Brass Prep Guide

By Blue Ridge Brass LLC

Get cleaner reloads, better accuracy, and longer brass life.

✅ Why Brass Prep Matters

Reloading isn’t just about saving money — it’s about consistency and control. And it all starts with proper brass prep. Whether you’re plinking or shooting for precision, this guide will walk you through essential steps to ensure your brass is clean, safe, and ready to perform. We use a very similar process with our products and our commercial grade machines can produce tight tolerances giving great performance and reliability.

🔧 Step 1: Inspection – What to Keep, What to Toss

Before cleaning, sort your brass by:

• Caliber & Headstamp
• Cracks around neck or base (TOSS!)
• Split necks, heavy corrosion, or bulges (TOSS!)
• Loose primer pockets (TOSS for precision; maybe salvage for plinking)

Pro tip: Use a small flashlight or your resizing die to check for case wall thinning.

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💦 Step 2: Cleaning – Wet vs. Dry Tumbling

Wet Tumbling (most thorough)

• Use stainless steel pins, water, dish soap, & Lemishine is the most popular. Other commercial case washes work well.
• Tumble 2–4 hrs.
• Dry thoroughly in oven or food dehydrator (~150°F).

Dry Tumbling

• Use crushed walnut or corn cob media. The finer the media the higher quality finish you will get
• Add polish for better finish.
• Less mess, but slower and not as deep of a clean.

We use wet tumbling to wash and dry cob with polish for a final finish at Blue Ridge Brass for best results.

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🔩 Step 3: Resizing & Depriming

• Use a full-length sizing die (especially for semi-auto brass).
• Add case lube – necessary, helps with wear on dies and makes everything smoother.
• Deprime at the same time or in a separate step.

Processed brass from BRB comes pre-sized and deprimed — ready to load.

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🧼 Step 4: Trimming & Chamfering

• Measure case length and trim if necessary (usually after 1–2 firings).
• Chamfer & deburr necks after trimming. A must for flat based bullets!
• Uniform primer pockets for better seating.

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📏 Step 5: Final Check

• Run brass through a case gauge. We recommend Sheridan or EGW
• Verify primer pockets are clean and flash holes are clear. Especially for precision loads.
• Organize by lot (especially for match ammo).

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💡 Final Tips

• Keep a log of how many times brass has been fired.
• Anneal every few firings to prolong case life (optional but helpful for rifle brass).
• Store in dry, labeled containers.

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Do you like saving time and increasing your output? Checkout our Ready to load processed brass and Skip ALL of the brass prep!