...who likes case prep. I have a bunch of 223 brass, mostly LC, that I have been working on. Resize, swage primer pockets, uniform primer pockets, deburr inside of flash hole, trim to length, then back into a tumbler for final polish. The stuff that is not LC will get sawed off and made into 300 Blackout and it is looking like there will be around four hundred of those with the same prep plus annealing. Most fun I have had in a while.

You like it because you live in the Rain Belt. Long dark winter does things to your mind.

I won't say I enjoy it terribly, but I embrace it as being a means to the end, consistent accuracy. I agree with Dave, that living in a rain forest, does keep us inside preparing for next spring. I went out to shoot a few days ago, and shot my Hornet. In the time to change to another rifle, the sun went behind the clouds and the wind began. I had to quit as I was very chilled.

Boy, howdy! I am obsessed with all the intricacies of case preparation and handling my components as much as possible. I have Mike Dillon help me. I dump all my cases into the automatic case feed and start pulling the handle. Mike does all the rest...

That's cheating!

Cheating, yes.

But

It

Works.

You're not alone, Scott. Many of us get serious about case prep because it gives consistency, which in turns allows dumping batches into hoppers and whaling out gobs of long-distance goodness.

I do my case prep on a drill press....

Bingo! I think some guys forget about that big powered case prep tool right there in the shop.

I don't know how much I'd say I enjoy it, but there's definitely a sense of accomplishment (real or imagined) in prepping a bunch of brass.

I like little better than having some cases "ready to go" when I get home from shooting. I might have found some promising loads and I want to get some more loaded up in the event I can go to the range again in the next day or two. I don't always like getting them there, but I do enjoy having them. Reap what you sow.

Nope....don't enjoy it. Look at it as a necessary evil.

I use a cordless drill for most of it.

I think I am done for today. Brined turkey and have it smoking in the Brinkman. Need about fifteen more degrees according to the remote thermometer. I was swaging primer pockets while waiting and just pinched off a big chunk of my little finger. This one will take more than a week to heal.

That's what you get for zoning out on the production line, doofus. Next time you'll do better, mmm?

Been there, done that. For some strange reason, I never hurt myself in the same way twice.

I was just hoping that chunk-o-finger wasn't in with the turkey somewhere....

The chunk-o-finger was from the turkey who was not bright enough not to slam down the swaged case without removing the finger. It has a good throb going today. The turkey may be bright enough to not do it again but I would not take any bets on it.

That's SOP around here.

I used to do all that stuff, then one fine day I was in a hurry to make up ammo for a varmint hunt, so I just took a new lot of Winchester .223 Remington unfired brass and ran it through my progressive loader. Didn't see a bit of difference between the obsessively prepared stuff and the lackadaisically ignored batch as far as accuracy was concerned. Next, I Tried it with some Winchester .204 Ruger brass, with the same result.

Nowadays I only do what needs to be done. For example, I had a batch of Nosler .204 Ruger brass that wouldn't allow primers to be seated below the case head, pockets too tight. Not just tight but too shallow, crooked, distorted and generally off enough to have been manufactured in Schenectady by a color blind former stripper (she told them she had plenty of experience with brass, but left out the part about the pole). That batch required a PPC type primer pocket uniformer (they're slightly tapered), as the regular small primer uniformer would jam up and become stuck. PITA.

If it ain't broke, I don't mess with it.

Now I only do the whole prep ritual to 6mm BR and 6mm PPC brass, just because. Neck turning is outside my lazy zone too, unless it's really necessary, like when a neck resembles a cam lobe.

When it comes to trimming I use only dedicated trimmers with 3-in-1 cutters, Forster or RCBS, or an old Hornady Cam-lock trimmer with an RCBS 3-in-1 trimmer head - yes they fit fine, and inside and outside chamfer while trimming to length - once and done. It's much more fun to be lazy, that way I can take a nap, drink beer, or vegetate watching cartoons in my underware. Life is good.

For me it's a means to an end....shooting..

Hah, Wrangler, you STILL do it.

But yeah, if it ain't broke, don't break it worse. But consistent case prep of new batches is usually a pretty good long-term investment. During the prep, you find bad things.

Having prepared brass is great when the urge to reload strikes me, but don't necessarily enjoy getting there. Necessary evil.

Yeah I kinda like it also. Rote repetition, and you can zone out while doing so.

Zen and the art of reloading.

No, crow, if we zone out, we swage our fingerness. Ask His Scottness.