Imperial Resizing Wax works great at keeping your brass from getting stuck in your dies.
Imperial Resizing Wax doesn’t want to come off your brass unless it is onto a clean white dress shirt.
Purple Power degreaser on a paper towel takes off the wax.
Removing Imperial Resizing Wax from 100 cases makes my fingers cramp.
Dawn Dish soap does not remove Imperial Resizing Wax in the wet tumbler.
LimiShine does not remove Imperial Resizing Wax in the wet tumbler.
Dawn Dish soap plus LimiShine does not remove Imperial Resizing Wax in the wet tumbler.
(It leaves the cases covered in wax AND all the gunk cleaned from the inside of the brass. UGLY)
Purple Power at about 10-20% solution will remove Imperial Resizing Wax from cases!
Using Purple Power after Dawn and LemiShine leaves the brass clean but dull.
Using Purple Power first, with no media, strips the Imperial Wax off
Finishing with a run of Dawn Dish soap followed by a run with just LimiShine leaves a beautiful, like new finish.
Purple Power is cheap when you buy it in bulk, it is ok to use it to clean brass.
The size of a flash hole is nominally 1/16 in, or 0.061.
If the hole is smaller than 0.070 inches, your decapping pin might not go into the hole and if you add too much pressure, it will break.
McJ Tools sells bulk decapping pins, which are nicer than anything I’ve seen from the “Names”.
The decapping pin in the Frankford hand decapping tool is the same as the pin used in Lee dies.
The decapping pins of a Redding die will get stuck in flash holes smaller than 1/16 in.
McJ Tools makes a tool for normalizing flash holes to 0.070 inches.
Some brass has a thicker web between the case and the primer pocket than others.
The McJ Tool flash hole normalizer does not cut as deeply as the web of some brass.
McJ Tool makes a primer pocket normalizer tool to cut the primer pocket to size and depth.
The McJ Tool pocket normalizer does not remove military crimps.
A normal-sized primer pocket is just a little too small for some #41 primers.
The Layman EZ trim tool is fast and easy to use. I trimmed 300–500 pieces of brass in an evening with it.
The Layman EZ trim tool uses the case hold down system I had designed for my drill press/milling machine adapter to trim cases.
Wet tumbling your brass can cause the necks to close up slightly.
Redding neck lube works wonderfully when resizing the necks of cases.
The RCBS swagging dies create perfect primer pockets that can be primed easily.
A depth of cut of 0.050 on a 3/8in boring bar in 6061 will deflect. Spring passes are required.
Having the wrong tool height on a boring bar can cause excess loading.
Using a Lee turret press with auto advance is really nice when it can be used. The four positions are: Neck sizing, through die powder charge, bullet seating die, and empty.
It takes almost the same amount of time from pouring powder to being ready for more powder as it takes the auto charge machine to throw the next charge, accurate to 0.1grains.
If you have good ladder sights, 45-70 can travel a long distance, accurately.
Comments
9 responses to “Things You Learn (while reloading)”
Hornady One Shot Spray Lube works well for case sizing and there is no messy cleanup.
After resizing you can run the cases through a tumbler if you want to really have clean brass to use but it isn’t really required.
Follow the directions and let the spray dry for about 30 seconds before resizing and you are good to go.
Align the cases so the neck is facing you and get a little spray inside. Helps the expander ball do its job.
I spray 20 to 50 cases at a time.
Being a lazy guy this works for me.
I have some replacement carbide expander buttons for my RCBS dies that were sold by Hornady. They eliminate the need to lube inside case necks. Don’t know what’s available these days.
Some trivia (from their website)–
” RCBS was founded in 1943 by Fred T. Huntington in Oroville, California. Huntington was a dedicated shooter, but found it difficult to obtain quality varmint bullets. However, after reading about making a die to swage .22 rimfire cartridge cases to form jackets for bullets, he began to craft his own dies in the back room of his father’s Oroville laundry and dry-cleaning business. Because the resulting bullets were used to shoot rock chucks – a varmint of Western North America – he named them Rock Chuck Bullet Swage dies, later shortened to RCBS.
These read like Murphey’s Laws and I cackled, thanks for the tip about MCJ Tools I always seem to snap a pin rriiiiigghhhtttt when I only had a handful of rounds left for the perfect loading.
“Redding neck lube works wonderfully when resizing the necks of cases.”
I first read “Redneck lube” and was afraid to ask.
“redneck lube” is just another name for WD40, as in the redneck tool kit of duct tape and WD40.
Do not use WD40 as a case lube..ever..You are guaranteed to stick a case
Slow Joe Crow was just translating a phrase , not recommending it
Yep, I use RCBS spray lube for cases. I don’t actually use WD40 as lubricant for anything, just for cleaning and light rust protection.
A bit of trivia. WD-40 was invented in 1953. So was I. WD stands for “water displacement”. 40 stands for attempt number 40 which finally worked the way they wanted. It was never patented to keep that formula secret. Obviously it has served long and well. Long ago I used it too, but found that when it sat on any surface for a length of time (like stored guns), it becomes tacky and attracts dust. I have since switched to this stuff–
https://www.amazon.com/CRC-05005-Power-Lube-Multi-Purpose-Lubricant/dp/B000BXMF8Q/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2DVTT3NKY1YRY&keywords=crc%2Bpower%2Blube&qid=1703261249&sprefix=crc%2Bpower%2Blube%2Caps%2C135&sr=8-1&th=1
If you use a vibratory polisher with crushed walnut shells, stop buying the media from the gun aisle/store. Instead go to Petco or other pet store and ask for “lizard litter”. Not kidding. Same stuff at 1/3 the cost and double the volume. If you really want to pretty up your brass, add some “NuFinish” car polish.