I am doing what seems like a lot of case prep.
After EACH use, I lube & neck size, de-primer, resize and debur/chamfer case ends, clean primer hole, Then polish in walnut and reload.

Do I need to resize & chamfer neck end each time after I use a shell?

Also, are donut cutters, neck turners and flash hole deburrers a real help? and do they need to be used once, or after every shooting?

Thanks!

ruger, you only need to "prep" your cases once. After that it's just resize, load & shoot. The only other time you would chamfer again is after case trimming, maybe every 4th firing or so, measure your cases after 2-3 firings & trim accordingly. I trim all of the same batch & the same time. BTW, if you are neck sizing you may not even need to lube, I don't w/ my Lee NS dies. I do clean primer pockest after every firing, but you could get by w/ every other firing. I don't even tumble every time, sometimes just wipe the cases off, size & give the necks a turn w/ steel wool to get any carbon off.
If you are shooting a hunting rifle, say .270, you may not notice much diff. in excessive case prep. The only way to tell is try yourloads both ways.

There is no need to debur and chamfer the case mouth, unless you have trimmed the case. Cases won't normally need trimming every time they are reloaded, in particular if you neck size.

On top of what you have mentioned, it would probably make sense to clean the inside of the neck with a case neck brush. Both this operation and cleaning the primer pocket can be made with power tools, though, taking a bit of the effort out of it.

Do you need to neck turn?? Normally, if you have standard chamber (i.e. no tight neck), there is little advantage to neck turning. The only reason you might want to do so, is to ensure your case necks are as uniform as possible. In this case, you need to set the turner to just clean up maybe 60-75% of the case neck. Alternatively, you can sort your brass according to case neck variance, and save yourself the neck turning. But this is all if you are prepared to go "anal" about your loads. Comparatively few hand loaders, loading for factory chambers, neck turn.

Neck turning is a once-off operation.

If you don't neck turn, you won't need to worry about donuts - they form if a case has been turned short of shoulder. Donuts do need to be removed from time to time, but probably not every time you reload.

Flas hole deburring is a once-off operation. It can be useful in cases with punched flash holes (Winchester, Remington etc). If you can't be bothered, use cases with drilled flash holes (Lapua, Norma etc), and you won't need this step either.

Reloading is great at teaching us patience. Just keep plugging at the job at hand, and eventually you'll have a bunch of loaded ammo, which you can shoot on the range, and go straight back to the reloading bench...

- mike

It sounds like you tumble your cases as your last step. I would make this my first step were I you. After all that hard work, you're just dinging up the case mouths by tumbling them amongst and against each other.

RSY

Good point RSY.

Well you could ommit the chamfer but unless you're going to size dirty cases there are a lot of steps.

I generaly deprime in a universal deprimer
Tumble
Lube outside
Neck brush
(or use RCBS spray lube for both the above)
Size
Clean primer pockets
Trim and chamfer if required
Tumble

Flash hole deburring is mostly a once off operation but many fired cases can get a roughening/erosion of the external flash hole primer which can be removed by deburring, that's also a good way of removing the corn cob.

Case prep is the dull and time consuming part of reloading

Thanks guys...it did seem like I was going through a LOT of steps for the same result. Of course I do have a mini-lathe, so cleaning primer holes and sizing/cutting are not as hard as for someone doing it by hand.

So your tips will save me a lot of work, and save me a few bucks (for neck turners and such).
Thanks!

quote:

Originally posted by 1894mk2:
I generaly deprime in a universal deprimer
Tumble
Lube outside
Neck brush
(or use RCBS spray lube for both the above)
Size
Clean primer pockets
Trim and chamfer if required
Tumble

I am curious? Why lube? Do you use a full length sizer die or just a neck sizer die? It was my understanding that you only need to use a neck sizer on a fireformed shell (and the Lee carbide neck sizer I use does not require you to use a lube) is this right, or is lube still required?

Before, I was full length sizing (using lube) and thats why I made the tumble the last step (as it did a nice job removing the lube and giving the de-primed holes a nice polish), now I only full length on new brass to make sure its right.

quote:

Originally posted by 1894mk2:

Neck brush
(or use RCBS spray lube for both the above)

Tell me a bit about this step.... How do you use a a spray when cleaning the neck?