Tumble or Deprime:

[filric48]

What should you do first tumble or deprime & size? Just got a tumbler before that just new brass, I loaded some 303 british the other day for the first time now I'm hooked. I'm retired so I went with the single stage it is allot of fun, so what do I do first?

[92greenyj]

Well I have done both. I found that small bits of media will get stuck in the spent primers when tumbling first. This small media bits ends up all over the place afterwards while brass is jostled and handled. Now I deprive first, then tumble. Media falls right thru the flash hole and has nothing to really get stuck in this way.

[wtkaiser]

I've had media stuck in primer holes every time when I deprime before tumbling, so now I tumble first, then deprime. Any junk gets pushed through the hole when you deprime it second. Just my 2 cents....

[CEDaytonaRydr]

Now I deprive first, then tumble. Media falls right thru the flash hole and has nothing to really get stuck in this way.

I have media get stuck in my flash holes every time I deprime first.

Nowadays, I tumble and then deprime...

[NotEnufGarage]

For rifle brass, I tumble with walnut for an hour or two to remove dirt and carbon, then deprime, resize, trim, chamfer and de-crimp primer pockets (if needed), then tumble again with fine corn cob and NuFinish, then clean flash holes with a pick, if needed while I'm sorting by headstamp and weight.

For straightwall handgun brass, I tumble in a walnut and corn cob mix with NuFinish for about 4 hours, then dump it into the Load Master for depriming, sizing and loading.

The point of tumbling is to clean the cases. I don't want my dies getting all torn up with dirt and carbon.

[92greenyj]

I have media get stuck in my flash holes every time I deprime first.

Nowadays, I tumble and then deprime...

I will admit I have had a few instances of this at first. However when I cleared the flash hole I made sure to not put that particular grain of walnut shell back into the tumbler. Last three batches I ran didn't have anything in the flash holes at all

[Divernhunter]

I tumble then deprime. When I have deprimed first I get media in the pockets/flashhole. I also want my brass clean before depriming so not to get crud in the dies.

[bruceflinch]

Since I'm not dealing w/ hundreds of rifle cases. I like to:
Tumble
Lube & deprime/neck size/full length resize.
Tumble
Clean flash holes & clean primer pocket on brush in drill press.
Reprime
Load

[Munk]

For pistol rounds, I tumble, then use the Decapper/Sizing die, and proceed as normal.

For rifle. I decap with a decap only die(for the sake of expedience), tumble for quite a while (all of my .30's get filthy brass). Then lube them up and send them through the full length size/decap die. As I do, I check to make sure that all the cob was popped out of the primer pocket. I've gotten a few pockets where it wasn't just a kernel in the flash hole, the entire primer pocket got this weird cluster of cob, and even the decapper doesn't push it out entirely. I usually use a hand-held decapping rod from an old lee hand-loader kit, or a lee (man, I use a surprising number of lee products that go into the flash hole) trimming tool pilot for the same effect.

Every other firing, I make sure to clean the primer pocket well with a dremel tool using a wire brush attachment. Makes damn fast work of cleaning it out, and the brush is strong enough to get the worst of the grit out.

[wtkaiser]

So, basically OP, you just do what you want to do and deal with it. Ask 1 question, get 7 different answers!

[mjmagee67]

Rifle-I deprime, tumble, resize, tumble again to remove the case lube, pick out media from primer pocket and reload. I tend to only do 50 to 100 at a time.

Pistol--Tumble first then deprime and reload.

For rifle I deprime first to the primer pockets can get cleaned up a little--pistol just don't care it the pockets are clean.

[krzgoat]

I generally tumble all brass clean and shiny the first time around. Pistol brass just heads off to be sorted prior to loading.

Rifle I resize and deprime and then tumble the lube off with a finer grit media. I think it's 24 grit from Harbor Freight. No problems with media in the primer holes I check while I sort by headstamp.

Next is decrimp the rifle pockets that need it and then clean the pockets out. Then it's off either to the press to be loaded or the hand primer depending on what I am loading.

I also use the NuFinish polish in mine.

[gef]

I use a depriming die first, that doesn't resize. Yes if you deprime first the primer pocket gets filled with media. I use an ice pick to punch this out or you can use the depriming die again and in most cases the pocket is clean. Then resize and load as normal. One thing I use is CSI gloves to keep my hands clean while handling the brass. The polish gets all over your hands otherwise.

[mjmagee67]

The Lee case trimmer pilots make great flash hole cleaners.

[Munk]

The Lee case trimmer pilots make great flash hole cleaners.

Yep. I made a knob for the handle on mine (pinching that half inch handle is painful after 30 or 40 .30-06 cases). When I'm dealing with cob in the hole, I just throw the lee-trimmer in the vice on my workbench so I have a rock-solid fixed tool for working from. Makes damn short work of it.