Clean then deprime or deprime then clean?

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PepNYC

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Two part question.

1. Just got a dry tumbler (w/walnut) and was wondering if it cleans inside the brass or just the outside? Seems like a tough chore to get the media inside the small neck of a 223 round.

2. Do you guys deprime and then clean your brass? I ask because I was wondering if depriming dirty brass will harm the die in the long term but I'd like to get in those primer pockets while I tumble. Yes, I can use a primer pocket cleaner if I deprime afterwards but if I can dprime beforehand it would save a little time not having to do it manually.
 
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Ikarus1 said:
depends on if wet or dry tumbling. I deprime and wet tumble for a few reasons: it drains and dries the brass faster with the primer removed and the flash hole gets cleaned also.
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Yeah. I had left that out originally. I edited the post. It's a dry tumbler.
 
PepNYC said:
Yeah. I had left that out originally. I edited the post. It's a dry tumbler.
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So then alot of people don't deprime using the dry tumbler. Nu Finish car wax is supposedly the stuff to use to get them shiny and keep the dust down. I skipped that and went straight to Wet with pins.
 
I tumbled, used Nu Finish, and then deprimed. I generally used lizard bedding as a medium (crushed nut shells) and wanted to avoid getting gunk stuck in the primer pocket. With wet tumbling I could certainly see the benefit of depriming first.
 
Ikarus1 said:
So then alot of people don't deprime using the dry tumbler. Nu Finish car wax is supposedly the stuff to use to get them shiny and keep the dust down. I skipped that and went straight to Wet with pins.
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I'm not really concerned with the "shine" I just want to get them nice and clean in and out.
B00ger said:
I tumbled, used Nu Finish, and then deprimed. I generally used lizard bedding as a medium (crushed nut shells) and wanted to avoid getting gunk stuck in the primer pocket. With wet tumbling I could certainly see the benefit of depriming first.
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I saw that Zilla walnut bedding. I got a really good deal on the Frankford Arsenal crushed walnut media. Someone sold me 17lbs for $5 because they bought a wet tumbler. I'll be getting the Lizard bedding after I use up the FA stuff.
 
PepNYC said:
I'm not really concerned with the "shine" I just want to get them nice and clean in and out.


I saw that Zilla walnut bedding. I got a really good deal on the Frankford Arsenal crushed walnut media. Someone sold me 17lbs for $5 because they bought a wet tumbler. I'll be getting the Lizard bedding after I use up the FA stuff.
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Yup...buying reloading stuff from PetsMart was fun.
 
I use a car polish in a tumble for 2 - 4 hours then through the resizing/decapping die. If there was anything inside the case falls out during the tumbling.
 
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A dry tumbler isn't going to clean primer pockets well enough AND there's a change to clog the flash hole with tumbler media. Unless you go to wet tumbling count on manually scraping out the primer pockets. I use dry media and do not deprime before tumbling.

Prepping rifle brass really sucks the fun out of reloading. You have to handle the brass soo may times it's tedious. That's why machine like this one were invented:
https://www.amazon.com/RCBS-90375-Trim-Mate-Center/dp/B000GU6WN8
 
Dry tumbled when I first started, then quickly switched to wet tumbling.
De-prime first, then tumble with pins, Dawn, and Lemonshine.
As stated above, no clogged flash holes, brass dries better, and comes out looking all shiny and new!
 
De-prime and wet clean. Rifle and large caliber revolver always.

9mm sometimes one way sometimes another. Depending on ammo use.
 
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InvisibleOne said:
Dry tumbled when I first started, then quickly switched to wet tumbling.
De-prime first, then tumble with pins, Dawn, and Lemonshine.
As stated above, no clogged flash holes, brass dries better, and comes out looking all shiny and new!
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So it would be ok to deprime the dirty brass without harming the die?
 
PepNYC said:
So it would be ok to deprime the dirty brass without harming the die?
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I would not do too much re-sizing of dirty bottleneck rifle brass. something will get stuck eventually. de-capping yes, but there's another die for that.
 
For dirty brass, decap with a Universal decapper.

If dry tumbling, don’t bother decapping first. I’m not sure how important cleaning the primer pocket is, but that would be a simple step added to the overall brass prep required for bottleneck rifle. Not necessary at all for Pistol, IMHO.

I changed to wet tumbling, never looked back.
 
Catfish said:
I would not do too much re-sizing of dirty bottleneck rifle brass. something will get stuck eventually. de-capping yes, but there's another die for that.
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Right. I'd have to get separate dies or a bench or hand decapper. Mine does the decap and resizing all at once. Don't really want to shorten the life span of it.
 
BigWaylon said:
If you want to try wet tumbling, let me know. You’re not far from me and I have one you can try out.
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Thank you. That's very generous of you to offer. I've actually tried a version of wet tumbling. Without the tumbler. I have an old plastic container. I threw about 50 pieces of brass in. Filled it a little more than half way with very hot water, a teaspoon of dawn and a teaspoon of lemishine. Put the cover on and shook the crap out of it every 10 minutes for a half hour. After the 30 minutes I drained it, rinsed it thoroughly and dried it in the oven. 170, shut the oven off leave it for about 30 mins. The results were very impressive. Very clean and shiny inside and out. However, it would be nice to try an actual tumbler and cut down on my cardio. It's like having one of those moronic shake weights. [emoji38] What type do you have?
 
PepNYC said:
What type do you have?
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The F.A.R.T.

Frankford Arsenal Rotary Tumbler

I bought all the stuff to start reloading a couple years ago and just haven’t gotten into it, yet. I will, so nothing is for sale at the moment. But that Tumbler has been used once (maybe twice?) and is just sitting here in the box.
 
Just got in to reloading and plan on getting a wet tumbler. Also think I will deprime before I clean the brass. Am looking at the Harvey depriming tool for this. Anybody use this hand tool?
 
DAMN this thread! I went through the debate in my mind about getting a wet tumbler and decided that I did not want the extra step of depriming first and then to take the time to dry the brass.
So why am I thinking about it again.
 
In general, when I pick up brass I clean it all (just soap) in my wet tumbler. I don't want dirty brass on my bench, be it depriming or loading.

For 9mm, I deprime as I load. The only cleaning they get is the initial dirty brass cleaning above.

For rifles, I do a separate depriming step, because I anneal all my cases (yes, every loading- but easier as I have an automated annealer). Then I lube, size, trim. After that, I throw it in the tumbler with pins to help clean out the primer pockets.
 
If it was clean before I fired it, either new/factory brass or reloads, I wouldn’t hesitate to resize with no cleaning.

So the processing route could be resize them clean or just resize and then load. A little carbon with the sizing lube won’t hurt. I do make sure there is no dirt on there. I’ve done 223’s for 4 firings with no cleaning other than wiping off with paper towel before priming and maybe hit the primer pockets with hand tool.
 
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Stateih said:
If it was clean before I fired it, either new/factory brass or reloads, I wouldn’t hesitate to resize with no cleaning.

So the processing route could be resize them clean or just resize and then load. A little carbon with the sizing lube won’t hurt. I do make sure there is no dirt on there. I’ve done 223’s for 4 firings with no cleaning other than wiping off with paper towel before priming and maybe hit the primer pockets with hand tool.
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All that really needs to be done is to make sure no dirt is on the case that will scratch the sizing die. Wiping them off is sufficient. Anything more than that is strictly a matter of preference.
 
AJoldfart said:
Usually Clean first. Keeps the crap out of the de priming press
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That can make a big difference on some presses. I got rid of my Lee Challenger press, and replaced it with the Classic Turret, and one of the reasons was how the two presses handle spent primers. The Challenger ejects the spent primers (and all the other crud) through the side of the ram, just above the base of the press. That means any dirt and debris also gets into the workings of the press. The LCT drops the spent primers, and debris, down through the bore of the ram and out of the bottom, keeping the press much cleaner. So, I no longer clean brass before decapping.
 
For rifle cases that will require case lube I dump the untouched cases into my Hornady vibratory cleaner for several hours to get the surface crud off, then size, ream the pocket to remove the crimp if needed after measuring with a primer pocket gauge, clean the pocket with another tool, trim and deburr, then put them back in the cleaner for 4-5 hours to get them nice and shiny. I get the media out of the case and use a nail with a broad head to poke out any of the media caught in the primer flash hole. I tap the case after dumping out the media to make sure none is stuck inside.

For pistol cases I clean them well before resizing and then that is it for the cleaning.

I've done it this way for decades and it works for me.
 
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