deprime before cleaning or after??

[kingfamous]

How many of you deprime before cleaning with a decapping die vs. depriming after you clean with the sizing die? I have always used the decapping die then cleaned to get the primer pocket nice and clean.

[Colt562]

For pistol I clean before I decap. For rifle, I decapped about 1000 223 on a single stage and wont be doing that again. Plinking rounds (which is most of my reloads) I dont really worry about how clean the primer pockets are.

[AeroEngi]

I don't deprime before I clean my brass. The reason for this is because I actually did that once and I had to go case by case and get the corn cob media out of the flash holes which is a pain if you have to go through 500 cases. What I usually do is dump the cases into the tumbler right after the range and let it run for a couple hours. Then I deprime/resize on the press. There's another benefit to cleaning before depriming; your cases will be clean before you put them through your die which will minimize scratching of the inside of the die.

[sunborder]

Solutions to these problems:

Use universal decapping die (doesn't touch your resizing dies with grit), then tumble using WALNUT media, so it doesn't get stuck. This keeps the majority of the lead residue out of your tumbler/reloading area (and if you recycle your old brass and primers, it adds a tad of weight to the primers you are recycling).

It's an extra step, but it tends to make your media last longer too.

[ExtremeX]

Pistol ammo never...

The only time I deprime my brass before tumbling is for my .308 match rifle loads... and I use a lee universal decapping die to do it.

.223 I don’t deprime before tumbling... but I do tumble again after I do all my case prep to remove any lube and shavings from trimming. For the occasional piece of walnut that gets stuck in the primer hole I use a universal decapping die in station 1 to take care of that when loading progressive.

[Divernhunter]

I clean before depriming

[ap1040]

Depends on the media. For corn cob I do not deprime before cleaning because the media does get stuck in the flash hole.

I will eventually upgrade to stainless and then will likely deprime before cleaning so the flash holes will get clean with the rest of the case.

[kingfamous]

Sorry, I didn't state that I use the stainless steel media to clean my brass. Looks like alot deprime after cleaning due to what they are using to clean there brass.

[dwtt]

I decap the cases before tumbling. The media gets into the primer pocket, but a quick poke with a unbent paper clip clears it out. It's not a big deal to me.

[Cheap Shot]

media stuck, say what?

I decap, tumble and then size. the sizing die has a decapping pin in it that will push any stuck media out.

[mjmagee67]

Pistol decap after cleaning while resizing.
223 for the AR's also decap after cleaning while resizing.
223 for my bolt action varmint rifle decap before cleaning.
204, 30-30, and 30-06 same decap before cleaning.

It all boils down to numbers and accuracy. I just don't shoot the bolt and lever guns as fast and don't need the number of rounds and I do for the ARs or pistols. In my bolt guns I am looking for precision so I take the time while loading, but I only have 200-300 loaded max at any time for each rifle.

[Paul_R]

I deprime before cleaning with a decapping die then I clean with stainless media in a roller tumbler which actually cleans primer pockets, unlike corn cob or walnut in a vibrator.

I keep a vibrator and corn cob media for removing case lube after loading.

[afrancke]

I deprime before cleaning with a decapping die then I clean with stainless media in a roller tumbler which actually cleans primer pockets, unlike corn cob or walnut in a vibrator.

I keep a vibrator and corn cob media for removing case lube after loading.

^^^ this

(though I do agree one must then find a way to poke all the corn cob bits out of the flash holes before priming)

[twoforme2]

I usually throw them in the vibratory tumbler for a basic cleaning, then decap and size, then put them in the Stainless media tumbler to make them pretty and clean the lube off.

[damndave]

I Stainless Steel tumble so I deprime before cleaning. If I were using regular media (corn or walnut) I would just tumble then deprime.