Cruddy range brass

[Joemidd]

A Teenage worker at my club gave me 2 five gallon buckets of miltary 308 brass and 3 buckets of 5.56 brass for loading him some 22-250. This stuff is very dirty. I seen where someone used mineral spirts added to the media when cleaning, would it help to soak the brass in mineral spirts for a couple of days before tumbling. What if any damage could be done by soaking before tumbling? This is gonna take a while in my little lyman 600.

 

[yesterdaysyouth]

first throw it in a pillow case, toss in the washer, and wash like it was a load of pants....

then put it in the tumbler, add some polish if you like...

if you don't know ....
military brass has crimped primer pockets, which must be removed...

 

[stans]

Seems to me.... wait, yes, some foreign 308 brass (7.62x51mm) is Berdan primed, so make sure you aren't trying to use such brass. I had a bunch of this stuff, bought some M-60 links and cheap FMJ bullets and made up 100 rounds of spiffy military looking display dummy ammo.

 

[Joemidd]

After sorting some of the brass most of it is berdan primed. So I got about 150 rounds of good brass. Some of the brass mas markings like it was fired in a "fluted chamber?" Or dose anyone have a better opion.

 

[stans]

It probably was a fluted chamber, by H&K. The flutes increase the drag on the fired case and the bolt tries to extract the round, this slows down the process and allows chamber pressure to drop before the gun unlocks. The brass us usually reloadable, but might look funny with the dark lines.

 

[Joemidd]

So soaking the brass in a bucket of mineral sprits overnight is a bad idea?