De-Priming before Sizing

[ar15barrels]

I de-prime brass on a dedicated press in the garage as my first step after shooting, then wet tumble and dry. I don't use pins or care about shiny new looking brass, just want to keep the dust/crud to a minimum and outside. I do the rest of my reloading steps in the living room while my family is around so I like to keep the process clean as reasonable.

The dust from dry tumbling helps with neck expanding and bullet seating.

[nstoolman1]

I clean the primer pocket just to make sure the primer sets in the pocket at the proper depth and is not uneven. I also check them before with a pocket swage to make sure they are able to accept a primer without interference.

[fullspeed1]

Why do some reloaders remove the spent primers in a separate step vs during the sizing process?

Neck sizing only or also FL sizing?

Since this thread went completely sideways in regards to your original question.....I'll give it a go. My understanding is that people believe that concentricity could be affected when using a sizing die that decaps and neck sizes with a built in expander ball also leading to excessive runout. It seems that the trend is to do each one separate, Ie..decap, then full length size, then use an expander mandrel. Seems as though this also helps with the life of the brass(annealing included) and makes more consistent rounds....take it FWIW, the amount of info available on the intrawebs is mind blowing and experiences vary. Find your Rabbit hole and enjoy the ride. I reload 6.5creedmoor on a Dillon 550 with separate Armonov Billet toolheads, Tumble and annealing fired brass, Lube the cases then prep on tool head 1...trim and tumble then run them though tool head 2. Done

1st tool head
1. Mighty Armory PUA decapping die
2. Whidden FL Bushing die(decapping rod and expander removed) .288 TiN bushing(floating)
3. 21 century Mandrel die with .262 steel neck expanding mandrel(floating)

2nd tool head
1. Lee univeral decapping die for clearing flashole
2. Powder drop
3. Whidden Micrometer bullet seater(floating)

[newbie1234]

(1) Because I had the Universal Decapping Die mount permanently on the single stage press.
(2) Because I like to see my reload brass as same as the new brass, have you ever seen the new brass with residue inside the primer hole.
(3) Because I can deprime 10 brasses in one minute or 600 brasses for one hour.
(4) And, why not

[LynnJr]

Without the depriming pin nothing like an expander or tapered mandrel touches the inside of the neck. You can use a depriming punch or a universal die to remove the primer so the inside of the neck never gets touched.
You can full length size without touching the inside of the neck as well.

[Flouncer]

. Wet tumbled, hand primed, retumbled ammo is not better ammo. Its just wasted time.

Recreational Pistol, ok. try saying this on a benchrest forum

[kris smith]

[Full Clip]

I deprime then wet tumble so the brass can dry all the way, the spent primer will hold water.

This is by far the most logical reason I've heard.

[Mustard]

1) Wet tumble (no pins) before anything. I don't want fully dirty brass running through my 1050 (i shoot in the desert, so my brass holds some combination of carbon and sand)

2) Deprime on 1050. 200 pieces of 9mm / 10 minutes. I tried going straight from wash to fully load (deprime/size/swage/prime/charge/bullet/seat/crimp) but the press didn't seem to like doing all those steps at the same time and i kept getting the press jammed up

3) probably gonna wet tumble again too get the brass squeaky clean. Even as i feed my once tumbled brass into the press for step 2, i'm finding dirty residue building up slowly in the brass feeder and shell plate. Exposed primer pockets could probably benefit from a tumble as well anyways

[ar15barrels]

1) Wet tumble (no pins) before anything. I don't want fully dirty brass running through my 1050 (i shoot in the desert, so my brass holds some combination of carbon and sand)

2) Deprime on 1050. 200 pieces of 9mm / 10 minutes. I tried going straight from wash to fully load (deprime/size/swage/prime/charge/bullet/seat/crimp) but the press didn't seem to like doing all those steps at the same time and i kept getting the press jammed up

3) probably gonna wet tumble again too get the brass squeaky clean. Even as i feed my once tumbled brass into the press for step 2, i'm finding dirty residue building up slowly in the brass feeder and shell plate. Exposed primer pockets could probably benefit from a tumble as well anyways

Watch out for brass galling on the powder funnel and the case resizing carbide ring when you are only wet tumbling.
Galling happens because the brass is TOO clean.
The solution is either to dry tumble to get some walnut or corn cob dust in the case to act as a dry lube or you can individually lube the cases with graphite or mica to keep the brass from galling.
New brass is also squeaky clean and has the same galling problems as wet tumbled brass which was not also dry tumbled before loading.

[stilly]

Yeah...

If you wet process then you should knock out the primers because they take longer for the shell to dry and they do hold water like Cheep said. Also, if you wet process your brass you will have to deal with nastier water because those primers really dirty the hell out of it.

I USED to use ss pins and water and what not, but now I acid bath and sometimes use pins if I want to do a lot or go faster. Pins do make your cleaning go faster. I have always been lucky to have had connections for them too so I could sell them to others. But now a days I am busy so I do not try to market them to folks.

Also, you can pick up a 20 lb bag of white rice and put about a cup or two of it in the tumbler and just toss the shells in and they will be scrubbed a dull shiny finish, but they will be clean. I only do that if I am in a hurry and need like 10K ASAP.