I received an email from Midway that I had some special "Birthday Deal" pricing available, so I looked over what they had for relaoding gear, and then ordered the Rock Chucker kit, and some accessories.
I bought three die kits, in 45ACP, 357 Magnum, and 30-30 Winchester, some "decapping pins", an internal/external deburring tool, and a primer pocket cleaner.
The total, with shipping and an NRA "Round Up" contribution, came to $430.
I'm sure I'll be spending more, as I'd like to get a digital scale, sets of dies for 30-06, 308, and 40S&W, and probably other things that I'm sure I'm going to need!
AND I'll need some case cleaning supplies, too.
What do you guys use for cleaning your cases? One of the tumbler/vibrator types with various media, or do you do the "wet" cleaning with commercial cleaning solutions like I've read about? I'd think the tumbler/vibrator types would be easier, as you don't have to worry about flushing out any chemicals from the cleaned cases, and then drying them.
So, I still haven't gone over the $600 self-imposed "limit" I told my sweet little wife I'd hold myself to.
And I'm studiously reading the "ABCs of Reloading", and the "Modern reloading" books I brought with me.
I doubt if I'll ever try to work up "special" or "match" loads on my own. I'd rather just stick with the published loads, and use this gear to get my shooting costs down to where I can go out more often. The ammo cost isn't a big factor now, but that could change at any time.
Hmm.....probably ought to start looking at getting some primers and powder, too......
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<i>The Fisher Saga</i> Continues - Act III -
Been working on this post since right after Thanksgiving. I'm making very good progress on the Fisher, and will most likely power it up...
You'll enjoy that one!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure my first few reloads will take more time than after I get some experience doing it.
ReplyDeleteSAFETY is the #1 priority in doing this, and the "ABCs" book stresses that over and over again, and includes of lot of DON'T DO THIS types of tips.
We have some 'down time' today, as we'll be on a 1700~2400 schedule for our final rehearsal, and I'm on a bit of "light duty" for the next few days as my right leg/hip heals, so I thought I'd take advantage and do some shopping for reloading stuff when the special deal from Midway popped up in my mailbox.
I can just see my buddy at where I get my stuff delivered rolling his eyes as he sees another box from Midway/Sportsman's/Cabelas come in!
I've taken him shooting a few times, and he really enjoys it, but, alas, his wife says "NO GUNS" in their house.
tumbler and corncob or walnut media. You'll thank yourself. Also Lee hand-priming tool to prime your cases. Faster than doing it on the press once you get the hang of it.
ReplyDeleteI have used a tumbler, but it's a bit messy and hard to clean up after - I always have pieces of corn cob in the primer hole. Last January, I caught a Hornady ultrasonic on sale for about 25% off and bought that. I ended up re-cleaning all the tumbled brass in the ultrasonic. I have more of a problem with cases nesting in the tumbler, than in the ultrasonic. Obviously if you only tumble one size case that's not happening. Overall, it seems cleaning is easier in the ultrasonic. Also, use the deprimer to pop those out before you use either method.
ReplyDeleteYep, the books say to always remove the primer first. That's probably one of the first things I do after I get back on dry land, and pick up the gear from my buddies place.
ReplyDeleteDoes Hornady sell a cleaning solution, or do you make your own? And do you flush the cases with distilled water or isopropyl alcohol after you use the cleaning solution?
I'm *sure* I could convince the wife that an ultrasonic cleaner would be a good buy. After all, she could also use it to clean her jewelery!
I have a tumbler I picked up at Horror Freight, got it cheap enough. I use it on bulk range brass. All my "match" stuff gets a round in the Horror Freight ultrasonic cleaner before lubing. Cases will get nested, but I'm too lazy to sort my brass beforehand when it still has "range crud" all over it.
ReplyDeleteAll my rifle cases get tumbled after loading to remove any residual case lube. Little bit of ground walnut makes 'em purty and keeps 'em from being sticky or gumming up the chamber.
I occasionally have media get stuck in the flash hole, I found that after I sift the cases out of the tumbling media, I'll run them through the tumbler again with no media, for about 30 seconds. This knocks most of the media out of the cases. Any media that doesn't come out after that is usually pushed out of the way by the decapping pin.
Tip of the day- RCBS decapping pins are really great at breaking when depriming PMC 5.56 and other cases that have crimped in primers. This is where I like a dedicated decapping die instead of the all-in-one decap/sizing die, but hopefully you'll have much better luck than me with this, or you'll just ignore brass with the crimped primer pockets.