deprime before or after tumbling?

Would your depriming die get nasty if you dont tumble first? It seems like pushing out the primer and resizing the case when its dirty would attract alot of dirt on the resizer and depriming pin.

Would like to hear some suggestions either way.

thanks

De-prime -> SS tumble -> Resize

I like to de-prime with a Frankford Arsenal hand de-primer.

I do it both ways. If the brass is fairly clean I'll deprime and use steel wool to clean the brass as a step in the prep. If its real dirty I tumble. You can take the pin out and whipe it off occasionally if you want.

Usually, with pistol cases, I tumble them clean and then deprime. It keeps the tumbling media out of the flash holes. I don't often clean rifle cases.

Good point. I just assumed that the OP was asking about rifle brass.

Running the case through a decapping die only is fine before tumbling. It helps clean out the primer pocket a little during tumbling. But if you FL size a dirty case, it will permanently scratch the dies and each case sized after that will be scratched. If you decap first, then tumble, media can a nd will get stuck in the flash hole, so make sure you check it or clean it out before priming.

I have a universal depcapping die. I have used it on 223, 45 colt, 300 wby, 45-70 and lots of stuff in between. It helps to clean the primer pockets if you decap before tumbling but doesn't get them that clean. Clean enough for me though.

for rifle cases heres my basic steps:

media tumble
media separator
sort cases (usually tumble all sorts of cases at once)
lube cases
size/decap
measure
trim
measure
deburr primer pockets
chamfer
measure
prime
powder
bullet
measure
crimp (if needed)
shoot

I usually do a bunch of brass prep at once and then keep a bunch of primed cases ready for powder and bullets

YEP.

I tumble, then use the decapping die, then clean the pockets with a pocket brush, then wipe them off & resize.

It takes a bit longer but I'm not looking for speed when I'm reloading metallic rounds.

Never knew that thing existed. I gotta get me one of those .....

They don't get very dirty. And they take about five seconds to clean. For me a universal de-priming die is the way to go over that Frankford Arsenal hand de-primer. The die is cheaper, smaller and there is no switching collets. The hand de-primer may be faster than my press mounted die but I'm not racing and doing it on the press is not slow.

Yeah, I just read a few reviews on it. I'll probably spend that $35 on more bullets or something that I really need. The decapping die works fine as it is.

I'm with several folks above. I deprime after tumbling to keep media out of the flash hole. I have never cleaned a primer pocket and am not aware of it ever being a problem.

Cleaning primer pockets isn't always necessary. But I'm a bit (well ... a lot) picky about my reloads.

this

My process is to tumble the cases with the spent primer in place. I do not use the stainless tumbling medium, and I would think that it is cleaner than the corn cob/ walnut shells medium, so possibly it would be OK to deprime before tumbling. Regardless of the medium used, there has to be some level of debris created with the tumbling process, and some part of that debris will wind up in the cartridge case. I think that blowing or brushing out each case before reloading would remove most of this debris, and for most of us folks that shoot at modest ranges below 300 yards, a bit of debris in the reloaded case is probably not a major factor from an accuracy and consistency standpoint. The truly long range shooters, I'm sure, strive to remove as many variables in the reloading equation as they possibly can, so an immaculate case is well worth the additional effort.

This is my procedure.

Same here, reminds me of one of the innoculator tools they use on the Sci Fi movie.

Walnut shell or corncob media; brass goes in, with spent primers still in the pockets. FL size, brush out the primer pocket (my brush is in the chuck of a drill press)

Stainless media tumble; universal decapper, to remove the spent primers, then into the vessel they all go.

With both types of media, once they're done tumbling I use an RCBS media separator.

Always deprime then tumble is my formula. Cleans the primer pocket.