Comments for The Reloading Press

Comment on Introduction to Reloading – Cleaning your Brass by Bob in Washington

Bob in Washington — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:10:06 +0000

I also keep my brass in lots of 50. When I return home with fired cases I use a universal decapping die. Then I soak my cases in Apple Cider Vinegar for 20 minutes. I strain the vinegar out using a funnel and a coffe filter. I reuse the vinegar several times and discard if it starts to show any signs of cloudiness that does not settle to the bottom of the bottle. Immediately after removing the cases from the vinegar I dump them into a pot of warm water. Then I use my hands to swish the cases around in the water thorouhgly rinsing any vinegar off of the cases. I stand the cases up to dry over night. Then I tumble my cases in Tumbler #1 with walnut media for approximately 2 hours. I remove the cases from the walnut media ensuring that I remove all of the media even from the flash holes. Then I put the cases into to tumbler #2 that has corn cob media with a polish solution. I polish my cases for about 1-2 hours. When I get a full box of cases prepared this way I then size the cases and mark the box as “POLISHED AND SIZED.” Now my cases are ready to load. I believe that clean and polished cases are easier on my dies. My cases are always squeaky clean and I get lots of compliments on the appearance of my cases.

Comment on Cleaning – The end of a great day of shooting! by Jeremy

Jeremy — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:22:15 +0000

First I want to address the Brass Jags. I have been using the Tipton Ultra Jags which are nickel plated. With these you get absolutely no false traces of blue.

I’ve heard some good things about Bore-Tech elsewhere so I’ll probably give it a shot.

Comment on Cleaning – The end of a great day of shooting! by DAVID HEYWOOD

DAVID HEYWOOD — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:19:41 +0000

everybody ought to try WIPEOUT foam it easily removes carbon and copper, its brilliant, give it a try.

Comment on Introduction to Reloading – Cleaning your Brass by barrie magee

barrie magee — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:32:50 +0000

just a note: something that many do not mention is an after tumbling step that I have adopted. I deprime before tumbling, and after tumbling my cases I wash them. A shot of Simple Green in a small bucket (depending on “batch” size), swish em around with some warm to hot water, a couple rinses with cool to cold water, then I set them out to dry. Typically spread on a towel in a breeze, sometimes i rack them up in re-used 50 count plastic pistol ammo racks (like those found with factory bought ammo, with the “webs” of plastic at the bottoms for support while packaged for retail purposes). Why you may ask? To remove the significant amount of tumbler dust that remains inside those cases. I have read on a barrel makers site that many “shot out” barrels have a layer of red embedded in the bore metal, and is the likely cause of the resulting condition. It seems that typically this “example” is from a moderately used firearm, lots of practice, then hunted with, that was the impression from the story anyway. I can only imagine the results if competition barrels were examined more in this fashion. I can tell you from my own personal experience that not cleaning enough of this red dust off has worn out my (only) 10 yr old RCBS 357 mag carbide resize die (have not found reference yet of someone else doing this). I had found that many resized cartridges were not fitting into several chambers, and a simple switch to a new die made the difference. May not be earthshaking news to old hands, but for the new loader, especially one maybe reloading a short mag or other “hot” caliber, may help them extend the life of their purchase just a few rounds more. And I feel a good tidbit for them to know about, to think more than just about the shiny outside of those lovingly crafted handloads!

Comment on Introduction to Reloading – Cleaning your Brass by Robert Weikart

Robert Weikart — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:14:21 +0000

Great articles, keep them coming

Comment on Fellow Shooters by Jack MCann

Jack MCann — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:12:11 +0000

Bill, This last year several of us in the St Louis area have experimented with tumbling our dirty brass, about a hundred rounds at a time, with about a cupful of very small pieces of stainless steel and a mounded spoonful of dry soap and a small amount of liquid burnishing material. Water is added to this mixture until the brass is completely covered and then tumbled for 6 to 10 hours. When done, rinsed and dryed even very dirty brass looks like new, inside and out. There are some significant drawbacks with this process. The SS media is very expensive – so much so that it must be strained out and used again and again. Also, it must be tumbled for relatively long times. And finally it’s a real pain to get the media out of those cases that retain it. Each reloader has to determine for himself if this method is worth the effort. We have compared it to ultrasonic cleaning and we all agree that tumbling (as above) is far superior.

Comment on Introducing “Team Sinclair’s” Mason Parker; Junior F-T/R Champion by Matt Kubic

Matt Kubic — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:44:18 +0000

I have had the privilege of watching Mason grow up in competitive shooting. Not too long ago, he was a shy little kid following his dad around. He has grown up into a fine young man and one heck of a good shooter. A lot of credit goes to his father, Steve, who has done a great job coaching and mentoring Mason. Sinclair made a good call recruiting Mason. I’d have him on my team any day, and his father too.

Matt Kubic
Chattanooga, TN

Comment on Cleaning – The end of a great day of shooting! by Jack Marquis

Jack Marquis — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:19:11 +0000

Thanks for the info, will come in handy!!

Comment on Cleaning – The end of a great day of shooting! by George Liotta

George Liotta — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:06:49 +0000

I have been using Bore-Tech Eliminator for about a year now. I started using C4 carbon remover about two months ago and it is great stuff. I switched from Wipe-out, Patch-out and their Accelerator because I think B.T. Eliminator works faster. Especially now that they have C4 and when it is used before the Eliminator the Eliminator takes much less time. The only comment I have is im still waiting for some one to make a rod jag that is not brass, so bore solvent wont give the false blue reading on the patch from its reaction with the brass jag. I have talked to the Pro-Shot people about this also. I cannot believe no one has addressed this problem yet. I basically follow the same cleaning procedure that Rod does (common sense) but clean at the range before leaving for the day. I use a bullet coating WS2 (tungsten Disulphide) and IMHO Bore-Tech removes it from the inside of the barrel and prevents build-up in the throat which is also a plus in its favor. Centers

Comment on Introduction to Reloading – Cleaning your Brass by Dave Dodson

Dave Dodson — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:04:11 +0000

The last step I use in my brass prep is to before reloading polish the inside of the case neck with a bronze bore brush chucked up into a drill.

This will lend its self to a easier expender ball push over the case and more consistent neck tension on the bullet.