Check and Dummy Rounds for Reloading

Teaching students Metallic Reloading is a great way to pass on the techniques picked up over the years. During one of the May 2018 classes, we were going over brass trimming using a Lyman Universal brass trimmer. We had just gone over why brass is trimmed and why to check and trim all brass including new brass, when after several measuring and adjustments, I mentioned using ‘check’ rounds or ‘dummy’ rounds. Since he wasn’t familiar with that technique, we went over and made a ‘check’ round, for the correct brass length, making it much easier next time in the brass trimmer setup. Just insert the ‘check’ brass in place, tight things down and you are set to the correctly trim length. Mark your ‘check’ brass correctly and store it for the next time you need to setup that trimmer.

This also works well for setting your seating die as well. Just build a cartridge without primer or powder and the tip you normally use. Seat it to the correct depth, mark it as a ‘check’ round and use it next time you need to set that die. You may need to glue or crimp the tip in place so it doesn’t move by accident later.

Using ‘check’ rounds is a quick way to set your single stage or progressive press dies are set correctly.