So you don't have to spend 45 minutes poking media out of the flash hole with a toothpick.

I'm learning so it's all good.


Rick

Use a de-capping/sizing die as the first op after tumbling and it will poke it out for you.

I de-cap all the time prior to tumbling.
I do however wet tumble now.

Made the mistake of de-capping prior to cleaning in dry media once. Once.

I use crushed walnut to avoid a plugged flash hole.

Yes sir, it is a mistake usually only made once.

I use a finer 20/40 mesh media and it will flow through the flash holes. I always deprime before cleaning when I use the wet SS system.

Besides the explosiveness of a primer will blow any thing out of the way weather you clear it or not.

You also want your brass clean before it goes into your sizing die where most decpping occurs.

I second 20/40 mesh media, I picked up a 40 lbs bag from grainger years back and am only 1/6 through it.

Same here.

quote:

Originally posted by 10-7 leo:
I use crushed walnut to avoid a plugged flash hole.

No the reason you don't recap before tumbling is it defeats most of the reason for tumbling in the first place. Clean brass resizes easier. And it won't matter what media you use, the decapping pin with push it out.

Yeah, but then you lube the cases for sizing, and after they're sized you have to remove the lube. So back into the tumbler they go, where they collect media in the flash holes anyway. Unless you prefer to do the remainder of the reloading steps with slippery cases and then tumble them at the end. Or wipe them clean, which always makes my hands start to cramp after a couple dozen rounds.

The media I use is fine enough that it only sticks in maybe one case in a dozen. So it's quicker to inspect them while I'm dumping media out of them and poke it out with a paper clip or dental pick than to run them all through a universal decapper.

quote:

Yeah, but then you lube the cases for sizing, and after they're sized you have to remove the lube. So back into the tumbler they go, where they collect media in the flash holes anyway. Unless you prefer to do the remainder of the reloading steps with slippery cases and then tumble them at the end. Or wipe them clean, which always makes my hands start to cramp after a couple dozen rounds.

If you use Oneshot, they can be left as is or if you must, just dump 500rds into an old towel & roll them around.

quote:

And it won't matter what media you use, the decapping pin with push it out.

Well, yes, and no.
I read about some stuff that you can get that is commonly called 'Lizard Litter'. It is larger than most other common media but it was supposed to be cheaper and work really well.
It worked fine with pistol cal brass, and seemed to be more aggressive than walnut or corn cob.
Then, I ran some .223 one day. I put it in the tumbler for a couple of hours, dumped it into the rotating separator, gave it few cranks in each direction, and then dumped the brass into a container.
I pulled a couple out to examine them and thought that I saw something fall out of the neck. It turned out that, because of it's size and shape, the 'Lizard Litter' was getting into the brass but would often get jammed up in the neck and could not get back out.
I had to use a small wire to coax the 'Lizard Litter' out of 100+ cases, one at a time.
So, in this case, with this media, the universal de-capping die would not have cleaned out the flash holes as it would have any other time.

Now I tumble the .223 with either walnut or corn cob, lube them with One Shot, do a quick visual on each, run them through a Small Base die to size and de-cap them, use a case guage to check for length and fit, load them in the Dillon, and then either wipe them off, or tumble the finished rounds in the 'Lizard Litter' for a short time to remove the One Shot. Finished pistol rounds get the same treatment.

De-capping in a single stage press also keeps the spent primers, and associated detritus, away from the 550 where they can be a nuisance.

I like to have the primer "hole" clean as well as the inside/outside of the case. What I do is to deprime the fired case with a simple single stage press. Sort WIN, F.C., Blazer and so forth into about 1500 round lots (or fewer). . . .and then tumble with water, some powdered stuff, two drops of liquid soap, and SS pins for up to three hours. wash with water, dry and see bright clean cases including primer pocket.

I don't worry about the flash hole or primer pocket. Use walnut media with a little dishwashing soap or liquid car polish and no need to lube.

Wish one of you would load a few rounds with walnut litter in the fire holes and a few with out. then range time. Would be nice to know. I just load 223 on a progressive press and have a decapper pin to clear the hole.