I've been using my new FA case tumbler. Pretty cool. I've also been tumbling steel 7.62x39 cases and getting them shiny then spraying two coats of lacquer on them. They look petty good, better than the ugly green and gray color of most comblock ammo. Any of you reloaders have experience doing the same?

Nobody reloads steel. That's the reason people buy it. We're all turning our backs on you now.

Wouldn't resizing steel cases be hard on a resizing die and case trimming tools? How do you deprime Berdan-primed cases?

I have never heard of anyone reloading steel cases.

I reload steel.

The old style Boxer primed Wolf .223, .40 S&W, and 45 ACP.

They went out of production several years ago.

I don't know why the myth of steel cases ruining dies won't die.

Steel cases are made of a very soft steel and resize easily.

I wet tumble my cases and they take on a very bright sheen as the polymer coating is polished by the pins.

You do have to thoroughly dry them though or the inside will rust as the firing damages the lacquer on the inside.

Interested how you paint these?  Type and cost of paint, results.  

Seems easier to just wipe down the original cases vs wet tumbling.

I reloaded steel .223 boxer primed a few times.

One thing I won't do is risk damaging a trimmer trying to trim steel cases

I’ve reloaded boxer primed steel case 45 ACP ammo, because I could.

I minimally tumble, and preserve the coating, which can be lacquer or polymer.

The steel is mild and didn’t affect my carbide resizing die.

You can only get a couple of reloadings out of them because they crack.

There are threads on these in the archives somewhere.

I've reloaded steel .223 and .45 with no significant issues, just as a learning experience. I tested a batch of 100 Wolf .223 steel cases, and after every reload I would lose 2-3 to split necks when fired (you lose that many from factory loads anyways). After 5 or 6 reloads, I called the exercise complete.

I think applying new lacquer is asking for trouble. The kind used on cartridge cases is pretty specific to the application, and cured in an oven IIRC.

I never had problems with my reloaded steel cases rusting through the course of reloading and storing them. After 5-6 trips through the walnut media most of the finish was gone.

Only really had luck with lacquer 45ACP. Any of the polymer stuff starts rusting on me.

Sounds to me like the juice aint worth the squeeze.

Its really not. I do it mainly so I can shoot here and there without the guilt of picking up brass.

They are a one and done reload for me.

I know in a few years they will be rusted into dust and leave almost no trace except the primer.

In a couple instances where I had steel cases mixed in with brass when wet tumbling, all the cases came out with a blackish coloration. Removed the steel cases and reran them in the wet tumble and all brass came out bright as expected.

I'm surprised to hear folks have wet tumbled steel cases without an issue.

Being forewarned by dryflash3 about wet tumbling steel, I use walnut media and tumble steel cases for as long as needed to get them clean.

I’ve had good results with both lacquered and polymer coated steel cases, but I cull steel cases that are even slightly sketchy.  My cull rate is more based on how long the case in question has been sitting in the weather than what coating was used.

I deprime anything I’m going to tumble - Berdan or Boxer.  Walnut tumbling doesn’t do as good a job of cleaning primer pockets as wet tumbling, but it’s a good start.  Regular primer pocket cleaning brushes clean steel Boxer pockets just fine.  It does take a special tool to clean Berdan pockets (brass or steel), but it’s important to do it so you can really tell if the anvil is still good.

Mostly I deal with Berdan primed steel 7.62x39mm cases, though I have a small stash of .45 ACP and .40 S&W cases.  The .45 cases have been easy to load and have performed the same as brass cases.

You have to do a load of exclusively steel cases.

If you mix the two you get a mess.