Cleaning Brass - The Sequence of Things?

[MoShooter]

I am in the middle of building a loading bench, building a tumbler, reading both the A, B, C's of Reloading and the 2nd Edition of the Lee book, and wanting desperately to get started. And I have a question before go further.

I have about 2000 rounds of once fired 45 ACP brass. Much of it is WW Match. I want to clean it before I reload. Do you recommend decapping before tumbling? If so, should I just decap or size/decap?

I have four Lee presses, Reloader, Challenger, Classic Turret, and the Pro 1000. How I came to own all these is another story. They are all unused and I have never reloaded.

 

[WayneConrad]

I decap before tumbling... when using walnut, the primer pocket gets cleaned out reasonably good. But I think I do too much labor when reloading, and here's why.

Some fellows here will tell you that they have never cleaned a primer pocket and never had a problem.

And those who load using a progressive press decap in one stage and prime in another, with no "tumbling" stage in between.

I think unless you're insane like me and like extra labor, just tumble with the primer in and then decap during sizing.

 

[RustyFN]

I tumble first because I don't want to run dirty brass through my resizing die.
Also because I use a Lee classic turret press there is no need to decap first. The decapping is part of the process, no need to waste time with an extra step. Once the brass is clean I put it in the press and four pulls later it comes out ready to shoot. Hope this helps.
Rusty

 

[armoredman]

Tumble first, no garbage in the die, then decap/resize. Then prime, and move on.

 

[Hazzard]

Tumble first. You really wont have problems with some residue in the pockets on pistol brass. I used to decap first, but found no difference in accuracy, pressures, primer seating by tumbling first and it saves a step. And as others have said, the clean brass will function better in the resizing/decapping die.

 

[distra]

I have recently gotten into reloading and have a 550. I just load the brass in the tumbler, tumble for 1/2hr-1hr and it's ready to load. The 550 decaps at station 1 on the down stroke and primes on the up stroke. No problems so far, I have some brass I've loaded 4x, so far so good.

 

[Sleeping Dog]

I decap first, using a RCBS decapping die. If it's got crimped primers, I put it in a de-swaging die. Then I clean it. The brass is cleaned before it hits the sizing die.

Regards.

 

[Steve in PA]

Tumble, then re-size.

You will not get clean primer pockets by doing it the other way. The only thing you will get is media stuck inside the pocket.

 

[Doug b]

I like to tumble as soon as possible after shooting,it takes less time, and gets brass a lot cleaner so it is first. As Steve said decapped brass will just fill the pocket and flash hole with media and create more work.

 

[ocabj]

I decap with a universal sizing die and then tumble. Less lead in the tumbling media without the primers. Resizing will pop any stuck media in the flash holes assuming you still have the decapping pin in your resizing dies. If the stem is removed like I do my match dies, I simply manually clear the flash holes by putting them neck down in an ammo tray and using a pick.

 

[USSR]

+1. What ocabj said.

Don

 

[Gewehr98]

Carbide dies may be harder than the grit on the brass...

However, Lee fails to mention that the softer brass won't get scored or at least scratched by the grit when run filthy through those carbide dies.

Myself, I run my brass through the tumbler first, then decap/resize/uniform primer pockets, etc.

If it's my BPCR .45-70 brass, then it sits in a heated ultrasonic cleaning tank for about 30 minutes in either a Simple Green or Micron cleaning solution, then dried overnight in the rack and tumbled for final polish. No corrosive BP residue is left inside or outside each cartridge case. I refuse to put put grungy brass in my Sharps.