How do you clean your brass

[Broom_jm]

+2

I remember being laughed at for the corn cob tumbler in the 80's, by people with really ugly brass that would hold their 1911 with one hand and make one hole groups pretty much all the time.

I often don't even clean my revolver brass for 2 or 3 reloadings, and then it is just dry corn cob. My indoor range brass gets tumbled most, but not all the time. Brass that gets picked up out of the sand/dirt gets cleaned before I size them.

I have many friends that retumble the lube off rifle brass after sizing. I do not even do that. I use very little lube and drag a rag across it when I put it in the box.

If having your brass shiny inside is important to you and makes you feel better, it is a good thing to do.

Depending on the quantity of rifle brass I'm loading at the time, I often skip the 2nd tumbling, as well.

 

[shibumiseeker]

I don't know if I'm old, lazy, or just been at this too long to make such a fuss over "clean" brass, but I don't do anywhere NEAR that much work.

For pistol brass, they go in the tumbler for 1-2 hours, then they get reloaded.

For rifle brass, they go in the tumbler for 1-2 hours, get resized/deprimed, back in the tumbler for 30 minutes to remove any lube or residue from resizing...then they get reloaded.

If you want brass that shines so much you can put your lipstick on with it, I guess all that other stuff would work. If you just want to reload the stuff, the above is all that's indicated.

I'm even more lazy than that. If it's just plinking brass and doesn't have mud or grit on it, no cleaning at all before or after. If it's precision rifle or ammo I am going to stash away for a long time then I'll clean it.

+1. 6-8 hours seems like way to long to me

The more the tumbler media has broken down, the longer it takes. New media should do it in an hour or so. Older media will reach a point where is simply will not polish any better no matter how long.

 

[U.S. Patriot]

I use Lyman pre-treated corn cob media. Shiny brass has no affect on accuracy.

 

[Gluemanz28]

Wow I am surprised by the I don't clean brass before running through the dies post. I was taught and am a firm believer that fired brass is abrasive and will damage the dies. The only time I will run unclean brass thru a die is through a universal depriming die since it doesn't come in contact with the case walls.

 

[Walstr]

--DEPRIME FIRST. Tumbling primed cases dumps the lead sulphate compounds into the tumbling media & adds substantially to its toxic contamination.
--Then several hours in vibratory tumbler for normally loaded brass [45-70 or 45LC in my case], but more time if lightly loaded, as there is more blowback & stuff on the cases. I'm standardized on #12/20 Walnut grit size, as this DOES NOT plug primer pockets. If any small pieces get into a flash hole, I now ignore it. The blast from the primer will not, IMHO, be hindered by a tiny piece of grit. As mentioned in many forums elsewhere, a pristine clean interior is totally unnecessary. Experiments have not determined a case interior was dirty or clean based upon interior or exterior ballistics/pressure, etc. Following this advice saved me hundreds of hours prepping cases.
--I've been adding 2 USED clothes drier sheets to help absorb dust/dirt.
--I DO NOT use any polish. The cleaned brass is meant to grab the chamber wall to add its share of resistance to the reaction of a fired round. A slippery case will add, IMHO, undue excessive forces upon the bolt, especially with fully loaded high pressure rounds.

Regards,

Wally

 

[shibumiseeker]

Wow I am surprised by the I don't clean brass before running through the dies post. I was taught and am a firm believer that fired brass is abrasive and will damage the dies. The only time I will run unclean brass thru a die is through a universal depriming die since it doesn't come in contact with the case walls.

A Lee sizing die is like $15. I don't run brass through if it feels like there is any grit, but I also have to say that in 25 years of reloading many tens of thousands of rounds I have yet to have a die damaged from running sooty brass through it. On the off chance that it does happen, I'll buy another. Point in fact in that time period I would have spent more in media and electricity, than the cost of replacement of even a high-end die.

Let me tell you my daily shooting routine: If I am shooting pistol that day, I will take 20 rounds of ammo I have loaded and shoot it. Then I reload it in the same building and set it out for tomorrow. The whole thing, from shooting and reloading, takes 15-20 minutes. I do that most days. Some days I shoot only 5-10 rounds of that batch. When a piece of brass is no longer usable, usually from the base of the brass expanding, it gets scrapped and a new piece gets rotated in. They get 30-40 loadings each in general. With my plinking rifle brass I have 5-10 pieces that I do in the same fashion as I do with the pistol. Some days I shoot both rifle and pistol.

Carbon sooting, much like graphite, is not abrasive and is in fact a lubricant. Point in fact, clay mud is as well, it's just that clay also often carries silica sand along with it. But if the brass is just soot-dirty, it is no more abrasive than clean brass and is probably less so since the polishing compound in the tumbler media is an abrasive and there is always some left on the brass.

 

[Gluemanz28]

A Lee sizing die is like $15. I don't run brass through if it feels like there is any grit, but I also have to say that in 25 years of reloading many tens of thousands of rounds I have yet to have a die damaged from running sooty brass through it. On the off chance that it does happen, I'll buy another. Point in fact in that time period I would have spent more in media and electricity, than the cost of replacement of even a high-end die.

Let me tell you my daily shooting routine: If I am shooting pistol that day, I will take 20 rounds of ammo I have loaded and shoot it. Then I reload it in the same building and set it out for tomorrow. The whole thing, from shooting and reloading, takes 15-20 minutes. I do that most days. Some days I shoot only 5-10 rounds of that batch. When a piece of brass is no longer unusable, usually from the base of the brass expanding, it gets scrapped and a new piece gets rotated in. They get 30-40 loadings each in general. With my plinking rifle brass I have 5-10 pieces that I do in the same fashion as I do with the pistol. Some days I shoot both rifle and pistol.

Carbon sooting, much like graphite, is not abrasive and is in fact a lubricant. Point in fact, clay mud is as well, it's just that clay also often carries silica sand along with it. But if the brass is just soot-dirty, it is no more abrasive than clean brass and is probably less so since the polishing compound in the tumbler media is an abrasive and there is always some left on the brass.

It's hard to debate 25 years of reloading. Since I only have about 2 years and about 15,000 rounds loaded I will just have to believe that you have a proven system that works for you. I have decided to tumble my brass and is part of the routine so I doubt that will change for me though.

Oh by the way I sounds like you have your own indoor range. If so then I am so jealous.

 

[shibumiseeker]

It's hard to debate 25 years of reloading. Since I only have about 2 years and about 15,000 rounds loaded I will just have to believe that you have a proven system that works for you. I have decided to tumble my brass and is part of the routine so I doubt that will change for me though.

Oh by the way I sounds like you have your own indoor range. If so then I am so jealous.

I would never tell someone not to do something that makes them happy as long as it's not dangerous to themselves or others. If clean brass is something that gives you satisfaction then by all means go for it! I just can't be bothered to spend the extra time.

I don't *quite* have an indoor range, I have a dedicated shooting building that downstairs has the gunsafes and ammo storage with a window that looks out on my 50' pistol and 100 yard rifle range, and upstairs is my reloading shack. So I can shoot in any weather or time of day. I have no nearby neighbors to disturb so I am often shooting late at night or early morning.

 

[8th SPS USAF]

I tumble mine in corn cob for about 4 hrs. With a little Dillon case cleaner lq. cap or so.

 

[Coumtryflyer]

I just tried using a capful of nu finish car was today to try to get a little extra shine. I just got about five cases that had media and wax compacted into the interior of the cases in a sludge. I just poured it into the media right before turning on the vibratory tumbler. Does anyone know what I can do differently to avoid this? All I can guess right now is that I need to pour it more sparingly over the top of the corncob media. Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

[guilty1]

I deprime and resize, then into a harbor freight tumbler for a wet tumble with ss pins. I usually then seperate and let the brass dry for a few days. if im in a hurry I will put them outside in the sun for a few hours or in the oven on low, about 150 degrees for an hour.

 

[Broom_jm]

Welcome to INGO, Guilty1.

Where folks lose me with the wet tumbling is your last sentence. If you're in a hurry, you have to wait one hour to a few hours for the cases to dry.

When I'm not in a hurry, I tumble in dry media for maybe 30 minutes and then I'm reloading. Clean is clean and shiny is shiny.

 

[Stschil]

I just tried using a capful of nu finish car was today to try to get a little extra shine. I just got about five cases that had media and wax compacted into the interior of the cases in a sludge. I just poured it into the media right before turning on the vibratory tumbler. Does anyone know what I can do differently to avoid this? All I can guess right now is that I need to pour it more sparingly over the top of the corncob media. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Run your tumbler w/o any brass in it for 15-30 minutes after putting polish. This helps to distribute it throughout the media and reduce wet spots.

 

[Coumtryflyer]

Thanks stschil, I wondered if that may be the solution. I will try it when I get home, I have another few hundred cases to tumble before I reload this weekend.

 

[Expatriated]

I've never cleaned any of my brass ever. I will try to knock mud and grass out of the casing if I see there's some stuck down inside one of them.

I've been thinking about getting a tumbler but after reading threads like these, it seems like people spend 10 hours of cleaning brass for every 1 hour of shooting. Reloading itself takes long enough--- cleaning, recleaning, washing, polishing, drying, etc seems not worth the effort to me.

 

[shibumiseeker]

I've never cleaned any of my brass ever. I will try to knock mud and grass out of the casing if I see there's some stuck down inside one of them.

I've been thinking about getting a tumbler but after reading threads like these, it seems like people spend 10 hours of cleaning brass for every 1 hour of shooting. Reloading itself takes long enough--- cleaning, recleaning, washing, polishing, drying, etc seems not worth the effort to me.

Some people get satisfaction for having shiny stuff. Great for them. Where I draw the line is when they insist I have to share their particular fetish and they look down on people who don't.

Some times I tumble brass, often I don't. Hasn't made one whit of difference either way. When I clean it up to be all nice and shiny it's usually because of a whim that I want to with that particular brass on that particular day. When I'm just shooting and loading and shooting and loading I don't bother. I can load and shoot the same brass 20 times a day.

 

[Ericpwp]

Ooooh shiny! I deprime, ultrasonic, size, trim, tumble the lube off, then reload.

 

[Expatriated]

Some people get satisfaction for having shiny stuff. Great for them. Where I draw the line is when they insist I have to share their particular fetish and they look down on people who don't.

Some times I tumble brass, often I don't. Hasn't made one whit of difference either way. When I clean it up to be all nice and shiny it's usually because of a whim that I want to with that particular brass on that particular day. When I'm just shooting and loading and shooting and loading I don't bother. I can load and shoot the same brass 20 times a day.

I pretty much agree with you. I see reloading as a necessary evil, not as the end goal. I reload so I can shoot, not because I like to reload. I'd prefer to just buy it but it's so much cheaper to reload.

I've got roughly 20,000 pieces of brass that need reloading. I'd be an old man if I had to tumble, wash, dry, polish, dry, buff, wax, and gently kiss each one before I got to shoot it again.

Although I can appreciate someone's nice looking brass