? Most hated job in reloading ?

[sargenv]

Swaging Mil primer pockets for 5.56 and 7.62/51. I assume 7.62/39 would suck too but I don't have one of those.. Trimming isn't so bad.. Dillon trimmer on a 650 is pretty simple and nearly automatic.. It's almost worth having a 1050 with the primer pocket swager for 223/5.56.. almost, but not quite.

[Freightman]

...looking for dropped primers!
It's not that I'm cheap...OK, that too . It's mainly because you can't buy any.

Mark

How true! used to leave them and sweep them up with the trash not now.

[BlueSmoke]

I Hate cleaning primer pockets after de-capping.

I tried tumbling after de-capping, but then I hate cleaning flash holes of the media.

Regards,

BlueSmoke

[housedad]

Try a nice dirty bucket of 380, 9x18, 9x19 and 38 supers. Every single headstamp has to be eyeballed.

Prepping military brass for reloading has to be it. I've only done a little but I can imagine doing thousands of 5.56.

Sorting. Yes. That is a royal pain. I can tell you stories..... tons (literally) of them.

[303Guy]

Ummm... There has been mention of Brass Prepping - what's that?

All I do is replace the primer, size the neck, put in some powder and a bullet - done! (I do clean the primer pockets enough to seat the primers flush).

Say, you folks should try casting bullets in one of my experimental moulds! Heat mould, cast, let cool, cut sprew, eject bullet, seat new gas check without burning fingers, reheat mould ..... I get about five done in an evening!

[Newtire]

Looks like case trimming wins. So what's the solution?

I was having a helleckuva time with deburring all the .256 Win. cases I had trimmed after forming them out of .357 magnum cases and annealing them etc. After looking at the pan-full of cases with big gnarly mushroom burrs on them, it seemed the logical thing to do was to first make sure the case neck wasn't distorted so I put one up into the full length sizer. When I pulled it out, not only was the case round, most of the burr was shaved off like a little gold collar down on the shoulder. Just a flick of the de-burr tool and the case was done.

The other thing is, get a power attachment for your trimmer to get the cutter moving at a speed fast enough to make smoother cuts.

My worst part of the reloading process? Having to stop to go to bed at night I guess or running out of a component.

[standles]

Ok WOW i got way more response than I thought I would.

Above all it seems brass prep is the of the group
While the eintire gamut seems to be the problem more often it was trimming either to OAL or for coversion to other cartridges.

Although Anealing seemed to pop up to :takinWiz: folks off as well

I saw one gas check thing and I agree on that point as well.


O nthe aspect of trimming to OAL, besides price what is the downfall of a Dillion or Dillon like trimmer that mounts on the press?

Also does anyone have suggestion on possible solutions to the above items?

Steven

[Nora]

Besides brass prep does cleaning your guns after a range trip count?

I'm going to say yes. And change my answer to cleaning lead fouling out of the barrel. Double YUK!

[hedgehorn]

Trimming cases is the least pleasant part for me.

[Shiloh]

As stated many times, brass prep applications.

Shiloh

[Bret4207]

I hate sizing. Hate, hate, hate it. I hate brass prep too, but that's a once in a while thing. I hate sizing and I hate GC's but I need the stupid things on some boolits. I'm also not crazy about slugging and I'd also include inspecting boolits, but I'm too anal to NOT do it.

My most hated job is turning out 3-400 each of something like the Fat 30 and RCBS 180FN and absentmindedly dumping 6-800 boolits on the same blanket as I make them. Then, not only do I get to inspect the boolits, I get to try and figure out if it's a Fat 30 or an RCBS. DUMB!

[mpmarty]

I don't know that any part of the process is repugnant to me. Trimming rifle cases is a snap and a pleasure. I use a Lee trimmer with the cutter chucked up in a DeWalt 18Volt drill on the bench. Put the case in the little holder and slide it onto the spinning cutter. Voila! In less than a second the job is done. A quick spin inside and out with the deburring tool and grab the next case. On the 45/70s most of the cases don't even need trimming for dozens of loadings. 7.62X51 is good for about six or seven reloads between trimming. Sizing wax on the fingers is good but I use Q-tip for inside neck lubing with STP. After sizing / depriming cases go back into one of the vibrator case cleaners for an hour or so to remove excess lube / wax and then it's time to check flash holes for media and sit down with my hand priming tool and boxes of primers. I enjoy every aspect from scrounging lead to chronograph use to measure my results.

[yodar]

...looking for dropped primers!
It's not that I'm cheap...OK, that too . It's mainly because you can't buy any.

Mark

At 45 bux a box for primers I GOTTA get the dropped ones , and Yeah ! It's no fun getting down for dropped ones

These old knees don't bend 100 per cent any more (but with 100% PAIN!) and I hafta have help to get up and I live alone ! ;>(

I am going to put some double sided tape on the end of a cane and get Back to work


YODAR

[captaint]

Trimming brass and doing primer pockets. it's gratifying, it just isn't fun. Mike

[Rusty Shackleford]

Trimming brass is the worst.

[geargnasher]

Ok WOW i got way more response than I thought I would.

Above all it seems brass prep is the of the group
While the eintire gamut seems to be the problem more often it was trimming either to OAL or for coversion to other cartridges.

Although Anealing seemed to pop up to :takinWiz: folks off as well

I saw one gas check thing and I agree on that point as well.


O nthe aspect of trimming to OAL, besides price what is the downfall of a Dillion or Dillon like trimmer that mounts on the press?

Also does anyone have suggestion on possible solutions to the above items?

Steven

I usually load 100 or less at any one sitting and enjoy just about every part of the process of casting and reloading. I can see how certain aspects (triming, swaging pockets, turning necks, checking boolits, etc) could be a pain if you do, say, 2,000 or more at a time. Stuff like sorting huge amounts of scrounged pistol range brass and culling through rifle boolits I save for those cold (or super-hot) days when I'm feeling puny and need a nice, easy, living-room project.

As for trimming cases, I use the Lee trimmers for everything I own (8 calibers) and do them all the same way IN A DRILL PRESS. Chuck the spindle in the press and fit the shellholder in a hole in a block of wood clamped to the platform. Takes about as long as seating boolits on a single-stage, zip, zip, zip, DONE. I don't know about any of those fancy power trimmers, never did any research on them because my $2 Lee trimmers in my $225 drill press work great for me. Also works for hollow-pointing when used in conjunction with a dial indicator for runout and a custom-ground drill bit stuck in a board.

One thing I do absolutely dread is getting my !@#*&^%$*#%$%@#-ing rcbs powder measure to throw the charge I want. Takes me longer to set it up than any other part of the reloading process. I am sick of it and want something better. Anyone have a recommendation for an accurate powder measure that WORKS? I'm willing to buy one of those Lyman automated piggyback units if that's what it takes, but had rather have a volume-type metering device that humans can acually set up in less than an hour that can handle extruded powders and pistol charges down to 3.0 grains.

Gear

[6.5 mike]

It's got to be case trimming for me. Got some I need to do but keep putting it off.
Otherwise I really do'nt mind any of it. Have to case form for 2 t/c bbls, just figure it's part of the process.
I must be lucky, my rcbs measure throws good loads & adjusts easy, or maybe it's be cus I 've used it since 73, & am so used to it I wouldn't know any better.

[Marlin Junky]

Do you guys that hate trimming brass so much use neck sizing dies at all?

MJ

[rockrat]

I think either trimming brass or sizing boolits when I use GC's. PB aren't so bad. Maybe I won't mind GC's once I get my used Star up and running.

[357maximum]

...looking for dropped primers!
It's not that I'm cheap...OK, that too . It's mainly because you can't buy any.

Mark

Just make sure you do not pick up a LP primer thinking it is a LR primer and then put it into a HV Jword load in a 7mm/08................ask me how I know.

I now keep my floor spotless and I keep the black/deformed
casing from the load that took the "3rings of steel" to task on that remmy glued to the wall above my bench. The rem 700 ALMOST went unscathed. I still do not know where the small chunk of the collar that acts as the extractor ended up, but alot of "STUFF" hit my cheek. Primers are cheap compared to ones eyesight.

My least favorite handloading "chore" is case trimming when crunching Mil 06 into 7.65X53 even though I get them real close via redneckineering with a tubing cutter. Not too fond of primer pocket decrimping either now that I think about it. I really need to replace my RCBS system with Dillons.