Prepping rifle brass for reloading

[Gravedigger56]

Do you clean your rifle brass before or after sizing? I have read where many people clean first but since you have to clean again to remove the lube it seemed like an unnecessary step to do a thorough cleaning first. Having never reloaded rifle brass this is the order I am planning on to get the cases prepped for reloading. Will this work ok or should I change my order?

1. 1-2 hr quick clean in vibratory tumbler
2. Deprime with universal decapping die (trim, de-crimp if needed).
3. Lube and size brass
4. 2-3 hr. clean in wet tumbler (lemishine/ArmorAll wash & wax)
5. Prime and store

I thought a quick clean first would help keep the dies cleaner. Maybe that isn't necessary? Thanks.

 

[jwrowland77]

Don't trim after decapping. You trim AFTER sizing.

 

[rcmodel]

+1

Always trim after re-sizing.

Brass gets shorter after firing.

Longer again after it is re-sized.

And your trimmer pilot is made to fit the sized neck, not loose on the fired brass.

rc

 

[FROGO207]

IF there is dirt or something on my rifle brass I will wipe it off with an old terrycloth towel. I will rinse with water if it is REALLY dirty inside and out, but usually it's not that bad.
**Your dies are case hardened and most stuff will not wear them THAT much that you have to tumble them first IMHO.

Otherwise I skip the polish first step--just lube, size/deprime, remove primer crimp when needed, length size and chamfer necks inside and outside if needed.

Then clean with SS pins, dry brass completely, and then tumble 15 min in corn cob with Nu-Finish and mineral spirits to stop tarnishing.

And lastly bag it up for storage in Zip-Loc freezer bags.

I feel I go further than most reloaders do but like that mirror look.

 

[USSR]

Will this work ok or should I change my order?

1. 1-2 hr quick clean in vibratory tumbler
2. Deprime with universal decapping die (trim, de-crimp if needed).
3. Lube and size brass
4. 2-3 hr. clean in wet tumbler (lemishine/ArmorAll wash & wax)
5. Prime and store

I would. Here is what I suggest:

1. Deprime with universal decapping die
2. 2-3 hr. clean in wet tumbler (lemishine/ArmorAll wash & wax)
3. Lube and size brass
4. 20 minutes in vibratory tumbler to remove lube
5. Trim, de-crimp if needed
6. Prime and store

Don

 

[Rangemaster]

What?, you don't resize the brass?

Never trim brass unless it's been sized.

 

[Ifishsum]

I prefer to tumble brass before sizing, helps keep the dies clean and media does not get stuck in the flash hole so much as tumbling after they are decapped. After sizing I wipe off the lube with a cloth (Imperial Die Wax) rather than tumble it off. Then trim/chamfer as necessary and they are ready to go again. I feel that leaving some of the imperial wax residue helps protect the case against oxidation, not that it really matters much but that's how I do it.

 

[ADKWOODSMAN]

Mostly as Don stated:
I would just change a little. Here is what I suggest:

1. 2-3 hr. clean in ground walnut hulls
2. size snd deprime
3. Lube and size brass
4. Wipe with wife's old slip--works better than any other IMHO
5. Trim, de-crimp if needed

 

[otisrush]

I don't think anyone has mentioned cleaning primer pockets prior to priming. Maybe everyone assumes that step - but I thought I'd call it out.

I learned, via a misfire, how important it is.

 

[sirgilligan]

I cleaned before de-capping and resizing and then took a rag soaked in alcohol and rolled the brass around to get the lube off and a q-tip to clean the inside of the neck. I was only doing 100 cases, it didn't take long. If there were more I guess I could drop them back in the tumbler.

 

[oldreloader]

If I decap before sizing I clean after decap. If I size and decap at the same time I clean before to keep dirt out of the siing die and then wipe the lube off with a rag.

 

[moxie]

Creating a lot of extra work, IMO. Here's what I recommend:

1. Rinse with water in a colander to get rid of the sand and grit. Air dry.
2. Vibratory clean for 2-3 hrs. with 50/50 mix of corn/walnut and 1/2 cap NuFinish or equivalent.
3. Lube with One-Shot per instructions on can. Don't listen to the naysayers. The stuff works great if you use it right.
4. Size and deprime in same step. Remove military crimp if needed. Wipe lube off with rag from old undershirt. (No tumbling needed.)
5. Measure cases and trim if necessary. Chamfer and de-burr trimmed cases only.
6. Prime using hand primer like Lee Autoprime or RCBS. (Absolutely no need to clean primer pockets.)

 

[WestKentucky]

I have an odd series. Universal decapper first, helps sort out the junk so I don't waste time and energy on it. Next comes walnut media tumbling. On at lunch, off when I get home. Typically 4 hours give or take. Inspect them as I toss them into a hospital bedpan. Spray a little Pam in the 1/3 full pan and shake for about 30 seconds. Resize and secondary deprime (deprime rod knocks out any media in flashhole). Run through tumbler again for 20 mins or so to knock off the remaining pam. Prime, charge, seat, shoot.

 

[Gravedigger56]

Great. Thanks for the replies and advice. I have changed my order as suggested and can't wait to get some brass to practice on as I wait for the range to dry out.

 

[spitballer]

I always wipe down my cases before decapping, and after decapping my cases are thoroughly cleaned and inspected before performing any other operations. This for neck-sizing only. Operations that combine decapping with internal neck sizing may need to be handled differently. Obviously the appropriate surfaces should be clean before contacting sizing dies, so small batches could be handled by decapping with a skinny pin and then cleaning first.

 

[Coldfinger]

I go a few steps further than I likely should but its my process and it keeps me busy and out of my wifes hair.

1. Sonic clean
2. Size-deprime
2. Trim, camfer/debur and remove crimp if required
3. Polish in corncob

I know I know I know. Corncob=dust. I dont have an issue with dust. Dont know why. Maybe my process but I wash my media before I even use it, and I wash my media once before I throw it away and start anew. Media lasts 4Xs as long with the sonic clean as my first step. the media Im working with now is 2 years old. Sonic
cleaning is nice in that my dies are cared for. Not cramming a dirty case in there. Unnessesary? Probably but we reload because we enjoy our alone time right? Corncob in the primer pocket and flash hole? ehh, hane not figured out how to aleviate this without changing the world.

 

[moxie]

The way to keep the corn or walnut media out of the primer pocket or flash hole is to use it BEFORE sizing/depriming. Then when you do size/deprime any residual media gets knocked out by the decap pin. Simple.

 

[Kaldor]

I try to keep it as simple as possible to cut down on the work part of it for rifle. This sounds like alot of work, but with 2 guys we prep about 800 cases an hour running like this. The ONLY thing that could make this faster would be a Dillon trimmer sitting on top of my progressive press.

Tools I use:
SSTL media wet tumbler
WFT2 case trimmer
Lee single stage C press
Hornady LnL press w/ case feeder
RCBS crimp cutter in drill press.
Lee Universal decapping die
Sizing dies
Homemade lanolin case lube - 1:8 99% alcohol/lanolin oil mix
Case gauge - for every 100th or so piece just as spot check

First off, range brass. I decap any range brass I pickup on my Lee press. This keeps the dirt and other crap from range brass out of my progressive. Once thats done, any 5.56/.223 gets the primer pockets de-crimped, whether it says .223 on it or not. Ive found that having nice even primer pocket edges really helps when priming. Once this all done, I throw it all in a bucket of hot water with Dawn dish soap to get the dirt and grit out of and off of the cases which keeps my sizing dies from getting beat up. Wash and then rinse well with cold water, and let dry.

Now that the range brass is clean enough, I will mix it with my own brass that I keep off the ground with a brass catcher. Lube brass with lanolin spray, let dry and dump into case feeder on the LnL. I run the Lee decapper in station 1, and sizing die with decapping pin removed in station 3. The reason I dont size in station 2, is that it gives me a view of the case neck before it gets sized when the brass comes up into station 2, and that will allow me to cull any junk cases with bad necks before they gets sized. Same thing goes with station 4, I can see the necks after sizing. From there my buddy will trim to length with a WFT2 trimmer chucked into a drill in the vise. We trim EVERY case, whether it needs it or not as the WFT2 will only cut the case if it is needed. This is much faster than measuring or gauging every case. I do not deburr or chamfer cases. The SSTL media does that for me, and when loading BT bullets its good enough. My tumbler can run about 800 cases in 2 drums, roughly an hours worth of prepping, so into the tumbler for 4 hours, and you have factory clean brass that is ready to load.

 

[Walkalong]

I tumble to clean and polish after firing, then size/decap, then tumble with dry corn cob to remove the lube, then trim/chamfer/deburr, tumble for a short time again, hand prime, then load.

 

[edfardos]

I trim the brass before I resize it mostly because I use a progressive press. It never grows more than six thousandths of an inch in my experience so make sure you cut them short because they grow longer when you resize them.

The minority,
Edfardos

 

[KB0VSO]

MY way

This is a reloading check list. Use it to keep from making mistakes. like
Charging 50 rounds that had no primers or double charging the brass

Remove the primers without resizing..
Clean the brass in a ultra sonic cleaner.
Rinse the brass in clean water.
Blows dry the brass with an air compressor (inside & out)
Lubricate the out side of the brass with Hornady one shot
Resize the brass
Put the brass in a vibrating tumbler with sandblasting sand
Remove and shake the sand out
Blow from the primer end with air compressor
Check the brass with a LYMAN LENGTH/HEAD SPACE GAUGE


Install the primers and check them to make sure the primer is below the base of the cartage
Place the primed cartage primer up
Charge the primed cartage with powder and place back in the holder neck up
Set a bullet upside-down in the neck of the charged brass
Now one by one you can seat the bullets..

avoid mistakes

Larry (kb0vso)
Northern Minnesota USA

 

[TimSr]

Vibrating Tumbler

lube decap/resize

wipe off water soluable lube with damp cloth

trim if necessary

Load

 

[Trailduster79]

I reload almost exclusively for plinking, so as long as it goes boom I am generally happy.

I do the following, and by no means am I an expert.

Dry Tumble clean for a couple hours
Lube then size and deprime
Trim/chamfer/deburrr if necessary
Prime
Powder
Bullet

Fire

Repeat

 

[moxie]

KBOVSO,

You're the first guy I've ever heard that uses sand for cleaning brass. Are you concerned about wear to the brass or chamber damage due to any residual that doesn't get blown off?

 

[rskent]

Moxie said

KBOVSO,

You're the first guy I've ever heard that uses sand for cleaning brass. Are you concerned about wear to the brass or chamber damage due to any residual that doesn't get blown off?

And the only person I've heard of that blows cases out with an air compressor. I think I would be worried about oil from the compressor inside my cases. It may not be a big deal, but I would still worry.

Seems like everyone has their own way of doing things. A little different, but with the same result.

Me, I :
Tumble for an hour or so.
Lube with One Shot inside and out, in a lube block.
Decap and size.
Run them all through the trimmer. Its faster than measuring them.
Clean the lube off in a sonic cleaner or just a bucket of hot water and a squirt of Dawn..
Lay them out on a towel to dry for a few days.