Want to get into reloading!

[Kaveman44]

what primer pocket cleaning and reforming tool do you recommend?

 

[rewiltshire]

IMHO when cleaning cases, the most critical area is the case neck/shoulder. A case does not have to be shiny to perform well. But it must be clean of all foreign matter so you don't scratch up expensive dies or dent cases, and discoloration is not a problem. But your neck tension will be partially determined by how clean your neck/shoulder area is, inside and out. Wet tumbler is nice, but remember to deprime before. Vibrating also works fine.
The conversion kit to a Arbor press for the RCBS pres, only works for the Summit not the Rock Chucker. The RCBS Summit is one press that has not been brought up, maybe because of price, but is a fine press. Also all of the fore mentioned press have a bushing for the die that can be removed and in most cases the Hornady Lock-N-Load die setup can be utilized if so desired. I have always had problems trying to do a full length resize on my arbor press and put that process in the single stage job list. The Harrell's precision combo press is a taste expensive and limited in a lot of ways.

 

[Susquatch]

what primer pocket cleaning and reforming tool do you recommend?

I've never had to reform primer pockets and don't own a tool to do that. If it was ever needed, I'd prolly throw the case away instead. I have several pocket cleaners that work well. I especially like the Crockogater (Sp?). It has double ends for both small and large primer pockets. I also made my own unit out of large gauge stranded copper wire to deal with pockets with a slight curve in the bottom.

 

[rewiltshire]

If you plan to wet tumble with pins (ceramic or stainless), well your primer pockets come out very clean with just a small amount of extra cleaning. One of the 'double enders' mentioned above will do the trick for final cleanup. Most primer pockets are fairly uniform. But make sure the inside of the flash hole is de-burred. I have run across many burrs in new cases, it's a one time deal but very important.
I agree about the 'motorized prep tool'. Speed and reloading in my opinion don't mix. I would rather do one step at a time to make sure every case was done correctly.

 

[Kaveman44]

so i guess the video on Johnnys reloading bench he had military ammo and on those he needed to do something to the Primer hole, he used the RCBS Military Crimp Remover, so on most ammo i get i wont have to do anything to the primer hole?

 

[tailbon3]

I had a batch of 25 norma 300 wsm with primer pockets that were too shallow. I used the lyman pocket reamer to fix it. Worked well and is cheap.
https://www.lymanproducts.com/primer-pocket-reamer-lg-sm.html

I need to correct the above, the tool I used was this one
https://www.lymanproducts.com/brand...prep-tools/primer-pocket-uniformer-lg-sm.html

 

[rewiltshire]

They have a tool that is kind of like a pocket cleaning tool that cuts the crimp away. The Lyman tool above is one. There are also tools to swag the crimp that doesn't remove any brass. Some can be used in a press, some are bench mounted systems.

 

[Susquatch]

so i guess the video on Johnnys reloading bench he had military ammo and on those he needed to do something to the Primer hole, he used the RCBS Military Crimp Remover, so on most ammo i get i wont have to do anything to the primer hole?

Unless you plan to use surplus military brass (DEFINITELY NOT RECOMMENDED), you don't need to worry about removing the crimp. You are WAY better off buying a few boxes of quality brass (Lapua, Nosler, or Norma are all excellent - in that order). You can also get good brass from other sources, but if you plan to transition to precision reloading, you will want top quality brass.
Lapua brass is excellent quality and very consistent. Nosler claims that their brass is pre-prepped (annealed, sorted by weight, deburred, chamfered, and sized) but I have had some that had some quality problems with off center flash holes and burrs inside the case. In fairness, Nosler replaced it for me at no charge.

Frankly, I have not seen the video that you refer to, but regardless of that I wouldn't spend a lot of time watching stuff like that if I were you. Read your Hornady manual from cover to cover (except the tables), get and read another manual, and stick to OEM videos from the big names.

Ya, I know. How do you know that forum members like me are any better of a reference than a YouTube video? Well it's really simple - anybody can post a YouTube video pretending to be an expert. Maybe they are and maybe they are not. But anybody posting pure crap here on this forum will soon get ripped to shreds by other members..... Nobody is out there correcting what a YouTube video says...... That said you still have to be careful about the advice you get, even here, and then decide for yourself if you want to use it.

Edit - I went and had a boo at a few Johnny's Bench videos. Not that badly done. But far too varied and specialized for a beginning reloader. As is appropriate, the author is appealing to the typical YouTube viewer and is focussed on generating as many views and the associated revenue as possible. That doesn't leave a lot of room for teaching the basics to new reloaders. Obviously that has its place for lots of fans. I especially enjoyed the video of him loading and shooting his grandfather's 6PPC Bench Rifle. It would be my dreams come true if one of my grandson's inherited and enjoyed one of my bench guns like that. As expected, I also found things I didn't agree with but no practical way to argue about them.

 

[Susquatch]

IMHO when cleaning cases, the most critical area is the case neck/shoulder. A case does not have to be shiny to perform well. But it must be clean of all foreign matter so you don't scratch up expensive dies or dent cases, and discoloration is not a problem. But your neck tension will be partially determined by how clean your neck/shoulder area is, inside and out. Wet tumbler is nice, but remember to deprime before. Vibrating also works fine.
The conversion kit to a Arbor press for the RCBS pres, only works for the Summit not the Rock Chucker. The RCBS Summit is one press that has not been brought up, maybe because of price, but is a fine press. Also all of the fore mentioned press have a bushing for the die that can be removed and in most cases the Hornady Lock-N-Load die setup can be utilized if so desired. I have always had problems trying to do a full length resize on my arbor press and put that process in the single stage job list. The Harrell's precision combo press is a taste expensive and limited in a lot of ways.

Today was the first time I saw the RCBS arbour adapter. I didn't know that it was limited to the Summit. Thanks for pointing that out. Nonetheless it's a great idea. So I think I'll make something similar on my lathe to work with my Redding Press. I have both a Harrel and a Sinclair arbour press but I never use them anymore. I have grown rather fond of my Redding competition bushing dies and prefer them over my Wilson in-line dies. With some TLC, the redding dies produce reloads that will shoot better than I do with a lot less headache.........

PS - I like most of your advice.....

 

[Susquatch]

........ The conversion kit to a Arbor press for the RCBS pres, only works for the Summit not the Rock Chucker. The RCBS Summit is one press that has not been brought up, maybe because of price, but is a fine press.......

I had a closer look at the summit press and the Arbour Kit. Perhaps I'm blind (or just too old to see correctly), but I don't understand why it won't fit other presses. The best I can come up with is that the small threaded part won't fit into the shell holder end of the ram, and the large threaded part doesn't fit the die threads and/or takes up too much room. Either way, it looks like it could be easily modified to work in other presses. In fact, I already have a few adapters I use in my current redding press to take advantage of the high leverage force capabilities of the press to do a few quasi in-line type functions.

Unfortunately, there isn't a lot to go by on the RCBS web site. Can you provide some additional insights for me? If I'm going to make something like that for myself, I'd like to know what I'm up against.

 

[Susquatch]

Further to my earlier note, Google "Crocogator primer" pocket cleaner by Dewey. Available in the same places as previously mentioned. Very inexpensive and works great.

 

[Jacobs]

Wouldn't hurt to check out Dillon reloading presses. They have both single and progressive. They are a bit expensive, but they have a lifetime no BS warranty. You can reach them on the phone and their customer service is top notch. There are tons of accessories to be found by independent builders on E-bay as well.

 

[Kaveman44]

been doing some research on powder measures and Hornady seem to be not very consistent , can you recommend one that is accurate

 

[jasonco]

so i guess the video on Johnnys reloading bench he had military ammo and on those he needed to do something to the Primer hole, he used the RCBS Military Crimp Remover, so on most ammo i get i wont have to do anything to the primer hole?

Normally, no you don't need to do anything with primer pockets, but clean them if you like? I stopped deburing my flash holes and didn't seem to make any difference on my 6 Crredmoor Comp Rifle, still single digit SD/ES.
Working through 1500+ pieces of once fired crimped 5.56. If it wasn't for the Frankford Arsenal case prep center. I wouldn't even mess with bulk brass, but now I do! The RCBS Crimp remover works as well as can be expected. AR's gotta eat!

Here's another book selection also... back in the day, from when the interweb was just a wetdream, we had to actually source out books and read them.