Interesting Ammo - 12ga Tracer Ammo

One of the little known facts about being in the gun business is the staggering lack of variety that can sometimes be experienced. In the number of jobs I have performed over the years, nearly all activities can be summed up in about 5-6 different categories, over and over and over again.

For this reason, whenever I get a chance to come across something new, I like to take it apart and learn from it. This time I decided to share this experience with a bit of a photo tour.

Here is the current object of study. It's a somewhat elderly Winchester 12ga Tracer cartridge. While some eschew such novelties as useless fire danger, projectile designs that allow both the firer and observers to view the path the projectile takes, it has great utility in training, in target acquisition, and for diagnosing problems with the firearm.

Shotgun ammunition fills a very interesting niche legally in the United States, as it is greater than .60 caliber, but is exempt from destructive device classification (part of the NFA/GCA 68). An additional complication is occasionally provided by state laws. Under California law, tracer ammunition is banned, however there is a specific exemption for shotgun tracer ammunition under the California Dangerous Weapons Laws:

12301. (a) The term "destructive device," as used in this chapter, shall include any of the following weapons: (1) Any projectile containing any explosive or incendiary material or any other chemical substance, including, but not limited to, that which is commonly known as tracer or incendiary ammunition, except tracer ammunition manufactured for use in shotguns.

I started taking the round apart by the standard method (cutting off the folded portion) and slowly disassembling it. After taking the round apart, I laid out all the components. I used a bit of packing tape to keep the shot from rolling all over the table.

Shown above from left to right, the hull which includes a paper spacer around the powder charge (not shown), the powder charge, a sealing cup, the wad section, the tracer element, the shot cup, and the shot.

The tracer element is ignited by the main powder charge, by way of a hole through the sealing cup and the wad. The wad and tracer assembly is shown in detail here:

The nut underneath the tracer element is just to prop it up and show detail of the vent where the flames will come out. An interesting aspect of this design is the tracer element as a large aluminum ball, should be a close ballistic match to the individual shot pellets. However, obvious problem with this idea is you have a hole in the wad, while this is the only way to ignite the tracer element, it presents an obvious potential problem if the tracer element is blown out of the wad, this could have disastrous effects on the shot pattern.

Here is a photo of the assembled wad and tracer element:

Unfortunately, I only have the one sample, so I won't be able to provide any after-photos of a traced shot column flying through the sky. From the study of this round, and the obvious problems with setting fires, and possibly just not measuring up to the expected performance, make it obvious why this cartridge was never a marketing success. It is also likely this round was significantly more expensive than the other ammunition available at the time. Novel ammunition like this tends to come and go in cycles. I am sure at some point in the future something like this will be available again in the future. If you want some, keep your eyes peeled!

Bullet Seating Woes

Of all the things that simply are far from perfect in the out of the box configuration, one of them is definitely bullet seating punches. Provided you're loading Round-Nose or Flat-Nose bullets, most dies do a pretty good job.

However sometimes, a slightly different Ogive, or some other non-standard configuration makes what should be a straight-forward process a functional nightmare without the right tools. I recently started reloading .40S&W, so I picked up a new set of dies, gathered my materials and got ready to make some new ammo for a shooting trip. As you can see from the picture though, the first few rounds would not pass muster, the problem? Another seating punch that doesn't fit the bullet properly. Instead of carefully centering the bullet in the case mouth, and then supporting both the nose and the ogive as it forces it into the case, this one grabs the bullet by the ogive, cuts into it and then smooshes it in.

This not being my first rodeo (or the first time I've had this issue) I had to make a new punch. So it was over to the lathe, to cut some of the shoulder off the seating punch. Unfortunately, I didn't take a photo before I started cutting. But here it shows a profiled tool cutting the shoulder off, so the projectiles will reach the flat part of the punch and seat properly.

Here's what it looked like after profiling:



Now, if you don't have a lathe, or the ability to cut tools, there are a few other tricks you can use to make a custom punch. The easiest ones (provided you are not using a hollow point bullet) is to put a little bit of wax into the punch, this can be done with a common household candle. Then take a bullet and force it into the punch to form the wax to the bullet profile. Put the punch in the freezer for about 20 minutes to solidify the wax, and then rub the wax surface with a little bit of baby powder to prevent the bullet from sticking. Typically this technique will work for a while before problems start to arise (the wax flaking off, or sticking to a bullet), the best way is to make a custom punch.

Another somewhat less fancy way is to put the punch into a hand drill, or drill press, and using a jewelers file to get inside the punch and cut off what you need to.

Cartridges I Hate to Love

Part of the impetus for writing this blog, is I really like bullets. While many are alterations on an idea, within the confines there seems to be nearly endless variety in how cartridges are designed, put together and perform.

That said, there are some cartridges that strike me as complete anachronisms, but through constant improvement have somehow maintained relevance, in some cases to present day. But despite the performance those updates have brought with them, there are still features of each defy what I normally would think of beautiful about cartridges in general. So I thought I would present a list, talk about some of the history and see if you agree with me.

Topping out this list is .303 British. First adopted by the British empire in 1888 for the Lee-Metford it kept the peace serving the British empire from the peak of dominance, through it's sunset. If there was ever a cartridge that in so many ways defied both obsolescence and top marks at a beauty contest this is it. It was first adopted as a black powder cartridge, it's rimmed and has an odd body taper, and it uses a bore diameter shared only with 7.62x54R, 7.62x39, 7.65 Argentine and a select few other cartridges. But this rifle has seen service in peace and in war on every continent on planet earth. If there was a need for guns in space, this cartridge certainly would have gone there at some point.

As I said, this cartridge was first adopted in the Lee Metford in 1888 as a black powder cartridge, however it is better known for the role it played after the Brits dropped the Lee Metford only a few years later in favor of the much updated (and improved) Short Magazine Lee Enfield No.1. This firearm, and the later SMLE No.4 served the empire and commonwealth countries from the time of adoption through two world wars, and was finally dropped in the late 1960's by the British, but is still in service in limited capacity in India. An 80 year active service life for any weapons system is incredible, but more incredible is the changes the .303 Brit round made through this time.

The .303 started as a Black Powder Cartridge, the first small-bore service rifle cartridge, which in the Lee-Metford was fed from a 10 round detachable box magazine that could also be charged with stripper clips. The initial loading (called Mark I) featured a 215gr Round Nose soft point bullet. This was quickly replaced by cordite charges, which while they showed barrel erosion issues, was maintained as the front-line service round as the Mark(s) 3,4 and 5. However it was updated to the Mk 6 after the Hague Convention banned the use of expanding bullets. The Mk 6, served the Empire until WW1, where it was phased out in favor of the Mk VII (7) which used a 174gr Boat Tail Spitzer (Full Metal Jacket) bullet moving about 2200-2400FPS. Some experimentation was done and a Mk 8 was also produced that featured a 175gr Boat Tail Spitzer, however it was intended solely for use in the Vickers Machinegun. The difference between the Mk7 and Mk8 is the bullet of the Mk8 is slightly unbalanced, resulting in a greater spread of bullets against area targets. I found this out the hard way (somewhat) when I was given a large quantity of pulled Mk8 bullets, patterns at 100 yards were about 8".

The Mk7 and Mk8 rounds were standardized before WW2, and remained the standard through the end of service.

While I feel I would be somewhat remiss not to mention the .303 British was also adopted by the japanese during WW2 and was used in direct copies of the Lewis and Vickers machineguns. However, the Japanese never made any changes to either the ammunition or the platforms that used them. So they only receive a footnote here.

I first became aquainted with this cartridge about 5 years ago when I purchased a No4mkIII somewhat accidentally at an auction. Once I realized what I had done, the first thing that stuck in my mind was "Oh great, another rifle I will need to reload for".

The .303 almost universally requires full length sizing of cases to ensure proper headspacing off the cartridge rim. The SMLE, while iconic, has it's locking lugs at the rear of the bolt, and features a cock on close mechanism. To someone who spent many previous years shooting Mausers this is backwards and inferior to the strong locking mechanism present in the Mauser. The additional impression, coming from someone used to shooting the sexy gently tapered rimless cases common in Mauser pattern rifles was negative when faced with a rimmed cartridge.

Despite the initial negative impressions of the rifle, and the ammunition it is a phenomenal rifle and cartridge despite being capable of only modest muzzle velocities around 2200-2300FPS with 150-175gr bullets it is a very fun gun to shoot, the brass butt pad is a little rough on the shoulder but as a rifle of the same generation as my great grandfather, it is every bit as accurate as I am. The cock on close mechanism is makes reloading faster and easier than the heavy extraction/cocking method of the Mauser. And the 10 round magazine capacity definitely contributes to the reasons why the SMLE, and it's ugly cartridge were war winners.

If you ever get a chance, I suggest at least putting a few rounds down range one any of the rifles chambered in .303. It's ugly, but it's a great round and it's service history definitely bears that out.

Sometimes it is my day

Well, I got the new part for the RCBS priming tool about two weeks ago, I've just been too busy to make any posts, also too busy to take pictures of it. But this one is clearly of higher quality than the original. It looks like it's still made of some kind of cast aluminum alloy, but the machining on the bolt holes is clear and crisp, and there are no indications of inclusions, and best of all, it seems like they beefed it up quite a bit. Way to go RCBS.

Sometimes it's just not my day

One of the main reasons why I constantly recommend RCBS tools, is the outstanding warranty service they provide. They warranty everything! Including decapping pins, try calling Dillon on his "No BS" warranty and ask them for new decapping pins.

However, one trend I've been noticing more and more with RCBS, is poor build quality on some of their reloading tools. Today was a notable example:

This was after seating about 20 primers into .50BMG casings, that already had reamed primer pockets, and had been chamfered. I was using CCI #35 primers, which are notoriously horrible to seat, and even with the reaming and chamfering, this was no exception. However, I didn't expect my brand new RCBS primer seating tool to crack in half like a lee reloader press trying to reload .308 military casings.

On the upside, and again, why I always recommend RCBS first, I dropped the frame in the mail today after calling RCBS, and they said ship it to them, and I would get a replacement. This is one of those circumstances where I really wish I didn't have to call them about a replacement. Sometimes doing things right the first time is the best way to go, with more and more of RCBS's products being outsourced to China, I am not sure how much longer I will continue to recommend them as the best starting place for most reloaders.

Reloading - Where to Start

So I realized tonight that I don't listen to myself enough. Rather than getting deep in the weeds on that, let me instead tell you what I wasn't listening to myself about: Which reloading press a newbie should start off with.

I suppose I could be a bit biographical regarding this topic. I started reloading when I was 12. After a long summer of working as a bus boy at my aunt's diner, I had saved up quite a bit of cash, and I had but one thing on my list of things I wanted, an AR-15. Well, after spending some of my hard earned money and $600 later, I now had the gun I had wanted since about age 9. (I should probably point out, my dad took my money, purchased the gun, and kept it locked up except when we were going to the range. I didn't really come from a family of shooters, and except for a little .22 I inherited from my grandfather we had no other guns in the house previous to this.)

I was now beset with a new problem, a gun I couldn't really afford the ammo for it. So with the suggestion of my shooting coach (I belonged to a Jr Marksmanship Program at the time) I got into reloading. I ordered the cheapest press I could find, a lee reloader (It was about $12 at the time) and RCBS was selling a low cost die set for $17, I then purchased some bullets, some primers, some powder (again, my dad made the purchases, and kept it locked up unless he was supervising me) a priming tool, and I was off to the races. It took me a while to really learn what I was doing, first, due to lousy powder selection I bought a powder that was too fast to reliably cycle my beloved AR, and had a number of other issues. Eventually, I learned a lot, came up with some very good and accurate loads and won many service rifle competitions through my teen years with that gun.

In that time, my reloading kit grew and grew, equipment got replaced with better and more expensive, higher quality, and faster to use tools. So to circle back, where should the newbie start?

Honestly, reloading is a fun and rewarding hobby, but it's one best reserved for those with lots of patience, and those that take pride in working with their hands. Initially, the thoughts of getting into reloading only to save money will quickly lead to impatience, poorly reloaded ammo. At the worst this hobby can just cause you to shoot worse and suck all your money out of the bank, at worst it could severely injure or maim you for life.

So where to start? Because this hobby is about working with your hands, start slow. The Lee Reloader press I started out with back in the early 90's still costs less than $30, and will easily reload most pistol and medium rifle cases (for those looking to do .308 or bigger rounds, I HIGHLY recommend the RCBS Partner press, as the Lee Reloader press will rather quickly snap in two, as mine did). Now the dies, if there is anything that is important to producing good quality ammo, it's the dies, I recommend splurging on this. Lee is crap, RCBS is good, Redding is better. You will also need a shellholder, Lee sells a set of 12 shell holders for $20, buy that, it will fit most calibers you're likely to load. Buy some kind of press mounted priming tool, Lee sells the ram prime which is good, be sure to start slow and only load one primer at a time until you know what you're doing, a chain detonation could severely injure you. And now the two most important tools, buy a HIGH QUALITY scale, I recommend people start with a balance beam, as it doesn't need to be recalibrated constantly, and batteries don't die. And a set of dial calipers. The last thing you will need is a reloading manual, read it over and over several times before you start. If you're not sure what you're doing ask someone with some experience. Ask me, ask someone on a forum. When it comes to doing dangerous things forewarned is forearmed.

Add some shell casings, bullets, primers and powder and you're ready to reload. There are some other things you'll need, like case lube (for rifle cases), maybe a case tumbler a case trimmer. But above covers the basics.

After a few years, and a few thousand rounds, you may think about stepping up to a progressive press. I highly recommend the Hornady LNL to the exclusion of Dillon 550/650's.

Case Processing - Made (sorta) Easy

Case processing is the foundation of all reloading. Whether you do it one at a time, or all at once, this is where both accuracy and safety start. First, a little review.

Cleaning brass can be broken down into a few different types generally, washing and tumbling are the two main ways. Since I've already touched on the nuances of how to clean, lets talk about when to clean.

When I get some fired brass, before I can turn it into ammunition, I have to process it. Processing involves a few different steps, which vary depending on type and caliber. Regardless of what it is, the first step I always take is washing the brass. The main reason for this, is dirty brass is full of dirt (yea, a little tautological) which will translate into dirt in my reloading machine, which means either cleaning the machine, or making crappy ammo. Since crappy ammo is not an option, either clean the brass, or clean the machine. Cleaning the machine is a pain, so I clean the brass. Typically, I do this by washing the brass. As it removes dirt and oils, but doesn't require the time of tumbling.

After the brass has been washed, if it's rifle brass I lube it up usually using lanolin spray lube. There are many varieties, Dillon sells the most common version, but you can make it at home (more on that later). Since I mostly use progressive presses, I will set the head up usually in the following order:

* Decapping die
* Sizing die (small base)
* Expanding die
* Trim Die (Dillon RT1200 case trimmer)

The reason I separate out the steps this way, is many progressive presses (the Dillon 1050 especially) have very little mechanical advantage except near the bottom of the stroke. So the typical expander configuration will make for very jerky handling which will slow you down. Frequently I will use a full length sizing die for my decapping die, and have it backed off a bit so it doesn't engage the case. This helps center the case and reduces crushed cases.

For pistol case processing, this is substantially simpler. Size and decap all the brass with a carbide sizing die. For brass that's cleaner, I will skip the initial washing step, for dirty brass, it gets washed.

So now you have sized and decapped brass. Time for cleaning again! Wash it (especially the rifle brass to remove case lube) and dry. Followed by tumbling (if you wet tumble, be sure to dry it).

After this, your reloading should be just like running new brass through your machine. If you are running a progressive, this will greatly improve reliability of the machine and through put. One of the chief benefits to processing brass this way, is a higher quality product when done. You don't have to tumble live ammo trying to get lube off the brass (this always makes things dirtier), in most cases brass processed this way will look as good as new ammo if you do it right.

MuzzleBrake Range Report (sorta)

Well, I didn't get to spend a whole bunch of time out on the range today like I had hoped, as I ended up getting bogged down at work. However, I did get a chance to take it back on the proof range at work and fire a few rounds. I started by test firing some subsonic .308 ammo to make sure there were no catastrophic clearance issues, and if there were, I figured this wouldn't break anything too bad.

Well, thankfully, no clearance issues were found (I fired a single round, then inspected for flecks of copper and didn't find any). and fired a few rounds, the recoil reduction was substantial, however one thing I noticed shooting in the confines of the test range, was a rather strong puff of air that would blow from the muzzle end maybe 1/4 second after firing. I think much of this was due to the small indoor range, I've fired much bigger guns with much larger brakes but all those were open air.

The brake did exactly what I wanted it to, held the gun on target and reduced the "bounce" I normally got when firing it off a bipod.

Here's another picture of the brake up close before firing:

Fun Stuff - MuzzleBrake

Felt the need to get away from the computer, get out in the shop and make something really quick that would be fun and enjoyable. So I made a muzzle brake for my .308 Winchester rifle (Savage 10FP-LE). I had the barrel threaded last year as a gunsmith friend of mine needed some cash, so rather than just loan him money he would have to pay back, I just gave him some work.

I am not a great photographer. But here it is:

Specs: Fits 5/8-24TPI threaded barrel, drilled 1" deep, threads relieved on the back (no crush washer or spacers), two baffles for directing gas away from bullet flight. Made of 304 Free Machining Stainless Steel. The bullet path hole is 5/16", was first drilled one size smaller, and then finish reamed with a .3125" reamer with the back gear engaged and lots of oil. Threaded section was first bored with a carbide boring bar, and then tapped with a 5/8-24" tap so there should be no disparity of alignment between the threads and the bore.

If anyone is interested in drawings wanting to make their own, speak up and I'll post them or e-mail.

I should get a chance to take it out to the range tomorrow, and I'll provide a range report.

Japanese Nuclear Reactors, Potassium Iodide and Radiation Safety

As a lifelong student of all things radioactive, a Disaster Emergency Services Worker, someone who has been trained in dealing with radiological emergencies (IS-00301, IS-00003) the paranoia and panic caused by the releases of radioactive materials from the Fukushima Nuclear Plant after last Friday's earthquake, is frankly more alarming than the release of radioactive material.

Spawned by media attention, the response by the American public to stockpile Potassium Iodide tablets thinking this will be a panacea against radioactive contamination will be a comedy of failures. Due largely to the ignorance spread by the media in response to this disaster.

While I won't say radiation is not dangerous, excessive doses of iodine rich compounds can also be dangerous to health. The biggest issue arises from a false belief that Potassium Iodide will protect the whole body against radiation. What KI (chemical symbol for potassium (K) iodide (I for iodine)) does is saturate the thyroid gland with stable isotopes of Iodine, preventing the uptake of Iodine-131, a short lived radioisotope with a half life of about 8 days.

Iodine-131 is dangerous because it undergoes Beta Decay giving off an electron, when it does this inside the tissue (of the Thyroid) it may cause mutation, cancer, or cell death. Since the thyroid is so essential to managing the body's systems, damage to this gland may be catastrophic to the body.

However, since the devil is usually in the details. Here's the rub with KI, Japan, it will be a several day journey for any radioactive contaminants released at Fukushima to reach even the west coast. That delay will give many of them a chance to partially decay, greatly reducing the quantity of radioactive materials which reach the west coast. Also, most of these materials are heavy, meaning they will drop out of the air column sooner than other materials, and they are all readily absorbed in sea water, where they will be greatly diluted.

The next issue, Iodine-131 is not the only dangerous component of a nuclear release. There is also Cesium, Strontium, Barium, Xenon and other materials which are substantially more dangerous than Iodine. Strontium, Barium, and Cesium are readily taken in by plants, and animals and incorporated into bone and other tissues, as an analog for Calcium or Potassium (in the case of Cesium). All of these are longer lived isotopes, and many have higher energy decay processes including alpha and gamma, which can be much more deleterious to human health.

A general rule taken from Civil Defense, is that for every 7 fold increase in time, a 10 fold decrease in radiation will be measured. So when you measure 50Rad/hr (100 Rad = 1 Sievert Sv = 1 Gray), 7 hours later only 5 R/hr should be the measurement. With a given travel time of 2 days, or 48 hours, the amount of radiation arriving will be 10^-7 or 1/10,000,000th the amount of radiation. Some US experts have suggested longer travel times, insisting radiation will be more on the order of 1/1,000,000,000 (one billionth). So even a release of compounds at the plant exceeding 500Rad/hr by the time they arrive on the west coast, the amount of radiation you may receive will be 5x10^-7, or less radiation than you get having a smoke detector in your house. It is important to understand radiation is all around us, a site with good information on this is the EPA's Radiation Dose Calculator.

If you are still scared, radiation monitoring is thankfully an exact science, it is very easy to measure the quantity of radiation in a given sample of material, in fact it is easier to find radioactive contamination than it is to find any type of toxic contamination, as radioactive isotopes give off particles which common Geiger Counters, Scintillators and other simple equipment can detect. Additionally, Japan and the Fukushima plant is a great distance from the continental united states, and while the jet stream is more likely to carry contamination here, it will take days, days in which short-lived radioisotopes will decay off, and become much less dangerous. Additionally, keeping a high level of hygiene will aid greatly in removing any radioactive particles from the skin, clothing and hair. Wash your hands frequently, wash fresh produce, avoid foods that concentrate radioisotopes, and given time there is nothing to fear.

Education is the most important issue when dealing with radiation there are three main defenses against radiation: Time, Distance and Shielding. Here in the on the West Coast, we have distance, and time on our side. Until we see that those are insufficient there is no need to run out and seek shielding, which our houses are quite capable of providing us with.

If you are really looking for something to stockpile right now, don't stockpile KI, stockpile food, water, medical supplies (bandaids, antisceptics). The next disaster we face probably won't be nuclear fallout from Japan, it will probably be an earthquake on our own shores that gets us.

End Daylight Savings!

So I'm not normally politically active, aware yes, active... eh I vote? does that matter?

Anyways, after 30 years, I am officially pissed off enough about the time change to do something about it! And because we live in a representative democracy, I fully intend to do something about it, and frankly, it is a bi-partisan issue.

I will be calling, and writing my senators, and other elected representatives every day until I get this changed and I invite all of you to do the same.

To start you off with some boiler plate. Here's the letter I sent to my senators this morning.
Good Morning Senator,

I am writing you today to express my frustration with a policy that was originally implemented during wartime, that kills untold numbers of Americans, and greatly threatens the health and safety of the rest. I am talking about the change from standard time to daylight time.

Every year numerous people are killed or injured in traffic accidents caused by drowsy drivers after the time change. Farmers and farm animals are upset by the change in routine, not to mention untold millions of other Americans who are forced to be awake earlier, causing undue stress in their home and work lives.

It behooves you as the champion of public safety you purport to be to end this menacing practice. Whether DST becomes the permanent time or not, it does not matter. The only factor that matters is that from now, till forever the only time I am forced to change my clock is when I find myself in a different timezone on purpose!

End this practice now!

Sincerely,

Your Constituent

I added this to my addresses to my state reps:
Daylight Saving Time, as is well known, is a federal statute requiring people to set their clocks one hour ahead between the first Saturday in April and the last Saturday in October. Under Federal law, any state may by law elect to exempt either the whole state, or all of the area within that state that lies within any one time zone, from Daylight Saving Time.
Some important information about DST, and some more ammunition you may be able to use:

Unhappy Hour
Daylight Saving Time: A bad idea.

Sleep Deficit, Fatal Accidents, and the Spring Shift to Daylight Savings Time

Cleaning Cartridge Brass

Cleaning cartridge brass is one of those topics in reloading where just about everyone has a different method of doing it, and to an extent they all work, some work better than others, some have different results.

Generally cleaning brass can be broken up into a few different methods: Chemical washing, Wet tumbling, Vibratory cleaning/polishing, and rotary cleaning/polishing. Vibratory process is very similar to rotary cleaning, the major difference is in rotary cleaning the bowl spins (like a cement mixer) whereas in vibratory the bowl vibrates, and usually has a toroid shape in which the vibration causes the media to turn over. Chemical washing can be combined with Wet Tumbling, but generally isn't. Wet tumbling usually is similar to the rotary process except it uses a media that is water friendly.

Chemical washing goes by several names, and uses many different compounds for achieving the same results. Typically, chemical washing involves an acid, a soap, an emulsifier, and occasionally a light abrasive. There are two chemical washing formulas I have used over the years with varied degrees of success, and they are easy to make at home. The first, is what I call the "Matryoshka" as the ingredient list follows a series of russian nesting dolls. The second is a more common solution which is a mix of CLR (calcium lime rust remover) and hot water with a 1gal to 1pt mix ratio.

Matryoshka Formula*

• 1 gal warm water
• 1 cup white vinegar
• 1 tablespoon powdered laundry detergent
• 1 teaspoon table salt

This formula works very well, and I have used it for years for a pre-cleaning solution. The laundry detergent does a great job removing oils and dirt from the casings, the vinegar attacks the lead deposits on the inside of the casings, and the salt breaks up the surface tension of the water and helps things get cleaner faster. Typically, I will let dirty brass sit in this solution for about 5-20 minutes, occasionally stirring it up. Wash the brass with clean water and either set it out in the sun to dry, or use forced air drying.

CLR Formula*

• 1 gal warm water
• 1 pint CLR (Do not substitute for other brands, use CLR brand)

This formula works great as a post-sizing rinse, as it gets off most lanolin case lubes, it also does a good job of shining up the brass.

* Usage Note: Both of these solutions if used for too long will remove enough zinc from the surface of the brass to turn it pink. While this is not implicitly destructive to the brass (you can still use it) who wants to go to the range with pink brass?
 
Wet tumbling, is something of a cross breed between the chemical methods discussed above, and the physical methods discussed later. For those familiar with it, it is essentially the same process used to make rocks shiny in a rock tumbler, add some water, put into a drum, and spin it for hours, days or weeks. In certain circumstances, a chemical solution may be added to improve the speed or the results. 

An interesting variation on wet tumbling is the use of stainless tumbling media. A new company showed up recently selling 5lbs of stainless steel pins just for this purpose http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com/ I have not tried them personally, but the pictures look good, and some people on the internet swear by it. I will tell you, this is a tried and true method for cleaning all sorts of work in many industries, everything from jewelry to doorhandles is tumbled in steel pins or shot.

Before delving into the finer points of rotary and vibratory case processing, it seems necessary to draw a distinction between cleaning and polishing, as they are different processes, you can combine them, but that usually takes too long.

Cleaning brass is best done with a more abrasive compound. To take an example from most home users, walnut media is a substantially more aggressive compound than corncob media. However, walnut is a cleaning media, so it will strip off grime, stains and other blemishes on the brass but will never bring it to a high shine.

Polishing is the final process of cleaning, and is best done with small grained corncob with a burnishing compound and a wax. Dillon's turbo polish is a very very good example of this, as it combines both a burnishing compound and a wax. The waxy layer left behind by polishing compounds does a lot to protect the brass and keep it from oxidizing. A good example of a burnishing compound is the common frankford arsenal polish sold by midwayusa. While it works well for polishing up the surface, the lack of wax means the cartridges will tarnish fairly quickly. One trick, when you have older media, that still has polish in it, but isn't coating the cartridges in as much wax as it did, is to add several teaspoons of mineral spirits to the tumbling media before adding brass as it tends to draw the wax out.

Now lets watch some videos. First up is vibratory polishing on a big scale:



Unfortunately I can't find the youtube video that had a rotary deburrer, so I'll have to take some video of mine next time I fire it up.

I hope that sums up pretty well the differences and answers some questions about cleaning, polishing, and the different methods people use to achieve the same results.

On War

the story is apocryphal at best, but it stems from turn of the century in a conversation between a visiting german commander and swiss commander

"How big a force do you command?"

The Swiss general confidently replied, "I can mobilize one million men in twenty-four hours."

The German asked, "What would happen if I marched five million men in here tomorrow?"

The Swiss replied, "Each of my men will fire five shots and go home."

the quote is often credited to General Henri Guisan, but one will never know

(re)Loading Basic Operations

In the theme of keeping this whole blog about top to bottom reloading. It seems necessary to discuss the technology contained in most reloading die sets. While there is substantially more to making ammunition than just these simple die sets which you can buy for less than $100, the common set of reloading dies is the closest most people will get to the rest of the tooling.

Reloading procedures are fairly uncomplicated, and is usually summed up in 2-3 reloading dies, and 5-6 steps.  The basic steps of reloading should be summed up as: Decapping, Sizing or Re-Sizing, Expanding, Belling, Charging*, Seating, and Crimping.

Decapping is the operation which ejects the spent primer from the pocket, for boxer type cases, this is simply done with a rod with a pin on the end of it which knocks it out of the primer pocket.

Sizing is the operation which changes the external dimensions of the shell casing, pushing the brass back to the shape of an unfired shell. Or at least something resembling one.

Expanding comes in several forms depending on the style of the case. Bottlenecked cases (most rifle cases, EG .30-06) use a button that is typically part of the decapping rod that is pulled out of the case and brings the neck up to the proper diameter. On pistol and some straight-walled rifle cases (such as .357 Magnum, or .45-70) a plunger is inserted into the case mouth, the plunger usually has a conical section towards the top which also bells the case mouth, again, multiple operations in a single die.

Charging dies are usually fairly simple, and are designed simply to act as a station where a mechanical device such as a powder measure will dispense a set amount of powder into the case. They are really only used on progressive and turret presses. In certain circumstances, the powder funnel will have an expander and belling section on it as well, giving three operations in a single die.

Seating and Crimping are two operations which are usually performed by the same die, however, the best performance is gained by separating these two steps, running a seating die (which may also feed bullets) and a separate crimping die.  Seating, pushes the bullet into the case mouth, Crimping forces the case mouth into a grove around the bullet called a cannelure, making the now completed round of ammunition much stronger and more weather resistant.

For two die rifle sets, the Decapping, sizing, and expanding steps all occur in the first die.  In pistol sets, decapping and sizing are accomplished by the first die, requiring the second die to perform expanding and belling steps. In all cases of production reloading dies, the Seating and Crimping is performed on a single die, however, many companies make aftermarket crimping dies of differing designs which can overcome the limitations of the combined Seat/Crimp dies sold by most companies.

Reloading requires all of the operations covered here, and a few others which I will get into later. However, it is important to understand the difference between reloading and loading, as loading encompasses only the charging, seating and crimping operations. This difference greatly affects throughput when making ammunition.

First Posting

Hello and welcome to the first posting for the AmmoBlog!

If the title wasn't informative enough, this blog is all about the technology of making ammunition. While I can't promise daily updates I will do my best to answer questions and post updates whenever something new comes to me.

A little bit about me: My name is Drew, I currently live in Southern California near Los Angeles, I have been reloading my own ammunition for 20+ years, in the last 5 years I have made several major adjustments to my chosen career path, and now work full time for a major commercial loader. Because this blog is personal, I will not divulge the name of my employer, nor will I use this blog as a place to post information proprietary to my employer including, but not limited to load data, bullet selection, or anything else that could either get me fired, or compromise the financial future of my employer.

With all that said, more about me. I am a classically trained manual machinist, proficient with lathes, mills, precision grinders, shapers, saws, and welders (mig, stick, tig, gas). I have both designed and made reloading dies, case check gauges, swage dies, rebuilt camdex, dillon, rcbs, ammoload, hornady, lee, CH4D, and pacific reloading presses, and worked with waterbury farrel cold headers, and bliss flywheel presses.

Now, more about the blog. This blog is not really about me, it's about what I do, and the reason I'm putting it out there is so people can learn about the trade and apply it either to reloading at home, or if they are another manufacturer hopefully produce ammo that's as good as mine. : )

While this blog is mostly geared towards people new to reloading, loading, or tool making, I will constantly be making references to more advanced topics, because if you are only being exposed to the same basic concepts you will never learn. For these reasons, I would highly recommend several books, you may use them as reference, or you may read through the completely. It's up to you.

Open source book (from google books):
Cartridge Manufacture: By DT Hamilton


One you're going to have to find (out of print):
Ammunition Making by George Frost


I would like to thank you for reading the blog, and my first post. Since it's the weekend I will probably post a few things I've been meaning to put up somewhere for a while. Stay tuned!