Sortying a MST of range brass I have saved over the years.  Might sell it sorted dirty, or, I remembered I had a hopper and a few gallons of walnut shells up in the loft from when I bought some gear before my kids came along.  I never got into reloading, Just had a deal come along for a whole setup.

If I have to de-prime first I would have to get out a press and figure out how to set it up and all that, maybe not worth it at this point??

Do people ever de-prime as one of the stages in a progressive press or does that all have to be done before?

Is the brass apt to be worth enough more cleaned than dirty for it to be worth selling?

Thank you

ETA:
Okay,
so for most people w/ PISTOL, they tumble w/ the old primer in place, then simply de-prime, prime & otherwise load on a progressive.  So, it follows that tumbled pistol brass w/ the old primers still in would be worth more money/easier to sell than dirty brass?

But rifle brass tumbled but w/ old primer still in would not really be worth it as most guys like to de-prime the rifle brass and clean out the primer pocket w/ a tool and all that??

Pistol or rifle brass?

Most people start with a tumble to clean, remove dirt, debris, major oxidation, and polish.

Then straight wall pistol rounds are typically loaded immediately.

Bottleneck rifle gets brass prep, inspection, then another tumble to remove sizing lube, clean primer pockets, polish, etc.

Both I guess.   Do you tumble pistol w/ the old primers and rifle de-primed??

I do not intend on loading rifle any time soon b/c I understand there are lots of extra steps and work to it, just straight wall pistol & revolver cases in the foreseeable future, and probably just 9 & maybe 10, & perhaps 327.

Also, here is my tumbler, it has an upper bowl and the main bowl.  How does that work?  


And, why is some of the walnut shells natural color and some green color?

And after you tumble, how do you get the media shells and dust out of the cases?  Like wash w/ water or something?

This is what I do with my brass.

Pistol gets wet tumbled, dried out then loaded on a 650.

Rifle brass gets deprimed and sized, cut to length if needed, tumbled again, inspected then loaded.

Always tumble first before you size to keep from damaging your dies with rifles. If you have a universal decapping die you can do that and then tumble. I had / have one, but I realized it took longer overall due to the extra step.

My method.

For rifle

I load on a single stage Hornady, want to go back to an RCBS Rockchucker

Tumble
resize/deprime
clean pockets ( every time for rifle )
Tumble
trim to length
debur, chamfer in/out
prime ( remove crimp first on once fired crimped brass )
pour powder from powder measure. Believe it or not, a buddy have me his old Lee measure from the early 90s as a temporary measure, but it threw, and still throws within 1-2 tenths low 99% of the time, and has dome it with every powder I've used, around 12 different ones with charges from 23gr to 75gr ( He was loading 7mm Mag ).

Even so I plan to get another ChargeMaster

Check on RCBS 505
add powder
seat

Pistol

I load on an old Lee 3 hole turret press and use the powder disk setup. the old girl's been kicking for 20 years and 100K + and still loads great ammo, although she limps a little now.

Blow out debris or run a paper towel on a pencil inside
resize/deprime/prime
charge with powder
seat/crimp

every two or three loadings I will resize and deprime, clean pockets and tumble

The smaller bowl is for smaller batches of shells.
You need enough media but to much is not all that productive.

The green media has an abrasive added.
It will clean faster.
It can also leave abrasive on the shells.

Green is usually chrome oxide.
It is one of the very finest (small size) particles) of polishing compounds.

Red is iron oxide (AKA 'rouge' and slightly larger particles).
Rouge is also 'softer' than chrome oxide.

Okay,
so for most people w/ PISTOL (straight wall) or revolver , they tumble w/ the old primer in place, then simply de-prime, prime & otherwise load on a progressive.  So, it follows that tumbled pistol brass w/ the old primers still in would be worth more money/easier to sell than dirty brass?

But rifle brass tumbled but w/ old primer still in would not really be worth it as most guys like to de-prime the rifle brass and clean out the primer pocket w/ a tool and all that??

Do you used the green walnut shells first, then again w/ the natural color shells, or v/v?  Dunno, maybe the ones I call natural actually have an rouge in there, not sure.

If you dry tumble, yes, leave the primers in.  But it’s important to deprime BEFORE wet tumbling, because moisture trapped in the fired primer can cause real problems.

When I buy once fired brass, I want it dirty and with the fired primer left in.  This goes for rifle and pistol brass.  Nothing against you, but I don’t trust Joe Brass Seller to have ensured the brass was once fired, or to otherwise have handled the brass properly.

Yes, seeing that this about about selling vs actually loading, I agree that I want dirty brass with primers in them.

Everyone does it different based on their idea of what works for them.

I try to knock primers out (Lee decapping die) soon after returning from the range. I throw the brass in the tumbler with crushed walnut for 3 hours +/- thereafter.

I've found the the primer pockets clean up pretty good if you do this right away. If you wait the carbon dries out and hardens making it tougher to remove.

People who use stainless steel pins should always knock the primers out. The walnut/corn cob crew are in the some do and some don't group.

Handgun ammo probably doesn't matter, especially if it's only going to be used for practice. I think rifle ammo for semi-auto's should always get cleaned primer pockets, but I shoot tournaments or mid range (300 600 yards) and need to trust my ammo.

Thanks Guys.

I guess it is better for me to just sell it dirty w/ primers in.

I might sort it out by head stamp a bit perhaps.  And I might sell nickel 9mm brass separate, I'll probably have a quart or more of that.

Does not cleaning your primer pocket create "untrustworthy" ammo?

There are advantages to tumbling first, and to depriming first.  Tumbling first means there will be less grit wearing your dies, and your primer pocket can get cleaned if you use steel pins rather than media.  Tumbling second means you don't have cases where pins occasionally get stuck in the flash hole, and then grab, or bend your decapping pin.  Also, if you deprime first and use media such as crushed walnut shells, the primer pockets can get compacted media in them, and that would add an extra step of getting the media out of the primer pocket and flash hole.  So, neither method is perfect.

Agreed -

When I use pins, I have to inspect the brass, and remove any pins that might be in the pocket, or flash hole.  I find them in my pocket a lot more, due to the size of the pins that my reloading buddy uses.  (large primer pocket)

When I use cobb, I get pieces in the flash hole, and I get clumps in the pocket (small primer) depending on the age of the media, and the media size.

So I have to inspect it either way.  But I do find the pins generally easier to deal with, and they do a much better job of cleaning inside and out unquestionably.  That doesnt make my ammo any better tho.  Just "feels" nice.

Some people are concerned about carbon buildup in the primer pocket and flash hole affecting primer seating and performance.

If you dry tumble, all you need is an air tank. I used to use one but I don't have it now. Buying another one asap though.

Anyway, after you tumble , simply take the air nozzle and stick it in primer pocket, and give it a quick blast. It will blow any and all media out.

To me, doing everything I can to make each case as consistent with every other case is part of making consistent handloads.  So while I don’t think cases with “dirty” primer pockets are going to make my handloads “untrustworthy,” I do think they won’t be as consistent - and thus not as accurate.

For years, before cleaning primer pockets was a thing.... we used primer pocket uniformers.  (I still do use them on the first loading of non-lapua brass).  It ensured uniform depth, and cleaned them..... if ultimate consistency is your thing both are important.

By saying that cleaning primer pockets make ammo more "trustworthy" that leads one to believe that not cleaning them makes them less trustworthy, which I do not believe there is evidence of.  I am just curious if there is experience that says otherwise.

How close to perfectly matched do you need or want it?

Teasing out the last little bit of accuracy is an almost never ending thing.

A really clean primer pocket is also easier to inspect.  Because I wet tumble, I’ve caught off-center flash holes, cracks, and other flaws that a dirty pocket could have hidden.

I throw all my fired brass into my Frankford Armory Rotary Tumbler with ArmorAll Wash and Wax and Lemishine, dry it, deprime it in the single stage press, throw it in again and add the stainless steel pins, then it gets sized and put into the vibratory tumbler before trimming and chamfering.

I'm dumb and worry I'll screw something up in the single stage if there's something caught in the brass

Yes you can do it.  Just check the flash hole for media stuck in it.  I get that all the time when I do it that way.

My Lee Loadmaster is capable of reloading cleaned brass that has not been deprimed, but I can't stand of the thought of dirty primer pockets, so I set it up with two die holders. First the brass gets a dirt washing/drying before resize/deprime step. That brass is then tumbled/polished. I hand prime/case inspect at that point. After they pass inspection (I look each over under a bright light because I'm anal about that) they go to final loading on the LM.

1. Sort by cases that won’t stick together in the tumbler.
2. Tumble in walnut media, wipe down cases in a pillow case to remove dust.
3. Sort by type.
4. Lube case's to be resized.
5. Resize/deprime cases. I leave the powder die in to shape the case mouth. I use minimal belling. The crimp die then removes the belling. This helps uniform my brass that might have squished or bent case mouths’. Bottle neck cases meet the trim die during this cycle.
6. Tumble in corn husk media to remove lube and give a final polish. Wipe down cases to remove dust.
7. Store cases until ready for loading.
8. Loading cycle begins, depriming Pin is present to remove media stuck in flash hole.
9. Completed rounds are case gauged and checked for damage and properly seated primers.
10. Shoot them, then start over.