Tumbling brass - with or without primers?

[Snakehunter]

Hi. Another newbie question I just bought a bag of used 9mm brass and the guy said he had tumbled them. There are still spent primers in them.
Is it usual or preferred to leave the spent primers in the casings before tumbling? I want to pick up a tumbler in the near future and this info would be good to know beforehand.
Thanks,
Glen

 

[Bigbubba]

Its up to you. You can tumble them before sizing, after or both.

Thats what I do to get all the grime off them before I size them, that way you won't scratch up the inside of your dies. Plus I think they lube up easier. Then I size & deprime them then another quick tumble to get the lube off plus clean out the primer pockets a bit and we are ready to re-fill them (I only do rifle loads if that makes any difference)

 

[Al-Sway]

I always tumble the brass with primers in, as I want the brass nice and clean before I put in my dies. For most rifle cartridges and all pistol cartridges, in my opinion, worrying about cleaning the primer pockets is wasted effort.
Removing primers prior to tumbling is an extra step, and you will still need to check all of the flash holes for media. And you might be damaging your dies with dirty cases.
Tumbling with the primers in saves a couple of steps, keeps your dies in good shape, and the flash hole is cleared of any tumbling media during the primer removal process.

 

[t-star]

i tumble with the dead ones in place- i use a progressive and it makes no sense to interuppt the "flow' for a little dirt in a primer cup- it can also introduce a piece of media to the flashole and that could possibly cause a misfire

 

[07blackwater]

Rifle - primer out with universal decap die
Pistol primer in

 

[SandRoad]

rifle - primer out with universal decap die
pistol primer in

+1

 

[Kelly Timoffee]

I first tumble as others have stated to keep heebie geebies outa the dies, then I tumble again afterwards and have no media getting stuck in flash holes.You can get finer tumbling media that is smaller than the flash holes.

 

[ShawnM]

I resize first so naturally the primer comes out at the same time. I have to take a step to chamfer the case mouths and inspect anyway so taking a second to knock the media out of the flash hole or primer pocket only takes a quick second anyway.

 

[HIGHRPM]

Do it both ways with no concernable difference in the actual cleaning. I still had to clean the primer pockets and check the primer flash hole and clear it if necessary. The time it takes is nothing to be concerned with.

 

[mmattockx]

Another vote for tumbling before, to keep the dirty stuff out of the sizing die.


Mark

 

[na1lb0hm]

another vote for before.

makes inspection of the brass easier when you actually do deprime, throw the bad ones out so you don't waste the time on them.

plus keeps media out of pocket blah blah blah,

 

[Ganderite]

I tumble first and then tumble the loaded ammo to get the lube off.

 

[Eagleye]

I tumble before resizing.
Cleaning primer pockets is largely a waste of time anyway.
Been doing it this way for 40+ years.
Always works well.
Eagleye.