How clean is clean?

[YoPedro]

Being new to the reloading game, (not lacking in reference material) how clean should my brass be? (.45ACP) I've tumbled my brass with varying results, some batches visibly free of carbon residue throughout the case interior and other batches with 10% to 30% remaining inside.

Is it important to remove compound residue left behind on the case interior? Will that said residue affect powder burn efficiency?

Should primers be removed before cleaning?

 

[HSMITH]

They don't need to be tumbled at all, only cleaned of abrasive contaminants. There is nothing in the firing residue that is abrasive or harmful in any way. You can load and shoot the same cases without ever tumbling them and have every bit as good results as you would have if they were mirror bright and brand new looking.

I do not remove primers before tumbling, cleaning the media out of the primer pockets is a real pain and it will get stuck. It also greatly increases the chances of a squib round as you will probably miss getting the media out of the primer pocket or flash hole eventually.

 

[The Bushmaster]

Aah Me...Good morning HSMITH.... He's right of course. I like clean shinny brass and I use a media that flows through the flash hole and does not get stuck so I tumble for around 15 minutes. Then resize/decap and tumble for around an hour. Sort, prime, store or reload. The carbon inside the case is of no consiquence. You might look into cleaning the primer pockets as some primers will leave enough residue over time to cause a primer seating problem. Just my thoughts...