De-cap and neck before or after tumbling

[Nath__111]

Hi Guys,
Just wondering weather to de-cap and neck size before wet tumbling or am I best off tumbling then de-capping, sizing and cleaning the primer pocket manually. Also just wondering with wet tumbling with stainless media what are people’s detergent recipes. As always all the help is much appreciated thanks Guys.

[JimTom]

Mate I decap and necksize prior to cleaning so the primer pockets get cleaned at the same time mate.

[Phil Lawlor]

For what it is worth, I soak my cases in a solution of 50/50 of cleaning vinegar and water, squirt of detergent, 1/2 squeeze of lemon juice for a couple of hours. prior to neck resizing and de priming.

[on_one_wheel]

I decap before wet tumbling but I no longer use acidic solutions as it dissolves the zink from brass.

[Gamerancher]

I use a Lee universal de-primer to knock spent primers out and then use a wet tumbler with stainless pins to clean my cases. Cleans them spotless inside and out including the primer pockets. I don't run dirty brass through my reloading dies.

[bigpete]

I tumble before sizing

[Faedy]

Tumble before depriming and sizing.
I use a prep machine to clean primer pockets.
Wet tumble 1 table spoon of citric acid and a squirt of dishwashing liquid.
After tumbling I rinse with boiling water from kettle and then spread out on tea towe. They then dry really quick

[duncan61]

I tumble with medium so if I deprime and size before tumbling the primer pocket gets filled with medium. Not good when reloading so I tumble first then size and deprime.Washing the cases is an option but not essential. The cases are ready to go after resizing

[Gamerancher]

The stainless pins do an excellent job of cleaning the primer pockets so it makes sense to de-prime before tumbling with them. The Lee universal de-priming die fits your press and has almost no contact with the case so it don't matter how dirty they are. ( Unless the case is full of dirt ) They're $24 from this mob, who have always been good to deal with in my experience. I've used mine on cases from 9mm Luger through to .45-90. ( The shell holder centres the case )

http://westernfirearms.com.au/reloading ... p-152.html

1/4 teaspoon of citric acid is all you want to use, someone suggested 1 tablespoon, that's way too much.
I use 1/4 teaspoon of citric acid, a squirt of dish-soap and about 1 litre of water for around 100 rifle cases in my wet tumbler with pins, that includes my big-bore black-powder cases as well. My results seem to be better if I put just enough water in to cover the cases and don't over-tumble them, 1 to 1.25hrs on slow speed is plenty. Rinse well and roll dry on a towel to get rid of water spots, they'll dry if left in the sun or 10 minutes in a warm oven will do it.

[GQshayne]

Tumbling first put clean cases through your dies, which is a good idea.

[Bruiser64]

I use a Lee universal de-primer to knock spent primers out and then use a wet tumbler with stainless pins to clean my cases. Cleans them spotless inside and out including the primer pockets. I don't run dirty brass through my reloading dies.

I do something very similar. I use my Lee de-primer. Then I clean them ultrasonically, dry the cases in my food dryer, then run them through my tumbler to finish the cleaning. I just clear the tumbling media by blowing out the cases with compressed a ir.

[bigpete]

Tumbling first put clean cases through your dies, which is a good idea.

Exactly

[Oldbloke]

I use my Lee de-primer. Then I clean them ultrasonically, then resize.

[GQshayne]

I use my Lee de-primer. Then I clean them ultrasonically, then resize.

I have done it the other way around, to try and clean primer pockets. But to be honest, I don't think it does much. I still clean them by hand anyway.

[Oldbloke]

IMO Cleaning cases is mainly bling.

I mainly do it to keep the FLS clean and for inspection purposes.

[on_one_wheel]

IMO Cleaning cases is mainly bling.

I mainly do it to keep the FLS clean and for inspection purposes.

Your probably right, I reloaded for years with no cleaning other than giving the primer pocket a quick scrape with thr pocket tool. My cases had developed a beautiful patina.

Other than making inspection easy, clean brass is much easier to spot on the ground.

I'm not concerned with scratching dies, I'm still using the lee loaders and haven't found the need to full length size yet even with brass that's been reloaded 8 times now.

You should see the water after wet tumbling some of my dirty brass that has had mutable reloads with nothing but a rinse in hot soapy water... black as the night sky.

[GQshayne]

Yep, shiny cases are much easier to spot.

[Nath__111]

Awesome, thanks for the input guys. Really appreciate it.