and subsequent binding of the press when it builds up enough.
A different problem comes up with the .44 Magnum if you are reloading maximum loads on a progressive press. The cases can be so difficult to resize that you can’t help but jerk the press around, and you practically stand on the handle to get each resized. If you are going to load right to the redline in the .44 Magnum (and other, even more robust rounds, like the 454 Casull), you might consider a separate, single-stage press. Use the single-stage press, with the longest handle that will fit, as a sizing-only station. Long leverage, and no need to worry about seating bullets or dispensing powder, can make the task easier. Once sized, then you can feed the cases into your progressive reloader for smoother, more consistent loading.
Your loading speed can be quite dependant on the caliber you are loading and the performance you expect out of it. Don’t be thrown off by your buddies and their “I can load X number of rounds an hour.” They are probably exaggerating an estimate and haven’t a clue. What matters is that your ammo all works, safely, and performs in the manner you intend.
Why detail this? Simple:
BRASS LIFE
“How long will my brass last?” Good question. And as with so many questions in life, the answer starts out with, “It depends.” First off, is it brass with a reputation for fragility? The cowboy .38-40 and .44-40 cases are classic examples where a slight dent on the case mouth (in some production batches) can damage a case so much it won’t reload at all. So, treat them gently.
Other cases are indestructible, the .45 ACP being one of them. It is large and easy to handle. It is sturdy and operates at a low pressure. I have .45 ACP cases on hand that have been reloaded so many times that you can’t read the headstamp from the battering the ejector delivers on each shot.
Pressure also matters. The higher the pressure, the more the case is worked and the shorter its useful life. The match between chamber size and re-sizing die size also matters. If the chamber is too big, and the sizing die is at the bottom end of the allowable specs, the case will be over-expanded and then sized down past the average. That works it even more, shortening its useful life.
In a test that is still relevant to this day, one of the writers of Guns & Ammo reloaded some .38 Special cases to see how long they’d last. It was the common target load of a 148 grain wadcutter and 2.7 grains of Bullseye, with the dies adjusted to work the case as little as possible while still providing proper ammo function. After a dozen loadings with no change, he gave up on the batch and simply loaded a single case over and over. 144 loadings later, he finally noticed a tiny crack in the case mouth.
The more careful you are to treat your brass gently, and the more you avoid brass-busting pressures, the longer your brass will last.
When you handle brass, get in the habit of “jingling” each handful. Learn the sound of good brass, and the sound of cracked brass.
To get the brass and media separated, get a five-gallon bucket and the screen that came with your tumbler.
Take the top off the tumbler, and put the screen on it.
Put the five-gallon bucket on the screen.
Turn the whole thing over, and shake or even turn on the tumbler. (Hold it in place, lest it vibrate off and break.)
If you stay within the proper limits, most cases will last a dozen loadings or more, which makes the per-shot cost of the brass cases, if you had to buy them to start with, just about nothing. And if you get brass free, or find it at the range, so much the better.
LUCKY HANDGUN LOADERS
In reloading handgun ammunition, you get a pass from some of the more onerous things that rifle reloaders have to do. Primary among them is trimming. I know rifle reloaders who keep brass sorted by batch, and who painstakingly measure the length of the fired brass and track it until they have to trim it to length.
Others just fire up a power trimmer and trim it all, every time. If the brass is still below maximum allowable length, then the trimmer doesn’t trim, but it gets a whack at every piece of brass, every time.
Unless you are loading the real high-pressure brutes, and loading them to the maximum performance they deliver, you do not trim. As I’ve said before, trimming handgun brass for the vast majority of reloaders is a colossal waste of time.
Take the tumbler off, and your brass is in the screen, media in the bucket, and ready for the next step.
Spray glass cleaner into the now-empty tumbler.
Use a new paper towel to wipe the tumbler.
The paper towel will come out green from brass, and black from lead. Toss it. Wash your hands.
You can use ground corn cobs or even rice as a tumbling medium. Lyman makes corn cobs with polishing goop already mixed in.
How much so? A long time ago I got curious about the headspacing of the .45 ACP in 1911 pistols. The maximum case length/ minimum chamber length of the .45 ACP is 0.898 inch. I had just bought my first digital readout dial caliper and I wanted to get the hang of it. So I sat down with a bin of .45 ACP brass and proceeded to measure until I got tired of it. Well, I got tired of it pretty quickly, as I could not find a single case so long as 0.890 inch long.
I then looked at the 1911s I had available to measure and decided I was not going to slip a feeler gauge between the back of the hood and the breechface to see how much extra there was. I’d just measure the depth of the chamber and call it good. The shortest one I measured was 0.905 inch deep. So, best-case, the .45 ACP had something like fifteen thousandths headspace going on in there, and in many instances more.
Your cases are 0.015 inch short and you’re going to trim them to a uniform length? What, are you crazy? Or so bored that you need to find more to do?
Also, you are not going to need to chamfer the case mouths (since you aren’t trimming them) as your belling stem will give you mouth flare.
When rifle reloaders shoot brass too much, the neck gets brittle and the case body can stretch. They have to keep an eye out for incipient cracking near the base, leading to case separation, and for neck cracks. Unless you are loading a bottlenecked case (.357 Sig and .38-40 shooters, take note), stretching isn’t a problem. Cases might crack, but when you jostle a handful of cases as part of your case prep you’ll hear it.
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