I'm just an old school reloader

[BigBill]

I was taught how to reload by an old timer. But now with my two lee pro 1000 progressive presses i'm still old school.

1st. I polish the brass first with the corn media
2nd. Then I decap the brass.
3rd. I resize the brass
4th. I clean out the primer pocket
5th I polish it again with the walnut media and brass polish
6th I prime the brass by hand.

7th I use the progressive press to load the powder charge and seat the bullets. The progessive presses really speed up the assembly.

I just ordered a lee master loader progressive press setup for 308win. And a LEE turret press to do my other calibers.

Besides the lee progressive presses i have two rcbs rockchuckers and two of the smaller lee presses.

To me i have to clean out the primer pocket i guess i'm old school that way. I may step up now that i have 6k of 45acp to reload. I might try decapping and resizing it in the lee pro 1000.

 

[Revolver-time]

I am pretty old school also. In my Lee Pro 1000, I screw in the decapping and resizing die and decap 100 cases. Then I reprime them with a Lee hand primer. After that, I remove that die and use the presss to load the powder and seat the bullet.

At times I just use the press as it was intended and it turns out first quality ammo. The Lee Pro 1000 has made me at least 100 rounds a week for the past six years or so.

My other reloader is a Lee Load All for my 12gauge trap loads. It is about as basic as can be bought but still produces 50 rounds per week.

Many of my shooting friends own higher dollar reloading rigs but I get along quite nicely with Lee stuff.

 

[olskool]

i am olskool, just look at my name. i started loading at the age of 10 years old that was in 1967 today i have a reloading house heat and a/c i use old equipment, i have 2 rcbs 2a presses made from 1959-1963 i think. and a rcbs a2 that was made in 68 and one rcbs r/c press from 73. my measures are vintage belding mull i have 2 of them and 4 rcbs uniflows one is factory grey like the a2 presses. and a whole lot of of other stuff. i am a ol time high tech redneck.

 

[Maximumbob54]

I prefer to use a universal decapper on the cases before I clean them. I'm going to also add a soak in citric acid after I pop out the spent primers but I don't yet do that. But I will continue to use Drillspot.com's bulk corn cob blast media in the 14/20 size in the tumbler with a small squirt of NuFinish added to the fresh media. The citric acid will remove the bulk of the nasty whatever from the brass and it's supposed to passivate the brass. Then the pockets will get cleaned some by the citric acid and cleaned some more in the tumbler. The NuFinish leaves a thin coating of polish on the cases that seals them nicely against corrosion and also makes the friction on the dies just a little less. Drillspot does free shipping to your door, Wal-Mart or K-Mart have big bottles of NuFinish for cheap, the 14/20 corn cob is tiny enough to almost never clog flash holes, and farm supply stores carry citric acid fairly cheap. And the end result is less time touching and handling each case, the cases look like gold, and they don't tarnish as bad as before. Win, win for you and your brass.

 

[walnutred]

I consider myself old school but not obsessive compulsive. I still work up loads on the Lyman Turret press I started using in the early 1970s. However for pistol calibers once I have a load developed I switch to a Dillon 450. I do not deprime before I tumble because the old primer keeps tumbling media from getting in the flash hole. What I consider varmint loads are done on a single stage O press though.

 

[old&slow]

I'm old and I've been reloading since the late 60's / early 70's.
I clean all brass before reloading. Rifle stuff takes a lot longer because of the trimming etc.
I've been using a Dillon 550 since the mid to late 80's and have all my pistol and some rifles set up on the 550.
I probably average about 300 rds. an hour on it. And have reloaded tens of thousands of rounds on the Dillon.
The rifle calibers I don't have set up on the Dillon I use a RCBS rock crusher.
I have a Mec Jr. and a Mec grabber for shotgun. But, with the price of shot shells the last several years I just buy them by the case when they are on sell.
If you shoot two or three hundred rounds a year, a single stage is great and costs less.. If you shoot two or three hundred
a week, a progressive is the only way to go.

 

[SMSgt]

I gave up cleaning primer pockets years ago. It hasn't seemed to make a difference dirty or clean.

I still use my Herter's single stage press. That's old school.

 

[jazzman452]

I have been using a Lee hand primer for a few years but I would like to give my hands a rest . Anyone using the RCBS bench priming tool, I am thinking of giving it a try.

Jim

 

[USBP SW]

I suspect there are a lot of us out there that consider ourselves to be "old school". I started loading in the mid sixties at the corner grocery store, on a counter, in the corner by the canned food shelves. The grocer was by far one of the finest individuals I have ever met. Although my memories of weighing each charge on an undamped scale are somewhat troubling. I did progress rapidly (The first thing I bought was a damped scale) but still regularly use my Belding and Mull powder measure and my press is single stage. Regarding the Lee hand priming tool, I always use it because being "Old School", I like to have the "feel" when seating primers. I have a bench mounted Lachmiller but I never use it. I take great pride in my reloads, which include my own cast bullets. I have quite a few factory loaded rounds in various calibers but nearly always shoot my own reloads.

Good shooting,
Steve

 

[ArchAngelCD]

1st. I polish the brass first with the corn media
2nd. Then I decap the brass.
3rd. I resize the brass
4th. I clean out the primer pocket
5th I polish it again with the walnut media and brass polish
6th I prime the brass by hand.

On a different note I think you have the cleaning media backwards. IMO the rougher walnut shell media will clean better first and the finer corncob media will do a better jib of polishing the brass. Just a thought...

 

[Jeff423]

I'm just a "New School" reloader

2 hrs. in the tumbler

10 - 15 Sec. with "Marshall' Dillon - GTG

Jeff

 

[Old 44 Guy]

I am joining you older gentlemen. I started reloading in 1954 for my 30-30 Win. Progressed thru Lyman, Herters,Pacific & RCBS presses. Still have most of them & use them. My wrists are about done due to 3 operations for Carpal tunnel surgerys so bought a Hornaday electric powered chamfer brush & case neck cleaner, Sure works great. Only 90 bucks fron Grafs & saves my wrists a lot. Herters was a good outfit when I was a kid, Bought a bunch of their dies & still using them.I load for a bunch of old calibers, 35 Win., 30-40. 308 Win. 25-20, 243 Win. 300 savage, 30-06, 444 Marlin, 32 S&W Long, etc. Just a few thoughts to qualify as an old reloader. Merry Christmas to all. Dick

 

[Beans]

I started reloading in 1970 when I retired from the USMC. Old school??

I started out on a RCBS Single stage, which is still in use and then progressed to the following presses in the order I aquired them.

I have owned and used A Star press ( long gone), a Phellps press (long gone), a Lyman Star "T" press (still in use) and then onward with the Dillons.

When I am in the "Handloader" mode, the RCBS and the Star "T" are the presses that I use.

When I am in the "Reloader" mode the Dillons are used.

"Handloader" mode. this is used for target ammo, rifle and pistol.

Every brass is seperated by headstamp, tumbled, primer pocket cleaned, flashholes uniformed, case length checked and trimed for uniformity, case mouths champered, cases weighted, each powder charge is weighted, every bullet is weighted and seperated into respective batches. The loaded round is checked for OAL, and run out. All the brass is also seprated by the number of times used.

'Reloader mode" which is only used for handgun ammo
for plinking, IDPA CAS ETC

I use range pick up brass, they are tumbled, inspected for splits, then dumped into the auto filler, powder change checked, a box of lead bullets opened if I purchased them, the ammo can opened if I cast them,
The handle gets pulled and the home based ammo factory begins

 

[sheriffoconee]

I have been using a Lee hand primer for a few years but I would like to give my hands a rest . Anyone using the RCBS bench priming tool, I am thinking of giving it a try.

Jim

YES, and I outta throw my Lee hand primer in the trash...I need to get some more pick up tubes for the primers, I just have one small and one large, but I love my bench priming tool...works exactly as advertised...