How much brass do you process at one time?

[Shadow9mm]

How do yall process your brass? How big are your batches? do you do it all at once, or break it down into steps?

For handgun I generally do 1000 at a time. Quick tumble to get the soot off. size them all the next day, final tumble day after to get them shiny.

for rifle brass, say 223 that I do in bulk, I find myself doing batches of 500. quick tumble one day to get the soot off. Size the next day. removed primer pocket crimps day after, trim day after that, then they are ready to load. I used to have several containers and would move them from one to the next as i did a process. but now i put 500 in a plastic shoe box with a 3x5 card and mark off the process as they are completed to that individual batch.

for 30-06 I find myself doing small batches of 50-100. same process but more start to finish in one day maybe 2.

do you guys work in larger batches or work more start to finish? how big are your batches, or what size do you find manageable? or do you run more of an assembly line?

[Nick_C_S]

Basically, one range trip at a time. But not always.

For instance, I did some chronographing a few weeks ago with 44 Mag & Spl. That left me with some 90 or so pcs that needed processing. I always start with a 45 minute (give or take) dry tumble in corn cob. Then I do the decap/resize, flair thing on my progressive (I know, only two steps). At this point, they're ready for a wet tumble in ss pins.

With only 90 pcs, I waited until more were ready for a wet tumble. Earlier this week, I did more shooting with 44 Mag & Spl (mostly loaded with my newest recipes gleaned from the previous trip). I shot about 150 rounds this time. I prepped them as above, then tossed both batches in for the wet tumble.

Hope that made sense.

[ballardw]

Define what you mean by "process". I've been known to clean and size brass and have it set for a year or two before getting primed. May sit primed for awhile before getting powder and bullet.

Sometimes clean several hundred or so. Sort. Then size by head-stamp and process the like with like.

[tangolima]

50 rounds total for 2 rifles. That's how much I would shoot for each range trip, and that's how much I would load day or two before the trip.

I see myself more as a boutique shop other than a factory. Components are expensive. I don't shoot much but each round counts more.

-TL

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[chris in va]

I usually tumble and decap after every range trip. It's not much, maybe a couple hundred.

[JKP]

After every range trip, usualy 300 9mm and maybe 50 45acp or 357, I decap, wet tumble, size, prime and flare with an M die. Then I dry tumble to get off the light lube (lanolin/alcohol) I put on for sizing. I know, lube isn't necessarily for carbide sizing, but I bulge bust before sizing and my elbows like the lube job. Then the brass is ready for final loading when I feel like 1 or 2 thousand loads.

[Jim Watson]

Process? A bulk bullet box is about a load for my old vibratory tumbler. Give them the nut hull, light spritz of lube, Dillonize start to finish. Gauge. Shoot.

When I was doing more rifle shooting, I was more finicky; a batch was enough for two BPCR or F Class matches.

[mgulino]

Depends on how much brass I have on hand. I’ve gotten 5-gallon buckets of brass and sorted by caliber. Processed (cleaned, decapped, resized, trimmed, flared, and sorted by headstamp) calibers I load until it was all done. Other times, I process whatever amount I shot at the range the day before. All the brass stored under my bench is ready to prime and load.

[armoredman]

VERY small volume reloader, since I do it for relaxation and fun. I might go in and grab the 9mm bucket, deprime/resize anywhere from 50 to 200 on my single stage press, then reprime and stash for use later. Rifle takes more time, even using the Frankford Arsenal motorized trim/chamfer doohickey, but usually not more than 100 at a time.

[sparkyv]

I have plenty of cleaned brass ready to load up for most of my calibers. So I let the fired brass sit for weeks and weeks until I have enough, say 2k to 3k or more to sonicate in the same session. I do separate by caliber prior to cleaning to prevent brass nestling, dry, then sort by headstamp. For rifles, I then trim and resize and store. For handgun, I resize on the press as I go.

[MarkCO]

It depends. I been known to process a 5 gallon bucket of 223 and 308 on a Dillon 1050 in a day. I sold the 1050, but I might, in the future get a FA X10.

For pistol, it is usually in the range of 1K to 5K at a time. I'll get get started and keep going until I fill up the bin on my brass rack. For 9mm, that is about 5K. I'll do less for .45, 10mm and .41Mag, but it is still in the range of 500 to 1000 at a time.

Rifle, usually 1000 for .223 and .308. For 6.5CM and .243Win, I'll be between 300 and 500 pieces. For the other rifle calibers, usually 100 at a time.

I always try to have at least 100 pieces of brass ready to load for all of my calibers. 9mm, .40, .45, .223 and .308, I keep at least 500 ready.

[Metal god]

I process full same head stamp lots all at once be it 100 or 1500 cases , that includes annealing if necessary. I use a lot of LC brass and have different year lots . I will prep the entire same headstamp lot to ready to load with some full lots ( hundreds ) also primed . Just need to charge , seat and shoot . I will not do anything with that lot until I’ve shot them all . At that point it gets set aside and marked dirty and number of firings . I’ll then start loading another same head stamp lot I’ve already prepped.

I have several individual same headstamp lots of brass usually no less then 500ct each with a few over 1K . Once you have several lots prepped I have enough brass to prep dirty brass when I want rather then “needing” to prep all the time . I can start a new lot and prep the dirty later at my convenience, rather then needing to prep in order to shoot . I love the hobby of reloading but what I do not like is needing to reload in order to shoot . This means I generally not only have many cases prepped to include primed . I also try to have at least a couple hundred rounds fully loaded just waiting to go . Those do not include the rounds loaded for longer term if I really need ammo storage .

[jetinteriorguy]

I have a lot on hand already but basically I process everything from a range visit every time I go shooting, which for rifle would be around 40-50 cases and pistol around 100-200 cases. I wet tumble without pins in a Harbor Freight double wet tumbler and that’s about a full load for the size of the drums.

[armoredman]

I just went over to the reloading room to kill and hour. I processed exactly 48 .223 brass from dirty to trimmed, primed and ready for tomorrow. Single stage press, and ya know what? I enjoyed the whole thing.

[cdoc42]

After all these years I found one can always make a stupid mistake. Generally, I add a capful or two of polish to the dry corn cob media and turn the tumbler on for 5 or 10 minutes, then add the cases. And, most often I find evidence of that polish on the central spindle of the tumbler to some extent. No big deal.

For whatever reason, this time I dumped 150 cases of .380 auto into the tumbler media and then as an afterthought, poured the polish over the top of the brass, and turned the tumbler on. One hour later everything should be bright and shiny. And it was - on the outside. But the inside of some 30 cases had a concrete-like mass stuck like glue. I ran them again, alone. No luck. I soaked them in "Clean Boss" and "Dawn' detergent over night. Shook them up, drained it and still found a soft mess that wouldn't come out in at least 50% of the cases. I used a forceps with steel wool; paper towels in pieces; finally it dawned on me (from the detergent, I guess) that I was wasting my time for 15 cases. So I chucked them into the garbage and promised myself never to do this again.

But to answer the OP question, I'm one who salvages every piece of brass I shoot even though I have enough that when I croak my kids will have another 50-60 years of cases to load. Even though I can't bend over to get them without getting on my hands and knees. Then I come home, put them in the tumbler, and after cleaning, add them to labeled containers that say "Cleaned brass" so when I have some free time I can proceed to resize and deprime, measure, trim if necessary, re-tumble to get the oil off the cases and put them back into a container that says, "Ready to Load." When it's time to get some new shooting material in that caliber, I prime and load them.
The only thing I need to consciously change is my addiction to recapturing all my fired brass.