How do you clean your brass??

[Viking357]

I am curious as to how everyone cleans their brass. I do not deprime before I clean, I wet tumble mine and then deprime. I use Dawn and Lemonshine and tumble for about and hour and that's about it. How important are clean primer pockets to you?

 

[ColtPythonElite]

Corn cob, car polish, and a tumbler. Clean with primers in. I have brass I have been using nearly 30 years. Dirty primer pockets never caused any trouble.

 

[375supermag]

Hi...
I tumble and then de prime and resize.
I then clean the primer pockets if I feel like it...sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. Can't see any difference with handgun brass.
I do usually clean the primer pockets on rifle brass.

I did clean my brass with hot water, Dawn dishwashing liquid and Lemi shine but didn't really think it was worth the effort.

 

[JimGun]

I use a few drops of Cabela's brass cleaner in corn cob media and tumble for fifteen minutes, then put my brass in and then tumble for about an hour. This makes the outside look like new, but the inside still looks dirty. I then put them through my Hornaday Sonic Cleaner using an ounce of One Shot. The highest processing time that can be set on the Sonic Cleaner is 8 minutes. I do this three times. So far I have not deprimed before I clean, being concerned that after they go through the cleaning process they need to be resized. I would like to hear some feed back on that.

 

[Whiterook808]

I decap, then dry tumble with Nu Finish in a mix of walnut shell and corncob. I like to decap first because all the loose crud is removed from even the small primer pockets, and I don't like getting that stuff into the crevices of my reloading presses. I decap only with a hand tool, so I do it while watching TV and enjoying an adult beverage.

 

[Demi-human]

How important are clean primer pockets to you?

Very.

I wet tumble because after four or five cycles I was having trouble seating Winchester primers into Fourty Five Auto cases.
I abhor doing anything manually when a machine could do it for me.

I am unconcerned with case mouth peening on rifle brass, as they are run the full gambit on every cycle.
I am unconcerned with mouth peening on pistol brass, as I am a non crimper.

However, I AM concerned with peening on my Fifty A.E. brass. I think a slower and less aggressive tumbler container is in order. I shoot this farther than any other pistol and I am thinking that it matters on launch. Definitely on seating and crimp setting.

The Eagle, my favorite and most enigmatic pistola...

 

[2011redrider]

I wet tumble, decap first, cleans the pockets whether needed or not and they dry much quicker with the primers gone. Dont use dawn as it cleans too good and the cases stick a bit on the expander dies. I use Armorall Wash n Wax, as it leaves a cb bit of wax behind that helps with expanding, also keeps the cases from tarnishing. Use the .047 pins as they dont jam up un the pocket holes like the ones that came with the tumbler.

 

[Axis II]

I wet tumble. I got tired of the dirt and dust from dry tumbling. I use a lee universal de-capping die and de-prime rifle only and wet tumble, rinse, dry, load. Pistol brass doesn't get de-primed, just cleaned.

 

[forty_caliber]

De-prime both rifle and pistol and wet tumble with SS pins, hot water, tide pod, and Lemishine. Produces outstanding results. Dry in dehydrator.

.40

 

[Blue68f100]

For rifle brass, I deprime first using a universal deprimer die before wet tumbling. Use Armoral W&W and LimiShine. For pistol ammo that is bulked loaded in my AP press, I use a corncob in a vibrating tumbler. These are then fed straight into the brass feeder and off to the races. Every so often I will do wet clean which I deprime before the cleaning.

 

[murf]

after I prep my cases, I wash them in dawn dishwashing liquid and very hot water.

murf

 

[LiveLife]

How important are clean primer pockets to you?

For pistol cases, not much.

For rifle cases, I prefer to inspect the primer pocket, swage if still has military crimp, clean primer pocket as necessary.

 

[Azul69]

Corn cob media, nu finish, tumble for 2 hrs. Then i decap, and hand clean primer pockets. I do this because I mainly reload .223 and some of it are military cases with a crimp that I need to remove.

 

[Legionnaire]

My rifle brass prep routine:

Decap
Wet tumble and allow to dry
Inspect
Anneal (every firing on Ackley Improved cases, every two or three for other rifle brass)
Size (neck mostly, FL if required)
Dry tumble to remove any remaining lube
Check length, trim (and chamfer) if necessary

 

[PWC]

Check the reloading forum; this subject has been beaten to death on many sites and forums. If there is a specific question not covered in the general "How tos...", but best to review the general info first. You will be inundated with opinions for your multiple choice.

 

[Reloadron]

Vibratory tumbler normally using walnut media. When I want shiny and pretty I use the softer corn cob media and add some polish midpoint. Just choose whatever works for you.

Ron

 

[Demi-human]

New opinions are better than old opinions, even if they are the same.

Some like research, some like interaction...

Me? I like to talk. Especially on a handloading forum. Everyone knows there is a search function. They probably used one to find this wonderful site...

Just because a horse is dead, doesn't mean it can't still be beaten.

 

[lightman]

I deprime and wet tumble. I still have my Dillon machines and occasionally tumble in corncob to remove case lube.

If the brass is really dirty or muddy I'll put it in a plastic jug with some LemiShine and Dawn and give it a shake every so often. Kind of a pre wash.

 

[Allen One1]

De-prime both rifle and pistol and wet tumble with SS pins.

 

[Highland Lofts]

I pick uo a lot of range brass, i tumble it in either old corn cob or wallnut hulls then deprime it and then retumble it agsin in clean media.
I know it is s pita with the media getting dtuck in the flash hole, but with a cheap little pick from hsrbor frieght I cleen the primer pockets and inspect the cases before going any farther.

My own shot cases I will generally shot them twice then remove primers and dry tumble, remove media from primer pockets, inspect them, hit the primer pockets with the lyman primer pocket tool the load them up.
I enjoy my time up in my gun room and will down some Buds when I do this kind of stuff.

 

[Wreck-n-Crew]

For my precision rifle loads I deprime before tumbling. Everything else I don't feel the need to.

 

[sparkyv]

I sonicate with 1tsp citric acid (like the Lemishine) and 10 drops Dawn in 2.5L water before depriming. Takes less than 20 minutes for a full load. Air dry in the hot Texas sun. I clean out the primer pockets in rifle cases after cleaning and resizing, never on pistol brass.

 

[Prowler53]

deprimed wet tumble with stainless pins, lemishine, any car wash and wax. Seems to work well for me.

 

[cw308]

I pop the primers first with a universal de capping die then wet tumble for two hours , brass looks like new inside and out .

 

[tightgroup tiger]

How important are clean primer pockets to you?

It means a lot to me to know my brass is completely clean.
I clean with Lemi-Shine and Dawn in an ultrasonic cleaner. It does get almost all the primer pockets completely clean in about half an hour run time as long as I clean them every time they are shot.
I rinse them in an old cullender then dump them into the other sink with water and some baking soda to neutralize any residue
They look like new when they come out of there.