I am at the end of the 500 pieces of Starline brass I got for Christmas, down to 99 cases to be exact. I am going to be needing a case cleaner pretty soon, but I also have some general questions about case prep. One question I do have is regarding leaving spent primers in or taking them out. Right now I do not have a separate depriming station, as there is one on my Square Deal B press. On pistol cases, it is really necessary to remove the primer before cleaning the case? Do I need to get primer pocket cleaners right off the bat if this will only be the second time these cases are loaded? On pistol cases is getting case lube necessary for sizing them on the press I am using?

You want to clean the cases before reloading.  If you dry tumble there is no need to deprime before tumbling.  There is no need to clean the primer pockets, the crud is self-limiting.  If you wet tumble it is advisable to deprime first.

People will tell you that you do not need to lube if you have a carbide die.  Try it both ways and see which way you like better.  If you lube the cases a tumble in dry media after loading will clean the lube off.

My routine is to deprime using a Lee Universal Decapping die.  The die will deprime most any common (boxer primed) caliber and does NOT size brass.  I then tumble cases for about an hour in untreated crushed walnut hulls to clean the cases before sizing to be kind to my sizing dies.  An additional advantage of this sequence is that your primer pockets get cleaned at least a little.  If your pockets are particularly grimmey, you can give them a swipe with a pocket cleaner or pocket uniformer to degunk them before tumbling.

As a general rule, straight walled pistol carbide dies do not require the use of lube for sizing.  Having said that, I use a light spritz with the ISA/Liquid lanolin lube described in this forum (LINK).

My last step before priming is a final tumble in untreat walnut hulls to remove any lube and give the cases a final cleaning (In my limited experience, the lube seems to act like a gentle cleaner in a dry tumbler).  After this tumble it's prime, charge, seat, box...  and shoot the ammo!

Good luck,

- R -

P.S.: ernief and I were typing replies at the same time...  He is right in that you don't need to deprime before tumbling and you don't need to clean primer pockets at all (for pistol)!!!  I think of most common pistol ammunition as crude so serious precision is NOT necessary.  Having said that, I still sort pistol brass by headstamp and my pistol batches all contain cases with the same headstamp.  My routine got to be the way it is from OCD rifle reloading for "precision" applications.

It's rare to find a post that is short, to the point and basically lacks nothing. All I can do is second this.

Motor

I didn't clean primer pockets on pistol brass for well over 20 years. Just deprimed at the same time as sizing the case, but I always cleaned the brass first.

If you don't have a tumbler, just use a bucket with water, liquid soap and lemishine or water softener cleaner (both have citric acid which removes tarnish from brass).... throw the brass in and mix by hand wearing a rubber glove and let sit for a day. Mix some more and rinse with clean water and dry. They come out looking pretty good.

I did this before getting a wet tumbler, but used an acidic chemical used for cleaning medical equipment instead of Lemishine/water softener cleaner.

I was mainly looking at getting the hornady 2 liter ultra sonic cleaner, that way it could pull double duty for cleaning my 45 and 22 can. Do I need to look at a tumbler instead?

Just an opinion:

Dry tumbling is less involved. No solution to take of and no case drying. I don't know how well the ultrasonic cleaners actually clean brass. The wet tumblers that use a media like SS pins do an excellent job of cleaning but I don't know if you would want to put your can in one.

That being said I don't know if you put a can in a dry vibratory tumbler either or how well it may work to clean it.

I dry tumble only because I'm satisfied with the results and have this "thing" about water in casings. I could see having both but definitely not wet only.

As I said at the top. Just my opinion.

Motor

I'm not a fan of wet tumbling. Way too much work and mess for no gain. Your cases need to be free of crud, not shiny-new. (this is coming from a guy who's carry guns all look like a ratty, dog-eared well thumbed book so take it for what's its worth. Zip. Bupkus. Nada.)

Primer pockets don't need cleaning. If it floats yer boat, don't let me stop ya.

Corn cob and Dillon polish is what I like.

Dillon lube. Period. Exclamation point. 9-45ACP I don't lube with carbide dies. 44M-45LC I do lube. Makes it easier to run the press. Rifle calibers definitely lube.

Dry CLEAN media after to remove lube. An hour or so it all.

I ummmm.......don't think you should clean your suppressors in a dry media tumbler unless it disassembles. I say this only as a public service announcement because I seen me an HK suppressor cleaned in a solvent tank with FLAMMABLE solvent. Apparently there was some residue inside when the first round went downrange. Nice fire ring but it wasn't a suppressor no mo...... Corn cob probably ain't gonna hurt anything except it smells like popcorn when you shoot it (says the guy who uses corn cob for some of his black powder loads but you'll never shake all that crap out of the can unless you take it apart......

I was just going to leave the cases out to dry or run them under a hair dryer for a few minutes. It's what I've been doing with my baffles. I just don't want to deal with the dust mainly. Not that I am clean freak, I just don't like cleaning up dust or having to sift through media. I'm not worried about getting the cases spotless, just cleaned enough to be serviceable, like my suppressor baffles. I dont think lead and crud thats been caked on would come off easily in a tumbler either.

Most guys that dry tumble complain about the dust.  A little trick is save your used dryer sheets.  Cut them into 1" strips, and add 4-6 of them to the bowl before putting the lid on.  This not only captures the dust, but it also captures any of the media that gets grated up to dust and the crud that comes off the cases.

Another trick with the used dryer sheet is rubber band one to the outside of your powder hopper if you have a static problem.  The sheet will keep static electricity from building up on the plastic hopper, causing the powder to "stick" to the walls.

Huh. I never considered putting a dryer sheet on the powder hopper. Good suggestion. I think I’m just gonna go with a ultra sonic cleaner in the end. It’d be easer too when I move into my new apartment. Appreciate the suggestions folks.