[Grayrock]

The title pretty much says it all. I have some hulls that are starting to get a little nasty looking due to the black powder substitute I am loading.

[Arkie]

How about this!

You can clean them in a number of ways, including one at a time by hand. The best way is to put the hulls into a pillowcase, secure it, and put them into the washing machine. If you can stand the racket, you can also put them in the dryer on low heat, but it's probably not worth it unless you're going out for dinner. An alternative method of cleaning the hulls is to put them into the dishwasher. Using only the top rack, put one hull over each prong. Don't use the bottom rack because the water pressure from below will send them all over the dishwasher.

Probably do when the wife/girlfriend is away for a while. LOL.

[bobotech]

Man, the kitchen is full of wonderful tools just for the home gunsmith. The washer/dryer combo for hulls, the dishwasher for cleaning all sorts of gun things (black powder guns, hulls, etc), the stove top for boiling water for cosmoline removal, the oven for baking finishes, drying stocks. Oh I could go on!!

The poor wife/girlfriends, if only they knew what we did to their kitchen when they were gone.

[Grayrock]

I soak them in a mix of vinegar, dishwashing soap and water. It softens the soot, but I have some corrosion on some of the older shells. I thought I would need the abrasion of tumbling to make the brass shine and eliminate the corrosion.

[sargenv]

I've tumbled shotshells before and they clean up a little but not really the desired effect I wanted like brass does. The brass head does clean up nicely but the plastic part doesn't really recover too much. It certainly wouldn't hurt the case. A couple hours in the tumbler should clean them up a little. I hope you have a fairly large tumbler otherwise you are going to be doing a lot of batches.

[oldgold]

Laundromat, pillow cases,Tide and a bunch of quarters.

Worked well for trap loads for many years.

[rcmodel]

+1 on the washing machine, as long as they are one-piece plastic hulls.

Don't wash them if they have fiber base wads..

Tumbling them in a polisher is likely to make them look worse.

rcmodel

[scout26]

Also before doing any kind of washing, punch out the old primers.

They tend to sink better in the washer.

Only do this if your SO is NOT home. Hulls in a washing machine make a heck of a racket.