Quoted:
I am new to reloading and have been reloading 9mm with my father. He is very old school but I want to see how his processes match up with some of you here.
when cleaning brass he advised me to put them in a 'bucket' of soapy hot water give them a good shaking and let them set for days. Then empty the water, rinse them off and dry them. He puts them all in a small toaster type oven and ensures they are dry.
-This process did not seem very effective. A 'pollen' like dust was found in several of the brass and we had to clean them by hand.
We then visually inspect every piece of brass and mic'd them. (inside and out)
We then primed them with a hand primer.
We then test fit a bullet in each brass to ensure the brass was not too large and allowed the bullet to drop in too easy. (several allowed the bullet to fall inside the brass without effort) If they allowed the bullet to drop in too easy he crimped them and we proceeded.
We loaded them each by hand with powder using his powder dispenser. We weighed every 5th one to ensure it was consistent.
We used a single stage press and pressed the bullet in, mic'd it. We then crimped it a bit and mic'd. it again.
To me if we used a multistage press we would eliminate alot of steps, I asked him about it and he said even on a multistage press you have to mic and check before the final product, which seems pointless then to use a multistage press.
That's doing it the hard way. For pistol straight wall cases;
1) Clean brass in a tumbler, takes a couple of hours.
2) Inspect cases for defects. Skip all the useless miking.
3) Size cases with a carbide sizer, no lube needed, this also deprimes. Ensure sized case fits guns chamber at this point.
4) Prime cases.
5) Bell case just enough for bullet to start.
6) Drop powder charge.
7) Seat bullet and crimp.
For rifle bottle necked rounds go up to Tutorials and look for the 4 part "223 reloading" posts. That is my process.