I could if I wanted to
.... only thing stopping me is quantities of bullets, and time. I do the actual reloading while watching TV (DVDs or DVR'd shows or Netflix).
See, here's what I do:
1. I bring home my range-collected brass, mixed calibers and headstamps and all, in plastic bags. If I have what I know is once-fired brass, that goes into a separate bag.
2. Brass gets sorted by caliber, into 5-gal buckets. Once-fired brass is it's own bucket, mixed calibers.
3. When I feel the itch, I pull out the RockChucker, pick a caliber, grab a couple ammo cans' worth of brass, and using the Universal HD Decapper, pop the primers out.
4. Decapped brass then goes into the ultrasonic, for a cycle or two (the HG570 u/s cleaner can cycle about 4,000 9mm cases in 10 minutes; the HF u/s cleaner can do about 800-1,000 9mm cases in two or three 8-minute cycles), then rinse in HOT water, and air-dry. The hot water rinse flushes loosened residue, dirt and debris out, and warms up the cases, making air-drying a breeze, so to speak. Simply pour the cases onto some towels on the patio table and let the sun do it's work...in the winter I just lay them out on the dining table with a little desk fan blowing on 'em.
5. They get sorted by headstamp and case length. I have a digital caliper that I set to 0.005" over minimum case length, and toss those that are shorter into the "I don't want this brass" bucket. Everything else gets to go to POLISH.
6. Toss 'em into the case tumbler with corncob and a few drops of Cabela's brass polish. I do this only to polish the brass. Turn the tumblers on (I have 2 of them) and watch TV or wash the car. When done (and REALLY shiny!) go thru the Cabela's case media separator, then into cardboard boxes labelled by caliber (I have bunches of small cardboard boxes, from when I installed an NEC-2000 DTerm telephone system, these are the boxes the phones came in).
Every step afterwards, I wear Nitrile gloves. Not necessary, but my preference. None of my reloads have my fingerprints on them
7. Pull out a box of cleaned cases, attach appropriate sizer die and shellholder, and start cranking thru them.
8. After sizing, with a caliper set to 0.005" over the Trim-To length of the cases, separate the brass on the dining table into "OK" length or "Too Long"; the "Too Long" cases go into a box to be addressed later by my Lyman case trimmer. At this time, I also inspect for evidence of previous overcharge (bolt face imprints on the case head), signs of incipient case head separation (multiple lines or wrinkles that you can feel with a needle along the web of the case), cracked cases, excessively dented cases, torn case mouth, etc. Any "rejects" go into the "I don't want this brass" bucket. After a while, you get to have a "feel" for the cases during inspection, and I only check the case web of suspect cases.
9. Cases then get processed thru my RCBS Trim Mate Prep Center, where dirty primer pockets get scrubbed (there usually are not very many) and primer flash holes deburred if needed, and cases chamfered. Cases then go into plastic case boxes, by the 100s and can be stored (if I feel lazy) or onto the next step. Cases with miliatry crimp (NATO brass) get a taste of the Military Primer Crimp Remover, also on the Trim Mate Prep Center.
10. Then it is on to priming. I use a hand primer, and I really HATE this part, because after about 300 or 400 primers my hands get tired. While watching TV, I grab a case, slip it into primer, squeeze down, remove case, put into plastic shell box, and repeat. If the squeeze feels too easy, I inspect the case, and if I suspect a loose primer pocket, that case gets separated from the rest, eventually to go into the "I don't want this brass" bucket (after I have fired off the primer).
11. Primed case get Ziploc'd by the 250s, and tossed into an ammo can for when I feel like making the primed brass into live ammo, which may be that same day, or it may be weeks or months down the road.
As you can see from these steps, they are not compatible with using a progressive, which in a single swing of the arm will decap/size/prime/charge/seat a whole round. And that is why I still use a dinosaur single-stage press, but can crank out 1000s a week if I needed to ('coz of all my stored already-prepped-and-primed cases).
Hope that helps!
