Sequence of order

[Lennyjoe]

I’m a bit more meticulous with rifle brass than I am with pistol. Pistol brass gets tumbled, deprimed, sized and primed (at same time in Lee Loadmaster), charged, bullet set then crimped.

Rifle gets tumbled, deprimed, length checked and trimmed (if needed), primer pockets get more attention as well. Lubed (if needed), sized and hand primed.

 

[cfullgraf]

My sequence is...
1. Clean cases if they were groveling in the dirt.
2. Lubricate (rifle mostly, some handgun)
3. Resize including depriming
4. Clean, mostly dry tumble but do some wet tumbling at times.
5. Trim (rifle mostly)
6. Store cases until needed.
7. Prime off press
8. Reload (rifle mostly on a single stage, hand gun mostly on a progressive)
9. package and store the reloaded ammunition.

If cleaning the cases before resizing them, I may deprime them first.

For small reloading batches, I hand prime off the press, for large batches, I have a bench mounted primer. My hands are not as strong as they used to be.
7

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

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

I recently updated my routine and am trying out a new process. Again. Case prep' is a moving target for me. I'm constantly changing my mind about it. Some things I've done for years:
Tumble in corn media to get the worst of the powder residue off. Decap. Inspect. Resize/trim/repair primer pockets. Sort. Tumble in walnut media and polish. Box/bag and store.

Right now I'm playing with the Lee APP and using OneShot sizing lube with caliber-specific dies to decap and resize my most common semi-auto brass - 9mm, .40S&W, .45ACP - instead of decapping in a separate step. I used to do it that way on my old Lyman press (minus the OneShot) but the RCBS Partner press I replaced it with dumps the primers out the side and they scatter everywhere. If I'm working outside that's no big deal - except the dogs and cats like to eat the used primers which is VERY bad. I'm still sizing and decapping the other 20+/- calibers I reload in separate steps, like above.

FWIW: read through some of the posts on lead and primers and decapping. ALWAYS use some kind of control on dust, especially decapping.

 

[Varminterror]

My process:

1) Decap (universal decapper in a single stage)
2) Wet tumble
3) Power dry
4) Lube with OneShot
5) FL size
6) Expand
7) Trim/debur/Chamfer
8) Prime on bench
9) Charge
10) Seat

I have played recently with tumbling with primers in, power drying, lubing, then decapping (without expander ball) in the sizing die, but I do tend to see dirtier cases, dirtier tumble solution, and still have flakes when I go to load, so I’m not fully onboard with the process yet.

I don’t brush primer pockets. No change in performance.

 

[westernrover]

You indicated expanding before trimming in steps 6 and 7. By expanding do you mean sizing the necks with a Sinclair-type mandrel?
What about flaring the mouth of a straightwall handgun cartridge? Before or after trimming? I know most people don't trim their 9x19mm, but suppose we want to have uniform crimps on 460 Magnum cases. Does it make more sense to trim sized brass where the mouth is perpendicular to the cutter or flared mouths? I trim first, then flare.

 

[doubleh]

For pistol I decap, tumble if really dirty or Dawn and lemon juice shake and rinse for the not so dirty, and that is it. Ready to size, flare. and load. Rifle gets the same except for the flare but anneal after every five loads and trim after sizing. Primer pockets get a look and clean if dirty.

 

[ballman6711]

You indicated expanding before trimming in steps 6 and 7. By expanding do you mean sizing the necks with a Sinclair-type mandrel?
What about flaring the mouth of a straightwall handgun cartridge? Before or after trimming? I know most people don't trim their 9x19mm, but suppose we want to have uniform crimps on 460 Magnum cases. Does it make more sense to trim sized brass where the mouth is perpendicular to the cutter or flared mouths? I trim first, then flare.

IF I were to trim a straight wall pistol case, I would do it before flaring the case so that it would be trimmed square with the base. Trimming after flaring would only remove some or all of the flare and require flaring again IMO.

chris

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

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.

Kinda funny, we swapped steps. My first tumble is always in corn, then polish in walnut. I use corn before decapping and walnut after. Walnut don't get caught in flash holes like corn does.

 

[Kaldor]

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

For rifle:
Decap
Wash in soapy water to remove grit if dirty and let dry (mostly range brass)
Size (no expander ball)
Tumble in SSTL media
Mandrel to size necks
Trim to length on Giraud
Load

For pistol:
Decap
Tumble in hot soapy water (I stopped using pins on pistol brass)
Size and Load on progressive

I dont primer pocket clean as SSTL media does a decent job of it. Even it didnt get them clean, I wouldnt do it anyway as there is no proof anywhere of perfectly clean primer pockets having any tangible effect on accuracy.

 

[Southerner up North]

I appreciate all the input. I have been reloading for over 30 years and have not tumbled after decapping, regardless of pistol or rifle cases. Always concerned with tumbling media getting into flash hole. After cleaning pockets on 500 cases yesterday, I wondered how others handled it. I use a vibrating cleaner so not sure if wet tumbling would work with my cleaner.
Thanks again

 

[Phantom 309]

I suppose if you use a universal decapper, tumble, and then size with the decapping pin still in the sizer it would probably clear out the flash holes.

 

[EricBu]

I suppose if you use a universal decapper, tumble, and then size with the decapping pin still in the sizer it would probably clear out the flash holes.

Exactly.

 

[EricBu]

Kinda funny, we swapped steps. My first tumble is always in corn, then polish in walnut. I use corn before decapping and walnut after. Walnut don't get caught in flash holes like corn does.

I do all my decapping on a universal decapper (mighty armory - the decapping BEAST), and leave the decapping pin in my sizing die on the press specifically to clear out anything that sticks in the flash hole. Corn is kind of sucky with the mineral spirits. Which I pretty much got to do, AZ "blue groove" silt covers everything from the range I shoot at, and it wrecks tumble media pretty quick.......so I've settled on using old media with mineral spirits for that first quick cleaning.

 

[twarr1]

Welcome to THR. As you’ve seen already, lots of differing opinions.
I decap, tumble, size, trim, debur, prime, load.
I have a wet tumbler but seldom use it, too much trouble, especially the drying.
I don’t get others’ issue with ‘media in the flash hole’. On rifle cases I debur and uniform the flash hole anyway, so no real extra effort. And I would think most reloaders at a minimum inspect the case and primer pocket, running a flash hole tool takes what? An extra 1-2 seconds?

I truly enjoy my time at the bench

In the end, that’s all that really matters.

 

[lordpaxman]

@Southerner up North, welcome to THR! You picked an interesting time to venture north, as I look out it’s 4” of fresh snow at 24.
I used to vibrate with walnut media but didn’t appreciate the dust so I switched to wet tumbling with SS pins. The added advantage was I could do about 1K 9mm cases in one load in 3 hours.
I now wet tumble first with primers in, dry, and store. When I get a round tuit, pistol/ revolver, pistol/semi, and rifle get different treatments. Good luck and stay warm.

 

[jmorris]

It depends.

I don’t put dirty components into any reloading press but I also don’t clean and uniform primer pockets on a vast majority of the ammunition I shoot.

Tumble, size/deprime,(trim if using a bottle neck round and it is needed), prime, expand/charge, seat bullet, remove bell, has worked for hundreds of thousands of rounds.

For much smaller amounts, I do go through additional processes but they are not needed and would be a waste of time for many firearms/uses.

 

[packetloss]

I finally got my lead levels down to a reasonable level. I wear a P100 ventilator and nitrile gloves when handling the dirty cases and I now wet tumble for 30 minutes with dawn and citric acid but without steel pins before I size/deprime them. Then I run them for another hour with steel pins. After that I give them a 5 minute bath in Armor all wash/wax.

 

[Gone Hiking]

It depends, but typical rifle brass is either dry or wet tumbled (depending on dirtiness), lubed, sized/deprimed, (primer pockets swaged if needed), trimmed, and then wet tumbled/dried again before being loaded.

 

[Southerner up North]

@Southerner up North, welcome to THR! You picked an interesting time to venture north, as I look out it’s 4” of fresh snow at 24.
I used to vibrate with walnut media but didn’t appreciate the dust so I switched to wet tumbling with SS pins. The added advantage was I could do about 1K 9mm cases in one load in 3 hours.
I now wet tumble first with primers in, dry, and store. When I get a round tuit, pistol/ revolver, pistol/semi, and rifle get different treatments. Good luck and stay warm.

I left the south 30+ years ago. I spent the winter of 96/97 in southwest Minnesota where Jim Cantore of the weather channel was trapped in town for a week. More blowing snow and lethal wind chill temps than a person needs to be exposed to.
Thanks

 

[1976B.L.Johns.]

`I have an old rock tumbler with a rubber liner.
Here is what I do.

4 pounds on S/S pins put in tumbler barrel..
Add brass.
Add hot water till about 3/4 full.
Dissolve one tablespoon of Lemi-shine in a separate cup of hot water. The reason I do this as in the past if one would just add it to the tumbler, some would settle on the brass and etch it.
Add Lemi-shine solution, give a bit of a stir.
I then add 1/3 cup of Turtle Wax Zip Wax car wash and wax.
Adding the soap at the end aids one in seeing the volume of water with no suds blocking your view.
I also have added a 12 X 12 inch micro fiber towel cut into quarters. Not sure if that helps or not.
Fill tumbler with water until about an inch from the top.
Seal the lid, I usually run it for 3 & 1/2 hours.

How you separate the pins from the brass is up to you. There are different methods you can research.

This is what I do:
A blue media separator, (Frankford?) sits in the top of a five gallon pail.
Pail in laundry sink with strainer set in it.
Gently pour brass, water and pins into strainer. Gently because the pins like to bounce and end up everywhere.
I'll use lukewarm water to fill the 5 gallon bucket, then let it trickle in as I pull the brass out, mouth down, allows the pin to fall through the water and strainer to the bottom of the pail.

Okay, brass and pins are separated.
Gently pour the water off the pins that are in the bottom of the 5 gallon pail.
Add water to pins, a gallon or so is ok. Stir and pour off water leaving pins in pail Rinse and repeat 3 times total. This will clean the pins and wash the dirt down the drain
I have a screen that the pins are poured on. Set aside to allow the pins to dry.

Using the pail, rinse your brass 3 times, straining through the blue plastic strainer. don't use hot water in this step as it will darken the brass prematurely.
I dry the brass 3 different ways depending on the time of year or urgency.
On a towel in the hot summer sun.(Cheapest!)
In an old food dehydrator for an hour,
or on top of my garage furnace in a steel pan.

And then if you have not resized during punching out of spent primers, re-size, trim to length, prime and bell, charge and seat your new projectile.

I have found that there are no ill effects from using the Turtle wash and wax, if that is a concern, plus it seems to help slow down the tarnishing of brass, plus the straight walled brass seem to go through the carbide re-sizing die easier.

Hope this helps.