Do I Need to Resize This Brass Again?

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slowr1der

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So my normal process for reloading handgun ammo is to run the dirty brass through an universal decapping die, throw it in my wet tumbler to clean it, and then resize and expand it.

Well, I was about out of ammo and extremely short on time so I decided to take a shortcut yesterday. The brass had some dirt on it since I'd picked most of it up off of the ground at the range. Well, I just decided to Resize and expand it while it was still dirty. Then I tossed it in the wet tumbler. I having second thoughts as I wait for it to dry and I'm wondering if the dirt on it while resizing it is going to have made it out of spec? Should I go back and resize and expand all of this brass again, or should I just load it up and not worry about it?
 
The answer may well depend on the cartridge, firearm, and level of accuracy you're after. Perhaps you should mention those.
 
It's 380ACP. I don't need precision accuracy, but I don't want to risk damage to the gun, or have feeding issues.
 
slowr1der said:
It's 380ACP. I don't need precision accuracy, but I don't want to risk damage to the gun, or have feeding issues.
Click to expand...

I can't offer any advice on anything but straight wall for revolvers, and that would only be newbie advice anyway. But I'm sure someone can advise further now.
 
If you have good (normal) tension when seating the bullet. And when you crimp to get rid of the bell mouth. I believe it should be good to go.
 
Sizing is sizing. All the dirt would do is produce scratches, or other cosmetic blemishes. If you use steel dies, dirt in the brass can also scratch the surface of the dies, but I'm going to assume you used a carbide die, so no damage would have resulted. The only thing that damages carbide dies is diamonds.

Just load and shoot.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
I dont think it will be an issue. If you are running in a progressive, then you would run the sizer and expander in stations 1 and 2. However, if you are running in a single, then you could decap and size, then tumble as you did, and I dont think you will see any issues.
 
Next time just wipe the cases down before you size them (I did that for 12 years before I got a tumbler). But I don't understand why when the brass is tumbled would affect the time? Size before or size after cleaning, which is faster?
 
You should be fine. Especially if you are using carbide dies. I resized brass for many years before having anything but a jar with water some dish soap and an old towel to dry it on. That was for the dirty stuff and the not so dirty when right into the sizing die.
 
mdi said:
Next time just wipe the cases down before you size them (I did that for 12 years before I got a tumbler). But I don't understand why when the brass is tumbled would affect the time? Size before or size after cleaning, which is faster?
Click to expand...
That's what I'll likely do. It saves time not tumbling first because I like to have clean primers pockets. So by skipping running several hundred cases through the decapping die, and then again through the resizing die after tumbling, just resizing and decapping in one step and then tumbling saves a lot of time.
 
slow1der wrote:
I'm wondering if the dirt on it while resizing it is going to have made it out of spec?
Click to expand...

Unless you are one of those competitive shooters that fires five rounds at a thousand yards and ends up with only one4 hole in the target, no, the dirt will have no impact on your brass other than some cosmetic scratches. Whether the dirt had an impact on your dies is another matter, but you're probably okay there as well.
 
Sounds to me like you need more 380 brass in your collection so that you can always have enough clean and ready to go to replace what you just shot at the range. If I were handloading 380 I would have a couple thousand pcs of brass and a couple 100 of those always ready for action.
 
thomas15 said:
Sounds to me like you need more 380 brass in your collection so that you can always have enough clean and ready to go to replace what you just shot at the range. If I were handloading 380 I would have a couple thousand pcs of brass and a couple 100 of those always ready for action.
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I agree! I only have a couple of hundred pieces. The prices I see people asking for 380 brass usually seem crazy, so I've just stuck with what I have and what I can pickup at the range.
 
slowr1der said:
If I do this, it doesn't clean the primer pockets when tumbling.
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Cleaning primer pockets is waaay overrated. Unless you're shooting benchrest loads, cleaning your primer pockets, especially for handgun ammo is not necessary. But, if you want to,cool. No Reloading Police are gonna kick down your door and confiscate your ammo 'cause you did it "wrong".
 
"...dirt on it while resizing it is going to..." Nope. Might, and it's a big might, have scratched your dies though.
 
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Clean pockets are important to me only because after three or four cycles it gets difficult to seat the primer all the way down. I end up squashing a divot in them with the priming tool. This I dislike. So wet tumbling is great for that.
Betwixt the proper and squashed I detect no difference, save for the frustration while loading.
Do your dies a favor and clean them first, your hands will thank you as well.
 
Demi-human said:
Clean pockets are important to me only because after three or four cycles it gets difficult to seat the primer all the way down.
Click to expand...
Well yeah, clean primer pockets are important to me for the same reason. But I was cleaning primer pockets with a hand primer pocket cleaner for 20 years before I ever owned a tumbler. And before that I was cleaning them with a little screwdriver. Even now that I have a tumbler, if all I was worried about was the chunks of charcoal left behind in primer pockets, I can easily clean a hundred primer pockets in ten minutes with a RCBS or Hornady hand tool. That's a lot faster than I can clean them in my tumbler, and my hand tools don't use any electricity.:)
 
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