Cleaning brass for progressive press

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Ccctennis

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Now that I have a dillon 550 I have a new conundrum. In the past on my single stage this was my procedure:
Deprime dirty brass
Sonic clean brass & dry
Then load.


My question is for those with a progressive do you deprime all the cases and then sonic clean them?
I know those that use tumblers just tumble and load. That doesn't clean the inside of the primer pockets very well.

I got a progressive to decrease the reloading time. Should I sonic clean all the cases with the primers still in the case and reload or is there some other procedure?

Most of my bulk brass I buy comes tumbled so I just reload.
 
I have a Dillon SDB, here are my steps.

I tumble in walnut shell prior to depriming. The extra step does not bother me.

I Tumble in walnut
Deprime /resize
Wet Tumble (lemi-shine and dawn)
Dry
Tumble in Corn Cob with polish
Reload

LeftyTSGC
 
Yes deprime first, keeps your sonic solution cleaner longer. Are you reloading pistol or semi-auto rifles not .22 as above what is your desired out come of once shot by you brass. Do you want them pretty or not? but bottom line is progressive (allows you to perform high output once all brass is sized and or trimmed) or single stage (allows you to perform slower output once all brass is sized and trimmed). It would just depend what you want your brass to look like? On my semi-auto plinking stuff I don't much care if it is shiny or not.
 
I'm using my dillon for pistol reloading. I'm not concerned about how clean the brass. More looking for opinions of people in my situation. Does anyone just shoot, then use dirty brass with the dillon? Just hate having a progressive press but then basically got to use it in single stage to deprime then wash dry and then finally use it in progressive mode
 
I tumble in dry media to remove range grime. Then resize the case. Then tumble again to clean and polish the case. I do this shortly after shooting so small batches go quick.

I store the cases clean and prepped ready to load.

When I need ammunition, I set up for a reloading run.

But, by separating the process, I do build in a little inefficiency. I still load more than i can shoot and I find I have fewer jams and problems. My progressive is primarily for reducing mindless work load (mouth expanding and crimping) not necessarily to make tons of ammunition. But that is a benefit.:)

If you are spending time depriming the cases, you might as well resize them at the same time. Just my opinion.
 
For pistol, I do not deprime before tumbling. I don't trim pistol brass nor worry about cleaning primer pockets. After tumbling and inspecting the brass, everything else gets done in one lap around my progressive press. Resize/deprime, reprime, flare, charge, seat and crimp.
 
higgite said:
For pistol, I do not deprime before tumbling. I don't trim pistol brass nor worry about cleaning primer pockets. After tumbling and inspecting the brass, everything else gets done in one lap around my progressive press. Resize/deprime, reprime, flare, charge, seat and crimp.
Click to expand...
Same here.
 
higgite said:
For pistol, I do not deprime before tumbling. I don't trim pistol brass nor worry about cleaning primer pockets. After tumbling and inspecting the brass, everything else gets done in one lap around my progressive press. Resize/deprime, reprime, flare, charge, seat and crimp.
Click to expand...
Same here as well.
 
higgite said:
For pistol, I do not deprime before tumbling. I don't trim pistol brass nor worry about cleaning primer pockets. After tumbling and inspecting the brass, everything else gets done in one lap around my progressive press. Resize/deprime, reprime, flare, charge, seat and crimp.
Click to expand...
Me too
 
I don't have any "one way" but a mix of every method, it just depends on what I want and how much work I feel like doing.

I guess the same thing can be said of the loading process. Any press can load ammo, the one you pick depends on what you want and how much time you want to spend getting there.
 
I just tumble with the primer still in the case, then go to town reloading the case without worrying too much about the primer pocket. On the rare occasion that I am concerned with 100% consistancy round to round, I will use a pocket cleaning tool after resize/depriming. Seeing as how most of my pistols are not ultra-accurate-super-bullseye-target guns, I usually dont bother.
 
Ccctennis said:
My question is for those with a progressive do you deprime all the cases and then sonic clean them?
I know those that use tumblers just tumble and load. That doesn't clean the inside of the primer pockets very well.
Click to expand...

I load on a progressive (and a single stage). I deprime all cases with a Lee Universal Decapping die. Then, I wet tumble. Pockets are cleaned, dies aren't exposed to grit.

Works for me. :)

Good Luck
 
I have tried many different things with brass over the years I have been loading. I have settled on anything that gets put through a rifle gets Deprimed then wet tumbled then loaded. Same for pistols used for hunting.

As far as plinking brass, I have never noticed a difference between 4 hours in a wet tumbler compared to 45 minutes in walnut media with some NuFinish added in. Accuracy didn't change, no issues on the progressives, etc. At this point, there is no need for me to use the extra time or electric to tumble brass to a bright snd pretty shine. I do understand others having different preferences though.
 
I like to tumble before deprime- got tired of picking little bits of tumbler media out of primer holes.
 
Get a hand deprimer or $25 press and $20 universal deprimer die.

Wet tumble deprimed cases. They will be extraordinarily clean for use/storage. OR since you have a sonic cleaner use that.

Load. Go.

To me this is the only way to go, even though people will rightly say the brass doesn't have to be clean, dirty primer pockets don't matter etc.
 
cc,
I'm sure you love the shiny brass and clean primer pockets, but you really don't need to go to all that trouble especially for pistol cartridges. If it makes you feel any better, make up 50 rounds with sonic-cleaned brass and 50 with brass that was simply wiped down to remove any dirt/grit. If you did a blind test with one batch vs. the other you will not notice the difference in performance or accuracy.

An hour or so in a vibratory tumbler is all that is needed to clean the brass of any soot, but most importantly to simply knock off any dirt/mud/grit from cases that fall to the ground. There is no real advantage to cleaning the primer pockets.

A progressive loader has its advantage in efficiency. One pull, one cartridge. You loose that with the separate deprime stage. If it makes you feel better, then go ahead and do it. For bench rest rifle shooting, every 0.1 MOA makes a difference, but for pistol shooting the the trigger puller makes the most difference and putting more effort into range time with more ammo is best. Go ahead and start with a separate deprime stage, but rest assured that if you skip it and ignore the primer pockets, you won't be affecting anything.
 
A lot of people disagree with this but I actually deprime and size before wet tumbling. I reload on the pro1000 which is a 3 stage press and I like to use a powder lockout die. It is a knit picky thing but after my cases are clean, I run them through the press again to prime. I could prime and size on the same run but, believe it or not, it is much easier to size dirty cases than clean.

There is a lot of worry out there that you are going to damage your dies by doing this because a stray grain of sand or schmutz is going to scratch it... I have been doing this for about 4 years and still have yet to have an issue. In fact, if you read the actual instructions that come with the lee decapping/sizing die, it specifically states to deprime and size prior to cleaning brass as the carbon on the brass helps lubricate. I have found this to be true.

As far as depriming goes before cleaning, next to indoor shooting, spent primers are probably your next most likely exposure to lead. Most don't worry about that but since my lead always runs high even taking extreme precautions, I do everything I can to reduce my exposure.
 
Thanks for the advice. I'm not looking for shiny brass. What I am looking for is the quickest most efficient way to use my dillon press. I don't own a dry tumbler. I will continue to deprime and sonic clean for rifles and bench rest guns. But for my 9mm, 10mm, 357, 45 handguns I just want the simplest solution. I guess I need a dry tumbler and I will have to use it in my storage shed due to the noise and dirtiness of it. When I buy bulk fired brass online It comes clean with primers intact. I can fly through that on my press but once I shoot it this new challenge comes up.
 
For pistol, I do not deprime before tumbling. I don't trim pistol brass nor worry about cleaning primer pockets. After tumbling and inspecting the brass, everything else gets done in one lap around my progressive press. Resize/deprime, reprime, flare, charge, seat and crimp.
Click to expand...
This has been the best for me too.
 
What I am looking for is the quickest most efficient way... I just want the simplest solution.
Click to expand...

Two different things, 30 min of wet tumbling will have them clean but it's still not as simple as throwing them in corncobb for 4 hours.
 
Let me re-phrase what i want. I want to shoot my ammo, then find the simplest way to get that brass clean so that i can re-size and deprime all in the stages of loading on my dillon press. I just would like to avoid de-priming in a seperate step from reloading.
 
Ccctennis said:
Let me re-phrase what i want. I want to shoot my ammo, then find the simplest way to get that brass clean so that i can re-size and deprime all in the stages of loading on my dillon press. I just would like to avoid de-priming in a seperate step from reloading.
Click to expand...
Buy a Berry's tumbler, some media and you're set
http://www.berrysmfg.com/product-i14546-c47-g8-b0-p0-400_Tumbler.aspx

Same tumbler, yet less money
http://www.sinclairintl.com/reloadi.../case-tumblers/berry-s-tumbler-prod36851.aspx
 
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