I always deprime first! I run the brass through my Dillon 650 and have a Mighty Armory decapping die only on the tool head. Once the brass is deprimed I wet tumble then dry.
Spray on lube, I make my own (lanoline and alcohol), let the brass sit for a few hours to a day depending on what else I am doing to let all the alcohol burn off completely.
Size the brass on the Dillon again, I run a few cases to check the headspace and confirm then run them all, tool head has only the sizing die and a sinclair mandrel. Once all the brass is sized I then run it all through the Girarud to trim, chamfer and deburr.
2nd cleaning, corn cob this time to clean off all the lube and anything else that the brass picked up during the process, bag the brass in gallon zip lock bags ready to load up for next class.
As MarkM stated, you want the alcohol to cook off partially so you dont have stuck cases, you want as little lube / liquid on the cases so that you dont get dimples - also if you are loading in the same process the more alcohol / lube you have the more likely you are to have clumping in the powder.
If you have never had an issue then count yourself lucky.
I’m still developing my process for prepping bottle neck cartridges.
Currently I tumble, lube, resize/de-prime on my single stage then remove the lube, clean the primer pocket, swag and trim if necessary. Then I can run them through the Dillon for all loading steps.
I’m using RCBS lube and the pad, it’s water soluble so I can remove it with a damp paper towel.
The lube adds a complication that slows the process down. I’m not real clear on if any other lubes would be removed by media in the tumbler. I could do another run through the tumbler if so, that would clean the primer pocket as well.
That would help my process some.
I’ve read of mixing my own with alcohol and lanolin, that would add a complication in another area, I haven’t found the right percentage of alcohol locally, maybe it’s not as important as I thought.
Are you looking for “Isopropyl” alcohol and not “rubbing” alcohol. Any drug store in town should have it. I buy my high proof alcohol from Sams Club too. Failing that, you can use “Iso” Heet gas line antifreeze from the auto parts store.
The recipe’s I’ve found online state to use a higher percentage than what I can find locally, like 85 or 90%, and all I can find is 70% (paraphrasing the percentages from memory).
Will common drugstore rubbing alcohol work?
Does the lanolin come off in the tumbler? I seem to remember it will, I think that’s why I was looking into using it.
I have been using Hornady One Shot to good effect. Key is to spray it and WAIT for it to dry per instructions. If you fail to let dry, it causes issues.
I’ve never tried DCL to be honest. 30 years ago I started with whatever comes in the Lee kit, then an aerosol that Midway sold, and now I use either Imperial for the precision stuff or a homemade lube that is veggie oil/90% alcohol based. Also tried Hornady One Shot and Load Ready along the way
Cleaning the sizing die before I start helps consistency and prevents sticking.
No, it’s not that difficult. I have a little spray bottle and pour in a few ingredients. The thing that I like about my recipe is that it washes off with soap and water pretty easily.
The lanolin/alcohol home made case lube is a direct copy of Dillons Case Lube, which is around $16.00 a bottle. You can make damn near a half gallon of home brew for that. I’ve been using the home brew for years.
Damn! Is that the price now? Even at that ridiculous price, a bottle lasts a LONG time, and well worth just buying it. Pappabear bought us a case of it like 10 years ago. So I’ll never need to resupply.
Damn! This dude Pappabear knows/shoots pistol matches with gave us what I estimate to be 4000 pieces of once fire FC brass from some military or LE range. He doesn’t reload 5.56 so we got it all.
I’m about to learn the true meaning of bulk brass prep since it’s all crimped primers too.
I like FC brass and have shot some great groups with it in 223. The downside is that it is on the softer side. If you load it anywhere near max pressures, you may only get one or two more firings before the primer pockets loosen up.
Yeah. I’d have been thrilled if it were all LC. But FC is worth the effort. I got a hundred ready to hand prime. I want to complete a test batch before starting a marathon decap run.
