I have just put on layaway a dillon model 200 case cleaner....I have decided in the last couple of weeks to splash out and invest in a little more reloading gear, plus I was washing cases with dish washing detregent and then drying in the oven.....missus thinks that is not appropriate so I took it upon my self to buy a dillon cleaner

Any way I am looking for tips on use, ie; can dusty cases that may have been dropped etc. go into the tumbler before sizing and de-priming ??

And what media is best, and is this shake cleaner preferable to the liquid models ??

Regards PC.

PC
If the cases are dull and dirty I use walnut hulls untreated,before resizing.If they are just diry from firing, corncob works fine then.I do not think its a good idea to run dirty caes into your dies there for I ALWAYS tumble my brass first.Dillon polish also works great,along with their case seperator!
JMHO
muskrat

Quite by accident a few years back I poured walnut shells into the corn cob mixture. It worked so well I have been cleaning brass that way ever since.

To me that makes ense to have a rough and a fine all in one. Thanks for the tips thus far !!

You can usually find a good price on the corn cob media and the walnut hull media if you buy in bulk. I second what everyone else is saying about the walnut hulls for nasty dirty casings, and corncob for polishing.
Buy losts of media. Don't try and make it last forever. Life is too short for that.
I usually first deprime on a cheap little Lee ($20.00) "C" press with a universal decapper die (also very cheap). That keeps the hard primer residue away from the main shaft of my nice press. Then tumble clean with walnut hulls. Then lubricate and resize, trim to length, deburr and chamfer the mouths, and then tumble again (with corncob this time). That second tumble is a good time to polish the brass a bit if you wish. Don't make it too slick and shiny. That may increase thrust against the bolt face.
You can keep two separate buckets - one for walnut media, one for corncob media. Then it is easy to go back and forth from one media to the other.
I keep the inside of the tumbler clean with paper towels and denatured alcohol.
Don't forget to get a case/media separator. That rates up there with bottled beer, sliced bread, velcro, and duct tape as one of mankind's good ideas.
JCN

Charlie, so at what point do you put these cases in your nice XL 650 mate, after all that there does not seem to many processes left so generally speaking you only use your 650 for the priming powder and seating operations ??

Do you suggest I initally do resizing and decapping as seperate operations ??

I agree that the media seporator would be a handy thing

I have four basic different protocols depending on what cartridge I am loading for, and what I am going to use it for.

1. Mass quantities of .223, .308, and occaisionally 30-06 to feed the full auto beast and to make ammo by the British Long Ton in my quest to eradicate the ground squirrel population of Southwestern Idaho - Tumble relatively clean, spray with lube, dump in the 650 hopper, load until I have a big pile of ammo, then tumble for a few minutes, then either link up for a machine gun, or dump in some small buckets for varmint hunting purposes. I do high power short line (200 - 300 yards) practice ammunition this way.

2. Semi Progressive loading. Clean, deprime, resize (on a single stage press), trim (I have Gracey Power trimmers set up for .223 and .308), deburr, chamfer. I then throw it into the 650 hopper. I load all my short line match ammo this way.

3. Long line match ammo and hunting ammo - I use either a Redding 7 station turret press or a Redding Ultra-Mag press for hunting ammo. For long range match ammo (600 - 1000 yards) I use a Harrell press (made like a good Swiss watch). Clean, deprime, (run the carbide primer pocket reamer/uniformer through all match cases), lube, resize, trim, deburr, chamfer, clean. Hand prime (I still use a Lee primer, but they wear out after about 3,000 cases), add powder (Powder measure except I weigh long range match charges), seat the bullet, and run hunting ammo through a factory crimp die.

4. I use Wilson benchrest dies and an arbor press (or mallet if I forget to bring the press to the range or field) for my PPC cases. I don't have the patience, inclination, or skill to shoot benchrest, but I got a smoking deal (free, I say again, free) on some PPC dies and asssociated paraphenalia).

Last night I couldn't fall asleep so I loaded a couple hundred .223 (25.6 grains TAC, WSR primers, 50 grain B/T's) rounds in Lake City brass for the varmint bucket. Method 1.

I don't work on Wednesday so I loaded up some 6,5 x 55 SM by method 3 this morning. I also loaded up some 7mm Rem Mag for an aquaintence today by method 3-. He has been kind of a dick to everybody for the last year so I made sure I used my old RCBS dies that have about .005" of run out. I did polish them up real pretty for him though. He likes that.

I will Read the thread on how to post pictures and see if I can illustrate some of what I babble about.

Well, my girlfriend unit just got home so we are off to the range.
Later dudes,
JCN

Charlie,

I wopuld like if possible to get a set of 45/70 carbide dies that did not require lubing, this should be possible seeing as it's a straight walled case.

Thanks for your indepth posts there helpful.

Regards PC.

PC: Don't tumble loaded ammo in any type of tumbler. Shame on anyone for advising same.

Thanks for the tip SS.

Shame on me. After extensive consultations with my law firm (Dewey, Cheatham, and Howe) I realize that I may have missed typed a post somewhere. No one, under any circumstances should ever put a loaded round in any sort of tumbler (did I say under any sort of circumstances?). Also, I want everyone to floss their teeth after every meal, hold hands when crossing the street, and don't forget your fiber every morning. Finally, avoid the Dude brothers under all circumstances.
JCN
PS I can personally recommend the new associate attorney at D,C&H. Ben Dover recently graduated from Harvard Law after that unfortunate episode that got him expelled from Whassamatta U. School of Medicine.

Charlie maybe we could team up and invent a tumbler that provides safe tumbling of loaded ammo