Case Prep Questions

[cmm5350]

So I will be getting my Dillon 450 upgraded to 550 B tomorrow and I have a few questions along with some other questions that hopefully some of you great folks will help me out with.

1st what kind of case prep do you do before starting to load on the dillon press. I have a single stag press I've been using for a few years now to get into reloading and in my mind I will resize and de-prime on the single stage press, then send the brass to the ultra sonic wash then let out to dry before reloading.

Now this idea poses a few problems to me. First what is the point of the 1st station on the dillon press if I've already resized and deprimed? Also since the 3rd and 4th stations are seating and then crimping, yet my rcbs die does these in the same step Im left thinking I will really only be using 2 stations on this press. (Kind of wondering if the dillon was neccassary now).

2nd how does everyone effectively clean their primer pockets in their ultrasonic cleaners if they have one? For some reason the cleaner doesn't seem to do a bang up job on the primer pockets and they still look black. This causes the primer to go in a bit rough about 50% of the time.

I will be the first to admit I am lazy when it comes to record keeping with my brass. I pick up range brass all the time, I am always reloading mixed head stamps with no record as to how many time the brass has been reloaded. My thought process is if I can make a bullet I can shoot a bullet.

My buddy and I shoot IDPA and practice 2-3 times a week plus 1 match a week usually. This requires a lot of ammo. We are both still younger men trying to get our lives in order but spend all the spare money we have on reloading. We barely scrap together enough money to get components together each month. So any advice for the above questions that don't require extra money is best.

So here is a quick summary:
1. What case prep process before loading on a progressive press?

2. what solution/mixture to get brass cleaner in an ultrasonic and how long do you leave your brass in for?

 

[wrench]

1. Pick up brass off the ground.
2. Sort out brass by caliber.
3. Clean in a vibratory tumbler with corn cob with a touch of cleaner added.
4. Load in the Dillon.

If you want to use your ultrasonic cleaner, just substitute for #3 and let it dry.
Clean primer pockets are not necessary in my opinion.

 

[cmm5350]

1. Pick up brass off the ground.
2. Sort out brass by caliber.
3. Clean in a vibratory tumbler with corn cob with a touch of cleaner added.
4. Load in the Dillon.

If you want to use your ultrasonic cleaner, just substitute for #3 and let it dry.
Clean primer pockets are not necessary in my opinion.

I never thought that it made a huge deal myself either. But my last couple hundred rounds pushing the primers into some of them was a little scary to say the least. I am now even more worried about how much pressure it takes on the press and the possibility of an inline primer explosion tower.

 

[OKFC05]

I am now even more worried about how much pressure it takes on the press and the possibility of an inline primer explosion tower.

That is not a problem on a Dillon, so find something else to worry about. If you did manage to fire the primer you are loading, it is physically moved away from the primer feed so it cannot possibly fire them all.
I have never had a Dillon fire a primer, including a few primers that I mistakenly crushed trying to put them into a crimped primer pocket. You DO need to sort out the crimped military cases and process them separately, or just trash them.

The separate stations are superior to seating and crimping in one operation. I use Dillon dies for Dillon progressive presses because of the added taper in the mouths, and suggest that is a better way to spend your money than the ultrasonic case cleaner for straight-walled pistol ammo.

 

[H Richard]

I've loaded on a 550 for over 25 years, and except for very precision loads, I don't clean pistol primer pockets. wrench's 1,2,3,4 is the same way I do it. For really precision loads for Bullseye competition I handle different.
1 pick up brass
2 clean in vibrator cleaner with a touch of brass polish, and sort by headstamp.
3 decap on single stage
4 clean primer pockets
5 measure case length
6 trim and de-burr those that need it
7 load on Dillon, with a separate crimp die in place.

Yes, it does make a difference.

 

[cmm5350]

Do you guys clean the brass at all or just pick up brass and run it through the dillon until you have a bullet again?

 

[OKFC05]

Do you guys clean the brass at all or just pick up brass and run it through the dillon until you have a bullet again?

Unless they fell into mud, which requires water cleaning, I simply use a vibratory cleaner loaded with walnut hull and a touch of polish. They need to be clean of grit and grease from firing. Carbide residue from firing is hard and very abrasive.

I usually run an hour or less, as I don't really care how shiny they get.

 

[cmm5350]

Unless they fell into mud, which requires water cleaning, I simply use a vibratory cleaner loaded with walnut hull and a touch of polish. They need to be clean of grit and grease from firing. Carbide residue from firing is hard and very abrasive.

I usually run an hour or less, as I don't really care how shiny they get.

How do you get the medium out of the primer pockets then? That is really annoying.

 

[Black_Sheep]

How do you get the medium out of the primer pockets then? That is really annoying.

I am probably doing it wrong but I run my brass through the tumbler prior to resizing/depriming. That way the brass is clean and free of debris that could potentially accelerate wear on the sizing die. It also prevents getting media stuck in the flash hole. I have never prepped the primer pockets of commercial brass, crimped military brass is a whole different story. I have also never trimmed any straight walled handgun brass either.

 

[Aticus]

How do you get the medium out of the primer pockets then? That is really annoying.

I poke it out with a tooth pick. I use a Lyman universal decapping die before I tumble my brass. Most of the time the primer pockets are clean enough to use after tumbling. I also have RCBS primer pocket cleaning brushes that I can chuck into a cordless drill and clean the pockets quickly. The media I punch out with a pick or the resizing die.

 

[venomballistics]

ok .. you have a few points of confusion going on
Youve already sized your brass and probably belled the mouths as well ... no problem .. remove the size die.
you have an RCBS die that both seats and crimps in one operation .... that works a lot of the time however it is better to back off that die a little so that it just seats and then pick up a second die such as a lee factory crimp die and do these things in separate steps.
the results become more consistent that way.
seating is about moving the bullet into the case .. crimping is to stop that movement .. sometimes they fight each other to frustrating ends

 

[TAROMAN]

I use lizard bedding (ground walnut) from the pet store in my tumbler.
Cheap and NEVER had a single bit of it plug a primer hole/pocket.

 

[Roadranger]

I've been reloading on a 550 for the last 20 years and have loaded over 100,000 rounds. I have used every method mentioned so far, for different applications and calibers. The original thread did not mention what caliber to be loaded, but I assume it's a handgun round. Certainly, sorting brass is recommended, but have to admit that since I often have 5 gallon buckets of brass, that does not always happen. Just sorting for caliber is hard enough. I usually tumble my brass over night in my concrete mixer with ground corn cob and often Brasso or one of the commercial polishes such as Midway's. Station one resizes and primes, station 2 flares the case mouth and drops the powder, station 3 seats the bullet, and station 4 crimps. Step 3 & 4 need to be separated. I assume you are using Dillon's powder measure. I just completed a run of 300 .357 Magnums for client for accuracy shooting. I used the dillon to resize each nickel case and then I tumbled them in the corn cob, but this time I used Turtle Wax chrome polish in the mix. After tumbling, I hand primed the brass with a Lee tool using Federal Match primers, and then loaded them in the Dillon in the usual manner with the resizing die removed. I use the same method for rifle calibers, even the 338 Lapua. I could almost write a book on loading with the 550. Yes I often use Lee dies and their Auto Pro measure as well. Bob!!

 

[m657]

I've never had any primer pockets filled with stuff, as the tumbling/cleaning occurs prior to Station 1 decap/sizing.

Before I wised up & got a 'media separator' and working from the blessings of an old fashioned single stage reloader guy, up till then I used a metal-grid frier basket with a handle, shaken vigorously to jostle all the cases about until all the grit fell out...worked pretty well for a quarter, which is what it cost at a junk store.

Then I upgraded to a stainless steel 10" cooking pot with a handle and spiffy strainer holes neatly in the bottom.....neater looking but not as efficient as the all-wire french fryer basket.

Finally got a Dillon 'media cleaner' about 20 years ago, and that works fine.

Also be aware of how easy it is to separate cases buy using the multi-color-coded pans. They take a TON of effort out of separating the major stuff. Well worth the cost IMHO.

And know IF NECESSARY you can use your 450 as a single stage press. I used mine for over 20 years, including upgrade to the 550 mods. They didn't have the case feeder then, but I finally sold my 550 for a huge down payment on a 650.

I like the 5 stage progressive design. One I learned how to run it and keep it tuned up, it kicks out an astonishing amount of ammo in a very short time frame.

Cheers on your project....'so many calibers.....so little time'...

PS: I came to learn, eventually, that Dillon dies actually work better in the Dillon press, than the other kinds I had accumulated along the way.

 

[fredj338]

One reason I am not big on wet cleaning, just adds another step to the progressive process & all for little gain. I do not prep handgun cases in anyway. Tumble clean, load & shoot, repeat. For rifle rounds loaded on the Dillon, there is an initial case prep of sizing & primer pocket swaging, after that, tumble clean, load, shoot, repeat. I only prep rifle brass once.
NTW, Brasso or other ammonia based polishes should never be used for cartridge brass. It makes it brittle ove time. The point of cleaning brass at all is to not put dirty brass thru your sizer. Clean first, then size & decap.
I know it is possible to have a primer detonate, have read about it, but in more than 25yrs reloading on a 550 & 650, maybe 250K rounds, it's never happened to me.

 

[H Richard]

I only know of one primer detonation in a Dillon. Knowing the individual, he was probably trying to set a speed record loading. Unfortunately, he had his index finger of this left hand over the top of the primer tube when it went off, and the entire stack of primers went off and totally penetrated his finger.

 

[OKFC05]

How do you get the medium out of the primer pockets then? That is really annoying.

Don't decap until after tumbling. You should not be running gritty brass through your decap/sizer die anyway.

Clean the pistol brass, then run it all the way through the Dillon, then go shoot it. Simple.

 

[OKFC05]

I only know of one primer detonation in a Dillon. Knowing the individual, he was probably trying to set a speed record loading. Unfortunately, he had his index finger of this left hand over the top of the primer tube when it went off, and the entire stack of primers went off and totally penetrated his finger.

I bet he had a jam at the bottom of the feed tube, and was trying to "force it clear" which is why his finger was on the feed tube. If he had set a primer off under the empty case, it would not have set off the whole stack.

The correct way to clear a primer jam at the bottom of the feed tube is to remove the primer assembly (3 screws), NOT put your finger on the primer weight rod to force the primers down and whale away on the lever.

99% of primer feed jams are caused by damaged or worn out plastic lips on the feed tube. They are easily replaceable.