with Canadian Tire digital calipers and I use 2 to confirm.
Good luck!

[Bushrat]

Using Canadian tire calipers right now, the ones that used to always come on sale for $19.99 that I bought in a pinch when he needle fell off the shaft of a Starret which replaced a Mitutoyo when it stopped returning to zero when something went haywire in the gear drive. CT ones work fine so far about 6 or 7 years and thousands of uses and have never gotten around to getting a 'good' set as they have been fine. Prefer dial calipers over the digital though, seems I have a habit of forgetting to shut them off, when it's time to use them again the battery is dead.

[KazIce]

Thanks for the tips everyone. I looked at the ct calipers and it looks like they changed something about them because most of the recent reviews are not good. Looks like princess auto has a decent set of titan ones for $25 so that is a lot better than I had expected.

As for the tumbling, I think I’ll stick with just dry tumbling for now and it’s great to know that I can tumble twice or just clean the cases off by hand.

Is there any concerns with dust left over in the shells after dry tumbling?

I will do the wet tumbling down the road, looks to be a decent investment for one of those units.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Ariu]

Calipers digital or dial are all good and it depends on your preferences. I liked digital, as my mind works in metric and I get confused with dial. When it comes to digital I have used cheap ones and they are ok. If you have the money, mitutoyo calipers are the king. I have them for sale (all three kinds of them) by the way.
Tumbler. I have used water and soap at the beginning, now I use ultrasonic cleaner. I wish I would've gone with wet Tumbler and ss pins.
Dies. You definitely need to protect them. I had a brand new pair of dies which I haven't used at all and not oiled. They had developed some rust when I sold them.
Good luck.

[Jswain]

Because its so cheap to try, you could get some citric acid and try a very small amount in some warm water to clean your brass and that might be clean enough for you. Dont add too much or go too warm with the water or it can turn brass pinkish which a tumble will fix, most suggest a 9mm case full of citric acid so maybe 1/8 or a 1/4 teaspoon to give you an idea in a litre or two of water.

Then, if you add a tumbler later on or even right away you can still do this step prior to speed up the tumble, and the walnuts will also dry out the brass so it makes it very fast.

Regardless I would get a universal decapping die so that none of your dirty brass touches a sizing die. RCBS or similar primer pocket cleaner. Agreed with everyone else CT digital micrometer is more than enough.

One thing is make sure you get a decent scale as measuring loads can be a very aggrevating part of the experience, unless you are planning to use a powder dispensing die. Nice to have a digital scale & also a mechanical beam scale to compare both then pick your poison on which to use, a digital scale will be much quicker but depending on the quality or how slow you trickle in the last few points can throw them out. I always use my RCBS 5-0-5 and then double check every 10 or so on a digital.

[32-40win]

In Calgary you can buy decent calipers, at a reasonable price, at Busy Bee Tools in the north end, or K&M tools in the south. If you want to check accuracy on calipers, buy some gauge blocks, that's how you check them, cost as much or more as calipers, but they are certified sizes. Or just go over there with your calipers or mic, and tell them you want to look at gauge blocks.
As to tumbling, I have a tumbler, used it twice in 7 or 8 yrs, mostly because I just felt like bothering with it for a change. I can clean the cases as I inspect and lube them, I just use a rag to clean lube off, and do another inspection and check & sort trim length whilst I'm at it. When doing sizing I use a Forster dry neck lube kit, push the case down over the brush and lube inside of neck in one operation. Try one and see how much difference it makes. Lyman makes one too. Redding has it with balls instead of brushes, but, brushes serve to clean the neck as well.
Make sure you get a set of check weights for scales, and use them. A beam scale is definitely worth having to figure out what your electronic scale is telling you, or not. Some of the cheapy electronic scales they are putting in some of the kits these days work, but, depends more on, for how long, and with Amazon cheapos scales, be very careful what you buy, some are a bit of a scam.

[gunluvr]

I tumble (corn cob media) after resizing and trimming because it absorbs lube left inside the case. A quick shot of compressed air cleans out any residue and insures the flash hole is clear. Wet tumbling requires another step; drying. Corn cob media needs replacing once it becomes dark, but it's not expensive. I change mine once or twice a year.
If you keep your fired brass clean I don't see a need to tumble before resizing.

[220 Swift]

I like the dial as dead batteries suck. I have three. A plastic rcbs that came with a kit a digital and I bought a Dillion dial at a gun show for 20$. I like the Dillon as it feels smooth when using. I know that sounds weird but there is gears in it.

As for buying supplies good idea to buy now and not wait as supplies may take longer to recover. Dont go to where everyone else goes as they are sold out. Go to the smaller hardware type stores that carry supplies as they may have what you maybe looking for.

I have periodically cleaned my dies. I dont store in a hi humidity basement