Reloading, "the 12-Step Plan" ...

   1. Purchase some Remington™ basic ammo, for use at the range. 
      Other brands may work just fine, but the Remington brass
      has well-formed primer pockets for reloading and the
      brass alloy is a nice "hardness" to re-size easily and
      hold the re-sized shape.  You will learn with experience,
      but start with Remington to minimize hassles and frustration
      in the follow procedure.

   2. Pick-up your fired brass at the range.
      Yeah, gathering other fresh-fired brass is fine, but put it in 
      a seperate bag/box for later,  stay with YOUR fired brass 
      as you learn to reload.

   3. Using the decapping pin/base, remove the spent primers.

   4. Using the Primer Pocket Brush, clean the crud from the pocket.
      The pocket does not have to be shiny-clean, 
      just get most of the crud out.
      You're not going to eat out of it, you just want the pocket to
      be free of obstructions that would interfere with insertion of
      the new primer or the firing/ignition of the powder.

   5. Wash your brass.  
      Use a small plastic jar/lid as your "brass washing machine".
     * mine is a ~12oz peanut butter jar that was thoroughly cleaned,
     * amazing, but a small quantity of liquid soap soaking overnight
     * converts all that oily peanut butter film to an easily rinsed
     * out emulsion... and the jar is ready for a new "life" )
      If your size jar is about 1/3 or 1/2 full of brass, 
      it should have plenty of room to agitate the brass.
      Get the brass wet and drain a couple times to remove the loose dirt.
      Then  with a drop of liquid soap, shake vigorously for a minute or two.
      Then rinse thoroughly, get the sudsy stuff out, but leaving just a 
      little soap-film on the brass will serve as a modest sizing-lube.
      LET THEM DRY THOROUGHLY, a few hours in the sunshine should be adequate.
      I set mine out 'mouth down' to permit the primer pocket and brass-base
      to get the most sunshine and "heat" to aid in the drying.
      (on a sunny Texas afternoon, they are often TOO HOT to handle !!)
      If in doubt, let them dry some more, even a day or two... when humid.
      You do not want ANY MOISTURE in the primer pocket or case !!
      This wash will not polish the brass as "shiny-new", but it will wash
      off all of the dust, grit, sand and crud...  the brass-die contacts
      will be much-smoother when CLEAN.  the normal "tranish" from handling,
      shooting etc is of no concern to the powder, bullet or chamber.
      
   6. Use your sizing die to size the brass, 
      and make it 'round' on the outside.

   7. Use your flaring die to put a modest-flare on the mouth 
      and make it 'round' on the inside.

   8. Use your Primer Tool to insert new primers into the brass.

   9. With your powder-drop properly calibrated for your "load",
      insert your powder.  Maybe 10 cases at a time, line them up,
      then carefully examine each for an appropriate amount of 
      powder.  Primarily, look for any that are  TOO LITTLE POWDER
      or TOO MUCH POWDER.  Empty and re-charge any such cases.

  10. Properly set your Seating Die for your case and bullet.
      Seat your bullets into your cases.

  11. Properly adjust your Crimp Die and place a modest crimp 
      of the brass around your bullet.

  12. With a  Max-Case Gauge, check to insure that the brass and bullet
      are within the 'spec' to properly chamber in your firearm.
      The finished ammo should  'drop in' and be flush as with the gauge
      and drop-out of the gauge.  I will have a few (3-4 in a tray of 50)
      that just do not drop-in on their own.  A modest finger pressure
      is nothing compared to the slide/bolt slamming a cartridge into
      the firearm chamber, so finger pressure to insert and finger pressure
      to remove the ammo is just fine, in my book.
      However, if all is "fine", but something is just  "out of spec",
      I will use a permanent marker to place an obvious DOT on the primer,
      and have those cartridges at one-end of my box of bullets, then at
      the range, I know to use these as  'warm up' shots and not to 
      insert them into the middle of a magazine, lest they cause a
      jam or mis-feed.


  When done, "package" your new ammo and label it with:
       Date,  Bullet brand, weight & style,
              Powder & weight.  Primer.

  There is a  'reason' for the above sequence.
      I want my brass to be "clean" when sizing,
        this lets it size easily and not stick in the die or 
        risk scratching the carbide surface inside the die.
  So, I need to wash the brass before sizing.
  But I need to remove the primer and brush the primer pocket 
        to have the brass thoroughly clean.
  So, I manually decap the brass with the decapping pin/base.
  My  pistol sizing dies have the decapping 'rod' removed,
      my brass is already de-capped and when the rare case
      becomes lodged in the brass (D'oh like when I get in 
      a hurry and place the brass ON the shellholder instead
      of IN the shellholder, thus pressing the brass up and into
      the die without the shellholder grasp to remove it...) 
      I can easily use a long pin-punch to tap the brass out 
      and continue.

  Also, I will flare my brass BEFORE I prime it,
      this allows me to have my brass ready for completion
      should some crack be found in the brass or other inspection
      reasons to reject it.  Rare, but why have a primer in the
      brass and possibly ignite the primer in the flare step.
      Priming brass in the Press just seems to be too much
      fiddling with the tiny little primers.  The Primer-Tool
      makes the Priming step MUCH easier, to me.

  *   When you first get a new die-set, take them apart to inspect
      for residue or mfg burrs.  Clean as necessary and understand
      how the brass will be shaped, formed and prepared in that die.
      This will aid in the die adjustment as you will better understand
      how the die works and how the brass will be shaped.
    >> As you use your dies, they need to be cleaned !
      It will be amazing as to how much residue/crap will accumulate
      from perfectly "clean" brass.  Until you learn your particular
      experience, consider taking them apart for clean/inspection
      after every 250 or so bullets.  You will learn how often to 
      clean them as you learn from your own experience.
      My experience is that the Sizing & Seating dies will gather
      more crud faster than will the Flaring & Crinping dies.
      I use my Powder Solvent and a Q-tip to remove the grime & crud,
      and maybe a tooth-pick for something stubborn.

  Good luck...  THINK!... be careful and 
  try NOT to be the next nominee for a 'Darwin Award'.

--end--