Sequence of order

Welcome to THR. I decap and brush primer pockets before wet tumbling.

Welcome to THR! Personally I lube, decap, and full size (rifle) then wet tumble with steel pins, then dry. It has worked well for me. No stuck cases and everything comes out squeaky clean to include primer pockets.

Decap, clean pockets (rifle only), then wash in a bucket with hot water and soap.

I don't tumble rifle brass at all most of the time.

Welcome fellow addict!

I wet wash brass 1st in Hot water, LemiShine and dish soap, then I de-prime with rifle brass, then size, trim and uniform primer pockets then run it in the vibrator with corn cob. The corn cob removes the sizing wax and any left over brass from trimming and uniforming.

tumble, decap and primer pocket cleaning

I use a universal decapper so I am not resizing while decapping.

This prevents you from having to poke out pieces of walnut or corn cob from the primer holes, and IMO tumbling (dont know about wet tumbling) does not clean the primer pocket anyway.

d

Southerner up North said:

Thanks for the welcome.
Thanks for the replies. Sounds like I need to investigate wet tumbling.

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Are you reloading rifle, pistol, or both?

Unless the brass is very dirty...I resize/decap....vibrate clean in corn cob with polish...inspect (brush out primer pocket if needed at this point), trim, then load.

I made the mistake with a lot of 556 brass. I got loaded one night...got it in my head it was a good time to prep brass...so I resized and primed 1000 556 brass.

Woke up (with hangover) next morning and kicked myself in the butt. I went against standards...vibrated the brass (it was littoral cover think with case lube)..then trimmed and loaded...ass backwards from normal.
I expected some duds....as I vibrated/polished with the new primer in...but was relieved to find...all worked just fine...at least the 500 I shot so far anyway..

Still not a good practice to polish with new primers in....dumb dumb move on my part...but got lucky..

Lesson...dont drink EVER when doing any step in reloading!

Don't mind Walkalong. He's compulsive ... and a great shooter.

5.56/.223 or other rifle brass - Deprime, ream crimped pocket if needed, wet tumble, dry, lube, size , trim, load
Pistol brass - Deprime, wet tumble, load

At times I'll also dry tumble to polish them up if they are for longer storage.

This is how I prep every single case. It may seem a bit excessive to some, but I truly enjoy my time at the bench and I don't get to load a high enough volume for it to grow tiresome.

Deprime > ultrasonic clean > size > trim > chamfer/deburr > brush neck > [ream primer crimp here when applicable] > brush pocket > ultrasonic clean again. I fill out a 3x5 card outlining steps taken as I go, then place the card in a bag with the brass for storage. I didn't include "inspect" in my sequence of operation because I do that during handling at every step along the way.

Handgun;
Tumble in dry media (crushed walnut with liquid case polish added)
Deprime/resize
Flare case mouth
Prime
Powder
Seat bullet and crimp (taper for semi-auto, roll for straight wall)

For hunting rounds, I’ll clean the primer pockets with a primer pocket uniformer before priming step. For plinking rounds, I don’t bother.

Rifles,
Lube then resize and deprime in one step wipe the Lube off with a paper towel and inspect the case for wear note any indication of case head separation, check all the case measurements to ensure correct sizing, clean the primer pockets follow with trim when needed then chamfer and de burr case mouth wipe down any lube again , ensure all cases chamber freely than prime cases.

Howdy from Kentucky.

I tumble, size, expand, prime. I generally clean primer pockets a handful at a time before I prime, so it don't get monotonous. Or I might use the drill if I'm feeling frisky.

Need to add in annealing and trimming?

Because I use a progressive, I will:

anneal
lube
decap
size body
size neck
trim
chamfer/deburr
expand (if called for)
clean
dry
prime

If the cases are fouled with dirt or mud or if I'm not using the progressive, then I will decap and clean first and then clean again to remove the lube. Cleaning is wet tumbling in hot water with SS pins, dish soap, and Lemishine for 5 minutes.

If the brass i find is very dirty. I do a preclean tumble. I use a separate tumbler with old media for this. Then i get a good look at the brass. And i find bad gets scrapped. The good ones i de-cap. Then do a final tumble with cleaner media. My own brass i skip the pre-clean.

I deprime, then deburr flash holes or remove primer crimp if needed, wet tumble, lube & size, trim, prime, charge, seat bullet. All rifle for me so far. Might end up doing handgun a little different once I start loading handgun.

1. tumble brass

2. seperate media from brass

3. anneal brass

4. size and deprime brass

5. clean and debur primer pocket and flash hole

6. remove primer crimp

Walkalong said:

Tumble, size/decap, clean primer pockets if applicable, uniform primer pockets if applicable, size, tumble lube off if applicable, trim/deburr/chamber if applicable, tumble if it was trimmed/etc, hand prime, load.

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This is my sequence except I prime on the machine

Southerner up North said:

What is everyone's preferred order for case prep? Decap, tumble, primer pocket cleaning or tumble, decap and primer pocket cleaning?
Thanks
Rick

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range pickup get's tumbled for 15 minutes or so first with mineral spirits and old walnut media. Then decapped, primer pocket swaged (if needed) and cleaned, Trimmed if needed, back into the tumbler with corn and nu finish for an hour or so.......then cleaned with air, lubed........and loading starts.