Tumble rifle brass after resizing to remove lube?

07Mustang

07Mustang

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I've been reloading straight wall pistol cases for several years, going to start reloading 30.06 for the M1 Garand. What's the consensus on tumbling to remove case lube after resizing? Seems to me if I tumble to get lube off I would want to deprime after tumbling using universal depriming die? Is wiping the lube off with a towel enough? Am I just over thinking this?
thanks for the help.
 
You can wipe it off, but that can be tedious with a large quantity of cases.

Tumbling it for 30-45 minutes will remove the lube. If your tumbling media is the right size, you won't have to worry about media in the flash holes - which would be the only reason to run them through a decapping die afterwards. If you're loading on a single stage press, don't bother. However, if you'll be loading them on a progressive, there's no harm in putting a decapping die where the sizing die would normally go.
 
Is it a terrible idea to tumble clean after sizing and priming?

e.g., if you run the first stage of a 550B completely before cleaning.
 
milktree said:
Because sizing and priming are done in the same station.
Click to expand...
It is better to deprime and then clean for 2 reasons: first, so you keep your resizing die clean and remove the risk of damaging it with debris left in/on a dirty case; and second, so the flash hole gets cleaned along with the rest of the case. A universal decapping die can pop the primer out of just about any case -- then clean, then resize and prime.
 
CharlieFoxtrot said:
It is better to deprime and then clean for 2 reasons: first, so you keep your resizing die clean and remove the risk of damaging it with debris left in/on a dirty case; and second, so the flash hole gets cleaned along with the rest of the case. A universal decapping die can pop the primer out of just about any case -- then clean, then resize and prime.
Click to expand...

I think we're talking about two different things here. The OP is talking about removing the lube after the cases have been cleaned, lubed, and resized/decapped.

I think you're talking about the intial cleaning. I don't deprime before initially cleaning the cases unless I'm wet-tumbling with stainless pins. Depriming before dry tumbling is a wasted step brecause the primer pockets really don't get clean, nor do they need to be clean.
 
milktree said:
Is it a terrible idea to tumble clean after sizing and priming?

e.g., if you run the first stage of a 550B completely before cleaning.
Click to expand...

yes because if there's any kind of oils in your tumbling media (which there likely is), they will contaminate your primers.

I always put my 30-06 and other rifle caliber brass back in for 30 mins or so after sizing/decapping to get the lube off. Never had a problem with crushed walnut in the primer pockets.
 
My work flow for rifle

Fired brass into tumbler (walnut) for 20-30 minutes
Deprime/resize
Trim
If applicable (1x fired brass) remove primer crimp
Put back in same tumbler for another 20-30

Cases now ready for priming, or storage.

For 30-06 I use imperial sizing wax which would be tedious to even wipe off one by one - it's thick
For 223 I use hornady unique, it's not as thick so the brass doesn't need the last tumbling cycle for as long.

edit, as a sidenote, the walnut media doesn't clog up in the flash holes like I've experienced with corn cob media.
 
Last edited:
jpm said:
yes because if there's any kind of oils in your tumbling media (which there likely is), they will contaminate your primers.
Click to expand...

I think that's a stretch.

If you use the correct size corn cob media, nothing sticks in the flash holes. If you use a media size that's similar to the diameter of the flash hole, it will stick in there no matter what it's made from.
 
EddieCoyle said:
I think that's a stretch.

If you use the correct size corn cob media, nothing sticks in the flash holes. If you use a media size that's similar to the diameter of the flash hole, it will stick in there no matter what it's made from.
Click to expand...


The "oils will contaminate the primers" part is a stretch?

Do you see any reason not to lube/decap/size/prime, then clean again?
 
The whole point of tumbling after resizing is to remove the lube (oil) from the cases so as not to contaminate the primers and/or powder. If you are not using brand new media then there will be oil in it from the last time you tumbled lubed brass. There's also natural oils in stuff like walnut shells. And if you use the same media you use for the first tumbling, there's probably brass cleaner/nufinish/etc in it which would also be a contaminant.
 
My routine for fired bottlneck rifle brass:

Alcohol wipe (to get off gross crud).
Decap.
Primer pocket swage (first reload of military brass only).
Lube and size. (I use RCBS case lube and an ink pad).
Alcohol wipe again (gets off the bulk of the lube).
Gauge; trim and chamfer if needed.
Tumble (I'm old fashioned: Thumblers Model B with fine crush walnut shells and a bit of jeweler's rouge).
Ready to prime.

Every time.

Can I tell you that all this is necessary? No, but it makes me happy. My ammo looks good. My .308 target loads (168 SMK and Reloder 15) outshoot GMM in a heavy barrel bolt gun; my .308 auto loads (same bullet; Win 748) cycle my M14 reliably and shoot far better than iron sights should yield.. My .243 loads hold better than 1 MOA at 300 yards using a light weight sporter. My 5.56 loads (55 grain BT-FMJ and Win 748) hit ping-pong balls 80-90% of the time at 100 yards using an M4 clone, so long as the wind isn't too bad. And so forth. All because my brass is shiny? Probably not, but I'm not about to change anything.

As I said, makes me happy.
 
jpm said:
The whole point of tumbling after resizing is to remove the lube (oil) from the cases so as not to contaminate the primers and/or powder. If you are not using brand new media then there will be oil in it from the last time you tumbled lubed brass. There's also natural oils in stuff like walnut shells. And if you use the same media you use for the first tumbling, there's probably brass cleaner/nufinish/etc in it which would also be a contaminant.
Click to expand...

None of which seem to have any affect at all on the ammo.

The whole point of tumbling after sizing is to remove the lube from the outside of the cases.
 
Other than EC, most of you are grossly over thinking this.

I deprime, tumble in walnut shells, lube, size, retumble in corncob and then prime.

Does decapping before tumbling clean the primer pocket?

Not enough to amount to much, from what I see. Besides, most of us lack the skills and equipment really needed to see ANY difference in clean versus not so clean pockets. Kind of like weighing powder.

Tumbling after priming is just inviting potential problems. Better to leave the cases with lube on them, than invite potential primer failure.
 
EddieCoyle said:
None of which seem to have any affect at all on the ammo.

The whole point of tumbling after sizing is to remove the lube from the outside of the cases.
Click to expand...

Just to toss this out there....
Is there a reason why you can't just clean, lube, resize , prime, drop powder and seat bullet.... then rumble to remove lube?

I have been using DIY lanolin spray lube. I give cases a squirt or 2 in a box and shake it up for while.
Resize/deprime ..... sometimes I toss them in the tumbler after that. Sometimes I just wait until they are loaded then tumble them....

One thing I have found through tumbling complete rounds is if you missed a loose primer pocket seating primers sometimes they work their way out in the tumbler...
 
Speaking of size what /type/brand etc works best to avoid the media in the flash hole.

EddieCoyle said:
You can wipe it off, but that can be tedious with a large quantity of cases.

Tumbling it for 30-45 minutes will remove the lube. If your tumbling media is the right size, you won't have to worry about media in the flash holes - which would be the only reason to run them through a decapping die afterwards. If you're loading on a single stage press, don't bother. However, if you'll be loading them on a progressive, there's no harm in putting a decapping die where the sizing die would normally go.
Click to expand...
 
mac1911 said:
Just to toss this out there....
Is there a reason why you can't just clean, lube, resize , prime, drop powder and seat bullet.... then rumble to remove lube?
Click to expand...

The only reason I don't is because the lube makes the cases harder to hold during trimming and primer crimp removal.

- - - Updated - - -

Ranger007 said:
Speaking of size what /type/brand etc works best to avoid the media in the flash hole.
Click to expand...

Grit size 10/14 (my favorite) or 20/40 will work. Grit size 14/20 is the same size as the flash hole and should be avoided.
 
EddieCoyle said:
The only reason I don't is because the lube makes the cases harder to hold during trimming and primer crimp removal.

- - - Updated - - -



Grit size 10/14 (my favorite) or 20/40 will work. Grit size 14/20 is the same size as the flash hole and should be avoided.
Click to expand...

I don't have much of a problem other than lanolin helps with my callous skin.
 
Yeah for ages I tried to wash teh lube off with hot water and soap but it never really worked well. Now I just do a hour or so in the tumbler then a few minutes with a punch or something to poke the media out of the flash hole and youre gtg. The bonus is that your rounds will be wicked shiny.
 
I retumbled after sizing decapping and trimming exactly one time. 400 flash hole pokes with a nail later and I vowed to never do that again. I just leave the lube on them now
 
mac1911 said:
Just to toss this out there....
Is there a reason why you can't just clean, lube, resize , prime, drop powder and seat bullet.... then rumble to remove lube?
Click to expand...

The lube on the inside of the case neck could cause the powder to bridge inside the case neck when you charge the case causing a spill. The lube left on your cases is going to get fine gun powder dust on it when you charge the case. Some might even spill over to the outside of the case neck making it possible for the lube-powder dust mix to stick to the inside of your seating die. Over time that could affect seating depth. If you crimp your bullets using the seating die that buildup could cause changes in the crimp. Powder stuck inside the case neck could affect the tension on the bullet and the seal between the bullet and case.
 
To avoid having to worry about plugging primer flash holes, I was advised to use a double-head setup on my 550. I have two tooling heads. One head only has the full size resizer/decap die in station one. I use that to resize everything, then tumble to remove lube. So that I dont have to worry about flash holes, I have the second tooling head set up with a universal decapping die in stage one along with the rest of my normal dies. The rounds run through that first decapping die just in case any media was stuck inside.

I'm cheap and tend to use pet store crushed walnut and it seems to clog flash holes a lot less than people are describing here.

That being said, I've also slowly been switching over to wet tumbling almost 100% of the time as it seems to take less time, create less dust/mess and it cleans the brass much better. I still think tumbling in media with brass polish gets the brass shinier, but not cleaner.
 
What I have done with necked pistol cartridges (550b) is lay them out on a towel and spray the finsihed cases with 99% iso alcohol. I juat wipe them off and store/ shoot.


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