To Deprime or Not Deprime?

[crewchief888]

i tumble with corn cob and polishing juice, then straight into the SDB

 

[schmart]

I'm using a progressive press and for pistol, I use a vibratory polisher first and then put them into the press and come out with a loaded round. For bottleneck rifle.. I polish, then lube/deprime/size, re-polish to remove lube, and then into the press to prime and load.
--Rick

 

[GSPBirdDog]

I just learned the hard way last week to make sure after wet tumbling, that all the cases are dry! I loaded 700 9mm bullets and had to pull them all by hand! I wet tumbled the cases and laid them out for a whole week to dry. Went to the range and 30 out of 35 did not fire. Primers were struck, but no boom. After pulling the bullets, i noticed the powder was damp and the primers were nothing but a glob of goop. So from now on, I am going to run the cases through the corn Cobb media for 30 minutes before loading. The oven is a waste of time in my opinion. Next time i am going to deprime and size before tumbling. It shouldn’t take much time to run a couple thousand through the Dillon 650 real quick.

 

[harleymac1]

I have been considering buying a food dehydrator to dry cases. Maybe lay them out to dry for 24 hours to kick off the initial moisture and finish them off in the dehydrator. Can anyone who is currently doing this give us some feedback? I definitely don't want to get to the range and experience what GSPBirdDog did.

 

[Notropis]

I alway deprime, wet clean then size..etc. I would say it's only due to my OCD of clean pockets but I did run into a bad production run of brass with messed up pockets. I'd never have noticed otherwise. Also the field and stream headstamp 223 are so spotty in quality, it's better in my opinion to deprime without sizing to save decapping pins.

 

[ljk]

I have been considering buying a food dehydrator to dry cases. Maybe lay them out to dry for 24 hours to kick off the initial moisture and finish them off in the dehydrator. Can anyone who is currently doing this give us some feedback? I definitely don't want to get to the range and experience what GSPBirdDog did.

$18 Toaster oven from Walmart, 15 minutes at 150F does the trick. Just jam the door open about 1/8" to let the moisture escape.

 

[Notropis]

As far as drying, I saw a guy on youtube put his brass in a large bath type towel, wrap it like a burrito, then tip the poles back and forth several times. This gets 90% of the water off. I then put a tiny fan on the brass and towel over night and it's always dry.

 

[Doublehelix]

I just learned the hard way last week to make sure after wet tumbling, that all the cases are dry! I loaded 700 9mm bullets and had to pull them all by hand! I wet tumbled the cases and laid them out for a whole week to dry. Went to the range and 30 out of 35 did not fire. Primers were struck, but no boom. After pulling the bullets, i noticed the powder was damp and the primers were nothing but a glob of goop. So from now on, I am going to run the cases through the corn Cobb media for 30 minutes before loading. The oven is a waste of time in my opinion. Next time i am going to deprime and size before tumbling. It shouldn’t take much time to run a couple thousand through the Dillon 650 real quick.

I have been considering buying a food dehydrator to dry cases. Maybe lay them out to dry for 24 hours to kick off the initial moisture and finish them off in the dehydrator. Can anyone who is currently doing this give us some feedback? I definitely don't want to get to the range and experience what GSPBirdDog did.

I have the Frankford Arsenal brass dryer, which is really just a rebranded food dehydrator, only it costs more.

I use it for *every* batch of wet tumbled brass, and have never had an issue with wet powder or primers. Not even once.

After wet tumbling, I pour the wet brass into a large towel, and shake it around a bit. I actually take each edge, and rock the brass back and forth like cleaning a bowling ball in on one of those cloth cradles if you are familiar with that technique.

I next pour the brass into the dryer trays, and set it to 150 degrees or so, and then let it run for 1.5 hours on a timer, and finally remove the dried brass and place into containers. The brass is very hot, so I usually let it cool for a while. I wet tumble for 3 hours normally, so as one load is tumbling, one is drying/cooling.

Works perfectly, and if it broke today, I would order another one before the day was out. I hear Walmart has their food dehydrators in stock for less money, but the Frankford Arsenal dryers are about $43 on Amazon.

Highly recommended.

 

[harleymac1]

I have the Frankford Arsenal brass dryer, which is really just a rebranded food dehydrator, only it costs more.

I use it for *every* batch of wet tumbled brass, and have never had an issue with wet powder or primers. Not even once.

After wet tumbling, I pour the wet brass into a large towel, and shake it around a bit. I actually take each edge, and rock the brass back and forth like cleaning a bowling ball in on one of those cloth cradles if you are familiar with that technique.

I next pour the brass into the dryer trays, and set it to 150 degrees or so, and then let it run for 1.5 hours on a timer, and finally remove the dried brass and place into containers. The brass is very hot, so I usually let it cool for a while. I wet tumble for 3 hours normally, so as one load is tumbling, one is drying/cooling.

Works perfectly, and if it broke today, I would order another one before the day was out. I hear Walmart has their food dehydrators in stock for less money, but the Frankford Arsenal dryers are about $43 on Amazon.

Highly recommended.

Even the Walmart dehydrators are running in the $34.99 to 39.99 range so Frankford did not bump it too much.

 

[Sniper 79]

I just learned the hard way last week to make sure after wet tumbling, that all the cases are dry! I loaded 700 9mm bullets and had to pull them all by hand! I wet tumbled the cases and laid them out for a whole week to dry. Went to the range and 30 out of 35 did not fire. Primers were struck, but no boom. After pulling the bullets, i noticed the powder was damp and the primers were nothing but a glob of goop. So from now on, I am going to run the cases through the corn Cobb media for 30 minutes before loading. The oven is a waste of time in my opinion. Next time i am going to deprime and size before tumbling. It shouldn’t take much time to run a couple thousand through the Dillon 650 real quick.

Tumble first so you don't get grit in your dies. Not good if you're dies get dirty.

If you wet them they got to be dried somehow. Food dehydrators are on every garage sale cheap! Think I gave $2 for the last one I bought. I bet a small toaster oven would do a great job and you can make yourself a hot ham and cheese

 

[bwframe]

A square or two of toilet paper is a decent moisture indicator. Tap a case or two from every level to check.

I use the Frankford Arsenal dryer also. Couple hours on high does all but stuck together cases.

 

[GSPBirdDog]

As far as drying, I saw a guy on youtube put his brass in a large bath type towel, wrap it like a burrito, then tip the poles back and forth several times. This gets 90% of the water off. I then put a tiny fan on the brass and towel over night and it's always dry.

I did the exact same thing with the towel you are talking about, then let them lay out for a week. I still had misfires using this method. My guess is the primers were holding water or seeping out during deprime, size, and load.

 

[Xterminator]

I tumble my brass n walnut & never deprime .. My Dillon press does the rest..lol

 

[cgaustin]

Clean then deprime pistol, deprime then clean rifle.

 

[Clay Pigeon]

I tumble my brass n walnut & never deprime .. My Dillon press does the rest..lol

I tumble pistol and rifle brass after I size them, I dont mind cleaning the corn cob out of the primer holes. I don't understand using a depriming die when you can just use a sizing die and have one stage already done. I dry tumble with corn cob and Dillon polish and with the time guys spend washing and drying brass I can have it loaded on a Dillon, packed in boxes and cooked steaks on the charcoal grill and eaten before the wet tumbled brass is dry yet. I have better things to do with my time than watch brass being run through a washing machine and a jerky dryer.

 

[Clay Pigeon]

I did the exact same thing with the towel you are talking about, then let them lay out for a week. I still had misfires using this method. My guess is the primers were holding water or seeping out during deprime, size, and load.

Thats an easy fix, dry tumble.. I can honestly say, I have never had a wet misfire due to dry corncob tumbling..

 

[Sling10mm]

If you're sitting and watching your brass tumble, and then sitting and watching your brass dry, I think you are doing it wrong, unless of course you enjoy spending your time doing that. While mine is tumbling and drying, I go do other things.... like load the last batch of brass I processed.

To each his own

I tumble pistol and rifle brass after I size them, I dont mind cleaning the corn cob out of the primer holes. I don't understand using a depriming die when you can just use a sizing die and have one stage already done. I dry tumble with corn cob and Dillon polish and with the time guys spend washing and drying brass I can have it loaded on a Dillon, packed in boxes and cooked steaks on the charcoal grill and eaten before the wet tumbled brass is dry yet. I have better things to do with my time than watch brass being run through a washing machine and a jerky dryer.

 

[Hawkeye7br]

As far as drying, I saw a guy on youtube put his brass in a large bath type towel, wrap it like a burrito, then tip the poles back and forth several times. This gets 90% of the water off. I then put a tiny fan on the brass and towel over night and it's always dry.

X2. But always deprime before washing. If I'm in a hurry, I use a rubber pointed tip on my air compressor and seal the tip against the primer pocket and shoot air thru it for about 3 seconds. They dry much faster, maybe 30 minutes or dry tumble for 5 minutes.

 

[Sniper 79]

I would agree you guys washing brass / polishing are silly. I dry tumble real quickly and into the case feeder they go. I like shooting.

 

[O'Shark]

I always tumble the brass first then de-prime. I don't want to run dirty brass through my dies.