Quote History Originally Posted By Effenpig:
The part in red is debatable and the part in blue is impossible
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Over the past 30 years I've done it both ways... without cleaning brass before sizing and cleaning first.
I could feel the difference in how cleaned brass fed smoother through the single stage press compared to uncleaned brass. I use steel dies with pistol brass and always lube the cases.
I don't have to lube as much with clean brass either and could skip lubing a case every so often as there is enough lube on the die for the un-lubed case to feed easily. Couldn't do that when I was not cleaning brass before sizing.
Steel dies do wear... and dirt and debris act as an abrasive to speed the process. Carbide dies not as much.
Now I wet tumble after decapping, then dry tumble with some nufinish added to the media. Lubing the case is still done but sparingly since it's even smoother through the sizing die.
I now feed 40sw and 45 through a push though sizer after the sizing die to remove any bulge at the base. That can take a lot of force on the handle sometimes. I've never tried uncleaned brass through the push through die, but I can imagine it would be even more difficult to press through because of added resistance.