I am just getting into reloading and am confused on the following point:

It is necessary to lube the cases before full length resizing at which time the primer is also expelled from the case. If the cases are going to be tumbled, it would seem this must be done after the resizing to remove the lube. Also, to prevent the tumbling media from sticking in the flash hole which could break the depriming rod.

I am confused because it seems the cases should be tumbled before the resizing process to keep an dirt out of the dies.

Any advice or suggestion in which sequence the lube, resizing and tumbling should be performed?

Glenn

Glenn,
I tumble my brass twice. Once, for a hour or two, to clean up the brass, and again after sizing to remove any case lube. The case lube could be wiped off, but since I lightly lube the inside of the necks, the second cleaning also removes the lube from inside the neck. Excess lube in the neck seems to cause powder sticking in the necks when charging the cases. I usually load 100 to 200 cases at a time, so wiping off the lube would be too time consuming. If you're only doing 20 at a time, you could wipe the lube off after sizing.

Nashcat

I use Hornady One Shot. Which dries after about 10 min. I only tumble once before sizing. The lube will not cause powder to stick and saves lots of time.

I tumble before resizing, I got really tired of picking out the small pieces of media that always get stuck in the flash holes.

I deprime with a universal deprime die, tumble clean, size, then tumble again if lube needs to be removed. Neck expanding, trimming...follows.

If my brass is dirty I give them an hour or so in the tumbler before I resize them.
After I resize I dry off most of the lube, and then give them another hour++ in the tumbler.

Magnar

I neck size only, use 000 or 0000 steel wool to wipe off the powder at the neck of the case and use Imperial sizing wax and the cases stay clean and have lasted over 15 firings. Lapua Brass.

You want clean brass before you run it in a die.

There are lots of approaches to cleaning up brass, but generally you want to clean off the case lube after sizing. I wash my brass in soap/water -- both before sizing and after.

But then I clean out flash holes and primer pockets individually. I clean up necks individually with a cotton swab. This for accurate rifle ammo.

For general plinking ammo for handguns I tumble first and then size. You want clean brass in your dies. Dirty brass wears out dies and can scratch them.