How can I prevent/reduce this? I'm using a tmubler media with "rouge" on it and many of the cases (.38 & .357)have media stuck in the primer hole...thanksfor any guidance...KW

Howdy

Are you punching your spent primers out before you tumble them?

Tumble before sizing/decapping

Then go reload the cases and the decapping pin will take care of anything stuck in there. IMO there is no need to clean primer pockets for normal shooting. I've shot many 10,000s of rounds this way with great reliability and accuracy.

kwbikr,
I'd advise you consider tumbling BEFORE you pop the spent primers out (unless it's new brass of course).

When I tumble new brass (I do so with a bit of polish to make them easier to load the first time) I just make time to poke out the media that will once in while be caught in the flash hole. I use a thin ice pick device to pop out the occasional chunk of walnut. It's a one-time chore with new brass.

Bob

quote:

Originally posted by kwbikr:
How can I prevent/reduce this? I'm using a tmubler media with "rouge" on it and many of the cases (.38 & .357)have media stuck in the primer hole...thanksfor any guidance...KW

I used to use media with "rouge" on it and it was is bad news. The "rouge" dust went everywhere and even stuck on some cases. I switched to straight walnut media bought at the feed store. It is sold for critter litter. Tumbles cases before sizing & decapping.....

I'll bet yer using corn cob. The stuff is kinda coarse and it also expands when damp.

I use fine ground walnut. It's small enough not to get stuck in flash holes and even cleans the primer pocket.

quote:

Originally posted by TiroFijo:
Tumble before sizing/decapping

Then go reload the cases and the decapping pin will take care of anything stuck in there. IMO there is no need to clean primer pockets for normal shooting. I've shot many 10,000s of rounds this way with great reliability and accuracy.

Not much more needs to be said!
Of course Bob says the same thing so I guess it did!

quote:

How can I prevent/reduce this?

I just ignore it. The primer punch will knock it out when you resize.

Joe

Like others have said don't decap before you tumble. Decapping first requires an extra step which means you are handling the brass an extra time. Decap when you resize the brass in one step.

Smitty

Sgt Preston here. I tumble using corn cob & de-prime during the re-loading process & have no problems. HOWEVER, I do inspect each & every round & 1 of the checks involves looking at the end of the brass for cracks & splits under a lighted magnifying glass. The next step involves looking inside the brass at the flash hole. A brief tap on the workbench will generally dislodge any foreign objects. I have had to fish one or two out every now & then with a toothpick or awl. Hope this helps. Sgt Preston USMC LLA

I quit decapping before tumbling years ago because of this same problem. I used a push pin to remove the stuck media when I did decap before tumbling.

You guy's are right again. Since I joined this forum I have learned several tricks. I recently started to reload again after a 15 year layoff. I resized and decapped a bunch of emptys and then had to push out the stuck media.
I wish I would have remembered the proper order.
I also put the dryer sheets in while tumbling. Learned about that on another thread here. That works great. Thanks again, Brian

Howdy Again

Has anybody noticed that kwbikr has not replied to my original question asking if he is punching out his spent primers before tumbling his brass. I asked the question, everybody else has assumed the answer is yes. We have not heard back from kwbikr yet if that is indeed what he is doing. Maybe we should wait until we hear from him before we all jump on that bandwagon. It is conceiveable something else is happening.

You need to Case Clean before you deprime!
What you have to do if you deprime first is run the case[s] back through the decapping die to remove the media.

Clearly the default approach here is to tumble before you deprime.

But I like to use a universal decap die (RCBS) to deprime before I tumble the cases, with the object that the tumbling operation will clean the primer pockets in the process. In addition, doing the tumble before sizing ensures that your cases won't impart any dirt into your dies (the Universal decap doesn't touch the case)

In the tumbling step I have two choices: regular corn cob or very fine walnut. If I use the corn cob it gets stuck in the pockets but the RCBS size/deprime die punches it out. If I use fine walnut, the grains are so small they don't clog the pocket in the first place.

This is truly a YMMV situation. I'm still experimenting with this and haven't confirmed that the pocket-cleaning has much effect. But I thought I'd air the idea so you can try it if you're interested.