Cleaning BP Cartridges

[Cosmoline]

I just got through cleaning up some used .50-70 brass and I noticed that my usual smokeless liquid cleaner (in a thumbler) cleaned the outside of the brass shiny, but left quite a bit of soot inside the shells. I suspect I'm using the wrong cleaner for black powder. Should I be tumbling these with just soap and water? I can't find any consensus in searching this point, and not many seem to do wet tumbles in the first place.

 

[GCBurner]

A gunsmith I know recommended taking a plastic milk bottle half full of water with a squirt of dishwashing detergent when I go to the range, and dropping the BP or Pyrodex cases in right after they're fired. Shake the jug up for a minute or two when you get home to loosen up any powder residue, dump them in a colander in the sink, and rinse them inside and out with hot water. When they dry, they'll be ready to run through the case tumbler, if they need it.

 

[scrat]

what ever you do. you need to clean them right away. the brass corodes fast. Like mentioned i take a coffee can with soap and water. then dump my brass in there and shake them like crazy. Then when i get home i tumble them. Then even after that i will take a brush through each of the cases and clean the primer pockets and flash holes as well. That black powder can do a lot of harm to the cases if not cleaned right away.

 

[arcticap]

Industrial Corn Cob Polishing Media

I have some size small industrial corn cob polishing media available. It's quite hard with very sharp edges. I wonder if tumbling your brass with it would help to solve the problem?
If anyone is interested in some send me a PM.

 

[Cosmoline]

I keep seeing the soap reference. That's what I use for the barrels so that makes sense. Easier to deal with too. I'll give it a try. I'm also thinking about adding a stainless media to the water.

 

[SAA]

The drive home isn't going to ruin your brass unless you have a looooong ways to drive on a humid day. Sometimes I forget the jar of soapy water, and the brass cleans fine when I get home.

Also, once the brass has been washed, the salts and acids or gone and the soot inside is no longer corrosive. I never tumble my brass or brush the insides. I only clean the primer pockets, same as I do all my brass.

 

[Pyro]

Bring a jug of soapy water with you.
After you shoot the cartridges just toss em' right in.
When ya get home give it a shake or two.

 

[rdstrain49]

Yep, what they said, soap and water at the range. I do go one step farther, I de-prime at the range with a Lyman 310 tong tool. The idea is that the soap and water will get to the primer pocket a little better. Don't really know if it is a big deal, but it seems to work for me.

 

[TomADC]

I always put mine in soapy water then into the media but I'm thinking real hard on trying this stuff. Only works with rotary tumblers though
http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com/

 

[Foto Joe]

I've tried several different methods but the soap and water seems to do the trick. The inside of the brass is NEVER gonna polish up like the outside unless you start using ceramic media and I've got issues running brass through my dies after the brass has been in ceramic media.

One thing that I've tried which I picked up here on THR was vinegar as a neutralizer. About a 25% solution of white vinegar and hot water, then rinse good and let dry. I wasn't overly impressed with this method. The vinegar trick seems to discolor the brass and that discoloration takes longer to tumble off.

Basically I use Dawn dish soap in a HOT water soak. Then I use a baby bottle nipple brush to brush out then inards then dry over nite before tumbling in corn cob blasting media with a couple of capfuls of Nu-Finish auto polish. All this is done with the primers in place. I've never had an issue with primer pockets getting too fouled up but it may just be a matter of time before that bites me in the rear end, you never know.

As with most of our practices, what ever works for you is probably what is going to be right for your particular set of circumstances.

 

[Cosmoline]

Thanks for that input--I was wondering about vinegar.

One thought is to simply treat these like little bottles and scrub out the inside with a brush in the sink. There are nowhere near as many to deal with from a single shot rifle as you'd get from a modern smokeless firearm. At least for now ;-)

 

[Malamute]

I loaded 45-70 and 44 spl shells with black back in the 80's. I'd toss the shells in a pan of water and simmer them gently on the stove for a little while, then dump them out on a towel to dry. That's all I ever did, never had a tumbler. I still use some of that brass, after I quit loading black I had a friend with a tumbler clean them, but that was in the 80's also. They seem fine. Some had dark crud inside, but it hasn't hurt so far as I can tell. I think the darkest ones were rounds I shot and didn't clean right away, like when camping.


I've found black powder shells laying on the ground that have most likely been there most of 100 years or so and they weren't corroded away. I doubt brass would be seriously damaged if you didn't clean it at all and kept shooting it.

I think most of our desire to keep brass looking like new is cosmetic more than practical. I didn't have any way to clean brass other than a rag for most of the time I've been reloading and it hasn't ever casued any trouble that I'm aware of. I sort of liked the way the brass discolored over time. Seems today folks feel their brass is damaged or inferior if it doesnt look like new all the time. The rag cleaned grit and dirt off, I've never had dies scratched from not cleaning brass.