Deprime before tumbling, any advantages?

[Shinken]

Traditionally I think most people just tumble brass then do the whole reloading process. My thinking is that since after depriming you see all the black junk buildup in the primer area, tumbling after depriming may have it's advantage by cleaning the primer pocket. How do you do your tumbling? How do you take care of the primer pocket buildup?

CC

 

[GunTech]

I tumble with primers in, so I don't have to pick media out of the pockets. I bought one of those RCBS electric goodies (Trim Mate) with the motorized reamers and pocket cleaner to take care of crud in the primer pockets.

 

[Shinken]

Good idea. Thanks GunTech.

CC

 

[K3]

I tumble twice. Before running through the sizer and after all the trimming and chamfering. I use electric duster to keep flashholes clear.

 

[cpttango30]

I do it before i resize then after. I get handsy enough when getting the brass out of the media it dislodges most of the media.

 

[evan price]

I don't shoot for bench rest accuracy and I never clean primer pockets- I've never had a problem. I would rather the deprimer pushes the crud out of the primer pocket.

 

[Shinken]

Well, after researching this question I have decided that it may actually be better to tumble then deprime. A couple of reasons why:

1. Tumbler does not clean the pocket too well, as the area is too small.

2. More hassle as the cleaning media usually ends up stuck in the pocket area.

3. If you want to clean any heavily "dirty" pockets, just get a pocket cleaner, something like this...
http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=467111

Thanks for the responses.

CC

 

[K3]

2. More hassle as the cleaning media usually ends up stuck in the pocket area.

A lot of people say this, but trust me when I say it is really easy to take a handful of cases and a can of electric duster and shoot 'em with air.

I can grab 15 or 20 cases, give a quick spritz with the duster, and be done.

 

[RustyFN]

A lot of people say this, but trust me when I say it is really easy to take a handful of cases and a can of electric duster and shoot 'em with air.

I can grab 15 or 20 cases, give a quick spritz with the duster, and be done.

But it is even easier to tumble before you deprime and eliminate that step all together. I have tumbled after sizing to remove the lube but have decided to wait and tumble the loaded rounds in the future.
Rusty

 

[K3]

Like I said earlier, I tumble twice.

I tumble before sizing to get the grit and dirt off of my cases. Die preservation and easier sizing.

I tumble after I trim, chamfer, and deal with primer pockets in order to get any little flecks of brass off the case mouth and to get sizing lube off.

I honestly have never seen a piece of media stuck in the flashhole of one of my cases, but I hit them all with the electronic duster anyway. It takes literally seconds to go through gobs of cases. That's why I see the media/flashhole issue is very minor.

To each his own, I suppose.

Edit: I don't tumble loaded rounds because I don't want to ding up any softpoints. I'm terrible on SPs.

 

[Shinken]

Do you have to trim, chamfer etc every time you reload?

CC

 

[USSR]

Do you have to trim, chamfer etc every time you reload?

Shinken,

You only need to trim if your cases begin to exceed the maximum length listed for your particular cartridge. Measure your case length only after you have resized the case. And, you only need to rechamfer after you have just trimmed.

Don

 

[K3]

I do it anyway as a matter of course.

On cases that don't need trimming, ie they pass the Lee case trimmer test, There will be little to no chamfering required. I do those VERY lightly.

On cases that needed a trim, and I had some once fired .223 stuff that took a heckuva trim last night, I chamfer fully. I use the RCBS electric gizmo with the multiple rotating tools.

Basically, I go through the same procedure for every case, regardless of other considerations. The only difference wouold be neck sizing s FL sizing, and even then, I go through the steps of checking case length, trimming, and chamfering.

 

[Sport45]

I clean before depriming. I've never cleaned a primer pocket. That's worked for me.

I've never come across a handgun case that needed to be trimmed. Seems like almost all rifle cases need to be trimmed after one or two shots.

 

[K3]

I clean before depriming. I've never cleaned a primer pocket. That's worked for me.

I've never come across a handgun case that needed to be trimmed. Seems like almost all rifle cases need to be trimmed after one or two shots.

I've come a across a very few that the Lee blades took some material off of, but it was neglibile. I'm sure I could have left them alone.

 

[Slamfire]

1. Tumbler does not clean the pocket too well, as the area is too small.

2. More hassle as the cleaning media usually ends up stuck in the pocket area.

Been my experience with walnut and corncob media. I remember reading where tumbling in wet ceramic media will clean a pocket, but then, you have to dry the stuff out.

 

[Walkalong]

If you want your primer pockets clean, use a PP cleaner like the one from RCBS.

 

[Griff56]

Well I am retired and have lots of time to play with the cases. So, I tumble with the primers in, size, trim if necessary, seldom is, deburr case mouth and tumble again. Then I clean out the primer pockets. That removes all of the sizing wax, deburring residue and other things that get added after the first tumble. I am not sure that I would want to tumble loaded ammunition as someone stated earlier.

 

[mek42]

For pistol cases I tumble before anything else and then am done.

For rifle cases I tumble clean at the beginning and then again after resizing to get rid of the case lube. For the inevitable media that gets stuck in the priming pockets, I have a few small allen keys laying around the reloading bench that I use to pop the media bit out with.

 

[Otto]

My thinking is that since after depriming you see all the black junk buildup in the primer area, tumbling after depriming may have it's advantage by cleaning the primer pocket.

Tumbling with walnut or corncob does little if anything to get the primer pockets clean.
For me, there's no benefit in depriming first.

If you want the primer pockets clean you'll need to invest in a rotary tumbler and ceramic media.

This is my idea of clean...

 

[Idano]

Otto,

That's some clean brass you have there. How long does that take your rotary tumbler to polish them and pockets to get them that clean? I have been using pocket cleaners chucked up in my drill press but they still aren't that clean. The ceramic media is a wet process isn't it?

 

[Lazuris]

I normally do a quick tumble with primer pockets in just to clean off any debris off the case, I don't want to damage my dies with sand etc... Deprime, resize, then give a complete tumble to shine them up. +1 to the RCBS trim mate for the detail cleaning work. BTW i only clean the primer pockets on my match loads. I care less when it comes to bulk pistol.