When do you clean brass with a progressive loader ?

First topic message reminder :

You guys that use progressive presses; When do you clean your brass ?
I've always used a single stage press. I'm in the habit of resize / de-prime, then throw my brass in the vibratory tumbler overnight, for a good cleaning, then move on to the next stages.
I've started looking at progressive presses but now wondering about when I would do the cleaning cycle. Seems that re-size / de-prime then clean would interrupt the "progressive flow", Not ?

mikemyers - raised primers
If you don't know the cause then you can't determine a solution.  I'd put money on seating, not residue.

I know many people that only use a vibratory case cleaner but IMHO I'd consider using a wet tumbler with stainless pins a best practice.  If you deprime before cleaning using either method you will clean the primer pocket to some degree.  When using the vibratory method I got better results cleaning primer pocket with walnut media verses corn cob.  Wet tumbling they come out like new brass.
- Dave

to the OP, I put my fired brass in an ammo can and when it's time to clean I swap out the head of my 1050 with one with just a deprime die (no resize).  Once deprimed I wet tumble, dry then put the brass in an ammo can marked "cleaned" with the date.  When it's time to load I lube as I go with Hornady One Shot.

Don't think I have ever cleaned a primer pocket on a pistol round.  One of many things that are important to the benchrest guys and are lost in the noise with pistol shooting.

dronning wrote:mikemyers - raised primers
If you don't know the cause then you can't determine a solution.  I'd put money on seating, not residue......

The RCBS Pro 2000 has a location where you can put in a bolt, which limits the upward travel of the primer into the case.  Here's the instructions on it:


As the shell plate is lowered, the primer is pushed into the case.  I never installed that limit screw, as I thought I could do it by "feel", but now I think that was wrong.  I just installed the screw and locknut a few minutes ago.

I tried to "wobble" the rounds from before, and the base of the round was not flat - the primer was not being seated flush.  I assume this was the problem.

Now, it doesn't matter how hard I push on the lever to seat the primer - the screw serves as a limiter.

I just loaded 50 rounds.  The overwhelming majority of them loaded as expected, with the primer inserter finding a "hard stop" when the screw bottomed out, but a few rounds felt like there was something in the round, preventing the primer from fully seating.  When I test the rounds, the majority of my reloads feel "better" than stock Winchester White Box loads from the factory.  None of my reloads feel as bad as the round that started this discussion - and now I understand it was because that primer wasn't seated.  On a second attempt today, it fired perfectly.

I suspect my problem is now solved.  I'll known in a day or two how today's reloads work at the range.

I de-prime with a hand de-priming tool and then clean my brass. My pistol brass goes in a rotary tumbler, but my bench rest rifle brass goes in a commercial ultrasonic cleaner to not beat up the brass.

Bob

You should always clean brass before it goes inside any die. Even decap, since there can be dirt, stones, .22 / 9mm cases and whatever on or in the brass. How you do it, and with what, is up to the user. However, I have never decapped before cleaning and never cleaned a pistol primer pocket to date. Rather use the time to dryfire.

I sort of agree and it is why I use a hand de-priming tool that is easy to replaced decapping pins on. I do clean my primer pockets, manually, but agree that for pistol cartridges it is a little overkill. No so for 1,000 yard benchrest.

Bob

When it comes to clean brass I am anal.  First, fired brass gets sized and de-primed one a single stage press.  It then gets a good cleaning in the thumbler using distilled water, stainless steel pins, Lemi-shine and Dawn dish soap (1 teaspoon of Lemi-shine and 3 teaspoons of Dawn).  Two hours later the brass comes out clean, both in and out to include the primer pockets.  Clean brass is rinsed with distilled water and air dried.  I tried using tap water but did not get the finished product that I do when using distilled water.  I know that rifle shooters go to great lengths in cleaning and prepping their brass, much more so than pistol shooters.  Are they right or wrong? Are we as pistol shooters right or wrong?  I am of the opinion that if I do everything I can to load the most consistent ammunition I can, that I have for all practical purposes eliminated ammunition as an excuse for the loose nut behind the trigger.

When you are expecting a projectile to go close to the same hole after traveling 1,000 yards, you have to make sure that as much as possible is exact and duplicateable. May brass prep includes Triming to Exact Same Length, full cleaning, inside and outside deburing of the flash hole (new brass) Conforming the Flash Hole (new Brass), conforming the primer pocked (clean and cut to same depth. Necks are skim trimmed to both concentricity and equal wall thichness. Then brass is sorted by weight and volume capacity to get a set of "MATCH CASES".

Projectiles are sorted by weight, diameter and then baring surface.

Primers are weight sorted and then seated to 4 thousanths "Crush".

Powder is weighted to within .02 grains.

It takes a long time to load up 20 match rounds for 1,000 yard benchrest. But then putting 10 shots into less than a 3" ring at over half a mile is pretty interesting especially considering you have no control over the wind.

Bob

Curious - if you're going to all that effort, why use a progressive press at all?  Why not use a single station press, giving every round your total concentration at all times?

.....and at a different end of the scale, for someone shooting 38 and 45, and trying to master the fundamentals, and likely shooting 50 to 100 rounds minimum for each trip to the range, would all that individual attention matter?

I think I found my own answer in this post:

CR10X: You should always clean brass before it goes inside any die.  Even decap, since there can be dirt, stones, .22 / 9mm  cases and whatever on or in the brass.  How you do it, and with what, is up to the user.  However, I have never decapped before cleaning and never cleaned a pistol primer pocket to date.  Rather use the time to dryfire.



CR10X is light years beyond where I'm at in precision shooting.  Once again, I think it would be best for me to copy him as much as I am able to do, within my own limitations.

I save up the brass until a I get a plastic jug full.  Then I size and decap it all.  I then wash it in HOT water, SS pins, 2-3 good squirts of dish soap, and a 1/2 spoonful of Lemi-shine.   Let the rotary run for 3 hours give or take.

I wash out the soap with HOT water again and separate the pins in the sink, and lay them out on an old beach towel.  I'll leave them in the sun when it is warm out; otherwise a day or two on the basement floor in the winter.  Dry as a bone, back into the ammo cans its goes.

Thanks to the COV19 quarantines, I have sized and washed about 2/3rds of a 35 year accumulation of brass.  In a few months I wont have a spent primer in the place!

Regards,

Wally

+1 for two presses.  My process:

- Wet tumble without pins
- Deprime on a Lee Breach Lock with universal depriming die
- Wet tumble with pins
- Load on 550

The cleaning happens as I have enough brass for a 1/2-3/4 load in my tumbler, so it's spread out throughout the season.  Then I load for the whole season during the winter.  

I like the first tumble since it keeps even my cheap press significantly cleaner.  I only see spilled powder on my 550 when I finish a reloading session.

My 550's spent primer cup is pristine!

CR10X wrote:You should always clean brass before it goes inside any die.  Even decap, since there can be dirt, stones, .22 / 9mm  cases and whatever on or in the brass.  How you do it, and with what, is up to the user.  However, I have never decapped before cleaning and never cleaned a pistol primer pocket to date.  Rather use the time to dryfire.

What he said...that's my process.  I would far rather spend the time in dry-fire than cleaning pistol primer pockets.  Much better ROI.

mikemyers wrote:

The reason why I'm posting this, is I took one of my reloaded cases, put it on a flat surface, and found the primer was protruding slightly - I know that, because I can rock the loaded round back and forth. Maybe I didn't apply enough force to fully seat the primer, or maybe I can't seat the primer fully because residue from previous loadings is still there.

OR....a defective primer.   Maybe the anvil was not seated in the primer cup far enough on that primer and it was too tall out the top of the cup.  If it is only one case out of thousands that you are experiencing this on... I would not add that step to the process.

Thank you, the problem seems to have gone away.  I never considered the possibility of a bad primer.

My friend at the range just gave me two large boxes of once-fired 45 high quality brass.  Am tumbling them and will try the first ones tomorrow.  

I think I'll put all my old brass in a ziplock bag, and leave it at the range for anyone who wants it. 
It seems like every time I  go to reload 50 more rounds, one of them has a crack.

mikemyers wrote:I think I'll put all my old brass in a ziplock bag, and leave it at the range for anyone who wants it. 
It seems like every time I  go to reload 50 more rounds, one of them has a crack.

OR...
You can "save" the brass in a 5 gallon bucket.  When it gets close to full, start looking for a metals dealer who buys scrap brass.   A full 5 gallon bucket should get you at least $50.

Good advice, but I'd rather make someone at the range very happy, more so than to get $50 to deposit in my account.
There's that saying "Do unto others.....".  I am so happy about what my friend Barry gave me, and I'm giving away some of that as well.  

If I wanted to, I can now load up enough ammo to last me for the next year!

inthebeech wrote:I never clean brass with a progressive loader.

I was just thinking the exact same thing. I usually use a sonic cleaner and then tumble. I've never tried cleaning them with the loader.

inthebeech.. I've answered your PM twice.

LenV wrote:

inthebeech wrote:I never clean brass with a progressive loader.

I was just thinking the exact same thing. I usually use a sonic cleaner and then tumble. I've never tried cleaning them with the loader.

inthebeech.. I've answered your PM twice.

Picky, picky, picky.......     But you're right.  At least until someone comes up with a brass-cleaning-station to fit into the reloading press.    :-)
Would make a nice cartoon!
Rube Goldberg could probably create one!!

I'm pretty anal about clean.  

I wet tumble with pins before de-prime and resize, to get the range crud off the case before it sees a die. 
then I wet tumble with pins again, after punching the primer, to clean the primer pocket.  I still get pretty dirty water from just the pocket.  

I'm happy when the brass gleams like gold, because today, they ARE golden.