Deprimer clean or not cleaned.

[Magload]

Ok I know I am beating a dead horse on this case cleaning thing, but I am going to take one more wack.

I been tumbling unprimed brass in pet store, LPS, media w/different polishes and have nice brite brass. IAW my yesterday post I just got a Hornady Sonic and did the pickling thing last night, White vinegar and water. Brass was clean but certianly not shinny. Did a search and read all the post on citric acid and also SS pin tumbling. I even have a concrete mixed that I don't use, this one is petty big and 5 gal bucket is going to need support.

Ok so much for rambling on that should be enough data.

Question is: With pins or sonic the primer should be removed to get the clean primer pocket but do you deprime dirty cases so you can clean them? That can be bad on the sizing/decaping die. Or do I spend more money on a depriming tool? Where does this end? I need a bigger bench already and a bigger room to put it in. Don

Right now I am
1 Tumbling in lizard media
2 Then resize/deprime
3 Ultra sonic clean
4 Tumble short time in lizard media and Turtle Wax

Maybe some day I will get to the reloading the nice brite cases. Don

 

[serger]

I use a Dillon 550 and just wash and tumble my brass prior to reloading . Once it's washed I dry it in the oven @ 200 degrees F.

When It's reloaded the primer pockets have whatever crud's left in them after the sizer/decapper does it's thing.

I've been reloading since I was a kid(45+ years) and cleaning the primer pockets was never a big deal as long as the primer seated flush.

 

[OKFC05]

IMHO, anything past CLEANING pistol brass with walnut shells or some such before going to the progressive press to reload them is personal preference, vanity, OCD, or whatever phrase pleases. (If the brass is caked with dried mud, wash them first).
It makes no difference to the actual firing of the pistol ammunition whether the brass is polished to a mirror finish, or whether the primer pockets are surgically clean.

Most people who load 10,000 or more pistol cartridges a year streamline their loading to the essentials.

 

[dmar]

Geez Don, you really get those cases clean!! IMO, what you are doing is over-kill. I do not clean primer pockets in pistol caliber rounds.

I tumble my fired pistol cases in corn cob, with some cleaner wax added. They come out great! I then just go through the reloading process in my progressive press (size/de-prime, seat primer, add powder/expand case mouth, seat bullet, crimp... ). Has worked on thousands, and thousands, and thousands of rounds. No problems with any of the dies/equipment, and very accurate rounds in the calibers that I reload.

 

[Goblin]

Don, I hate to be the one to break it to you (maybe dmar just did), but you're going overboard. I think the only way you're going to be satisfied is to buy new brass every time and sell the once fired brass.

Is there a reason you want the primer pockets clean? Competitive pistol shooters never clean them because it takes too much time, and it doesn't affect the firing of the ammo for their purposes. It is arguably necessary when loading for precision shooting. Are you going for precision, or just obsessed with clean cases?

 

[Magload]

Sorry guys I should have said these are only for my match grade rifle loads.

The title of this forum is Reloading and I understand most of the post are from pistol reloaders I just wasn't thinking. I reload 5 pistol calibers and a good tumble is good enough for me. I just started the rifle reloading. I can speak stuffing shotgun shells as well and that was my only reloading in the 60s and was supporting a weekly trap shooting habit along with hunting. Don

 

[OKFC05]

Here's a couple of rifle loading anecdotes you might find interesting.

For service rifle competition, Dillon sponsored with 5.56 ammo reloaded on a 650, just tumbled and run through the progressive, like pistol ammo. Results were just as good as new ammo.

A friend is a long-time benchrest shooter, with many match wins. He uses the same cartridge case for an entire match, without cleaning or sizing. He reprimes and dips in the powder, and shoots tiny groups.

 

[Magload]

Here's a couple of rifle loading anecdotes you might find interesting.

For service rifle competition, Dillon sponsored with 5.56 ammo reloaded on a 650, just tumbled and run through the progressive, like pistol ammo. Results were just as good as new ammo.

A friend is a long-time benchrest shooter, with many match wins. He uses the same cartridge case for an entire match, without cleaning or sizing. He reprimes and dips in the powder, and shoots tiny groups.

I expected that to be the case but I kind of get that warm fuzzy feeling when I look at my nice bright reloads. I doth I will be in the winners circle but can at least be proud of my reloads. Besides a nice gun deserves nice ammo. Don

 

[venomballistics]

Ok I know I am beating a dead horse on this case cleaning thing, but I am going to take one more wack.

I been tumbling unprimed brass in pet store, LPS, media w/different polishes and have nice brite brass. IAW my yesterday post I just got a Hornady Sonic and did the pickling thing last night, White vinegar and water. Brass was clean but certianly not shinny. Did a search and read all the post on citric acid and also SS pin tumbling. I even have a concrete mixed that I don't use, this one is petty big and 5 gal bucket is going to need support.

Ok so much for rambling on that should be enough data.

Question is: With pins or sonic the primer should be removed to get the clean primer pocket but do you deprime dirty cases so you can clean them? That can be bad on the sizing/decaping die. Or do I spend more money on a depriming tool? Where does this end? I need a bigger bench already and a bigger room to put it in. Don

Right now I am
1 Tumbling in lizard media
2 Then resize/deprime
3 Ultra sonic clean
4 Tumble short time in lizard media and Turtle Wax

Maybe some day I will get to the reloading the nice brite cases. Don

now your overthinking it.
the next logical step is to draw cases with a 40 ton press to avoid all these complications, and sell your used brass as once fired.

That or you can just get practical.
Most of the dirt on a case is graphite, which is a dry lube and will not harm dies. Carbide is impervious.
I suppose the downside is that you will press it into the brass which will require a few extra minutes in a cleaner / tumbler to deal with, but then, 30,000 PSI or more put it there in the first place.

In my world, I dump the brass into a bucket and give it a spray down with WD 40, roll it around a few times and let it sit for a while so it can run to the bottom.
This is only done to save effort for sizing / depriming and flaring.

"But that will contaminate powder and primers" ... no it wont because that'll be removed in the tumbler.

Prime load pack and fire ... do it again next week

 

[Magload]

You are right I over think everything, but my father taught me if it is worth doing it is worth doing right. I this case right is over kill and there really is probably no right like some say they shoot just as well dirty.

I am still waiting on the SS pin guys to say when they deprime. Don

 

[Rule3]

I am still waiting on the SS pin guys to say when they deprime. Don

Well I certainly am not one of them, but if you are going to do all this, you deprime and then use all this wet cleaning stuff so your primer pockets are "surgically clean"

 

[zonker5]

All I load are pistol cartridges.

I do a short tumble to get the crud off, de-prime, size and clean the primer pockets. I then tumble again to get the sizing lube off.

Does cleaning the primer pockets make a difference? I don't know, but I want my ammunition to be the best I can make it.

 

[kennicka]

My routine for precision rifle is a quick tumble in corn cob, resize/deprime, clean primer pockets, trim to length if required and one more quick tumble in the corn cob in order to get rid of the case lube I use then I hand prime and load. I have no experience with the SS media so cant comment there.

 

[Double-O-Dave]

I used to shoot handguns competitively while in college. I recall taking a statistics class, and decided to mix business with pleasure. I reloaded my ammo (.38 Special and .45ACP) with cleaned primer pockets, and without cleaning the primer pockets, and there was no statistically significant difference in the shot group size.

When reloading now, I just visually check each shell casing to ensure the primer pocket and flash hole are empty before proceeding.

Regards,

Dave

 

[Nevada Ed]

I have seen this question a lot but the light bulb just came on.......................

I have NEVER seen a cleaner on any type or style of my shot shell reloaders................

Does that carry any weight ?

 

[Rule3]

For true surgical brass you need to clean it three (3) times.

1st to get off the crud so you can de prime

2nd to clean the primer pockets

3rd to polish to bright shine.

You also need a brass dryer

You need a pin tumbler as the ultra sonic will not utilize pins

Also corn cob media is for a high glowing shine. Walnut it more aggressive and is for cleaning not shining,

Lizard walnut bedding is not the proper grit for true surgical brass.

For true match brass you should clean the pockets manually and inspect each piece of brass.

I hope you are using Lapua brass.

 

[STORMINORMAN]

Another way...

I bought a LEE de-primer die so I would be able to de-prime all my cases prior to cleaning. I guess I do wash them 1st when I return from any shooting.

De-primed cases are then tumbled: when nice and clean (and SHINY!) they get a run through the sizing dies, which seem to stay very clean and smooth. Needless to say, the de-priming rods are removed from my sizing dies as well.

Cleaning out the primer pockets is just a step before re-priming with the RCBS Universal Hand Primer. I feel this is the absolute best way to thoroughly inspect and examine each case prior to powder, seating bullets and crimping. I'm not into production figures at this point: still learning.

Cheers!

p.s. I think this is especially important in reloading .40 S&W, although SAFETY in all calibers S/B paramount.

 

[Magload]

I have seen this question a lot but the light bulb just came on.......................

I have NEVER seen a cleaner on any type or style of my shot shell reloaders................

Does that carry any weight ?

When I reloaded 12ga all brass cases I used to polish them. I had a bunch I used on competition matches with my over/under. I quit using them for the same reason we went to star crimping as they required over shot wads which had a chance to blow a hole in you pattern that a clay target might pass through. That did give you something to blame a miss on Don

 

[dannyabear]

As a long time Thumblers thumbler owner and using all of the lizard litter and walnut combinations, I bought some once fired brass that had been cleaned with SS pins. That impressed me so much I have converted to the pins, no compareson to anything else for clean and shiny.

 

[Magload]

For true surgical brass you need to clean it three (3) times.

1st to get off the crud so you can de prime

2nd to clean the primer pockets

3rd to polish to bright shine.

You also need a brass dryer

You need a pin tumbler as the ultra sonic will not utilize pins

Also corn cob media is for a high glowing shine. Walnut it more aggressive and is for cleaning not shining,

Lizard walnut bedding is not the proper grit for true surgical brass.

For true match brass you should clean the pockets manually and inspect each piece of brass.

I hope you are using Lapua brass.

I think you got the plan. I am doing everything but the Lapua brass and that can wait for the new bolt action. The AR doesn't need to eat gourmet. Don