Brass Cleaning Sequence

So although I swore I would not do it, I had some gift cards and next thing you know there is a Frankford tumbler in my game room. And of course I am not addicted to that beautiful, shiny, clean brass.

So I use a Lee reloading system that has the resizer and decapper all in one. I feel like it has to be better to have the brass clean before smashing it through the die? Or do you guys tend to resize/decap and then clean? Or clean, resize, clean again?

Maybe I will just get a decapper and pop the primers first...

I use a universal decapping die and remove the primers then wet tumble with SS media and resize.

Wet tumbling scrubs any dirt and grit from the cases and prevents scratching your dies and brass.

Anytime you have firearms that throws perfectly good brass away and makes you go look for it, a wet tumbler is good to have.

Here's how I do it.

I run through sonic cleaner then lube, resize, and decap. After resizing I run through tumbler with dry media to remove most of the lube and it coats inside of neck with a little dust from the media which I think give a bit more consistent seating and neck tension. Before the sonic cleaner I just tumbled twice.

I decap first with a universal decapping die. Then I tumble in corn cob media. After sizing I tumble again in the corn cob.

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Originally Posted by rdog52

I decap first with a universal decapping die. Then I tumble in corn cob media. After sizing I tumble again in the corn cob.

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I think this is the route I want to take as well...tired of cleaning off the lube at the end and I want the pockets cleaner. My Lee decapper is on its way!

I have a Mighty Armory decapper set up, and LEE decapper, use them 1st, then use the wet tumbler and go from there.

I use a Lee Universal decapper too to keep my good dies clean and then put the brass through a wet tumbler.
I use a few drops of Dawn dishwasher liquid and a bit of Lemi-Shine appliance cleaner powder - a little bit goes a long way.
The primer pockets come out clean and neat, the brass is shiney, and I can see the inside primer hole in the brass until I load powder into the brass.
What's not to like.

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Originally Posted by celltech

So although I swore I would not do it, I had some gift cards and next thing you know there is a Frankford tumbler in my game room. And of course I am not addicted to that beautiful, shiny, clean brass.

So I use a Lee reloading system that has the resizer and decapper all in one. I feel like it has to be better to have the brass clean before smashing it through the die? Or do you guys tend to resize/decap and then clean? Or clean, resize, clean again?

Maybe I will just get a decapper and pop the primers first...

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My steps are (this is all assuming I have already uniformed pockets and flashholes) 1) universal deprimer 2) clean primer pocket 3) resize 4) trim deburr etc 5) sonic clean then after its dry tumble.

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So it's your 1st 3 steps that get me:

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Originally Posted by Ted_Feasel

1) universal deprimer 2) clean primer pocket 3) resize

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Do you feel that resizing dirty brass will give you the best results? I would think that deposits on the brass could allow it to size smaller than desired. Plus the fact that I like rubbing on the Lee sizing lube on clean brass....but I guess that is just personal preference.

Universal decaper
Wet tumble
anneal
size
chamfer and duburr
dry tumble

If it's range brass, I tumble in walnut first to save my dies from the dirt, then de-cap, full length size, then tumble in hot water with a drop of dawn and lemi shine, then rinse and dry.

If it's my clean brass, I skip the walnut tumble.

Remove Primer
Media tumble
Ultrasonic

I am considering a pin wash set-up.

Interesting that some of you go Dry->Wet and some are Wet->Dry. What are the pros/cons of each other than the obvious mess.

For me, dry then wet is keeping abrasives and dirt off the die. I use a liquid polish in my tumbling media. Some sessions I have to dig my brass out of the dirt, then its wet/dry/wet. I like shiny just because.

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Originally Posted by celltech

Interesting that some of you go Dry->Wet and some are Wet->Dry. What are the pros/cons of each other than the obvious mess.

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You need to remove the dirt to protect your dies, you also need lube to resize your brass.. dry tumbling is great for cleaning the stuck on dirt and powder residue.

I also anneal after several firings, if I need to resize, or bump the shoulder back, then I use lube.

Lemi shine and Dawn leave them bright, shiny, and removes the lube. Ready to load. I always wet tumble last, so the cases are as clean as possible, removing brass shavings, and lube.

I use a universal decapper, then wet tumble, because I want the brass to be as clean as possible before sizing, the corn cob just can't get it this clean. I also anneal after the wet tumble because it dries out the extra moisture and saves a bit of time if I can't let it set in front of a fan overnight. Also after I size, chamfer and deburr I use dry media because all I am taking off is a little oil and cleaning out the shavings. This way the brass is dry and ready to prime without having to run it through a drying cycle.

I've been stainless cleaning for a few years now. My methods are dependent on what my end results are expected to be. Pistol brass gets tossed in a bucket until u have enough to do a full load. I never put 40 cal in with 9mm or 223. They fit nicely over that brass and defeats the purpose of cleaning.

Range pick up, dirty brass, anything along those lines gets stainless pins and dawn for an hour or less to clean, then I'll size and put in with lemishine and dawn with cold water for another hour. I want clean brass, shiney is great but not required.

For bulk training 223/556 that is training ammo, it gets loaded on a progressive and cleaned just pistol ammo. I have not noted any measurable difference in clean pockets vs dirty.

Precision ammo is very overly dirty to begin with so cleaning time is minimal. An hour to an hour and a half. Cleaning more than clean only peens over the case mouths. If it's relatively clean to begin with, I wipe off with a cloth, size and decap, then clean in media.

In the beginning I packed up my vibratory set up, but I use it more often for small batch cleaning. Every pocket gets put through the uniformer which cleans pockets anyway.

Just how I go about doing it now.

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for virgin brass - some of these steps are one time only.
Decap with Universal decapper. I have both the Lee and RCBS - one is as good as the next.
Wet tumble, rinse, dry
Dry tumble
Expand case mouths, lube inside neck with imperial sizing wax
turn the necks, I have both K&M and LE Wilson tools for turning necks, the Wilson is better. There's enough wax left from expanding for lube in this step
Uniform primer pockets with K&M tool -note on case holders, I have both K&M and Wilson case holders to chuck up in my drill, the Wilson case holder is better.
debur flash holes - powered prep station to do this.
Trim with WFT 2. If you want to look at options to trim bottleneck cartridges, and haven't tried the WFT - I highly suggest you consider it.
Chamfer and debur - back to the powered prep center.
lube with Imperial
Size carefully with a Redding Body Die.
Neck size with Wilson neck die. I use a drill press for my Wilson dies and seaters.
dry tumble to remove wax
Prime - I've have/had a bunch of different priming tools - most all of them hand priming tools. I've worn out / used up a few Lees - and I'll buy another when the next one breaks. I wouldn't give the Hornady hand priming tool to my worst enemy, the RCBS - well I'm just not a fan of the universal shell holder fwiw, I have both the K&M hand primer and Wilson hand primer. Both the K&M and Wilson are lifetime tools of the highest quality, fantastic feel - love everything about them except they are both 1 primer at a time / no tray. If I want to prime from a tray holding many primers, I'll use my Lee without any hesitation. For top quality tool, either the K&M or Wilson primer are a pleasure to use.
Powder charge - throw and trickle up to weight on a 10-10 beam scale. I've got a couple of electronic scales - both somewhat inexpensive. I'll often use the opportunity to check the electronic scales with what I measure on the beam - but the beam scale is always the boss. Kind of interesting to see what electronic scales do when running a couple hundred charges on them. I know i don't trust inexpensive electronic scales - generally.
Seat with a Wilson seater - back to the drill press.
shoot
repeat, but skip a bunch of brass prep steps on the next loading cycle - neck turning, primer pocket uniform, and flash hole debur.
Haven't annealed yet - but I will add, just not now.
Most of my annual reloading budget this year is being spent on blackpowder stuff now that my state allows scopes I am now able to aim farther than it shoots so I'm trying some things on my inline to extend range. Kinda fun.

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Originally Posted by rdog52

I decap first with a universal decapping die. Then I tumble in corn cob media. After sizing I tumble again in the corn cob.

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second this method, only because this is my routine...

I decap first with a Lee universal decapper, then a tumble in the HF rock tumbler with hot water, a squirt of dawn dish soap and about 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon of lemishine. Then lube and size, followed by walnut media tumble with a shot of nu-finish and paint thinner or mineral spirits for about an hour. I do this not just for the shine but the extra clean bright brass is easier to see any tiny cracks. At this point their ready for reloading.

Is there anyone who has tried stainless steel pin cleaning and ever went back to dry cobb or walnut? I used dry for 40 years and am eatup happy with the stainless method. Never ever going back dry.

I use dry in the winter time on small batch stuff. I don't shoot enough in the snowy season for pin cleaning. I only have 100 pieces of 22-250 AI formed so to keep it loaded up I still use walnut shell. And whatever I shoot over hunting season isn't that much, just after a cleaning post rain hunting, so if I want to load it back up after the season I just toss it in dry media. I think both have their purpose for sure and plan on keeping both.

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Old guy, old school. If dirty "once fired" brass. Wash in a 2 gallon pickle jar using boiling water, Real Lemon and couple drops of dish soap. soak about an hour. Let dry in the Arizona sun. decap , resize, trim to length and tumble in crushed walnut shells inspect then load.. If my own brass I don't allow it to bounce an ground, decap resize then tumble in walnut shells. Load them up. I keep the same brass together and count number of reloads.