i have a lee loader and thought i would get started in reloading for centerfire rifle ....should I de prime used centerfire brass before cleaning with walnut shells in a tumbler ?...or after ?....I do have a primer pocket cleaner...what's the consensus ? ....What are the pros and cons ?....I am hearing arguments for both sides ....your input appreciated ...thanks
de prime used centerfire brass before or after cleaning in a tumbler ?
- Thread starter samcan
- Start date
Sell your tumbler and buy a wet tumbler, then de-prime before tumbling. 
I made the switch a few years ago and the difference is radical. Not only vastly cleaner brass, but no more breathing that lead and God knows what else laden dust. Cleaner and healthier. I will never go back to dust bowl tumbling.
I made the switch a few years ago and the difference is radical. Not only vastly cleaner brass, but no more breathing that lead and God knows what else laden dust. Cleaner and healthier. I will never go back to dust bowl tumbling.
- Location
- Western Manitoba
Many, many years ago, I started reloading with a Lee Loader - it used a punch thing to tap out the primers - set the case on a collar to do that - I still use that part to pop out crimped-in primers - I made a hole through my reloading bench so the primers fall through into a garbage bucket underneath. I do know some people do not bother about cleaning primer pockets - not sure some progressive type systems even have provision for that - and I can not say that cleaned or not cleaned primer pockets have made a difference for me on targets - so perhaps some stubbornness or something coming through with me - I do pop out the primers before tumbling, so that most of the spent primer crap gets cleaned out of there before seating a new primer. But if you are using a walnut shell tumble - you will get granules of walnut stuck in that firing pin hole - so is good idea to check each brass for that, before installing a fresh primer. Likely is why I got into habit to place processed brass mouth down in a loading block - to be able to see the flash holes - and I grab them one-by-one to seat a new primer ...
I know is typical on many presses - certainly the couple of RCBS that I have had - your case gets de-primed on the "up" stroke of the ram, and with a press mounted priming system, you can insert a fresh primer on that "down" stroke - so nothing done there about cleaning out that primer pocket at all.
I do know that using a hand tool like various that are / were sold - Lee, RCBS, Lyman - to clean crap from primer pockets one-by-one, gets "old" really fast - so I prefer not to do that by hand any more. I do also own a "primer pocket uniformer" that is alleged to cut the primer pockets to proper depth - once again, not sure my rifles or my shooting can demonstrate a difference on targets to do that or not - maybe others can show an improvement with theirs - so it has been years since I used it.
Over time, I got both RCBS Large "Heavy Duty" and Small Universal De-cap dies - so in my press they will punch out the primer without touching the outer case wall - the idea for me is to tumble to get rid of crud that might scratch inside of the sizing or bullet seating die - likely could accomplish what I want by just swishing a batch of brass in pail of water with some Dawn and Lemi-shine powder. I sold my walnut hull vibrating tumbler and now use a stainless steel tumbler to wet tumble - again, is stubbornness - to make the cases sparkly shiny, which I am not sure improves groups on target, over just being "clean".
Also - an observation - you say you are going to use a Lee Loader - as I recall, they will only neck size the casing - which some see as a good thing - meaning, however, that any brass that was previously fired in a different chamber than yours, may not fit into your chamber after neck sizing only. Some lever action, pump action and semi-auto do not have very much for camming force - so they often benefit from Small Base resizing. Welcome to the "rabbit hole".
I know is typical on many presses - certainly the couple of RCBS that I have had - your case gets de-primed on the "up" stroke of the ram, and with a press mounted priming system, you can insert a fresh primer on that "down" stroke - so nothing done there about cleaning out that primer pocket at all.
I do know that using a hand tool like various that are / were sold - Lee, RCBS, Lyman - to clean crap from primer pockets one-by-one, gets "old" really fast - so I prefer not to do that by hand any more. I do also own a "primer pocket uniformer" that is alleged to cut the primer pockets to proper depth - once again, not sure my rifles or my shooting can demonstrate a difference on targets to do that or not - maybe others can show an improvement with theirs - so it has been years since I used it.
Over time, I got both RCBS Large "Heavy Duty" and Small Universal De-cap dies - so in my press they will punch out the primer without touching the outer case wall - the idea for me is to tumble to get rid of crud that might scratch inside of the sizing or bullet seating die - likely could accomplish what I want by just swishing a batch of brass in pail of water with some Dawn and Lemi-shine powder. I sold my walnut hull vibrating tumbler and now use a stainless steel tumbler to wet tumble - again, is stubbornness - to make the cases sparkly shiny, which I am not sure improves groups on target, over just being "clean".
Also - an observation - you say you are going to use a Lee Loader - as I recall, they will only neck size the casing - which some see as a good thing - meaning, however, that any brass that was previously fired in a different chamber than yours, may not fit into your chamber after neck sizing only. Some lever action, pump action and semi-auto do not have very much for camming force - so they often benefit from Small Base resizing. Welcome to the "rabbit hole".
Last edited:
Munkey1973
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Regina, SK
Sell your tumbler and buy a wet tumbler, then de-prime before tumbling.
I made the switch a few years ago and the difference is radical. Not only vastly cleaner brass, but no more breathing that lead and God knows what else laden dust. Cleaner and healthier. I will never go back to dust bowl tumbling.
^^ this is the best possible advice that can be offered in this thread ^^
Meh...
I decap then tumble . Once out of the tumbler I put them in a more powerful 2nd tumbler with no media to rattle out any excess media from the primer pockets.
While the dust from the media and dry tumbler is not overly healthy to be around, the comments about being exposed to lead are unfounded. Most people use copper pressed bullets, coated, waxed, or lubricated, and there is none that has made contact with direct lead to brass casings. having that said, I have a big ventilation unit in my shot for when I melt lead or casting. Same spot and ventilation as the tumblers
While the dust from the media and dry tumbler is not overly healthy to be around, the comments about being exposed to lead are unfounded. Most people use copper pressed bullets, coated, waxed, or lubricated, and there is none that has made contact with direct lead to brass casings. having that said, I have a big ventilation unit in my shot for when I melt lead or casting. Same spot and ventilation as the tumblers
- Location
- Nova Scotia
I use a Lee universal deprime, then toss into the wet tumbler. Saves my sizing dies from getting dirty and having to clean twice.
While I have largely switched over to wet tumbling, when I was using my vibratory tumbler I always tumbled with the primers in because otherwise you ended up with the flash holes plugged with media. Then I sized and deprimed. The decapping pin pushed out the primer and any media in the flash hole. I can't recall ever having a misfire due to media in the flash hole. Vibratory tumbling doesn't clean the primer pockets anyway so leaving the primers in during tumbling didn't hurt the cleaning process but help to keep down the amount of media in the flash holes since it can only get in from one direction i.e. from inside the case.
Yep.
I tried wet tumbling, it’s just a bunch of extra hassle. On top of that, a little carbon left in the necks of the cases will help prevent cold welding.
I use a primer pocket cleaner on my prep center to get the gunk out of the pockets. The .0001” layer of carbon left behind will have zero effect on primer seating or overall performance.
This!!! I continue to use a dry media tumbler, and let the sizing process push out the
media in the flash hole, plus the spent primer.
Cleaning primer pockets is largely a waste of time anyway. With the exception of my
ammo for long range competition [1000 yards] I never bother to clean the pockets. Dave.
- Location
- Blaster land, Okanagan BC
I do both but for the most part I deprime after I wet or dry tumble, I chuck a primer pocket cleaner in a drill and cleaning them is quick. I had a huge volume of pistol brass to clean this winter, it was all ipsc range pick up and was filthy as it gets so I didn’t want to run it through my die. Yes I have a universal decaping die but I didn’t want to deal with it till it was clean.
Sometimes I will decap and resize and then tumble but only if I’m processing small quantities of brass, they both work. Try both and see what works best for you.
Sometimes I will decap and resize and then tumble but only if I’m processing small quantities of brass, they both work. Try both and see what works best for you.
yah.... and no one has every really shown that spotless clean brass shoots any better than almost spotless brass. For the amount of time that it takes to do this process, it doesn't shoot any better, although its looks pretty on the inside.
How much time does it take to clean a half dozen 5gal buckets of fired brass?
I use a tumbler.
I de-prim after I tumble , or the media gets stuck in the primmer hole.
I also add 1-3 tablespoons of Mec Brass Bright , per load , of media which
makes the brass shine like crazy in under 60 min. While tumbeling I prace a
cloth over the top with hole in center which goes over stud to hold it in place.
This keeps the dust in. All works 4 me .
I de-prim after I tumble , or the media gets stuck in the primmer hole.
I also add 1-3 tablespoons of Mec Brass Bright , per load , of media which
makes the brass shine like crazy in under 60 min. While tumbeling I prace a
cloth over the top with hole in center which goes over stud to hold it in place.
This keeps the dust in. All works 4 me .
- Location
- Blaster land, Okanagan BC
I honestly don’t see much dust with the vibratory tumbler, I’ve got a lyman turbo 1200 with the solid lid. I add some nu finish liquid wax and a bit of varsol to the walnut media which pretty much eliminates dust, even before I added the liquid wax I didn’t notice any dust. The solid lid really contained any if there’s was some in the first place.
