Clean or Size First?

[TyGuy]

I keep a galvanized bucket for all my pick up brass. I use a Lyman universal deprimer while sorting cases by bullet diameter. All bottle neck cases go into a sonic cleaner for a preliminary wash while straight wall cases go directly into the wet tumbler with stainless beads and Lemishine. Once the bottle neck cases have dried a few days I size and trim them and they go into the wet tumbler for a final clean. Sonic cleaned brass and wet tumbled brass are dried in separate locations. Once the fully prepped bass is clean and dry I store the cases in canisters labeled by cartridge.

Long story short, I deprime and clean prior to sizing. It’s more work but I feel better about it.

[trebleplink]

I vibrate them in corncob with a bit of metal polish thrown in. Then to the 550. If you deprime first, you're going to be picking corncob out of the primer holes.

[Froogal]

I vibrate them in corncob with a bit of metal polish thrown in. Then to the 550. If you deprime first, you're going to be picking corncob out of the primer holes.

Yes! That is one of the reasons that I switched to walnut shell media.

[LaPoint]

As many others here have also commented, I deprime with a universal depriming die before wet tumbling them in SS pins.

[retread]

I decap with a universal die, them I tumble with SS pins, Dawn and Lemi-shine. Clean brass going through those sizing dies!

[Txcowboy52]

Clean first ! Always

[fast ronnie]

As has been said here several times before, but I will repeat: De-prime first, either on the Lee APP or an old single stage and Lee de-cap die, Then tumble with S.S. pins with citric acid and Armor-All Premium Wash N Wax. No dirty cases ever get near my Dillon, or any other sizing die.

[Kevin Rohrer]

Unless you want your sizing die walls scratched from all the crap on cases: clean, then size.

[SODAPOPMG]

Clean first THEN LET DRY before they go on the press

[Livin_cincy]

Re: Handgun Brass

I do not want primer " gunk " in my reloading area. So they get quick soak / rinsed before moving to the bench. The primer gunk has most of the lead and other toxins we do not want around us.

I then let them dry before sizing & depriming with a handgun carbide die. Some might worry about dirt or carbon scratching carbide dies or brass. I do not. Then they get an over night soak in soap & secrets of the coffee can washer soaker mafia. I then dry them and let them age in a temperature & humidity controlled cave where I store wine & cheese... ����������



I actually inspect my handgun cases before loading. I know that the 1:15,000 bad case exists. So I look for it. I don't care about primer pockets sterility or shine. Neither did real cowboys...

[Mk42gunner]

I started reloading before everybody and his brother had a case tumbler, so I don't buy into the "cases need to shine so much it will blind you" theory. As long as the cases are clean that is all that matters to me.

I also don't think every step of benchrest shooting prep helps standard loading for run of the mill guns.

I have also restisted the trend of going to wet tumbling, I want as close to zero chance of moisture in my loads as possible.

My current set up is a Lee universal depriming die, then into an old Midway 1292 tumbler loaded with English walnut lizard bedding followed by a trip into the sizing die. This also ensures the flash hole is clear.

After the cases are cleaned and resized, they can go into an ammo can to wait the next time I want to load that cartridge.

Robert

[Silver Jack Hammer]

I’m really appreciating the posts.

I just gave that sizer die a good cleaning.

For the .45-70 black powder I de cap with hand de capper. Generally hadn’t thought of that with the .45 Colt because I usually have so many spent cases after a shooting session.

[Chad5005]

i deprime with a hand deprimer or lee app with universal die the wet tumble with lemishine,dawn with ss pins.then process

[375supermag]

Hi...
I dry tumble with walnut or corn cob interchangeably.
I don't see a great deal of difference between the two media's for dry tumbling. I tried washing brass in hot water, Dawn and lemishine. I thought it was more trouble than it was worth.
I clean primer pockets on handgun brass whenever I feel like it. Mostly I don't feel like it. Never saw a difference in primer ignition, accuracy or velocity either way.
I do clean rifle primer pockets but I don't typically load more than 100 rounds of rifle ammuntion at a time except for .223.

[onelight]

I de-prime and clean cases first but would have no problem resizing when de-priming if there was an advantage to it for me , at least where I can use carbide dies.

[Geezer in NH]

Universal de-prime then clean.

[GhostHawk]

FA hand de-primer, then everything gets citric acid wash, soak, rinse. Primer pockets cleaned before they ever see a die.

I do most of it from the comfort of my recliner. Wash and rinse is kitchen sink 6 steps away.

When done they get folded up in a towel and set on the gas stove pilot warm spot to dry overnight.

[Walks]

All My brass is reboxed at the range.

I put every case thru a Vibratory tumbler with corncob media.
Then cases are inspected and boxed for resizing/decapping.
After I get around to resizing/decapping, then the cases go into a sonic cleaner. Dried, they go into the house with me to be primed while I watch old Westerns.
Reboxed they go out to the Garage to be loaded whenever I get around to it.

[megasupermagnum]

For the most part, I size first. If I'm picking up old range brass that isn't from me, I'll wash first. If it is brass from grass, a tarp, or better yet, from a revolver that never touched the ground, I run them right into the sizing die. Soot will not hurt steel or carbide. I've also found the soot serves a half decent lube for neck expanders, like sold by NOE. Trying to run an unmodified expander plug into clean brass is a recipe for disaster.

[country gent]

Do what feels right to you and works for you. I deprime in a hand tool I made. I then wash and clean the brass in ground corncobs with Iosso brass polish and nufinish ( about a cap full of each with 2-4 ounces of alcohol added.

Neck sizing or full length if you leave the decapping rod in any corncob is removed when you size the cases. This keeps the dirt and carbon out of the dies. It also makes inspecting the cases easier along with handling them.

I shoot a lot of bpcr rounds. 44-40, 38-55, 40-65, 45-70,45-90. I really dont want the BP fouling in my presses dies and loading blocks. When Im shooting The brass goes into a water jug with water dish soap and a little lemishine to soak. When I get home I pour out the water and rinse 3-4 times with hot water. They are then dried for awhile and the polisher is prepped. I decapp now if I didnt at the range. Into the polisher for a couple hours. then out and blown off or wiped of dust. They are now lubed very lightly and loaded. Last step is wiping lube off. In the steps to the polisher brass is held in tubs or coffee cans to prep. These can be washed as needed easily.