Efficient brass prep, de-cap and SS media tumble or ultrasonic clean without de-cap??

GarDian

GarDian

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I am currently looking into reloading. Primarily I will be reloading 9mm ammo and will do 5.56/.223 in the future after I get my AR. What I am looking for is efficient reloading thus I will be looking into progressive loaders.

That being said, I am already collecting brass at each range trip. Basically collecting brass that I've shot and more if the people around me dont need their brass. The question I have is what brass cleaning prep method will be the most effective and efficient??

So far it seems the best way is to de-cap each brass first then send them to wet tumble with SS media. This will result in the most good looking and clean brass including a shinny primer pocket. However, during my research, I've also see and read a lot of people just dump the brass with primer still in primer pocket into an ultrasonic machine with brass clean solution. Those do say it cleans out primer pocket without problem but some also say it doesn't totally clean the primer pocket and the inside of the brass. Why are people having different result?? Is it because of different ultrasonic machine being used?? or its because the different cleaning solution being used??

What are your experiences and suggestions?
 
Okay now. For 9mm just ss tumble the brass for two hours and let dry for a couple days. Decap/resize, prime, flare, powder, seat bullet. Who cares about the primer pocket being a bit dirty. Makes no difference.

For .223 if you know the case lengths are all good then just ss tumble and let dry for a couple days. decap/resize, prime, powder, seat the bullet.

If your that worried about the primer pocket being dirty then don't bother getting a progressive.
 
I clean using an ultrasonic cleaner after the cases have been de-primed and re-sized. I do this to ensure that all the graphite on the neck and lube on the case body is removed. I also use a primer cleaning tool after de-priming, but before cleaning, as the ultrasonic cleaner tends not to remove the heavy caked-on carbon.
 
lacesout said:
Okay now. For 9mm just ss tumble the brass for two hours and let dry for a couple days. Decap/resize, prime, flare, powder, seat bullet. Who cares about the primer pocket being a bit dirty. Makes no difference.

For .223 if you know the case lengths are all good then just ss tumble and let dry for a couple days. decap/resize, prime, powder, seat the bullet.

If your that worried about the primer pocket being dirty then don't bother getting a progressive.
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As I am new to reloading, I just dont know if a dirty primer pocket will cause any problem or not. It will be great if I can SS tumble without de-prime cause that sure will save a lot of time.
 
dirtytwo said:
I clean using an ultrasonic cleaner after the cases have been de-primed and re-sized. I do this to ensure that all the graphite on the neck and lube on the case body is removed. I also use a primer cleaning tool after de-priming, but before cleaning, as the ultrasonic cleaner tends not to remove the heavy caked-on carbon.
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Do you do any kind of cleaning before de-prime and re-size?? Will the dirty case cause problem or damage the de-prime/re-sizing dies?? What I mean is if the case has some fine sand or other types of debris attached to the surface other than the powder residue.
 
I have a progressive press and yes I de-prime before cleaning my brass! I use a universal de-priming die which only de-primes, it does not re-size at the same time. I use a separate single stage press for doing this as most spent brass has dirt and grit on it and could damage you dies on your progressive press. ( using a universal de-priming die you don't have to worry about scratching your dies)
Then I clean my brass using a tumbler, but using a wet tumbler with SS media would do an even better job, and should do a good job on the primer pockets as well.
 
For 223 I have been decapping / resizing on my Dillon 650, then cleaning using ultrasonic. For larger - 30-06 and 338LM I use a single stage to decap/resize then ultrasonic.

For pistol 40SW and 44mag I was decap / sizing on the Dillon then ultrasonic cleaning, but I just did a batch (of 40sw) where I cleaned them with the primers still in and will see how they work to decap/size and re-load all in one session on the 650. I've had others with Dillon presses tell me this works fine, we'll see.
 
harley1 said:
I have a progressive press and yes I de-prime before cleaning my brass! I use a universal de-priming die which only de-primes, it does not re-size at the same time. I use a separate single stage press for doing this as most spent brass has dirt and grit on it and could damage you dies on your progressive press. ( using a universal de-priming die you don't have to worry about scratching your dies)
Then I clean my brass using a tumbler, but using a wet tumbler with SS media would do an even better job, and should do a good job on the primer pockets as well.
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Pretty much the same way I do mine. Use a Lee universal decapper first, then tumble. I usually give the pockets a quick twist witha primer pocket cleaner too, but I'm silly that way.
 
I will throw my fired brass in a vibratory tumbler with corn cob for about an hour just so I'm not putting dirty brass through my dies. Then i lube, resize/ decap, trim, chamfer & debur, then SS tumble as a final step.
 
GarDian said:
Do you do any kind of cleaning before de-prime and re-size?? Will the dirty case cause problem or damage the de-prime/re-sizing dies?? What I mean is if the case has some fine sand or other types of debris attached to the surface other than the powder residue.
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Yes, if the brass has landed in sand or dirt, I'll rinse off the debris in water before running them through my dies. At least once every year, I completely take apart my resizing dies and clean them as gunk from the lube and graphite can build-up to the point of even denting cases (especially at the neck and shoulder). You can also tell that your resizing dies are contaminated by scratches or pitting marks left on the brass.
 
kb007 said:
For 223 I have been decapping / resizing on my Dillon 650, then cleaning using ultrasonic. For larger - 30-06 and 338LM I use a single stage to decap/resize then ultrasonic.

For pistol 40SW and 44mag I was decap / sizing on the Dillon then ultrasonic cleaning, but I just did a batch (of 40sw) where I cleaned them with the primers still in and will see how they work to decap/size and re-load all in one session on the 650. I've had others with Dillon presses tell me this works fine, we'll see.
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It will be great if you can keep us updated on how it go. If it work well, then I think this will be route I do too!
 
MadMarty said:
I clean all my brass with the fired primers in them. Then resize/deprome and clean them again. But thats just me.
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So far, that's me too. I'm here looking for ideas though. I want to make sure I get any sizing lube etc. off the case before priming, charging, and seating. I'm using a single stage press and I actually find it OK for moderately high volume use. I can see though that I may want a progressive press for handgun loads some day. That will cause me to change my process for sure.
 
KeltecFan said:
So far, that's me too. I'm here looking for ideas though. I want to make sure I get any sizing lube etc. off the case before priming, charging, and seating. I'm using a single stage press and I actually find it OK for moderately high volume use. I can see though that I may want a progressive press for handgun loads some day. That will cause me to change my process for sure.
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What's the cleaning method you are using before resize/deprime?? Do you find it efficient enough to clean out most of the junk out of the primer pocket?
 
If the brass is really cruddy I do an overnigh soak in water/vinegar/soap. I keep a separate universal decapping die to decap primers before Stainless Steel tumbling fired/dirty cases. This cleans the cases inside and out, including the primer pockets. Once clean and shiny, I resize, trim and chamfer/deburr before tumbling a second time. I then store them or reload normally.
 
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GarDian said:
What's the cleaning method you are using before resize/deprime?? Do you find it efficient enough to clean out most of the junk out of the primer pocket?
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So far, I am using a tumbler with Lyman treated corncob media. I did try cleaning again after depriming and it wasn't great. It almost always jams a chunk of the corncob media into the flash hole. What a pain. I bought a Lyman Case Prep. Express at Cabelas in Washington. That is time consuming to use but I can do all case prep tasks with it. I'm about to run 500+ .40 S&W through it in a few days so I'll see how it goes. I've used it for small batches and it works well. I like the look of the Hornady Hot Tub Sonic cleaner. That might be the answer for a lot of reasons. The tumbler noise is a little annoying at times. Also, this could save time by eliminating the primer pocket cleaning. I have other purchase priorities so I'm just looking for ideas right now.

So, shorter answer, no it is not very efficient at removing the junk out of the primer pocket.
 
GarDian said:
It will be great if you can keep us updated on how it go. If it work well, then I think this will be route I do too!
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So, this aft I took about 400 of my cleaned with primers still in 40SW cases and ran them through my Dillon 650. It worked pretty well, no mess once the primers were punched - it all worked the way it should. This is prolly gonna be my norm from here on out (at least for 40SW).

Only thing that pissed me off was the federal primers - do they just have a rougher edge to them - ended up with about 12 with badly seated primers - versus zero when I use CCI primers - what gives?
 
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