Connecticut Preparedness 

A community of Connecticut neighbors discussing topics important for preparedness and self-reliance.

Reloading, Gunsmithing, and Ammo
User avatar
By Mopar
#36380
newguy wrote:Plus your limited to 8lbs of powder or 5000 primers for $27.50 charge. Then you have to pay another $27.50 if you wanna order more then that.
That's not true. It's 50lbs total weight, and no individual container of powder can be over 8lbs. So if you are ordering powder you can buy 6 jugs of powder that weigh 8lbs each on one hazmat. That's why we do bulk/group buys. If you had to pay shipping and hazmat on each jug it would be cheaper to go to the store. Online I can usually save about $25 per jug, so anything more then 2 jugs is a savings.
User avatar
By Mopar
#36381
Primers is the same thing, up to 50lbs, which is either 30,000 or 50,000 primers, I forget. I know my last order was 15,000 primers PLUS 16lbs of powder.

On top of that, many companies will eat the hazmat on larger orders, so it pays to shop around and combine orders.
User avatar
By newguy
#36382
Ok i guess i miss understood the way it was written on Graf's site. 8lb jug might be way to go i mean paying 20 to 25 dollars for 1 lb jug locally is getting kind of ridiculous
User avatar
By Mopar
#36384
Here's an example. If you max out a hazmat box (50lbs), total shipping comes to around a buck a pound, give or take. A 1 lb container of Unique is like $23 at cabela's, plus tax and $20 worth of gas in my truck. Closer to home it's more like $25-$30 plus tax and I still need to call around to see if they have it in stock and then go get it. I think I paid $103 plus shipping and hazmat for my last 8lb jug, so on a maxed out order my cost was about $14/lb. Even if Cabelas had the 8lb jug in stock(which they never do, they have to order it), they want $150 plus tax (and $20 gas and 3hrs of my life wasted) so online is still the way to go if you can place a decent sized order.
User avatar
By newguy
#36385
Oo but you get that wonderful 2% worth of reward points on your card if you buy it at Cabelas :lol:
User avatar
By Mopar
#36386
newguy wrote:Oo but you get that wonderful 2% worth of reward points on your card if you buy it at Cabelas :lol:
Pffft... I'll buy elsewhere and get the reward points on my Amazon card, thankyouverymuch. :)
User avatar
By newguy
#36388
I been having good luck with Graf. I got 100 150gr FMJ .311 for $23.99 to reload for my Dad's Enfield and my reloads shot better then commercial he was buying. and i got 100 tarnished 160gr round nose .268 for Carcano for $16.99 and they were in good shape barely any tarnish at all.
User avatar
By CTSixshot
#36400
Grafs has probably seen more orders from me than most other vendors. This isn't saying that the others aren't reputable or worthwhile.
Back in the day when Precision Reloading was in Stafford Springs, it was a great place to make bulk bullet, powder and primer purchases. Course, today's fuel prices almost make it not worth the trip over to pick it up...even saving hazmat charges and shipping.
User avatar
By myglimk2
#36680
The Classic Loader came in yesterday. I may take a ride up to Cabelas to pick up a few things. Since I got more brass than I could bargain for from PaiN yesterday. :lol:
How important is it to tumble the brass? Are there any other methods to cleaning them?
I know I need a micrometer and plain on picking up today if I do go to Cableas. Also, bullets,primers, and powder.
User avatar
By newguy
#36681
before i got a tumbler i just wiped then down good with paper towel just to make sure there was no dirt or sand on them.
By JohnFH
#36683
You should really properly clean your brass, and I would strongly suggest sitting down with me for an hour or two and put hands on some stuff before you go spend money.
User avatar
By CTSixshot
#36684
I haven't tumbled brass yet. Sure, it isn't pretty and shiney, but you don't want the twinkle to reveal your position, right?
You don't want gritty brass to damage your dies, but a simple inspection and cleaning will suffice.
The disadvantage of dull brass is finding it amongst wood chips at the Berlin range.
Last edited by CTSixshot on Thu May 24, 2012 8:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
By newguy
#36687
I saw a recipe once were you can get one of those netted bags and fill a bucket with hot water and one tablespoon of dish soap then rinse rinse then put them on a cookie sheet put them in a oven for 20 mins at 200
User avatar
By Mopar
#36692
myglimk2 wrote:How important is it to tumble the brass? Are there any other methods to cleaning them?
I don't personally use this, but I know a lot of people who do. Some do this then tumble, others use it instead of tumbling:
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Fellow reloaders, I would like to share with you a super secret-squirrel method for getting a fantastic shine on your brass when you do your initial cleaning. Getting our brass shiny is a subject that is near and dear to most of us, some more than others... I would consider myself a Tier 1 brass shiner, and with great brass shinification skills, comes the great responsibility of sharing these methods with my friends! :) So without further boasting about my metalurgical magic trickery, let us begin: First we are going to need some brass... For the purposes of this period of instruction, I am going to use some once fired, HXP .30-06 surplus. It was picked up right after firing, and is in not bad shape, such as would be most range pickups that have been sitting around tarnishing for millenia. Next, we need to gather our magical ingredients. The easy one, which you probably have under the kitchen sink already, is Dawn dish detergent. I use the ultra-concentrated flavor for more magical sudsiness. I like suds. The next ingredient, is a product called Lemi Shine. It can only be found on the shelves of Walmart, in the dishwashing aisle. Be sure to purchase the powder form of the product, and not the liquid. The liquid form is about as useful as........nevermind...its useless. Now we are ready to make said magical brass shinin' brew... You will need a tupperware container with lid. I am using a 3 liter Rubbermaid bowl with lid. It is big enough to hold a couple hundred pieces of brass, and enough magic brew to get the job done. Begin by adding a squirt of Dawn.... Now we add a pinch (I use anywhere from a .45acp shellcasing, to a tablespoon full) of Lemi Shine. Any more than that, and your just wasting it. A container of this stuff should last a LONG time. Next we want to fill the container about half full of HOT tap water. Then dump in your filthy brass....Notice the awesome suds. Now place the lid on the container. Be sure to not seal it good so your significant other can laugh at you during the next step.... Ahhhh.....my favorite part! SHAKE IT LIKE YOUR MAD AT IT!!!!!! Now we are going to let this wonderful sudsy concoction work its magic overnight. If I start early enough, I like to go and give it a good shaking every couple of hours or so to keep everything sudsy and happpy....If you are really motivated, (and want to get to Tier 1 brass shining status with extra credit bonus points and a gold star), then you can refresh the entire brew with newly mixed brew and hot water. This step is not necessary, but will yield measurable results. Here are the nasties soaking in the brew.... Now that our filthy little brass pieces have soaked overnight, lets open the lid and get these bad boys rinsed off....Grab yourself a cheap plastic collander from the dollar store if you dont already have one (makes a good poor boy media separator too!), and dump the brass in and give a good rinse. Now let us compare and see how the brew worked..... Filthy, unwashed heathen brass on the left, soaked happy cleansed brass on the right. (does anyone detect my subtle symbolism here?) As we can see, the Lemi Shine concoction has done its job and loosened a lot of the carbon and filth from the brass, making the job of our tumbling media a little easier...It also helps keep your media clean longer. Although I never do this myself, a step you might want to take is to dry your brass off a bit by either laying them out on a towel, or out in the sun. I usually just shake mine out really well in the collander. Now its time for the fun part! Dump that brass in your favorite vibratory tumbling device, with some CLEAN media. I have only used corncob, but walnut probably works just as well. You will not need to put any additives such as polish in at this time. I would also reccomend not using walnut media that has been treated. If you must use walnut, grab some lizard bedding from the local pet store and save yourself a bunch of money! Now that we have let our brass run for a while...(times will vary depending on just how filty your little pieces of brass are), lets put on our sunglasses and take a look..... Tadaaaaa! I let this particular batch run about 2hrs because they had some stubborn tarnish from being stored for 60 years. And now for the comparison....Once again, nasty uncleaned brass on left, Lemi Shine soaked brass in the middle, and soaked/tumbled brass on the right. I hope you have found this document informative, and that you have good results using this method of putting the ultimate shine on your brass. Happy Reloading!
User avatar
By myglimk2
#36695
Was a little hard to read that, but still some good info. :lol:
Do you have a link on where you got that information?
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