Deprime before cleaning brass?

[Tilos]

You don't need that die if you have a drill press:


Different top block/washer/assy. for every caliber.
You can feel crimped primers and chamfer them with a hand tool as you find them.

Much faster than on a press and no smooge on the press.
jmo,
.

 

[thorborg]

I also say deprime first.
An awful lot of nasty residue in that spent primer. I started depriming first when I only had dry tumble media for clean/polish so extended the use of my media considerably by removing it first. Now I only use the dry for polishing. While not as important wet cleaning since I throw the nearly free liquid away, I like the clean primer hole the pins provide. I don't deprime with my dies so they stay cleaner too. like some others here, I too jigged up my drill press with fast and sweet results.

 

[gtivan]

I load only small batch right now but have been wanting to introduce a cleaning step and to me it only makes sense to decap first.

Does anyone have any opinion on this mostly universal Hornady decap die? RCBS makes a cheaper one but its only good for up to 25cal but this one seems to cover most all rifle calibers.

Hornady Universal Depriming Decapping Die

The Hornady Universal Depriming and Decapping Die is ideal for the reloader who wants to quickly and efficiently deprime or decap brass at one time. ...

www.midwayusa.com

View attachment 1173370

i personally like the lee. inexpensive and a very heavy duty decapping rod. never tried anything else

 

[Koda]

i personally like the lee. inexpensive and a very heavy duty decapping rod. never tried anything else

13 bucks at midway Im going with the lee. Though I do like that drillpress idea above but for 13 bucks I dont have to set up anything.

 

[RVTECH]

Probably

An awful lot of nasty residue in that spent primer.

I'll go one reload on once fired brass that was sparkling clean when first loaded - but # 3 gets a 'complete' tumbling again!.

 

[Lennie]

I decap and sonic clean all rifle cases before reloading.

Semi auto pistol cases, depends on how dirty the cases appear

Cases used for wheel gun shooting, depends on case appearance and the reloads that I will be assembling

In the days before I acquired a sonic cleaner, I used tumblers and vibrators. It's been at least four years since I tumbled or vibrated cases. IMHO, a sonic cleaner is an essential tool for reloading, cleaning gun parts and for cleaning suppressors.

For recapping, this is now my go to recapping tool.

Platinum Series Hand Deprimer Tool | Frankford Arsenal

The Frankford Arsenal Platinum Series Hand Deprimer is made of robust die cast aluminum and features our (patent pending) Universal Collet System.

www.frankfordarsenal.com

Amazon has a great price on this tool.

 

[TDB]

I've been reloading off and on for over 40 years. I clean first then de-prime. Then upon inspection of the brass, if the primer pockets are getting dirty after several reloads, I'll clean them out as necessary. When I was reloading bottleneck rifle brass for tiny little groups, I would be more particular on these matters.

 

[orygun]

I clean before depriming. I'd prefer to run clean brass in my sizer. Yeah, I have a universal decapping die, but that's just one more step. I like the decapping pin to be used after the case goes thru the tumbler to make sure nothing's stuck in the flash hole and I find that the tumbling process doesn't clean primer pockets well enough that I can pass that step.

Decapping before cleaning is an extra step I prefer to avoid.

 

[nehalemguy]

I don't like dealing with vibratory media in the flash hole, nor do I like making sizing dies dirty. Clean first.

That is my take as well. If the primer pockets look like they need cleaning after decapping, they get the primer pocket brush.

-E-

 

[cameron25]

I use the frankford arsenal tool to deprime first

 

[Goodknight]

I use the frankford arsenal tool to deprime first

Yes!!

 

[Goodknight]

That is my take as well. If the primer pockets look like they need cleaning after decapping, they get the primer pocket brush.

-E-

I clean a significant amount of brass quickly in the FA ss media tumbler.

 

[Tilos]

I decap and sonic clean all rifle cases before reloading.

Semi auto pistol cases, depends on how dirty the cases appear

Cases used for wheel gun shooting, depends on case appearance and the reloads that I will be assembling

In the days before I acquired a sonic cleaner, I used tumblers and vibrators. It's been at least four years since I tumbled or vibrated cases. IMHO, a sonic cleaner is an essential tool for reloading, cleaning gun parts and for cleaning suppressors.

For recapping, this is now my go to recapping tool.

Platinum Series Hand Deprimer Tool | Frankford Arsenal

The Frankford Arsenal Platinum Series Hand Deprimer is made of robust die cast aluminum and features our (patent pending) Universal Collet System.

www.frankfordarsenal.com

Amazon has a great price on this tool.

Yep,

Amazon.com : Frankford arsenal hand deprimer

 

[SteelheadTed]

I setup a Lee App press for use as a depriming station exclusively and then I clean the brass. That way if the brass is dirty it is happening before any dies. It is a little extra work but it makes for a cleaner reloading process to get that pocket cleaned out.

 

[Goodknight]

I setup a Lee App press for use as a depriming station exclusively and then I clean the brass. That way if the brass is dirty it is happening before any dies. It is a little extra work but it makes for a cleaner reloading process to get that pocket cleaned out.

Been eyeballing that APP press pretty hard! Would you buy it again given the choice?

 

[SteelheadTed]

Been eyeballing that APP press pretty hard! Would you buy it again given the choice?

Yep, I'd buy it again. I've only used it for depriming but I've been pretty happy with it.

 

[bpyycpyy]

I dry tumble my brass for about 1/2-1 hour to remove the gritty powder residue before depriming/sizing as I don't want that garbage in my reloading dies. I then demprime/size and wet tumble for best cleaning. If you want the cleanest brass, inside primer pocket and case, use wet tumble method.

 

[aasbra]

Yep, I'd buy it again. I've only used it for depriming but I've been pretty happy with it.

Similarly, I have a Lee APP and use it mostly for decapping brass with the Lee universal decap die, but also for sizing coated lead bullets.

My experience so far with it has been consistent with the reviews. Definitely speeds up processing for decapping and sizing bullets compared to doing these tasks on a single stage press. Can be a little finicky with the feeding mechanism, but works pretty well once adjusted correctly for the task at hand and when kept reasonably clean on the feed slider. Not a necessary tool IMO but it does speed up these tasks for me.

 

[Stomper]

I also deprime then clean.

Whether you are anal or not is another matter that is indeterminable at this time without more data

 

[Stomper]

In order to determine whether "anality" is prevalent, a long term study is warranted.

So….. 8-10years with the same cellmate?