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I have been reloading my own ammunition for about six years. The first cartridge that I rolled my own for was the ever-popular .44 Magnum. That summer several hundred rounds of this caliber were processed through a RCBS press. Through reading reloading manuals and articles in shooting magazines, I learned how to keep my cases trimmed, sized, and chamfered. When varmints and group shooting began to become more of an interest, I got a new Savage Model 12BVSS chambered in .223 Remington. Because the Savage rifle was the heavy barreled model with a benchrest style stock, it taught me a lot about shooting form along with reloading to get a gun to shoot accurately. This is where I really began to get finicky about reloading, especially case preparation. It also taught me several things about reloading that carried over into Contenders. Over the six years that I’ve been cranking out my own handloads, I have derived one simple conclusion: Reloading is nothing more than a practice in consistency and uniformity. If you do the same procedures correctly time after time (consistency) with a set of cases, batch of bullet and primers, and lot of powder that are all the same (uniformity) you will see the difference and become a better shooter. I’ll try to explain this better as we go. Because reloading is a series of operations, it can get rather lengthy when typing all the steps. Despite of this I’ll go through my series of steps taken when preparing a batch of handloads. Trying to do that all in one article would take forever so I have decided to proceed in two parts. To start we’ll discuss what sizing a case accomplishes then discuss setting up the reloading dies. This will carry us through actually preparing cases for reloading and talking a little about the tools used along the way. The next article will go into planning a load development strategy and load some test rounds. When describing these operations, just remember that I learned these steps from reading tons of articles such as this. From that I took bits of what I liked and rolled it into a nice series of steps that work well for me. Setting UpWhen writing this, I wanted to profile a cartridge so the steps and procedures would be more relatable. So I kept trying to figure out which caliber could be used as an example in the article and pictures. This decision was made for me when I stumbled into a Maryland sporting goods store a few weeks back and walked out with a New England Firearms rifle chambered in .22 Hornet. The steps taken preparing cases for this semi-bottleneck cartridge are the same as I would take in loading for any other bottleneck cartridge in either pistol or rifle. Purchasing this rifle also gives an opportunity to test and report on an experiment I have wanted to conduct for a while that directly relates to a dilemma that all of us handgunner’s face. I’ll run tests to find out the velocity loss when going from a rifle length barrel to pistol length barrel. Not only that, but it gives me more reasons to shoot and reload…so that’s another tale for another day. When most people begin reloading, or an experienced shooter for that matter is starting with a new cartridge, most of the components are new. The word "components" in this context refers to dies, shell holders, etc. This is the time to properly set up your press and reloading dies.  Before getting into the actual set up, let me briefly discuss the purpose of the sizing die. When a round is fired, the case expands against the chamber walls as pressure is created from the powder being burned. As the bullet exits the bore and pressure drops, the case will contract slightly but not completely to the dimensions of before being fired. The inside of the sizing die is reamed so that it will squeeze the case back to original dimensions. Because the fired case is bigger than the inside of the die, force is involved when pushing the case into the die. With the force involved, you'll need to lubricate the cases before pushing into the sizing die. Not properly lubricating a case is a way to get a case stuck in the sizing die. As the case is retracted from the die, the expander button on the decapping rod sizes the case neck to exact size.
When sizing straight walled handgun cases and using carbide-sizing dies, lube is not needed. This will eliminate the need for lubing cases. I’ll say a few words about case lubrication when we get to that step in the operation. Now to the die set up. It is important to set up the sizing die properly so that when the cases are sized, they will be square and straight to align with the chamber and bore of the firearm. It sounds complex but is really a fairly simple operation. The first step is to snap the correct shell holder into the press ram with a slight twisting motion. It is important to use the correct shell holder for the cartridge you are loading because it securely holds the head of the cartridge case. If this is not done, you could very easily end up with a case stuck in the sizing die. They can be a real pain to remove without the proper tools. Before threading the sizing die into the press, I check the depth at which the decapping pin protrudes from the bottom of the die. The purpose of the decapping pin is to expel the spent primer after the case has been fired. The depth is usually set when the dies are shipped from the factory. If you buy used dies, they sometimes come in pieces and will need set. I set the decapping pin to protrude about 3/8" from the bottom of the die.  With the shell holder installed, I raise the press ram to its uppermost point (by lowering the handle) and thread the sizing die into the press until it nearly (within 1/8" or less) touches the shell holder when the ram is at the top of the press stroke.
Before tightening the lock ring in place, I lower the press ram and set something flat, such as a few stacked washers, on top of the shell holder. Then I gently raise the press ram until the washers contact the die. This is a step very easily skipped and you may wonder what its purpose is. With the press and die threads being very course, the tolerances when lining the two together are not very tight and may even allow the die to be off a little. By exerting a slight amount of upward pressure on the bottom of the die with the press ram and washers this will align the shell holder and sizing die. Tightening the lock ring will ensure the die will remain squarely threaded into the press. Case Preparation Before discussing the preparation of cases for shooting, this is the time to select cases. The obvious point is that they need to be the appropriate cartridge case for the caliber your firearm is chambered in. For the average shooter and hunter, cases made by any of the major ammunition companies will work just fine. A quality case will have uniform wall thickness and be consistent from batch to batch. My favorite cases are Federal Gold Match and Winchester, which usually run about $12-40 per hundred depending on the caliber. These are quality cases and reasonably priced. There are also companies that specialize in making only the highest quality brass for benchrest shooters in both commercial and wildcat (non-commercial) cartridges. The cost of these cases is much higher than the ones made by Remington, Federal, or Winchester. Companies such as Lapua produce these cases which can easily run from $50 per hundred and higher.
Many reloading suppliers also carry once fired brass in a variety of handgun and rifle calibers. The most common rifle calibers available are .223 Remington, .308 Winchester, and 30-06 Springfield. In handgun rounds, the .45 Auto and 9mm are easily obtained. Buying cases like this can be a craps shoot. Some places will sort them by headstamp whereas others just dump mixed cases into a bin and dish them out by volume as ordered. Even if the cases are sorted by headstamp, this does not guarantee a good quality batch of cases. It is guaranteed that most of the cases were manufactured at different times and in different machines. The only way to ensure you get a uniform batch of cases is to buy new. Back to the resizing operation. At this point the sizing die has been set up and we are ready to size a case. This is where lube comes into play. There are several types of case lubricants available; RCBS and Dillon make the two that I commonly use. The RCBS lube comes in a tube and is rather thick, about the same consistency as honey. I’ll apply a few drops at a time onto a lube pad and spread it around to soak in. Then lay the cases on the pad and roll them a few times to evenly apply the lube to the case body. The Dillon lube comes in a spray bottle. I’ll use it when processing a large batch of cases by dumping them into large bowl and spray with a few squirts of case lube. If too much of either lube is applied it will get trapped between the inside of the die and case causing "grease grooves." The grooves will push out when the case is fired but you should still try to avoid applying too much lube. When the cases are lubed, the next step is to set the case into the shell holder (which we earlier snapped into the press ram). Now gently but firmly lower the press handle all the way to the bottom, which raises the ram and pushes the case all the way into the sizing die. This will resize the case to the proper dimension. If the case is a fired piece, this operation will also push the fired primer out. Next, raise the press handle. This will lower the case and pull the case neck over an expander ball (on bottle-neck cartridges) and correctly sets the case neck diameter to hold the bullet tightly. Lee also makes a nifty sizing die that sizes only the case neck and requires no lube. There is a write-up on this Lee product and how it works at in the product review section here at Handgunhunt.com. After sizing the cases, the next step is to clean the lube off. I sometime do this by hand if cleaning just a few cases, but this is not the preferred method. A vibratory tumbler is much easier and allows you to clean up to several hundred cases at one time. They use crushed corncob and walnut media to polish the cases. Tumblers and media can be had from any reloading supplier and are inexpensive.
Now your cases are only two steps from getting ready to prime and load. This step will require the use of the good set of dial calipers that are capable of measuring to .001". I use a set from Midway USA that ran me about $20. The calipers are used to measure the case length. The maximum case length will be listed in your reloading manual. Some new cases will exceed the specified maximum length. Because reloading is a practice in consistency and uniformity (as said earlier), a good step in working toward uniformity is to trim all the cases to the same overall length. This will ensure proper chambering and consistent bullet grip. There are several ways to trim cases. I use two different methods depending on the caliber. For quickly trimming factory-chambered cases, I like to use the Lee Trimmers. There is also an article about this product here at Handgunhunt.com. For trimming my wildcat (non-commercial) cases, I like to use a Lyman Power Trimmer. This tool grips the case by the case head and uses a rotating cutter to shave brass from the case mouth. Before trimming, the trimmer is set to cut the cases to a predetermined length.  This operation leaves the case mouth edges flat and sharp. The final step in this case preparation will make use of a chamfering tool. The tapered end of the chamfering tool is used to remove any sharp edges from the inside of the case mouth. The opposite end is used to smooth the outside edge of the case mouth. When doing this, use just enough pressure to remove the edge. You don’t want to cut the sides of the case mouth to a knife-edge like a cookie cutter. A smooth case mouth is a very important step to make seating the bullets easier and smoother without scratching the bullet.
This step does not pertain to loading bottleneck rounds, but if loading straight walled cartridges this is the time you would "bell" the case mouth. To bell means to flare a case mouth which makes bullet seating much easier. Typically die sets for straight wall rounds come in a set of three instead of two for bottleneck rounds. The "expander die" is the one used for this operation. After the cases are sized, thread in the expander die, while the press ram is raised with a case in the shell holder, until it makes contact with the case. At that point, slightly lower the press ram and turn the die an additional 1/8 turn into the press and raise the ram. This should bell the case mouth slightly so that it looks like a small funnel. Only do what is needed, a slight bell is enough to set the bullet in and keep it from catching an edge while seating which will crush the case wall. Well that is about it, those are all the steps I go through when preparing a batch of cases. So far they have not failed me and until they do, I’ll keep doing things the same. There are a few more advanced steps that I take in addition to these that require some more specialized tools, but I’ll get into those at a later time. The above steps are all that is needed to get cases ready for a typical hunting firearm. The next step in the process gets into developing a load development strategy, priming, powder measuring, and bullet seating. Summary of Tools NeededAll of the items used in the previously described steps (and listed below for reference) can be bought at any of the major shooting supply houses. I have ordered numerous items from quite a number of these suppliers but always find myself calling Midsouth Shooters Supply. They have great prices, custom service, and delivery times.  Top
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