Tumble First or DePrime First?

[Einthoven's Triangle]

Lots of options......

#1 If you deprime first here are some thoughts. First use a universal decapper die as there is potential that cruddy brass could imbed crap in your die wall and wreck them. A pass thru a universal decapper is a must if you are going to use a liquid method ie US, Cermamic media, or straight liquid.

#2 The primer pocket will never get that clean unless you are using liquid methods, going to need elbow grease to clean the pockets. No, matter what using polisher will stick media in the flash hole. There is simply not enuf motion of dry media to clean the primer pockets.

#3 I have loaded handgun rounds with out primer pocket cleaning , with the exception of some rifle rounds loaded for Rem XP100 / TC handguns.....Sort of wasted step for straight walled hangun rounds. Now, if you shooting BE matches with some thing on the line I might do a lot of case prep with 50yd ammo. All rifle rounds get detailed case prep.

#4 If you decap prior to cleaning invest in a universal decapper is a good idea if you are going to decap then clean....avoids wrecking dies by imbedding crap in the wallls.

#5 Loading on a progressive
a- I clean brass
b- I size brass
c- I polish brass
d- I do my case prep activities and store my brass ready to load.
e- I use a uinversal decapper in station #1 instead of sizer die to expell any debris in the flash hole.

Dean....I have seen 45 ACP Win NT with small primer pocets, I have seen Federal NT with enlarged flash holes, and think there was some other brass with small primer pockets in 45 in the past....Speer not the only offender.....

[DeanC]

The primer pocket will never get that clean unless you are using liquid methods, going to need elbow grease to clean the pockets. No, matter what using polisher will stick media in the flash hole. There is simply not enuf motion of dry media to clean the primer pockets.

That's been my experience. If the media is big enough to get stuck, it's not doing much scrubbing is it?

I have been known to chuck one of these in my drill and give it a few spins in every case:

Dean....I have seen 45 ACP Win NT with small primer pocets, I have seen Federal NT with enlarged flash holes, and think there was some other brass with small primer pockets in 45 in the past....Speer not the only offender.....

Good to know. Watch what you pick up off the ground. It could cost you some decapping pins.

BTW - the RCBS universal decapper uses proprietary rods that do not fit in any of their dies. It is a special item that not even Walton stocks at the Gunstop. I am going to try the Lee decapper next. They claim it is sturdier.

[Rodentman]

I always tumble first so I don't run dirty cases thru the carbide resizing die.

[westhope]

I have also ran into some 45 ACP that used small primers.

Several years ago when the "WinClean" (lead free primers and bullets) ammo came out I noticed the flash holes were significantly larger than in their standard cases. I sent a e-mail to Winchester asking if I could reload these cases. The answer I got back was the cases with the large flash was fine to reload and I could use the same reloading data as Winchester standard cases. He said they found that the lead free primer required a slightly larger flash hole to ignite the power charge versus their standard primer.

I was impressed with the good response from Winchester.

[sochr000]

although I'm new to reloading also, this is what I do:

1) de-prime/resize
2) tumble
3) trim case, using the trimmer to pop any media in the flash hole out
4) etc etc

although I have started trying to tumble first, then de-prime, I have a batch tumbling as we speak, so I'll keep you posted on the outcome.

[Veldy]

Tumble clean and polish first and then deprime. I don't want to put all that grime through my dies. You can always use a tool to clean the primer pocket after the fact if it becomes an issue [so far, it has never been one for me].