Question about brass cleaning and resizing .223

[jetman624]

How much cleaning NEEDS to be done to the brass before putting them through a FL resizing die?

Will a reasonable rinse in warm soapy water be enough so that I am not dirtying up my tooling?

The process I would like to do is:

Decap/ deprime
Swage
rinse in soapy water
lube (DCL) and resize
THEN give them a good tumble to remove case lube and remaining cleaning

Or should I swap the tumble and soapy water rinse, and rely on the soapy water to remove the case lube?

The goal being I only want to put them through the tumbler once.

[Dark Mod]

Soapy water would be better at removing case lube, but now you have to dry the brass.... Sounds much easier to just tumble twice.

[the led farmer]

How much cleaning NEEDS to be done to the brass before putting them through a FL resizing die?

None NEEDS to be done, you can safely reload without doing ANY cleaning of the brass before (provided the brass is clear of foreign debris)

Warm soapy water will obviously clean better than nothing, tumbling even more. It really depends on how shiny and clean you WANT them to be which has nothing to do with need.

[troysland]

Why would you be against tumbling twice? If you're concerned about it taking longer to prep, maybe reloading isn't for you. Wait till you start trimming, chamfering, deburring, swaging, measuring. Then you'll really know how dedicated handloaders/reloaders are.

First tumble for 2hrs with polish will get them shiny.
Second tumble for 30 min will remove case lube.

Believe me, after prepping a few hundred cases, a 30 min break while you tumble away case lube will be well earned.

[jetman624]

Soapy water would be better at removing case lube, but now you have to dry the brass.... Sounds much easier to just tumble twice.

The tumbler is a wet tumbler...

[Bumslie]

Why not just wipe them off with a clean cloth then?

[CGT80]

Looks like everyone else missed the DCL part in the OP's post. Dillon case lube is some sticky stuff. I tried washing it off and it doesn't work. I tried using more alcohol to clean the cases, but it takes so little lanolin to make DCL that you end up with.........more case lube.

I tumble for up to 12 hours in corn cob and tumbler polish, when the brass is dirty. Running the tumbler again for 20+ minutes will clean off the Dillon lube much better than any other method I have tried.

Some people like to use water and citric acid to clean their brass. The brass doesn't have to be pretty to be sized, just clean. I do wonder if nicely polished brass is any easier to size or is less likely to scratch a die.

My opinion is to wash in soap and water or citric acid and size when dry, then run through a tumbler with corn cob. I have no idea if wet tumbling with stainless pins will clean off dillon lube.

[jetman624]

A wet tumbler with stainless pins is what I got... so I guess I will find out one way or another.

Maybe I will try both and see which works best.

[GeoffLinder]

Tumbling (SS or dry media) is the best way to go, but jetman is correct in that as long as no foreign debris, it won't hurt to not clean it, but why risk it, just tumble. Soap and water will not fully remove carbon or any tarnish older brass left on ground for a while builds up.

As far as lube goes, Lanolin based lubes can easily be left on for loading they are not injurious to primers and powder. Just load them with lube on them and tumble the exterior clean afterwards. Lot's of folks use this method successfully on progressive and single stage systems. Just make sure it's a Lanolin based lube like Dillon or Hornady.

[jameshenry]

My process is to come home from the range deprime (deprime only no sizing). wet with pins tumble 30 min. Dry. Dillon spray lube. Into Dillon 650 for loading. Into tumbler with walnut shells for 10 min. remove dust and shoot. Happy 4th.

[J-cat]

Imperial sizing wax wipes off easily. Use that.

[Pauliedad]

Two questions and yes I've read Lyman's, Lee, and Hornady books and can't find a definitative answer.
1. It IS ok to put loaded ammo in a corncob or walnut media tumbler??
2. What's the prefered method of Imperial Wax application?
Sorry of this is a newb dumb*** question.
Thanks.

[Enfield47]

Yes, you can tumble live ammo without any problems.

Just use your fingertips, touch the sizing wax then rub it on your case. You will get two or three cases lubed before you need more. (Like Brylcreem, a little dab will do ya!)

[Trainman]

ITumble for an hour, lube then decap and size. Then I clean the primer pocket, trim to size and debur the case mouth. After that I throw the cases back in the tumbler with a cap full or two of mineral spirits to cut the lube. Tumble for an hour and then add one cap of NuFinish, tumble for an hour and bling bling, they look like new.

[Trainman]

Tumble loaded ammo? Why would you do that when every book ever written says to never tumble loaded ammo.