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Thread: Depriming for case cleaning

  1. #61
    Boolit Master
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    I used my 458WM decapping die to deprime everything until I got a Lee universal die. The advantage of decapping before you was cases not only cleans primer pockets but allows for faster drying of cases. I personally do clean primer pockets and also use an inside outside deburring tool on all my cases as well, and never put dirty cases in my dies now I know better. I purchased some citric acid powder from a home brewing company and use that as my wet cleaning agent with a drop or two of dish liquid in tumbler. I sold my dry media cleaner as I believe wet cleaning to be safer from any air born toxins. Regards Stephen

  2. #62
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    I wet tumble 9mm, .38/.357, .40S&W and.45 ACP with spent primers in place. I do it this way because these are all loaded on the progressive and I can find the semi-auto brass easier if it is nice and shiny. Large handgun cases(.41 Mag, .45 Colt, .454 Casull, .475 Linebaugh are deprimed on the Lee Universal before cleaning. Revolver brass is a completely different story. I hardly ever lose a case. I clean these cases because I find that sizing with a steel die helps with chambering in the custom revolvers. I don't know that it helps my shooting.

    I don't shoot rifle all that often so cleaning is usually in the dry vibrator.

    I'm not consistent with the .38/.357. because it is all shot in revolvers but mostly loaded on a progressive. I'm going to rethink all this. I didn't realize how complicated and inconsistent my brass handling was until going thru this thread.
    John
    W.TN

  3. #63
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    Quote Originally Posted by alamogunr View Post
    I wet tumble 9mm, .38/.357, .40S&W and.45 ACP with spent primers in place. I do it this way because these are all loaded on the progressive and I can find the semi-auto brass easier if it is nice and shiny. Large handgun cases(.41 Mag, .45 Colt, .454 Casull, .475 Linebaugh are deprimed on the Lee Universal before cleaning. Revolver brass is a completely different story. I hardly ever lose a case. I clean these cases because I find that sizing with a steel die helps with chambering in the custom revolvers. I don't know that it helps my shooting.

    I don't shoot rifle all that often so cleaning is usually in the dry vibrator.

    I'm not consistent with the .38/.357. because it is all shot in revolvers but mostly loaded on a progressive. I'm going to rethink all this. I didn't realize how complicated and inconsistent my brass handling was until going thru this thread.
    I have wet tumbled with primers in place. I let the primers dry in a very warm boiler room for a few days and there was still moisture trapped under the primer when I decapped the cases. Did you find that also?

  4. #64
    Boolit Master Garyshome's Avatar
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    de prime, tumble, size when reloading

  5. #65
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    Quote Originally Posted by doulos View Post
    I have wet tumbled with primers in place. I let the primers dry in a very warm boiler room for a few days and there was still moisture trapped under the primer when I decapped the cases. Did you find that also?
    To be honest, I never thought about it. I usually don't do anything with the brass for several days up to a couple of weeks. If there was moisture under the primers, I didn't notice it.
    John
    W.TN

  6. #66
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by doulos View Post
    I have wet tumbled with primers in place. I let the primers dry in a very warm boiler room for a few days and there was still moisture trapped under the primer when I decapped the cases. Did you find that also?
    I sure did.

  7. #67
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    Quote Originally Posted by jsizemore View Post
    I sure did.
    Thats why I only wet tumbled once without decapping.

  8. #68
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    When I first started I just wiped down cases to get any grit off of them before sizing/depriming. At some point I bought an ultrasonic cleaner thinking it would be the better route to take than a dry tumbler. Boy, was I wrong! I eventually bought a Harbor Freight double drum wet tumbler and started playing around with different stainless media. After years of trying this way and that, I have developed an overly complex ritual for case prep.

    I start with the Lyman universal depriming die. I am another in the camp that says decap prior to cleaning. I deprime according to primer size/type. All spent primers are bagged up for reloading experiments.

    Straight wall pistol brass is sorted by mouth diameter after depriming. Don’t want the big ones swallowing the smaller ones in the tumbler. Next stop for them is the tumbler.

    Deprimed bottle neck cases start with a trip to the ultrasonic cleaner for a few minutes to knock any dirt and residue off. They don’t come out shiny but are reasonably clean. Next they are sized, primer pockets swaged, and trimmed to size. Once the physical prep work is finished they will join any pistol cases with similar mouth diameters in the tumbler.

    Once I have enough of one size to tumble, they go directly into the wet tumbler with Southern Shine stainless chips, a dash of Lemishine, and a squirt of dish soap. After tumbling for an hour or so they get dumped through two stacked scientific grade sieves. The first one catches brass down to .22rf. The second catches the SS chips and the water drains through. I fill a sink with hot water and submerge the sieves to rinse the brass in fresh water and to knock any remaining chips loose. Next they are organized on an eggshell foam shipping box from PSA and left to dry for a couple days. The result is like bright, shiny, like new brass.

    Once dry they are sorted by caliber into plastic containers to await reassembly. My goal is to be able to grab my brass and start banging out ammo without the grubby and greasy fingers that come with handling and sizing dirty brass. Plus I like shiny brass.

    It’s pretty ridiculous really...

  9. #69
    Boolit Buddy Iron369's Avatar
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    Depriming for case cleaning

    I’ve always deprimed before wet tumbling. I recently bought some brass that is very dirty. I’ve never had to lube pistol brass before, but this stuff is in bad shape. Finally after 2 broken pins and 5 stuck 9mm cases, I’m doing something different. I’m running the dirty brass now, I’ll decap and resize after these dry then probably wash again to make sure everything is clean. I’m also trying out brass juice for the first time instead of dw liquid, lemishine and ss pins.

  10. #70
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    What is Brass Juice?

    Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

  11. #71
    Boolit Buddy Iron369's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by XDROB View Post
    What is Brass Juice?

    Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

  12. #72
    Boolit Buddy Iron369's Avatar
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    Came out really well for only an hour tumbling. Plus it was REALLY dirty brass.

  13. #73
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    Quote Originally Posted by Iron369 View Post
    Thanks, I should have gone to look like I did before asking my question. Found it immediately.

    Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

  14. #74
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    Quote Originally Posted by Iron369 View Post
    Came out really well for only an hour tumbling. Plus it was REALLY dirty brass.
    It says it can be used a couple of times before throwing it away. Would you have used your solution again?

    Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

  15. #75
    Boolit Buddy Iron369's Avatar
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    Depriming for case cleaning

    Quote Originally Posted by XDROB View Post
    It says it can be used a couple of times before throwing it away. Would you have used your solution again?

    Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk
    It’s really dirty, but I’m going to after I deprime this batch. If it can’t be used several times like advertised, it’s not very cost effective. It’s on the pricey side to begin with, but I hate separating ss pins from my brass and I have a media separator.

  16. #76
    Boolit Master brassrat's Avatar
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    My old Lyman has been running 24/7 for a few months now. Best machine ever.

  17. #77
    Boolit Buddy
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    I have a dedicated depriming press that I deprime all my brass on first, then wet tumble with SSPins, the on to the rest of the reloading cycle. Works for me.

    Dave

  18. #78
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    Quote Originally Posted by cwtebay View Post
    I am not new to reloading!! But I am anxiously awaiting the reasoning behind replies that you are about to get. (I personally tumble in dry media with spent primers in place, unsized).

    Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk
    So do I.
    Can't see wasting the time to decap brass when you have to run it thru a sizing die that will decap it anyway. I usually tumble one caliber, but more then one cartridge at a time. that's when I do case inspection. After the brass is clean.
    I HATE auto-correct

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  19. #79
    Boolit Master Sasquatch-1's Avatar
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    To those who want to know why I de-prime first, since I started using the Frankfurt Arsenal de-primer I have not had to pick up any primers off the floor.
    A vote for anyone other then the conservative candidates is a vote for the liberal candidates.

  20. #80
    Boolit Bub
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    I deprime my brass first. It allows me to sort the brass by caliber on range brass.
    It allows me to sort out damaged or defective brass.
    It allows me to sort out dirt, debris and other undesirable things.
    After cleaning it aids my final inspection before loading.

    Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check