.45 acp Boolits

[Bawanna]

Loading pistol, get carbide dies for sure and forget about case lube. With rifle you don't have the luxury but pistol go carbide without question.

[MW surveyor]

I'm with Bawanna on this. Get the carbide dies for pistol calibers and do away with case lube. Also, I would get the four die set where you taper crimp on in a separate step. Makes it way easier to set up your seating die and you will get consistency in your taper crimp especially if you used mixed brass.

[mr surveyor]

yep, I love my Lee carbide 4 die sets. And with quick lock bushings, it's snap in-snap out, rarely need to even tweak adjustments unless you change bullet profiles and need to adjust the seating die.

I do occassionally lube one case out of 10-15 on the 44 mag, even with the carbide die, but never had to with .38/.357 (or .45 acp yet ... probably never)

[Rubb]

+1...classic 4 hole turret.
Even easier...when changing calibers...just change the whole turret.
The auto disc is more accurate with finer (spherical) powders vs. flake.
My favorite right now is Titegroup.

BTW..the green bollits remind me of the CCI shot shells

[AIRret]

I just confirmed that all are dies are carbide, so I guess we are good to go. Yeah!

Thanks for the help

[mr surveyor]

there are a few internet whines about the Lee Factory Crimp Die with "oversized" bullets, but I've yet to have any problems with mine. The four die sets are the way to go.

[Bongo Boy]

You may want to consider ultrasonic for cleaning, also. I've always cleaned with the vibratory 'tumbler', but the cases really only come out looking nice from the outside--inside they're dirtier than when they went into the tumbler.

So, down at Harbor Freight for $75 they have the same ultrasonic cleaner that I think Lyman sells. Git you a gallon of Citranox ($40) from amazon.com, which will fill your ultrasonic cleaner about 400 times. In 8 minutes the cases come out looking like this:



with sparkling clean primer pockets. Rinse in hot water, shake dry and hit with the hot air gun or allow to air dry overnight. I don't believe I'll be using the tumbler ever again--at no time with any media did it ever clean the inside of the cases. Plus, this process is nearly silent--although a bit wet.

I just did a 1,000 cases last night (and tonight I finished up) and I believe I used about 1-2 ounces of Citranox. While the cleaner is running for 8 minutes (its maximum timer setting), I deprime cases using the progressive press with all but the decap/resize die removed. I'm liking this process.

Oh...plus of course you can clean your guns, reloading dies, jewelry and just about anything else in it too, and no more tumbler media to always be sweeping up, etc.

Just a suggestion.

[mr surveyor]

ditto the ultrasonic cleaning. I use a small u/s cleaner I bought in 1983 to clean drafting pens (haven't used pens at all since 1994). It only holds 25-40 pieces of handgun brass at a time, but it's fast and effective. I usually run my revolver brass through the sizing/decapping die before it goes into the cleaner since it's not got enough grunge to hurt the carbide die or the brass. If it's real dirty and gritty "pick-up" brass, I may throw a big batch into a coffee can with 50-50 vinegar and water to pre-clean a bit before the normal process. I'd the same with really nasty brass if I was using a tumbler though.

The real advantage to the ultrasonic cleaner is that it gets your brass clean inside-out, as well as the primer pocket and flash hole. I normally go ahead and do my brass while I'm cleaning the guns that got it dirty, so I usually have a bunch of cleaned/resized brass waiting for primers, powder and bullets. Actually, I have more boxes of primed and ready to load brass than I do loaded brass.

Another pretty good product to really brighted "washed brass" is Birchwood Caseys Brass Cartridge Case Cleaner (phosphoric acid rather than citric, but still works well). I keep a coffee can about half full of the diluted solution that I pour into a coffee can with brass than just got rinsed from the ultrasonic bath, and let the brass sit in the BC cleaner for a couple of minutes - then strain the solution back into it's storage can for next time.

I really should get a larger U/S cleaner, but especially interested in the Citranox product. I'd rather buy it at a store though... I don't do Amazon.

I do love that total cleaness though

[AIRret]

We sure appreciate all the help!!!

I've tumbled a couple of loads of brass. The first came out pretty good, but on the second load I cut up a dryer sheet (I read about adding the dryer sheet in a gun magazine this past summer) and put it in the load and it really brightened the brass. However, for days we have been talking about tumbling, de-primeing and then u/s cleaning.

Another question, (of course) do you mark your brass so you can tell how many times each case has been reloaded?

Is it important to use something like a case prep center to size the brass, or is the progressive press enough?