Case preparation is the unglamorous half of handloading and the half that decides whether your groups are consistent. Brass that is clean, trimmed to a uniform length and squarely chamfered will shoot better than the same brass loaded carelessly with better components.
Trim to length. Cases stretch on firing and resizing. Once a case exceeds maximum trim length the neck can crowd the chamber throat and raise pressure. The Lee case trimmer works off a cutter and lock stud on a case-length gauge; measure every few firings rather than guessing by eye.
Chamfer and deburr after trimming, inside and out. A sharp case mouth shaves jackets on seating and a burred one will not chamber cleanly.
Cleaning. Vibratory tumblers such as the Lyman 1200 Turbo run dry with corn cob or walnut media and are the quicker option for a general clean. Stainless steel pin media in a wet tumbler, or an ultrasonic solution, gets primer pockets and case interiors properly clean but takes drying time. Whichever you use, clean before sizing — grit dragged into a die scores brass and then scores every case after it.
Lubricate before full-length sizing. Lee Case Lube and RCBS Case Lube-2 both do the job. A stuck case is a ruined case and often a ruined die.
Related: Brass, Dies & Presses, Bullets, Powder, Primers, All Reloading.
