Reloader's Corner

Priming Cases

2012-02-13T13:00:00.000-08:00

For these next steps please wear safety glasses. They are not expensive and could save your eyes. I have not had anything happen but why not take a few seconds to put them on. They don't have to be anything fancy.

For this step you will need safety glasses a Lee Hand Loader, prepped brass, primers for your load, shell holder and Lee priming tool. The priming tool came with my Lee Hand Loader in a little tube with instructions. It is easy to use and put away.

After the cases are inspected install the Lee priming tool in the Lee hand loader. There is a top portion which holds the shell holder for your case and a bottom portion which acts as a ram extender.

Screw in the top portion.

Slide in the bottom portion where the shell holder would normally go.

Insert the shell holder into the top portion.

Close the handle until you see the ram come up close to the bottom of the shell holder.

Select a primer from your box of primers. Make sure you are following your load's recipe and are using the correct primers for your loads.

Dump a few primers out into a tray. Careful here because they tend to roll off the table easy.

There is an inside and outside to the primers. Make sure you have the correct side and place a primer onto the ram while it is sitting just at the bottom of the shell holder and the handle is about 3/4 closed.

Inside of primer left outside right.

Place the shell in the shell holder.

Squeeze the handle together slowly. Sometimes you will feel the primer seat and sometimes it will just feel like it moved into the shell. You will need to remove the shell from the shell holder and inspect the bottom of the shell to make sure it is flush with the case and not sticking out.

Soon you will have them all done and by the time you do 25 or so you will be a priming expert, at least on that shell you will.

Good Shooting!

Case Inspection

2012-02-13T09:44:00.000-08:00

This part of the reloading process can be done throughout the reloading process. I would look at the cases after cleaning and then again after resizing and de-priming. I would measure them right before priming them. The cases should not be over max length. My LEE dies came with a spec sheet but you can find all this information in many reloading manuals and on line as well. Another good manual to have is in magazine for and is called Hodgdon's Annual. It will have the latest information on many loads, cases and bullets.

You can trim them if they are too long and get them to all the same size. They really should not elongate the first couple of times you reload them and especially not after firing factory loads.

Usually the cases that have been loaded hot or at max will start to exhibit stretching and deforming. Also if your using brass that you have scavenged from somewhere, maybe the range or bought used somewhere.

Look for cracks at the mouth of the case and look at the base of the case for deformities. The case pictured above has a crack or dent in the mouth and will be discarded. Why take a chance!

I have seen deformities at the base of shells from cowboy action shooters using lever action guns. The best is usually your own brass or new brass.
Auto loaders need certain case length and need smooth cases in order to load and eject without jamming. Depending on the pistol or rifle they can be picky on which cases will properly cycle through the gun. This is not the case with revolvers or bolt action guns.
At the next level say for competition shooting having all the cases exactly the same as far as size and weight are important but that is another topic and best discussed for advanced re-loaders in a future article.

For Now Good Shooting!

De-Capping and Re-Sizing 44 Mag. Shells with The Lee Hand Press

2012-01-21T21:35:00.000-08:00

In a previous post I showed how I clean brass shell casings. This is the next step in reloading. I'm doing this series for my 44 Mag. and I'm using a Lee 44 Mag. carbide die set. If you buy the carbide die sets from any manufacture it should fit the Lee Hand Press. They should be pretty much standardized. I use the Lee dies here and have used their scoop which comes with there dies to load a basic load. It works fine but that will be another post. Here I plan to de-capp and re-size the cases that I have previously cleaned.

Here is the Lee hand press ready to go.

Insert the 44 Mag. shell holder that came with the Lee carbide dies.

Screw in the carbide sizer and de-capper until it touches the the shell holder.

Screw it in enough so that handle stop does not completely close and the handle has about 1/4 inch before it closes or touches the stop.

Adjust the lock nut on the sizing die and the de-capper depth. When you have the correct gap between the handle and the stop cinch the locking nut down.

See how clean the cases are? Even months later, no corrosion!

Place the shell in the shell holder and guide the shell into the sizer as you start to bring the handles together.

Slowly bring the handles all the way together so they touch the stop.

Watch your fingers. Make sure they do not get pinched in between the handles.

Bring the handles back apart.

And there is your re-sized and de-capped case. Now keep going and get faster. In minutes you will have quite a few done.

Ammo boxes make good shell holders so don't discard them.

After you have de-capped 20 or so cases you will need to get rid of the spent primers.

Take off the shell holder and tilt the Lee hand press.

And there you have it. In the next episode we will expand the case and go through a few more steps. Your almost there.

Good Shooting

Lee Hand Press Kit Product Review

2012-01-21T20:42:00.000-08:00

If you've ever wanted to start reloading but were intimidated by all the products out there and the cost of getting all that stuff. If you are not quite sure what brand you want and you are are afraid that if you skimp it won't work. Look no further. I have been through that and more. How about room? some people live in an apartment or just don't have the room to have a dedicated reloading station. What about dust? I use my garage for projects and if I had to leave a dedicated station there for reloading sooner or later it would get dusty maybe sawdust or metal particles would end up there, even if it was covered. So here we have a reloading press that is portable. You can easily put it away after every use. It will not take up much room and if you want you can take everything over to your friends house in a small tool box or shopping bag and reload with him or show someone how to get started in reloading or take it camping with you or hunting or to the range. You can now reload just about anywhere, even take it on a pack trip if you choose to do so. It's up to you.

It is made here in the USA! and will load your largest magnums. What more could you ask for?

I load my 44 Mag loads and it works great. It is strong and well made. That's how we roll here in the USA.

Sometimes I like to work up a quick load and go to the range without setting up a lot of stuff for just a small run of say 50 shells. This is perfect.

Mine came in a kit form with reloading press, funnel, lube and ram prime. Everything works flawlessly.

Cleaning Brass Cases With Simple Household Ingrediants

2011-05-09T12:12:00.000-07:00

I was looking for a simple way to clean brass cases. The cases I clean are not dirty from being rolled on the ground or found cases from days gone past laying out in a field. These are fired a few times and dirty from the powder burning. I have tried this method a few times and it works well. It is not a method that you can say, drop them in, walk away and come back to shiny new cases dry and clean but it does work well enough and the cases are clean and there is really not that much work involved for say 25 to 50 cases.

This is what I do:

Find a clear clean plastic container that will hold about 50 cases. You can do more if you like just use a larger container.

Place your fired brass casings in the container. Some people prefer to de-prime their cases first. I have done both and either way works. If you have a de-priming only tool or carbide dies this is ok. The only other way is to use the de-primer sizing tool and you will need to lube the case, which will defeat some of the cleaning purpose so just de-prime these after wards.

Fill the container enough to cover all the cases with distilled white vinegar.

Place about a tablespoon or 2 of baking soda in the container. This will fiz and foam and may bubble over depending on the size of the container. The fizzing will last for sometime and help to clean the cases. I generally leave them in this mixture for about 2 hours. You will not want to close the container because it is generating gas and the lid will pop off or the container will swell and may even burst.

The fizzing continues for quite a while. If the mixture does overflow you may need to add a bit more vinegar so that the cases are all covered and being cleaned.

After about 2 hours drain and rinse these cases with water. This is like an acid stop bath, it stops the vinegar from continuing. You can use either tap or distilled water. I use tap water and have never had an issue with corrosion.

When it comes out of the bath the case looks clean.

Take a paper or cloth towel and dry the outside of the case.

Take a cu-tip or other cotton swab type material, this will vary depending on the size of the case and clean the inside of the case at the same time drying the inside of the case.

There is really not that much cleaning left to do after the vinegar baking soda bath.

The case is clean inside and out.

I place the case upside down in some type of shell holder. I have done this for as little as an hour or 2 and for up to a week before starting the next step. This depends on where they are stored and the surrounding temperature.

After they are dry the cases are ready to de-prime and re-size, which will be the next article.

There you have it an easy minimalist way to clean brass cases.
They are clean enough and shiny enough for me.

Zeroing an RCBS 5-10 Scale

2011-04-26T15:39:00.000-07:00

I'm starting this series of articles to help new reloader's get a handle on things. It is a fun hobby that will not only save you money but you get the satisfaction that you did it yourself and yes, they go bang!

I will start small and give you an article a month that will take you through the reloading process. I have had many pieces of stationary equipment for doing this but what I wanted to accomplish here was to show you how to do this with minimal equipment. So, this can be done in a home or apartment and on a trip. Think about it, you can do this type of minimalist reloading while traveling and no electricity is required. The ammo is high quality and you can experiment with different loads until you find the right load for your firearm. It will definitely make you a better shooter! I will also interview some of my reloading buddies and show you how they do it.

Disclaimer: Reloading should be done when not in a rush and you must be awake and sober. It is way too easy to do things wrong and possibly damage your gun and worse!

It’s a long story but I bought a used RCBS 5-10 scale the other day and was confounded again by the issue with it not zeroing. It may have gotten banged around during shipping, who knows? It is not new but made by a reputable dealer, RCBS and has got to zero. I found out that there are lead BBs in the bottom of the pan support assembly. I was able to re-zero the scale by adding a BB or 2. I also double checked it’s accuracy with another scale that I have, a Hornady M series scale, made by Pacific. I also use a dipper that is provided by Lee when you buy their dies that has a chart to use with it and an approximate weight for the dipper depending on the powder you use and the consistency on how you dip and how full your dipper is. I have to say after double checking the weights it throws the dippers are faster and pretty consistent. You do not have the variety that you have when you weigh powders and you really should not work up a max load with them but they are much faster to use. I have a light load that I use in my 44mag that is ideal to use the dippers for and it is about 10 times faster than when I weigh each charge.

Here is how I zeroed the RCBS 510 scale.

Unscrew the Philips screw in the bottom of the pan holder assembly

In my case I added a couple BBs

Refit the assembly and screw the Philips screw back in

Look and see if the scale will zero now with the pan in place and the scale on a level surface

A minor adjustment can be made by adjusting the leveling foot or if an adjustment is needed in the opposite direction a sheet of paper or cardboard can be added to the opposite side of the scale's feet.

Once the scale is zeroed you are ready to start weighing powder or bullets or whatever you have to weigh.

If you have another scale available or some weight that you can verify to be correct you can test your scale to see how accurate it is.

Take some powder you weigh from one scale and make sure that it is the same with in reason. There will probably be some little difference and that is why you work up slowly to max loads but that is story for another day!