Wet Tumbling after resizing?

[warbird2006]

Is the wet tumbling with stainless media too aggressive for cleaning brass after it was resized?
I like the wet tumbling because it cleans the primer pockets and the cases inside and cleans all the grease from resizing.
Has anyone looked at the brass measurements before and after?
Right now I de-prime, wet tumble, grease, re-size, trim and chamfer, walnut tumble, priming, and seating.

If I could wet thumble after re-size, it would make the process faster.

 

[T-shooter]

Is the wet tumbling with stainless media too aggressive for cleaning brass after it was resized?
I like the wet tumbling because it cleans the primer pockets and the cases inside and cleans all the grease from resizing.
Has anyone looked at the brass measurements before and after?
Right now I de-prime, wet tumble, grease, re-size, trim and chamfer, walnut tumble, priming, and seating.

If I could wet thumble after re-size, it would make the process faster.

I don't know but I'd rather wet tumble first and have clean cases to run through the dies. Maybe just deprime them first before tumbling. Also be aware than the inside of the necks can be too clean causing what some people call "cold welding". You may need to coat the inside of the necks before reloading. I'm experimenting with dry Imperial graphite lubricant but may change to something else. I didn't know I had a problem until I pulled down 100 rounds I had loaded a few months before. About 1 of every 10-15 were stuck, hard enough that I had to smack the press handle to break them loose (using a collet puller). I also tried Hornady case lube inside the necks. This seems to work but there is another problem. When it dries out, it works better than red Loctite. This could potentially happen with a round heat soaking in a hot chamber. I heated a couple dummy rounds with a torch, not extremely hot. My collet puller would not pull them out.

 

[Webster]

Is the wet tumbling with stainless media too aggressive for cleaning brass after it was resized?
I like the wet tumbling because it cleans the primer pockets and the cases inside and cleans all the grease from resizing.
Has anyone looked at the brass measurements before and after?
Right now I de-prime, wet tumble, grease, re-size, trim and chamfer, walnut tumble, priming, and seating.

If I could wet thumble after re-size, it would make the process faster.

Tumbling twice???

 

[Twitchy]

I deprime, wet tumble, anneal, then size/trim/etc. Works just fine for me.

I've never had an issue with the brass changing size. (that I've noticed)

 

[Rsadams]

The saying is to tumble first to keep carbon and dirt out of the die plus if you tumble after doing the brass prep is it not going to ding up the case mouths? Carbon is very hard and will scratch up your polished die and lead to premature wear.. At least that's the way I look at it..

 

[Rsadams]

I don't know but I'd rather wet tumble first and have clean cases to run through the dies. Maybe just deprime them first before tumbling. Also be aware than the inside of the necks can be too clean causing what some people call "cold welding". You may need to coat the inside of the necks before reloading. I'm experimenting with dry Imperial graphite lubricant but may change to something else. I didn't know I had a problem until I pulled down 100 rounds I had loaded a few months before. About 1 of every 10-15 were stuck, hard enough that I had to smack the press handle to break them loose (using a collet puller). I also tried Hornady case lube inside the necks. This seems to work but there is another problem. When it dries out, it works better than red Loctite. This could potentially happen with a round heat soaking in a hot chamber. I heated a couple dummy rounds with a torch, not extremely hot. My collet puller would not pull them out.

Keep us posted on how the imperial works over time... I have been thinking of useing it for some loads I am going to store for a while...

 

[T-shooter]

Keep us posted on how the imperial works over time... I have been thinking of useing it for some loads I am going to store for a while...

Sure will. It's a little messy, or it could just be me. You forget about it, rub your eye, scratch your nose, then look in a mirror later for a surprise. What I want to prevent is any cold welding issues. Hopefully this will cure it. I'm going to break down some ammo I loaded a couple years ago and check it. I never knew this condition existed until I found about 1 of every 10-15 in a box of 100 were stuck in the cases.

 

[Mozella]

My competition cases are carefully collected in a clean towel and come home ready to lube, deprime, size, and trim/chamfer (if necessary). I use a neck bushing very slightly smaller than the desired final diameter. Then I wet SS tumble, dry, and anneal them. After weight sorting I prime them and at the same time insert a precision mandrel into the slightly undersized neck. This step insures that the annealed neck is just the right size and also makes sure it's nice and round in case the neck was dinged or distorted during cleaning and/or handling. After that the brass is never handled as a batch or dumped into a container. It's individually handled when it's charged, placed into loading block, and as the bullet gets seated. In other words, inserting a mandrel late in the process gives me piece of mind about the size and roundness of the necks remaining as perfect as I can make them. Subsequent to that, the brass does not experience any rough handling until the bullet gets seated.

I only clean once, I minimize individual handling, and I don't have to worry about any residual lube on the cases either inside or outside. As far as lube between the case and bullet, I wet Moly coat my bullets more for lubrication during seating and bullet release rather than anything (good or bad) that it might do to my barrel.

 

[divingin]

Personally, I decap, dry tumble, lube, size (full length for scrounged or my AR brass, neck only for bolt), trim and chamfer if necessary, anneal, then wet tumble. I haven't noticed any problems with this though it can be time consuming. Tumbling with the SS pins does not do anything to the neck formation except possibly a bit of deburring should there be anything to deburr.