Ask ten handloaders how they prep brass and you will get ten answers, and most of them work. So we started asking people here to write down their own process exactly as they run it, and publishing what came back.
They agree on more than they disagree on. Everyone sizes, everyone trims, everyone cleans. Almost all of the daylight between them is about cleaning: when it happens, how many times, and with what.
- Deprime
- Clean
- Anneal
- Lube and size
- Trim, chamfer and deburr
- Clean again
- Prime
- Charge
- Seat
- Crimp, or do not
The Processes
A competitive shooter who preps one batch of brass and then loads it two different ways, depending on how far away the target is.
- Anneal
- Full-length size with a bushing die, expander ball removed
- Mandrel through the neck to set tension
- Small base die, body only
- Tumble in corn cob to clean and strip lube
- Trim and chamfer
- Prime on a bench-mounted tool
- Charge and seat, thrown on the progressive or weighed one at a time
The only process here that cleans just once, and close to last.
Read the full process
A bench loading everything from .17 Fireball up through straight-wall pistol, which is what pushed it into three separate tracks.
- Deprime on a single stage press
- Wet tumble with stainless pins, rinse and dry
- Anneal
- Lube and full-length size, expander ball set low
- Trim, and turn necks if the batch calls for it
- Ultrasonic clean to strip lube and shavings
- Bag until loading day
- Prime, charge and seat on a separate evening
New brass and straight-wall pistol each get their own shorter track, covered in the article.
Read the full process
Asked for his reloading process, an engineer here sent back a cleaning process. That is where the attention goes, and it is the most specified routine we have published.
- Vibratory tumble in walnut, only if the brass has earned it
- Full-length size and decap
- Ultrasonic at 140°F, 30 to 45 minutes
- Rotary in fresh solution, 15 to 20 minutes
- Back in the rotary with hand towels, 2 to 5 minutes
- Dehydrator, 30 to 45 minutes
Cleaning only, not a start-to-finish reload. Temperatures, dilution ratios and run times are spelled out at every stage.
Read the full processWhat They All Agree On
Almost nothing, and one thing exactly. Every process here cleans the brass after sizing, because every process here uses lube and lube has to come off before the ammunition gets loaded. Past that single point of contact, these are genuinely different benches.
All of them turn out good ammunition. That is worth remembering the next time somebody tells you there is one right way to do this.
More How-To Guides
From case prep to crimping, the RCBS Reloading Hub has you covered at every step of the process.
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