Clean or Size First?

[Static line]

I tried the decapping first then vibrating my brass clean but soon got tired of cleaning the stuck media out of the primer cup hole. Just don't do it that way anymore.

[jetinteriorguy]

Deprime before tumbling in crushed walnut. I don’t want any primer contaminants in my tumbling media, and I use the media that Harbor Freight sells and have never had a plugged primer hole. The only additive I use in the tumbling media is an occasional dash of Barkeepers Friend and used dryer sheets cut into strips.

[LinotypeIngot]

I always wet tumble before any brass touches my machines.

[1hole]

I find the shiny clean brass gets sticky in carbide dies without a little lanolin lube every once in a while.

When "no case lube required" carbide handgun sizers first came out no one cleaned cases down to the metal and the light film of smoke and lead bullet lube after firing was all the lube the new dies needed. Then came tumblers.

Today, a tad of some kind of lube keeps the tumbled brass from galling to the carbide and making folks think their die has been scratched. Not so, it takes a bit of diamond to scratch carbide!

[toallmy]

I remember my father asking me while I was polishing my fired rifle cases with steal wool , if that made them shoot any better .
At this point in my life I have a good supply of brass and time so I generally keep a good supply of brass prepared to load in advance so so I can take the time to clean before loading . Or as my wife calls it playing with my shiny things .

[dverna]

When I get home from a match, I drop my cases in an orange ball vibrator for 3-4 hours, I do this on my deck in the gazebo so I don’t hear it. Next day I sort them out and store them until I get around to reloading them. Don’t see the need to deprime and then clean as the media will get into the flash hole. Plus its another step. Work smarter not harder.

I did not read further as that is what I do. When you do through a lot of ammunition, and time is important, adding steps to get pristine brass is low on the list of priorities. But I reload to shoot...not shoot to reload.

Tried cleaning after depriming a couple of times and went back to the old way. Will never try the wash, pins or other modern methods when over 45 years of doing the old way works and is fast and cheap.

[ackleyman]

Old school, I Wash the cases in Coleman lantern fluid, which gets all the grime off with the following method:

a. dump the cases in a bucket
b. cover with coleman lantern fluid
c. drain off fluid using a large funnel, paper towel in the funnel, put the fluid back in the can for later use
d. dump the cases on a large towel
e. grab both ends of the towel, rock the cases back and forth
f. spread cases out on the towel and let them sit till the fluid evaporates

been using this method since the late 60's, amazing how clean they get with out tumbling them.

Note: walnut dust can and will ruin full length sizers

[Lloyd Smale]

id do it both before and after sizing. especially doing it wet because doing it first with wet gets moisture in the spent primer and it keeps dust and crud off your press. But even dry i like to size clean brass and with rifle brass that needs to be lubed what i do is size and prime then tumble again. I dont worry about primer pockets. I havent cleaned a primer pocket in 30 years and never had a problem even with brass fired a dozen times.

[MOA]

Deprime with universal deprimer.
Tumble with S/S pins, Dawn and lemi shine.
Rinse all brass for 5 minutes in fresh clean water while agitating brass.
Dry outside of cases by tumbling inside a cotton pillow case.
Finish dry on large towel for 24 hours.
Load.
Shoot.
Have fun.
Repeat.

[Lloyd Smale]

Deprime with universal deprimer.
Tumble with S/S pins, Dawn and lemi shine.
Rinse all brass for 5 minutes in fresh clean water while agitating brass.
Dry outside of cases by tumbling inside a cotton pillow case.
Finish dry on large towel for 24 hours.
Load.
Shoot.
Have fun.
Repeat.

what do you do about sizing lube on rifle rounds? Still seems like youd have to do it twice if you dont want to run dirty brass through your die or leaving sizing lube on your loaded rounds.

[MOA]

Lloyd, thanks for the question. I only use a water base lube on my brass. When I'm done loading I use a damp facecloth of warm water to wipe down the rifle casings thus removing the lube. Only take a few seconds per round. Of course if your doing lots of rifle rounds one might want to do another method for removing the lube. It's just how I do it.

[mac60]

Deprime with universal decapping die, clean and then size. Wash, rinse, repeat !

Yea, that's the way I handle it too!

[725]

Just my two cents, here:
I de-prime with the lee Universal de-prime die.
Soak and jostle in hot dish soap w/ "Lemi-Shine" or pickling salts.
Q-tip the pockets clean.
Rack on a nail board. (Finishing nails in a grid pattern to hang the cases up-side down to dry)
Size, then wipe clean of the lube.
Tumble polish if they need it. (Walnut media w/ Nu-Finish car wax)
Then start to load, trim, expand, anneal, etc. as required by whatever I'm loading.

[onelight]

I tried the decapping first then vibrating my brass clean but soon got tired of cleaning the stuck media out of the primer cup hole. Just don't do it that way anymore.

Just leave the decap pin in your sizer it will push that out when you resize.

[Lloyd Smale]

Lloyd, thanks for the question. I only use a water base lube on my brass. When I'm done loading I use a damp facecloth of warm water to wipe down the rifle casings thus removing the lube. Only take a few seconds per round. Of course if your doing lots of rifle rounds one might want to do another method for removing the lube. It's just how I do it.

i load 556 and 300 bos and others at least 500 at a time. Id rather let the machine do it while i do something else. I clean range brass for an couple hours then lube size and prime on the progressive. then they go back in the tumbler for a couple hours while i do something else. then back on the dillon to charge and seat bullets.

[MOA]

i load 556 and 300 bos and others at least 500 at a time. Id rather let the machine do it while i do something else. I clean range brass for an couple hours then lube size and prime on the progressive. then they go back in the tumbler for a couple hours while i do something else. then back on the dillon to charge and seat bullets.

That makes a lot of sense with cartridge numbers like you likely reload at a single setting.
Since I usually never load more than 500 I can get by without tossing them in the turbo tumbler to get the lube off.

[Conditor22]

I value my reloading dies (Lee also) too much to put dirty brass in them and possibly scar them up.
I run everything through a Lee universal de-capper and wet tumble bore doing anything else to/with my dirty brass

[Bmi48219]

The plus if you tumble with SS pins is they do a good job cleaning primer pockets. To me that, and keeping foreign debris out of my dies are the big reasons I deprime prior to cleaning.

[Mal Paso]

I don't own any bottom feeders, none of my brass (44Mag) hits the ground. My bullet lube is also very good case lube and 30,000 psi puts a thin even coat on the brass. I deprime and size before the brass goes into a wet pin tumbler. The sizer is carbide and I don't think burnt powder will scratch it.

I am not averse to other calibers/styles of guns but I rather cover 1 caliber well than several poorly. JAMOM and Time.

I may be stuck in a rut, but it's a very nice rut.

[LabGuy]

I historically have deprimed on my Rock Chucker SS tumbled, sized...... recently picked up a Lee APP. I’m toying with the idea of a short wet tumble with out pins (to remove sand, dirt), deprime with APP, then SS tumble. With the idea of keeping the APP clean. My Rock chucker gets trashed with dirt and sand. I want to keep both presses clean.