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When to tumble brass?

5K views 21 replies 16 participants last post by  PVolk 
#1 ·
Is it best to :
1. tumble brass prior to resizing and decapping? or
2. resize and decap (brass shot inside range and not dirt dirty but residual from firing) and then tumble?

I think advantage to #1 is I would not be getting grit into the sizing die.
Does decapping first and then tumbling get the primer pocket clean or at least a lot cleaner?
The Lee site-I have the Classic Turret Press and dies-strongly recommended not "polishing" brass prior to sizing as the residual power and soot acted as a lubricant. I can't find the statement at the Lees site but I've read it several times. Is there a difference between "cleaning" brass with a tumbler and "polishing" brass? Could Lee mean it's OK to clean the brass prior to sizing and decapping but not polish it prior thereto? I have the Lee four die set with the carbide sizer/decapper. I also bought a separate decapping die so I can decap a dirty case without running it through the resizing die, tumble the brass and then resize-not sure if this is contra to Lee's advice. I will call Lee but am interested in what experienced reloader do regarding cleaning brass before or after resizing.
 
#2 ·
I definitely clean my brass before sizing,you can scratch your dies if there happens to have a few specs of sand on your brass I learned the hard way before buying a vibrating cleaner. Some people do de prime before cleaning to help clean primer pockets using the wet method the dry method using corn or walnut media does little for me as for cleaning primer pockets. I put my brass in the vibrator with walnut and car wax with a little mineral spirits when I come home from shooting.
 
#3 ·
How do you handle the problem of media plugging the flash hole if you don't punch through it during loading?

I tumble brass when I get back from the range. Later on I will decap and size as part of the reloading operations.

If your brass gets too shiny, it will stick up against the walls of the resizing die. This causes friction and can potentially wear the dies. More so for steel dies, less so for carbide dies. I don't get my brass all that shiny but it isn't grungy either.

The entire problem disappears if you squirt a little Hornady One Shot lube on the polished brass before loading. Shake well. You do not need to remove the lube before using the ammo.
 
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#7 · (Edited)
"I'm a walnut guy, and I always tumble before depriming. I shoot almost exclusively outdoors, so I sometimes even rinse the brass first (with water) and let dry before tumbling -- helps keep dirt, crud, etc. out of the media."

That's my method to. Has been since the mid 1960's.
I also add a capful of liquid case cleaner. Gives the cases a nice shine.

Starting today I have a few thousand cases to clean.
 
#8 ·
If you are dry tumbling, I agree with all the advice given, that is, tumble (maybe light lube) and reload. Decapping first won't clean the primer pockets a great deal more and isn't needed with most reloading anyway.

If you go with a wet process, decapping first has a few advantages. You do get cleaner primer pockets, you get less of the crap that is in the spent primer in the water that is getting sent down the drain and your cases will dry much more rapidly with an empty primer pocket. I agree on the advice of using Hornaday One Shot, a light one pass on the clean brass laying in a pan will make sizing much smoother and you don't have anything to remove when finished.

Have fun.
 
#9 · (Edited)
Dirty brass in the sizing die is not good. Dry tumbling doesnt do a lot for the primer pockets anyway. If wet, you almost have to deprime, one reason I dont bother with wet.
 
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#11 ·
Brass is dry tumbled after going to the range. That's it for handgun brass.

For rifle brass, the cases will get a second trip through the cleaner after resizing, to remove case lube. Then a universal decapping for is used to remove tumbling media from the flash holes and primer pockets. For 223, I just keep a decapping die in station 1 of the progressive.
 
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#12 ·
Is it best to :
1. tumble brass prior to resizing and decapping? or
2. resize and decap (brass shot inside range and not dirt dirty but residual from firing) and then tumble?.
Option 3: Use a universal decapping die to remove the primer. Clean brass (wet or dry). When you size, leave the decapping pin in place to clear anything from the flash hole.

Dirty brass won't hurt your carbide dies, but I will leave lengthwise scratches on your brass. Think about it. What's the softest thing; carbide, grit or brass?
 
#14 ·
If you are talking pistol brass, always tumble first, then reload. The primer pocket means nothing. Any bit of media stuck in the primer will get punched out along with it, and the carbon residue on the case does not interfere with anything. My decades old method is first in walnut loaded with mineral oil, then in corn loaded with NuFinish car polish. The tumblers run dustless because of the media added, and lasts far longer than without additives. Turns the nastiest range brass into clean, shiny and slippery ready to load. No case lube is needed because of the car polish. When I say decades, I mean over 800,000 rounds reloaded.....




HiTek coated Black and Blue 124 grain TC's on top of 3.4 grains of TiteGroup at 1.100". Goes about 1,050 fps out of my G17s with BarSto barrels, makes USPSA Minor.

 
#16 ·
How do you handle the problem of media plugging the flash hole if you don't punch through it during loading?

I tumble brass when I get back from the range. Later on I will decap and size as part of the reloading operations.

If your brass gets too shiny, it will stick up against the walls of the resizing die. This causes friction and can potentially wear the dies. More so for steel dies, less so for carbide dies. I don't get my brass all that shiny but it isn't grungy either.

The entire problem disappears if you squirt a little Hornady One Shot lube on the polished brass before loading. Shake well. You do not need to remove the lube before using the ammo.
Yes, Dillon says to not vibrate for more than about 1.5 hours as some carbon acts as a lube for the expander die.
 
#18 ·
Looking at my very "pretty" .38 brass I just tumbled. I put 1/2 cap of Nu Finish in each batch. Lee Precision says not to "polish" (clean?) prior to resizing as the super clean brass my gall in the die. Doesn't sound like anyone has this issue or concerned. The brass feels slick I think with a light coat of the Nu Finish. If cases aren't running smoothly in the resizer I will lightly lube the cases with HOS.
 
#19 ·
Is it best to :
1. tumble brass prior to resizing and decapping? or
2. resize and decap (brass shot inside range and not dirt dirty but residual from firing) and then tumble?
I used to tumble before decapping, but my last batch I decapped with a Lee universal decapper die (did no resize) and then tumbled (wet/steel pin) and the brass came out with really nice, clean primer pockets.
 
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#20 ·
Previous posts have given me food for thought. Since switching to wet tumbling, I've been decapping before tumbling. But maybe I don't need to for 9mm. Maybe I'd be just as well off to dry tumble without first decapping and just punch out the old primer in step one of the reloading.

It was always a curiosity to me that Clean The Primer Pocket is a step in most reloading instructions yet my press just popped the primer out in one step and put in a new one in another. Got me thinking that cleaning the primer pocket must not be all that important. Yet here I am decapping, wet tumbling and then lubing before reloading. Might be a lot faster to dry tumble first, then just reload my 9mm.

Be that as it may, I do decap rifle brass before wet tumbling. In fact, since the rifle brass I load is all .223/5/56 that I have converted to 300 BLK, I do a number of brass-altering steps before tumbling.
  • Deprime
  • Cut off the bottleneck
  • Swage the primer pocket
Then it's ready for wet tumbling, lube, resize, trim length, deburr and chamfer.

Anyway, maybe I'll try dry tumbling my not-yet-deprimed 9mm brass then going straight to reloading.
 
#21 ·
This should work well, and simplify things with no degradation to anything important.
...

But maybe I don't need to for 9mm.
...
Anyway, maybe I'll try dry tumbling my not-yet-deprimed 9mm brass then going straight to reloading.
 
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