by vmaxaust » 23 Nov 2018, 8:07 pm
Is it better to deprime before wet tumbling?
If I do will it wreck my depriming and resizing die?
If I wet tumble first will it have any adverse effects when depriming?
I will be reloading 9mm and am using hornaby carbide dies.
Thanks to all in advance, sorry if these questions appear to be daft.
Cheers Neil[/quote]
As you can see Neil, many opinions but you will have to decide what works best for you.
I use at least 300 9mm rounds a week, often more.
The procedure I use is...
1) De-prime before cleaning. I use an automated Italian made machine for 9mm and 45ACP. I used to do them on my Hornady Progressive press and that was very fast also with a single universal Hornady de-prime die. By one of those so you don't filth up your carbide sizing die. Use the sizing die for sizing and not de-priming.
2) Wash all brass with stainless pins in a tumbler using Aussie Sapphire burnishing compound and fairy warm water. I do at least 500 at one time for between one hour to one and a half hours. I rinse them in the barrel till the water is clear. Tip the pins and cases into a Dillon media separator. With the basket still open I push everything around by hand for 10-15 seconds which drops 90% of the pins into the separator tub. Close basket rotate for 20-30 seconds both ways and pins are all in the tub. Empty the brass onto a bath towel. Wrap towel around brass and shake back and forward for 15-20 seconds. This displaces 90% of the water. I drop the cases into a sieve to air dry. If I'm in a hurry I leave brass on towel and use a hair dryer on the cases for less than 60 seconds and they are actually completely dry and hot! I pour the stainless pins back into the barrel ready for the next load. I never dry pins fully, just leave barrel open for water to air dry.
3) You can clean brass with primers still in cases if you don't care about cleaning primer pockets. I prefer to do it the other way but either will work Clean brass as someone else has said is important for one main reason...you can see flaws in brass instantly. Not so obvious with dirty or just fired cases.
4) I then size all cases in my Hornady progressive press with only the Hornady carbide die installed. I lube cases on a large mat with my home made Dillon style case lube (Lanolin and Isopropyl Alcohol) or you can use the genuine Dillon stuff. I like this type of lube best.
5) I then rinse all cases in X55 solvent. They air dry in a few minutes and you are ready to load or as I do store them in large containers with a note that says "ready to load". I also check a few out of every 100 in a case gauge. I like the slotted Sheridan gauge because it shows the case from top to bottom.
By doing it this way I continue to build up a stock of "ready to load" cases. When I'm needing to load I fill the primer tube with primers, fit case flaring die, powder hopper, bullet seating die and last station is a taper crimp die. This works very effectively for me. I can load 500 rounds in about 1 1/2 hours using this method. I have not set up collators for cases or bullets although I have those for my machine. I will eventually set them up. I actually enjoy doing it manually even though it takes a little longer. Another time saver is a Hornady vibratory primer tube loader. This gizmo is great. Saves lots of time compared to filling primer tubes the normal way.
Sam