Case Cleaning

[AZrider]

It's been 35 years since I reloaded. Back then it was my 7x57 Mauser and I cleaned the cases carefully by hand (brass wire brushes etc) and used my RCBS Junior reloading press to do the de-priming and reloading. I used to reload a couple of boxes for deer hunting and so it was more a time to spend some quality time rather than a production effort.

Now I'm shooting combat with a Sig 229 .40 S&W and using a Dillon Square Deal press. The thought of cleaning 500 rounds of pistol brass is pretty daunting and to be honest not what I would like to do by hand. A friend bought a vibratory cleaner with walnut shell particulate and I thought that would do the job. Yesterday I took some brass to his house and we ran it for a couple hours and it sure didn't clean up the casings on the inside as well as I would have expected. :banghead:

I've heard of a couple means of cleaning the brass besides the vibratory method, one is to put them in the dishwasher and run them through that and the other is to put them in a sock and run them through the clothes washing machine.

There must be a bunch of you out there reloading. Please tell me how you clean your cases (maybe you don't?).

Thanks, and Merry Christmas.

AZ

 

[Father Knows Best]

It's pistol ammo. Who cares how clean it is? As long as it doesn't have mud and other crap in/on it, it's fine. I reload thousands of rounds of pistol ammo a year for IDPA and cowboy shooting, and learned a long time ago that cases don't need to be shiney and new-looking to shoot well. I usually just run mine through the vibe cleaner with some crushed walnut for an hour at most, and then load them on the Dillon. I don't deprime first, so they go in the vibe cleaner with the spent primers. That keeps cleaner media from getting caught in the flash hole or pocket. With pistol ammo, there's no need to clean or uniform primer pockets, either. Just take the cases straight from the cleaner to the press. I deprime/size/reprime in station 1, bell and drop power in 2, seat in 3 and crimp in 4. Done.

 

[Firehand]

Walnut or corn media, by itself, will get the crud out but it won't make the case shiny. For that add something like the brass cleaner Midway sells to the media, then run it through. That'll also help do the 'get every dark bit out' cleaning.

I got a SDB a while back, and I like it. I bring the cases back from the range, and give them a few hours to overnight in the tumbler(corn media w/polish), then reload. I generally use the walnut media for pickup brass from the range that needs serious cleaning, then use the corn/polish to shine them up.

I've never tried running cases through the washer, so can't comment on that.

 

[earplug]

I have never owned a case cleaner

I used to load .45 ACP, now I load .38 spl and .44 Mag.
I have carbide dies and have never used a case cleaner. This is over thirty years of reloading.
When I get motivated I clean my primer pockets and run a bunch of muddy cases in the dish washer.
I just load em until the primer get loose or the necks start to split.

 

[AZrider]

Thanks for the replies

Thanks for the replies. I have zero experience with pistol brass and so it's great to know that they don't have to be that clean on the inside. I was concerned about powder residue on the inside of the case building up. I'll purchase a vibratory cleaner and just rely on running them through for a few hours with walnut shells or cornhusk.

I just got back from the range and the new Hogue grips and "short" trigger I installed work great, gun feels and shoots better. The recoil was less but the group was tighter and I like the feel of the grip and my finger now is in better contact.

The reloads are also really solid even though I'm only loading 6 grains of Unique with a 155 grain FMJ. I had a couple of friends fire the pistol (who had fired it before) and they agreed.

Thanks again for the advice.

AZ

 

[Walkalong]

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=198878

I use Franford Arsenal additive in my corncob or walut media and it works great. Brass will be shiny and smooth with no dust. It does not take more than an hour or so.

 

[Liberty4Ever]

I tumble my pistol cases for about three hours with walnut media and some Dillon brass polish. That's not a Dillon recommendation. Others are probably as good, but a little goes a long way and I still haven't used all of the Dillon polish I bought a long time ago. I probably use my walnut media longer than most people. it's very black now and is probably about half burned powder residue.

All you really need to do is make sure there is no dirt or other mineral deposits on the outside of the brass that could scratch your sizing die. I think the burned powder residue on the inside is self-cleaning. It doesn't seem to build up after several reloadings.

Brass doesn't need to be pretty to shoot well, but I like mine to look decent. Tumbling pistol brass is pretty painless. One warning - the primer residue is a lead compound, so be careful not to breathe the dust when tumbling or separating the brass from the tumbling media, and wash your hands thoroughly after handling tumbling media or tumbled brass.

I'm anxious to try the trick I read on THR of adding a used dryer sheet to the tumbling media to absorb all the fine black dust. Sounds great and people say it works very well.

After many years of reloading, I recently realized that even though carbide pistol dies don't need the brass to be lubed, a very little bit of case lube makes things work so much smoother. I can't believe I never did that until recently. I'd never go back to running unlubed cases. I just dump the brass in a Rubbermaid container, spray a tiny bit of case lube on the cases, pop on the lid and swirl the cases to spread the lube evenly. Leave the cases in the container with the lid off overnight, or spread on a baking sheet for an hour to allow the cases to dry. The cases should not have any visible lube on them. A light spritz of case lube is good for a couple of hundred cases. I make my own spray-on case lube by mixing 4 ounces of Lee Case Lube (two tubes) with 16 ounces of 91% isopropyl alcohol in a spray bottle and it works great.

Richard Lee recommends either not polishing rifle brass, or using ScotchBrite (green scrubby pad) after trimming the brass to length, just after chamfering the case neck. That's what I do now and it takes about the same time as tumbling, the brass looks even nicer, and there's no chance of getting tumbling media stuck places it shouldn't be. The ScotchBrite also does a good job of polishing the chamfered case neck so there are no microscopic burrs.

I'm still experimenting with the best and most efficient case prep methods, and I'm still learning after all these years.

 

[cpaspr]

Beware

running your cases through the dishwasher with regular dishwasher detergent. Many contain ammonia, which will harden the brass in your cases.

 

[grendelbane]

Sugar free Kool-Ade has enough citric acid in it to make a pretty decent case cleaner. Or you can buy citric acid in the canning section of your local grocery store. It doesn't take much.

 

[50 Shooter]

Iosso and be done with it.

http://www.iosso.com/MivaStore/merc...&Product_Code=00016&Category_Code=GunCleaning

 

[Babalouie]

I've cleaned over 8k rounds of brass this year...my son and I shoot USPSA. Using a vibratory cleaner with walnut has always taken several hours for really shinny brass. I usually just leave it on overnight. Any liquid car polish will work just fine...lately I've been using NuFinish but I've used turtle wax as well...works just a good as the blue dillion polish. You may not need shiny brass for functioning but it sure looks nice to have that factory shine!

Hornady One Shot spray lube is great stuff...I lay out a few hundred brass on a cookie sheet pan and spray on like I'm using Pam to spray the cookie sheet. Scoop em up and move em around and your ready to go. Its surprising how much easier the press is to operate.

 

[toecutter]

Simple case cleaning:

1 gallon water
1 pint white vinegar
1 cup powdered laundry detergent
1 tablespoon salt

Put in 5 gallon bucket, add brass, shake for a few minutes then wash in clean water.

It gets most of the dust, crud, and even some of the powder/primer residue off. I always hated handling cases that were all covered in crud from the range and this is the best solution I've found.

Quickest way to dry them... Get a cracker or popcorn tin, poke a bunch of holes in the side of it near the bottom. Get a cheap hair dryer, and then cut a hole in top the hair dryer will slip into. dump brass into it, turn on hairdryer, come back later have clean dry brass.

 

[Primersinmyshoe]

I use corncob with some Dillon polish and a few dryer sheets (to keep the dust down). I shoot a lot, so I clean brass by the hundreds. Here's my cleaning station: