Deprime BEFORE or AFTER Tumbling

hemidart

hemidart

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What is the best way to go here I have heard from both sides of the local fence. Tumbling before depriming does not get to the pockets. Depriming first seems to allow media to lodge in pocket and case lube picks up dust???
Thanks:)
Pete....
 
Good question. I think it is a case of take your pick. I like to tumble after sizing, to clean the cases of lube. If you prime them as you size, they could end up with a bit of walnut shell in the flash hole. I always tell myself there is no way a bit of tumbling media in the flash hole could stop it from firing. The primer has about 5,000 pounds of pressure when it goes off, and surely this would clean the hole.
However, I don't know this, and yes, I do feel more comfortable when I know the flash hole is clean.
Maybe the best way is to size first, but do not reprime until after tumbling.
 
I tumble after resizing/depriming because i want to clean off the case lube. Tumbling doesn't do much for cleaning the primer pocket and yes you have to poke media out of the flash hole on most cases which I do when I am cleaning the primer pocket anyways.
 
Just depends on what kind of ammo you're reloading.

Practice and Fun ammo, I just tumble and they get deprimed when reloading.

Match ammo or cases to be put in the bucket for storage and use later, I deprime and clean the holes, tumble, push out any media stuck in the flash hole, wash and put away.
 
I always tumble after depriming. You do get media in the flash holes once in awhile but that does not bother me. I always inspect each and every piece of brass for any defects and case overall length after firing anyway so for me to pick out a piece of media from the flash holes is nothing. I find it a lot easier to spot defects in clean brass and if there is a weak spot it will show up better after a full length resizing in my opinion. However, slightly different story if you neck size only.
 
I polish then lube/deprime, resize, then reload. Because I don't want any of the crud going in my dies. Maybe the trick is to polish, lube, deprime, resize, polish, clean out flash hole and reload. I think I'll try that..
 
I tumble after resizing/depriming because i want to clean off the case lube.
Click to expand...

exactly.. yes de prime and re size before tumbling. you do not want oils on your casings inside or outside . you do have to pick media out of the flash holes but its something that should be done in that order.

oils can cause the brass to not grab the rifles side walls and cause the bullet to jar back when shot. as well oils inside can cause some powder to soak it up and perform differently.

I learned the oil deal the hardway after it caused my 45-70 hand load to jam/stick in my gun it was not fun to get that out and i have ran 2000 rounds through since then and never had the same problem again and i never de primed after tumbling again.
 
I generally tumble after sizing to remove lube. Cleaning the primer hole allows me the opportunity to inspect each casing inside and out.

If they are really grungy, then it is tumble before and after sizing. I figure you can never tumble too much and I usually have 2 or 3 calibers on the go so I work on something else while they vibrate away.
 
I deprime my brass and then send them through my Lyman Auto-Flo. Since I use carbide pistol dies I don't have to clean off any lube from pistol brass. I send my sized rifle brass back into the Auto-Flo to clean off the lube.
 
Before depriming to clean them and one place less to have media get stuck, it doesn't clean the primmer pocket anyway. Deprime, and put them back for 15-20 minutes just to remove the lube.
 
I tumble first, but these days I use my ultra sonic cleaner for rifle brass and just tumble handgun brass. The quantity of handgun brass I tumble at a time would make ultra-sonic cleaning tedious. Going through the brass after tumbling with a piece of wire to knock bits of media from the flash holes is not something I consider a reasonable use of time. Tumbling after de-priming does not clean the primer pockets anyway, at least not with conventional media. I've heard good things about pin media and ceramic media cleaning the primer pockets, but I haven't tried either yet.
 
i always tumble BEFORE depriming- i use progressives and the other way 1) doesn't make sense , 2) interupts the flow - typically my rounds are stacked in a tube ) 3) keeps the crud out of my dies and doesn't give much of a chance for a particle to jam in the flashole- with the primer pocket open , it's another avenue for media to enter-most people don't clean the primer pocket anyway
 
If the cases are dirty, I tumble them, then size and deprime, then tumble them again.
If they are clean, I size, deprime, then tumble.
If I am neck sizing, I tumble afterwards.
I don't tumble my brass until it is bright and shiney, but I like it clean.
Picking particles out of the flasholes or pockets isn't a big deal.
My TR ammunition gets neck sized, everything else is FL sized.
 
I may have missed it, but I'm surprised more guys d o it this way:

- Hit the necks with steel wool to knock off the carbon, for those cautious about their dies
- lube and resize with the decapping pin removed from their sizer die
- Toss in the tumbler to remove the lube (or I normally just wipe off the lube)
- Finally, one more run through the press with a decapping die. A whole lot faster than chasing bits of media with a paper clip!
 
My time is valuable.

Indeed, my time is valuable. And I reload alot of handgun cartridges.
Volume tumbling is the way to go if you want to have plenty of cases on hand. My Dillon tumbler does a good job and I can process around 1000 9mm cases at once.
Tumbling first removes the crap, crud, and range junk that sticks to cases. That kind of stuff you don't want in your sizer die. Carbide dies that is.
Two Dillon carbide sizers went into the scrap heap because they got scored.
Always tumble first, and add some quality case polish mid-process.
 
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