Ray and I were talking about how I prep brass for my 6PPC Competition Rifle. I'll go through it step by step. Beware it's long. After shooting Benchrest for years, I have found that shortages are commonplace. You may go 6-8 months not being able to buy powder, brass, primers, bullet jackets, lead cores, ect. Always, after the shortage comes the price increase. For instance the Lapua 220 Russian brass I use is now $104 per hundred. I buy a case of a thousand at a time because they will all be from the same lot number which is important. I'm down to the last 4 boxes of a hundred which I paid 75 cents apiece. The extra case of a thousand on my shelf cost 93 cents apiece. I've known guys to keep 50K primers on hand and buy 2 pallets of powder at a time.
I start out measuring the length of the brass from the base to the neck overall length. There is a lot number on top of the Lapua box below. They all measure the same if the lot number is the same usually. This is important because the necks have to be cut the same amount into the shoulder/neck junction. Coming from the box the necks are .220 diameter and are .016 thick. The first step is to lube the inside of the neck with Murray's Hair Dressing Pomade. Just to show I'm not racist this is what the black folks use on their hair. Someone gave me this orange tub which will last me a lifetime. I use the end of a q-tip without the cotton to swab the inside of the cases. I lube 10 cases and then with the expander in my loading press I pull the handle twice changing the diameter from 220 to 6mm. See 2nd pic for difference in diameter below. Then I chuck the primer end of the brass in the cordless drill and run it around 200 RPM. If you turn it too fast the orange Pumpkin turner mandrill will heat up and gall. I didn't show a pic of the bottle of red stuff I use for lube because I didn't want someone to think it was blood and get butthurt. I put some ATF that is is the bottle in the little cap you see in pic #1 and apply a dab to the pumpkin mandrill with a cotton q-tip.. Then I cut the neck to .0085 initial cut using a tubing mic to be sure of the measurement. You should be able to see where the cut is made into the neck/shoulder junction area in one of the pics. When I pull the turner from the brass after making the cut, I wipe the lube from the outside of the neck, spin the brass and run a hard nylon brush into the neck to get rid of any burrs, and then polish the outside of the neck with 600 sandpaper.
You can buy brass pre-turned for and extra buck a piece. I'm too cheap for that and besides, I need to stay busy. I usually use 20 new pieces of brass for my bag guns and 30 for my rail gun. Most of the time when I put a new barrel on I use a new set of brass. I hand load one at a time. I shoot the brass until it clicks when opening the bolt. I shoot a pretty hot load so I usually get at least 30 firings from a piece of brass, sometimes more. The brass gets work hardened down by the base. I have a custom sizing die for the brass that sizes the neck/shoulder area 1-1.5 thou and the base .200 up a half a thou. I am in the process of turning 200 pcs now. I have 300 left from last year but just need the warm fuzzy of being ahead.
I start out measuring the length of the brass from the base to the neck overall length. There is a lot number on top of the Lapua box below. They all measure the same if the lot number is the same usually. This is important because the necks have to be cut the same amount into the shoulder/neck junction. Coming from the box the necks are .220 diameter and are .016 thick. The first step is to lube the inside of the neck with Murray's Hair Dressing Pomade. Just to show I'm not racist this is what the black folks use on their hair. Someone gave me this orange tub which will last me a lifetime. I use the end of a q-tip without the cotton to swab the inside of the cases. I lube 10 cases and then with the expander in my loading press I pull the handle twice changing the diameter from 220 to 6mm. See 2nd pic for difference in diameter below. Then I chuck the primer end of the brass in the cordless drill and run it around 200 RPM. If you turn it too fast the orange Pumpkin turner mandrill will heat up and gall. I didn't show a pic of the bottle of red stuff I use for lube because I didn't want someone to think it was blood and get butthurt. I put some ATF that is is the bottle in the little cap you see in pic #1 and apply a dab to the pumpkin mandrill with a cotton q-tip.. Then I cut the neck to .0085 initial cut using a tubing mic to be sure of the measurement. You should be able to see where the cut is made into the neck/shoulder junction area in one of the pics. When I pull the turner from the brass after making the cut, I wipe the lube from the outside of the neck, spin the brass and run a hard nylon brush into the neck to get rid of any burrs, and then polish the outside of the neck with 600 sandpaper.
You can buy brass pre-turned for and extra buck a piece. I'm too cheap for that and besides, I need to stay busy. I usually use 20 new pieces of brass for my bag guns and 30 for my rail gun. Most of the time when I put a new barrel on I use a new set of brass. I hand load one at a time. I shoot the brass until it clicks when opening the bolt. I shoot a pretty hot load so I usually get at least 30 firings from a piece of brass, sometimes more. The brass gets work hardened down by the base. I have a custom sizing die for the brass that sizes the neck/shoulder area 1-1.5 thou and the base .200 up a half a thou. I am in the process of turning 200 pcs now. I have 300 left from last year but just need the warm fuzzy of being ahead.
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