Decapping dirty brass

[Walkalong]

I clean primer pockets with a primer pocket uniformer on match rifle loads, and that's it, nothing else.

 

[rdnktrkr]

Years ago I bought some reloading stuff at the flea market and was told I could have everything for $25 if I took the Lee C press, I now have a universal decapping die in it and it is permanently mounted and used frequently. I decap all brass before cleaning and clean rifle brass twice to remove lube and put a coating of polish on them

 

[JFrank]

I don’t shoot those type of guns so not much need to tumble just wipe um down but I do clean primer pockets of all the burnt residue and some primers leave a residue similar to tar then inspect the flash hole all because I want good ignition and a fully seated primer.
I don’t pick up old range brass ( but that’s a different thread)

 

[Toprudder]

Whether or not you need to tumble before decapping depends on the press you use for decapping. A lot of presses eject the spent primers and crud in such a way that it can gum up the press in quick order.

With my Lee Classic Turret, I decap first and then wet tumble. The LCT sends all the crud down through the center of the ram and does not get much crud on the press. My Lee APP, however, I was getting enough dirt on the case feeder shuttle that it was starting to cause problems. So, I tried running a couple of batches of brass through the wet tumbler, without pins, for 15 minutes. Let dry overnight, then through the APP to decap. The decapping ran smoother and I can do close to 1000 9mm cases in 30 minutes. After that, I ran the wet tumbler for an hour with pins. The actual hands-on labor time works out well enough for me doing it this way.

 

[JKP]

I decap before wet tumbling to. My universal decapping die doesn't quite center right to go fast on my progressive so I just use my .40 sizing die to decap 9mm. I can decap as fast as I can crank.

 

[Skgreen]

I wet tumble with pins.
I don't have any really dirty brass
Right, wrong, or otherwise, I decap bottleneck cases prior to tumbling as I have better luck getting all the pins out and it seems to help w/dry-time.

 

[CQB45ACP]

I decap and size dirty cases with a Lee carbide then wet tumble with pins. Sometimes I then dry vibratory tumble with corn cob and flitz to get a high polish. Never universal decap nor wash first.

Lee’s book (and I’ve also read elsewhere (rcbs maybe)) says there is nothing on a dirty case that can harm the carbide. I’ll get the quote if you want. Anyway, that’s the way I do it.

 

[George P]

For pistol cases, I tumble in my corn cob walnut mixture before anything; tumbler runs about 2 hours and they come out real shiny and clean.

 

[507Reloader]

I run all my brass thru a Lee APP press to deprime before it hits the walnut/corn cob mixture. This keeps all the primer pocket gunk out of my resizing die on my Dillon. Have had to punch out a few, but not a big deal. You can easily run a thousand cases an hour on the Lee APP press.

 

[wvcardsfan]

I just bought a Harvey Deprimer. It might be the slickest gadget I've ever seen. I have been collecting range brass, every caliber you can think of all mixed together. I sat down with my little hand held gizmo and started popping out primers. I did 12 pounds of them in about 3 leisurely hours. No difference at all between a 9mm or a 30.06.

 

[JFrank]

I just bought a Harvey Deprimer. It might be the slickest gadget I've ever seen. I have been collecting range brass, every caliber you can think of all mixed together. I sat down with my little hand held gizmo and started popping out primers. I did 12 pounds of them in about 3 leisurely hours. No difference at all between a 9mm or a 30.06.

I have a Harvey as well although I’m finding that it is slow compared to the decapper system built in to the die.
Interesting how fellas have different experiences...

 

[Laggy]

I dry tumble for a short period of time to make me feel better about my die. Decap/resize then wet tumble if I don’t wanna deal with manual primer pockets cleaning . Clean the die after each run with some brake cleaner.

Pretty sure carbide > dirt. The main problem with wet for me, is the separation fiasco. I need that Frankford Arsenal wet separator, my dry one is no bueno for pins.

A universal decapper would be piece of mind, or a used die...or maybe adjusting decapping pin out to where the brass is just captured in the die, before it starts to resize.

 

[Demi-human]

The main problem with wet for me, is the separation fiasco. I need that Frankford Arsenal wet separator, my dry one is no bueno for pins.

You are using it in water, yes?
I use a dry media separator, in water to break the surface tension of the wetted pins, to empty my cases.

 

[Laggy]

You are using it in water, yes?
I use a dry media separator, in water to break the surface tension of the wetted pins, to empty my cases.

I am not. I have a system. A large glass bowl and a salad strainer (larger gauge holes that filter cases but let pins through. I always give a knock of the brass, upside down, to be sure.

Like an old school Frankford Arsenal dry tumbler basket? I could potentially use that and a wide, shallow pot of sorts.

I imagine 2 gold panning separators, one of a bigger gap variety, the second a finer mesh, would do the trick. But you still have the surface tension of wet pins.

 

[Laggy]

 

[Demi-human]

That, filled with water, shaking the green one.

In the beginning I used a drainage colander-ed bucket and hand agitated it.
The pins fall right out of the cases while submerged.
Grabbing a handful and shaking them under water works too.

For thirty dollars I got a Hornady dry media separator. Even though it is very small, it will empty ten pounds of pins from five pounds of brass, if done carefully, while full of water.

The trick is doing everything under water.

Dillon makes a rather larger separator, but I muddle on. In fact, with a much larger basin to work in, I wager that green basket to be perfect.

 

[packetloss]

I just picked up 500 pounds of mixed range brass. After ruining a bought new Hornady single stage Lock n Load press in two years I wet tumble first with no pins.
I seperated fifty pounds last night and today I wet tumbled around 4,000 pieces of 9mm and around 1,500 pices of 223/5.56.
Once I get more seperated I will wet tumble other calibers.

I had some 9mm that I dry tumbeled, i put it through the wet tumbler and did the crud come off that dry tumbled brass.

This is the stuff that came off the dry tumbled brass.
View attachment 952467
.

Here is stuff left in the bucket after I dumped most of the water out.
View attachment 952472

That is some nasty stuff.

Exactly. Just think about all the lead and dirt in there. Lead alone is a reason to wet tumble before you deprime brass, but all the dirt in there is not doing your press any favors.

Folks don't realize this (I didn't) but the vast majority of lead from shooting is from the primers. It also leaves a lot of fine lead dust on the cases. Don't handle that stuff without gloves (even D-lead soap doesn't get all of that off) and you really should wear a ventilator while pouring dirty cases into the tumbler.

 

[Highland Lofts]

Next spring I will be changeing some things to make it easier on seperating the brass. And on drying the brass.
Range brass from gravel pits need to be tumbled before any work gets don on it.