Two pass reloaders, is the 1st pass before or after cleaning brass???

[2tuf4u]

20 hours ago, Boomstick303 said:

 

How dirty does the press get during decapping before the brass is washed?  Been giving consideration to de-priming and roll sizing before tumbling the brass to clean it.  Worried about how much grit gets into the press from dirty brass.

I rotary tumble ( Dillon ) then hand sort all brass before it goes into a dedicated RL1050 with only a FW decapper. Replaced the metal spent prmer cup with a spent primer hose -- minimal debris on the press which is vacuumed to keep press clean 

[Johnnymazz]

13 hours ago, Sigarmsp226 said:

Johnny - That is one impressive US cleaning machine….When I saw your earlier photo of the volume of brass you pictured I also asked myself - what size US machine can clean this much brass at once…Now I know….Thanks for sharing….Mark

Basket holds 2,000 cases of 9mm easily, thats what I clean at one time

[Johnnymazz]

1 minute ago, Johnnymazz said:

Basket holds 2,000 cases of 9mm easily, thats what I clean at one time

Products | Infante Ultrasonic Gun Cleaners (infanteultrasonics.com)

[Dr. Phil]

13 hours ago, Sigarmsp226 said:

Johnny - That is one impressive US cleaning machine….When I saw your earlier photo of the volume of brass you pictured I also asked myself - what size US machine can clean this much brass at once…Now I know….Thanks for sharing….Mark

 

And then there is this...

[Johnnymazz]

12 minutes ago, Dr. Phil said:

 

And then there is this...

Haa nice ! Thats the redneck version of cleaning brass.

[belus]

I have two different processes for 9mm vs 40sw at the moment, but soon they'll be the same.

 

9mm gets deprimed before cleaning and then resized + swaged during loading. 40sw gets cleaned and then deprimed + sized before loading.

 

It's a consequence of wanting a dedicated depriming setup, and finding our that 9mm runs pretty reliably on a 40sw 1050, as long as you don't need to swage.

 

Now that I've moved to Arizona from Houston, I plan to take advantage of the low humidity to wet tumble brass before depriming because I can air dry it. I wasn't willing to wet tumble in Houston because it would take too long to dry naturally and I didn't want to buy a dehumidifier.

[Johnnymazz]

Belus you just needed a case dryer. Does 1,000 cases of 9mm, bone dry in 1.5 hours

[Cuz]

What is all the fuss about wet tumbling?  Is it really much better than corn cob tumbling?  Sounds messy, how do you even do it?  How big a batch of brass can you do at a time?

 

theres probably a whole discussion here already I should go look for….

[warpspeed]

2 hours ago, Cuz said:

What is all the fuss about wet tumbling?  Is it really much better than corn cob tumbling?  Sounds messy, how do you even do it?  How big a batch of brass can you do at a time?

 

theres probably a whole discussion here already I should go look for….

 

In short, since it is done after decaping, the primer pockets are cleaned as is the inside.  I've done it for my bolt gun stuff ( 6 CM,  6 GT, etc ) but not 223 or 9mm. 

 

The brass can come out looking like new. 

[Cuz]

6 hours ago, warpspeed said:

 

In short, since it is done after decaping, the primer pockets are cleaned as is the inside.  I've done it for my bolt gun stuff ( 6 CM,  6 GT, etc ) but not 223 or 9mm. 

 

The brass can come out looking like new. 

Thanks, I did some digging after I posted, and I don’t think it’s for me. I only load pistol calibers, and 90% of that is 9mm. I never cared what my brass looked like, as long as it functioned flawlessly. I will stick with dry tumbling for now at least. 
 

[Boomstick303]

On 7/7/2021 at 12:04 PM, 2tuf4u said:

dedicated RL1050

 

"Dedicated" meaning the RL1050 only processes brass?

[MikeyScuba]

I FART with just soap and lemi.  Then I rollsize to make life easier on the press and autodrive.  I then decap and size and FART again with brass juice and pins.  I let the brass sit on a dry towel both times and run my fingers through listening for cracked or wrong sized cases that snuck in.

Super clean shiny brass.

[Ben53]

I run my fired brass/range pick-up through a Lee APP to deprime only.  Same set-up works for both 9mm and .40 S&W, just have to adjust the height of the case feed.  Then a trip through the FART with SS media, separate and dry in dehydrator.  This takes very little time.  Then light lube with something like One-Shot (I use a homemade version) and sizing, priming, etc. is all done on the press.  Light lube doesn't even need to be removed.  It's fast and keeps my brass and press very clean.

[Farmer]

5 hours ago, Ben53 said:

I run my fired brass/range pick-up through a Lee APP to deprime only.  Same set-up works for both 9mm and .40 S&W, just have to adjust the height of the case feed.  Then a trip through the FART with SS media, separate and dry in dehydrator.  This takes very little time.  Then light lube with something like One-Shot (I use a homemade version) and sizing, priming, etc. is all done on the press.  Light lube doesn't even need to be removed.  It's fast and keeps my brass and press very clean.

I do pretty much the same. If the brass isn’t too dirty I’ll size and de-prime in the APP, and then wash-n-dry, sort, then either store it or load. Makes it like loading new brass. Depending on time and how dirty it is I may give it a quick run with corncob before processing through the APP. I just like trying to keep ahead so when it’s time to load everything is clean and sorted. Sometimes it doesn’t happen. 

[2tuf4u]

6 hours ago, Boomstick303 said:

 

"Dedicated" meaning the RL1050 only processes brass?

Correct--I have 2 RL 1050's set up to process pistol and rifle brass. Both machines are Mark 7 automated and run at 1200-1500 rph--clutch set at 1,  decap sensor " ON "

[Sigarmsp226]

After sorting my brass using an old Frankfort Arsenal vibratory cleaner mounted to a 5 gallon bucket and the plastic colored brass sorting trays (turn it on and let the vibratory unit do the rest) - I wet tumble my dirty range pick up brass in a Harbor Freight Electric Concrete Mixer using a per-measured amount of water, Simply Green, and Armor All Ultra Shine Wash and Wax (the wax makes the brass come out with a “slick” coating) along with 15lbs of SS pins…Tumble for 45 - 60 minutes and then rinse (if the brass was real dirty I will run the brass one more time with fresh water, Simply Green, and Armor All Ultra Wash and Wax for another 15-20 minutes).  During the rinse process I allow the mixer to continue to run while allowing the dirty water to be slowly drained out with clean water being added until the water coming out is clean and soap free….Then I separate the brass from the pins using a Dillon Media Separator (with a top on it), towel dry, then George Foreman oven dry using teflon coated cake pans at 200F for 30 minutes if it is not summer time in MS…If it is I have a dedicated drying tray that will hold 1500-2000 pieces of brass and allow to sit in the sun for a couple of hours…..Give the clean brass a light spraying of Hornady One-Shot and then I de-prime, re-size, and load….If it is rifle brass I de-prime and then run brass back through the wet cleaning process to allow the primer pockets to get really clean….

 

Allows me to clean about 3000-4000 pieces of pistol brass or about 1000-1500 pieces of rifle brass at a time….I only do it when the wife is going shopping or running errands because it makes a heck of a racket while tumbling…..I do have a Rebel 17 unit for smaller batch sizes…..Mark

Edited July 14, 2021 by Sigarmsp226

[ddc]

12 hours ago, Cuz said:

Thanks, I did some digging after I posted, and I don’t think it’s for me. I only load pistol calibers, and 90% of that is 9mm. I never cared what my brass looked like, as long as it functioned flawlessly. I will stick with dry tumbling for now at least. 
 

 

I'm in a very similar situation and went back to dry tumbling after experimenting with wet for awhile. 

I can be OCD about certain things but shiny used brass isn't one of them. 

They have both been proven to work so it's whichever one meets a persons needs the best.

[SJBriggs]

9 hours ago, Ben53 said:

I run my fired brass/range pick-up through a Lee APP to deprime only.  Same set-up works for both 9mm and .40 S&W, just have to adjust the height of the case feed.  Then a trip through the FART with SS media, separate and dry in dehydrator.  This takes very little time.  Then light lube with something like One-Shot (I use a homemade version) and sizing, priming, etc. is all done on the press.  Light lube doesn't even need to be removed.  It's fast and keeps my brass and press very clean.

 

Same here. I discovered that my XL750 seats primers much better using brass that has clean primer pockets. Dry tumbling doesn't do anything to get my primer pockets clean, so I first de-prime my dirty brass on a Lee APP that I've hooked up to my case feeder. After that, I wet tumble the de-primed brass with steel pins, Lemi, and car wash/wax. After the brass dries off in the California sun, I'm able to size, prime and load the clean brass in one pass through my XL750. I try to get things done with the minimal amount of steps so I can spend my time doing something more productive. That said, I do plan on getting a Rollsizer to deal with all the Glocked brass that I load.

[Sigarmsp226]

S J Briggs - Your comments are interesting to me. I am going to de-prime 100 pieces of 9mm brass, wet clean (to get those primer pockets spotless) and then load to see if the primer insertion/seating is significantly easier vs. a dirty primer pocket…Thanks for sharing your process….Mark 

[George16]

13 minutes ago, Sigarmsp226 said:

S J Briggs - Your comments are interesting to me. I am going to de-prime 100 pieces of 9mm brass, wet clean (to get those primer pockets spotless) and then load to see if the primer insertion/seating is significantly easier vs. a dirty primer pocket…Thanks for sharing your process….Mark 

If you have the 1050/1100 or another brand of progressive press with swaging capability, it’s a non-issue re easier seating of primers. The Swage station (as long as it’s setup properly) will swage the primer pocket making it easier to properly seat the primers. The swage bar tip radius’s the primer pocket to guide the primer into the pocket and making it easier for seating.

 

Edit- it makes sense on a 650/750 because it doesn’t have a swaging capability.

Edited July 15, 2021 by George16

[Johnnymazz]

23 hours ago, Cuz said:

What is all the fuss about wet tumbling?  Is it really much better than corn cob tumbling?  Sounds messy, how do you even do it?  How big a batch of brass can you do at a time?

 

theres probably a whole discussion here already I should go look for….

The tolorences are super tight on the RL1100. If you get one little piece of corn cobb fall into the primer bar system it will get jammed up or not prime a case. Also it keeps the loading machine nice and clean. Thats why Im running ther Cp2000 and the RL1100. Once Dillon comes out with their version of the Ammobot drive system. Im going to get another full automated RL1100. Dedicated machine just to prime cases. 

[Johnnymazz]

On 7/13/2021 at 9:00 PM, Cuz said:

What is all the fuss about wet tumbling?  Is it really much better than corn cob tumbling?  Sounds messy, how do you even do it?  How big a batch of brass can you do at a time?

 

theres probably a whole discussion here already I should go look for….

If you wet clean the cases, make sure to use some sort of lube when loading. Hornady One Shot works great for me, I purchase it by the case

[Johnnymazz]

Basically it all depends on how anal you want to get with clean brass. Im an OCD freak so this makes me happy

[warpspeed]

16 hours ago, Cuz said:

Thanks, I did some digging after I posted, and I don’t think it’s for me. I only load pistol calibers, and 90% of that is 9mm. I never cared what my brass looked like, as long as it functioned flawlessly. I will stick with dry tumbling for now at least. 
 

no problem

 

I'm not super concerned about the appearance just want the brass clean.

[SJBriggs]

1 hour ago, warpspeed said:

no problem

 

I'm not super concerned about the appearance just want the brass clean.

Same here. I haven't noticed any difference in super shiny brass verses brass that has only been wet tumbled, but to each their own. I ALWAYS use One Shot on my clean brass. It makes the press run so much smoother and doesn't hardly take any additional time.

 

3 hours ago, George16 said:

If you have the 1050/1100 or another brand of progressive press with swaging capability, it’s a non-issue re easier seating of primers. The Swage station (as long as it’s setup properly) will swage the primer pocket making it easier to properly seat the primers. The swage bar tip radius’s the primer pocket to guide the primer into the pocket and making it easier for seating.

 

Edit- it makes sense on a 650/750 because it doesn’t have a swaging capability.

I'm not super familiar with the swaging process. If I were to wet tumble my brass without decaping the old primers, would swaging scrape out all the residue that's left behind in the primer pockets after they've been decaped? I'm looking to upgrade my press to a Apex 10 - which has a swaging station - so if I can get away with eliminating a step of the reloading process, then all the better.