“The 22 Creedmoor Project”

[Brandon.miller.4]

Fwiw I have had extremely good luck in many different cartridges with my very simplified reloading process (I hate tinkering and extra steps).

With fired brass:
-full length size/deprime the brass dirty
-wet tumble with steel pins (cleans the primer pockets)
-prime and load.

 

[huntnful]

Fwiw I have had extremely good luck in many different cartridges with my very simplified reloading process (I hate tinkering and extra steps).

With fired brass:
-full length size/deprime the brass dirty
-wet tumble with steel pins (cleans the primer pockets)
-prime and load.

I used to wet tumble with stainless media to clean primer pockets as well. Got tired of making sure I got the pins out of the cases and getting them unstuck from the necks.

I’ve gone away from any tumbling or vibratory for that reason. It really is just faster to lube the case by hand and wipe by hand (although more physically involved). And it preserves the carbon in the necks.

I have a primer pocket cleaning tool that goes in my drill and I can do 100 cases in maybe 5 minutes tops.

 

[Schmo]

Steve,
Thanks a ton for doing this and taking the time to update on the process. I love it. I assume you’re annealing the once fired brass to kick off the prep process?

 

[huntnful]

Steve,
Thanks a ton for doing this and taking the time to update on the process. I love it. I assume you’re annealing the once fired brass to kick off the prep process?

No problem man! Happy to share. And I’m already learning a great deal from others inputs as well!

No sir. I’m done annealing for the foreseeable future. And I have a $1500 AMP annealer lol.

It doesn’t provide much, if any benefit from what I saw. It does soften the neck and shoulder, but I didn’t see that make any difference on the target, and I don’t normally shoot a piece of brass enough to see how not annealing effects its overall longevity.

 

[B_Reynolds_AK]

TLDR:

Form’s painless reloading process was right

 

[Schmo]

No sir. I’m done annealing for the foreseeable future. And I have a $1500 AMP annealer lol.

It doesn’t provide much, if any benefit from what I saw. It does soften the neck and shoulder, but I didn’t see that make any difference on the target, and I don’t normally shoot a piece of brass enough to see how not annealing effects its overall longevity.

Interesting! Any idea how many times a piece of quality 22 Creed brass can be resized without annealing? Is it past the life of the primer pocket? I’m just asking because I want to know for my own loading.

 

[Schmo]

Form’s painless reloading process was right

Why am I not surprised. I’m pretty sure the whole reloading process isn’t nearly as complicated as many make it to be. Seems like a good barrel will shoot almost anything, and a bad barrel is super picky or won’t group anything well.

 

[Carl Ross]

Interesting! Any idea how many times a piece of quality 22 Creed brass can be resized without annealing? Is it past the life of the primer pocket? I’m just asking because I want to know for my own loading.

This isn't going to be a question with a single answer. The less you work the brass the longer it will maintain ductility and not split. My ideal would be to have a chamber neck dimension somewhere around .002 over the neck diameter of a loaded round, then size with a bushing die or a honed die to .003 under loaded round diameter. This way you are working the brass as little as possible, while still maintaining enough clearance and enough neck tension for reliable function.

If instead you have a sloppy large chamber neck and a standard die that sizes the neck WAY down before bringing it back up with an expander ball, you could be working the neck 3x as much each firing, which will reduce it's life if you aren't annealing (and make it harder to keep straight as well).

The primer pocket longevity is similarly varied; how tight did it start (vs your primers), how much pressure are you exposing it to, how snug does the web of your brass fit your chamber?

If you're looking to become a brass miser, you should also be paying attention to how far you are bumping your shoulder vs your chamber. Case head separation will kill brass quickly if you over do it.

 

[huntnful]

TLDR:

Form’s painless reloading process was right

Yes sir. I’ve been loading like that for a couple of years also.

Literally just testing if anything makes any significant, or even minor, but consistent changes.

Way cheaper and easier to test on this “piss ant” cartridge

 

[huntnful]

Interesting! Any idea how many times a piece of quality 22 Creed brass can be resized without annealing? Is it past the life of the primer pocket? I’m just asking because I want to know for my own loading.

I honestly do not know if the life, without annealing, will outlive the primer pockets. But I’m just going test it. And I’m assuming it will.

Hopefully someone else can chime in on that with their own personal data.

 

[justin davis]

Thanks for doing this. This is really neat info and testing.

 

[Schmo]

@Carl Ross and @huntnful,
Thanks for your reply. I understand about the variability of how much brass is being worked. Guess I can test with my 223 that I shoot the most of and see how it shakes out!