# Station 1 Size and Deprime



## kaboooom (Jul 6, 2013)

Does the Thumlers Tumbler with Stainless Steel Media clean the brass well enough that you can take it straight to position 1 size/deprime of a progressive press? Seems there are videos of depriming and having to clean out the primer hole. That seems to suggest that if the first die in a progressive reloader deprimes, you could end up with contaminants as the shell continues it's way thru the reloader. Short of also having a single stage press to deprime shells, you have to trust the tumbler is 100% on all brass. Do you inspect all the brass that you have deprimed?


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

To some extent, it depends upon what cartridge you're reloading, and how precise you want to be.

I used to reload .45 ACP—lots of .45 ACP. I have always taken cases right from the tumbler's shake-out basket to my progressive loading press, to deprime and load without further processing. But I am reloading a relatively low-pressure cartridge, and I do not demand precision from it.
Further, the .45 ACP cartridge boasts a pretty large flash-hole, tumbler medium is not particularly strong stuff, and depriming punches are tough. So any trapped tumbler medium just gets shattered and forced out with the dead primer.

I also load .30-'06, and I do require precision from that cartridge. In that case, I deprime and full-length-resize as a separate operation, on a single-stage press, before putting these rifle cases through my progressive reloader.
But those rifle cases went right from the tumbler shake-out basket to the single-stage, decap-and-resize operation. Once again, large flash-hole, frangible tumbler medium, strong decapping pin. But in this case I also add careful visual inspection, as the cases pass between the two presses.

My way is not everyone's. It is merely my own way.


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## Vodoun da Vinci (Apr 6, 2007)

Been a while since I reloaded anything but I'm getting geared back up to reload....I have reloaded thousands of .357 and .38 special in the past and I'll echo Steve's post - what cartridge are you reloading and to what level of precision?

I mostly reloaded for practice ammo and self defense loads/pet loads. I never even tumbled my brass - I'd knock the dead primers out and soak them in a jar over night with dish soap and some lemon juice and rinse and dry well. Then take a bore brush (nylon is fine) of the right diameter and clean the inside a bit, dress the primer pocket with a little tool made for the task and then go right on to reloading.

If I wanted to make the cases look all shiny I'd hand wipe them with a brass cleaner....I just cleaned up 250 rounds of .32 ACP once fired factory brass and used some Flitz metal polish on the outside with clean paper towels.

VooDoo


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## jdeere9750 (Nov 28, 2008)

kaboooom said:


> Does the Thumlers Tumbler with Stainless Steel Media clean the brass well enough that you can take it straight to position 1 size/deprime of a progressive press? Seems there are videos of depriming and having to clean out the primer hole. That seems to suggest that if the first die in a progressive reloader deprimes, you could end up with contaminants as the shell continues it's way thru the reloader. Short of also having a single stage press to deprime shells, you have to trust the tumbler is 100% on all brass. Do you inspect all the brass that you have deprimed?


First of all, I tumble with dry media like Steve does, so I don't have any firsthand experience with the wet stainless media. What I have seen and read, though, says that the stainless media will make brass look brand new. Much cleaner than the dry media. So yeah, you could take it straight to the progressive (after it dries, of course).

I think a lot of folks are depriming prior to tumbling because the stainless pins are small enough to fit in the primer pocket and thoroughly clean it while tumbling. I'm loading pistol cartridges, so I don't bother cleaning primer pockets. I think it's a waste of time for my application which is plinking and defensive skills practice. If I was shooting bullseye, my outlook would be different. When loading rifle, however, I will clean primer pockets because I'm looking for increased accuracy.

When loading .45 ACP, I sort cases and inspect prior to tumbling (I don't deprime before tumbling). I load on a turret press, so I also inspect each case as it goes on the press. I let the decapping pin punch out any stuck corn cob media with the spent primer. But I don't inspect between stations, other than making darn sure to look in the case to verify the powder drop is correct.

Hope that helps.


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## rex (Jan 27, 2012)

I've seen pics of deprimed brass from SS tumbling,the pockets are very clean.

I've hardly ever cleaned brass and a pocket on handguns,I just wipe them down when I pull them from the container and bail in.I normally deprime,size and reprime in the same step on my Rockchucker and never had a high primer.If I decide to prime on expanding I'll peek in the pocket but very rarely have I ever hit one with a scraper.I don't seem to keep my brass long enough to go through all that,when there are a lot of people shooting the same round you'll end up with mixed brass every time.Pisses me off when I restock on new brass and lose 10% or so but that's the way it is at times.


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## kaboooom (Jul 6, 2013)

So if I got the above correct, the Thumlers Tumbler with Stainless Steel Media will work fine for range plinking on handguns and not to worry if any small residue is left. But if rifle, better to deprime first off before cleaning. Thanks all.


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## rex (Jan 27, 2012)

If I were to invest in a SS setup,I would probably take full advantage of it and get a generic deprime die Deprime them all quick and throw them in the cleaner.


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## noylj (Dec 8, 2011)

If one is going to wet clean, then one should deprime before cleaning--otherwise you are trapping water in the primer pocket.
Next, even if cleaning a primer pocket really does have any effect on accuracy in rifles, it doesn't matter with pistols. You will be lucky to ever get 4MOA accuracy, so anything that only shrinks accuracy by 0.1" or less is not going to be important.
If one cleans for 30 minutes in 20/40 corn, the cases are as clean as they ever need to be and you won't get any grit in the primer pocket or flash hole.
For me, it only makes sense to combine inspection, depriming, and sorting when I come back from the range. Every case needs to be inspected and a bag of mixed brass needs to be sorted, so do it all before cleaning.
Get a universal depriming die, such as Lee's. I have the small $25 Lee press in the garage dedicated to depriming and Bulge Busting. After cleaning, I take the clean brass indoors to reload.
Dirty jobs for the garage and the clean jobs for the comfort of home.


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