Silly Range Pickup question

[Hondo 60]

I was at the range today & picked up 100 or so 9mm cases.
Some of them have mud caked inside.

For those of you who regularly pick up range brass, can those be tumbled as is, or do I need to clean the mud out?

I know, it's a noob question, but I always shoot my semi-autos on a concrete floor so its easy to pick up.
This time we went to a different range.

 

[oneounceload]

Wash them, dry them, tumble them clean

 

[jcwit]

I ALWAYS clean the sand/mud and whatever out of the cases I pick up before I tumble them. I don't want that stuff in my media.

What I usually do is wash them in water, then let them dry, then deprime, then resize, then tumble.

 

[Walkalong]

You can use water, but I brush them before tumbling. I use a centrifuge I modded that a doctors office tossed out.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=596052

 

[Hondo 60]

OK - clean 'em before tumbling.
Thanks

 

[GLOOB]

I wash 'em, and tumble 'em. Tumbling takes care of the drying part.

 

[jcwit]

I wash 'em, and tumble 'em. Tumbling takes care of the drying part.

Tried that years and years ago and ended up with a mud made from ground corn cob and water inside the cases. But then YMMV

 

[nosmr2]

As cheap as 9mm cases are, I would toss them or stick them in the recycle pile. Time is money.

 

[1SOW]

I picked up over 500 9mm cases today at the range .
"Almost 350 were WIN"!! Many were packed with mud and fine rock from recent rains.

I "always" blast them in a two-gallon bucket using the garden hose with a nozzle on the "stun" setting.
They are already wet, so I throw them in a coffee container with laundry soap and a little white vinegar for 15 minutes.
Then I blast them gain with the hose and let them dry.

Clean inside and out, could be reloaded as-is. No dirt/crud/rock in the tumbler or press. Tumbler media has very little "dust" and lasts a loooong time.

Just the way I like to do it.

 

[Certaindeaf]

As cheap as 9mm cases are, I would toss them or stick them in the recycle pile. Time is money.

Werd. Get you some new ones and then find some conctreto for them to land upon is the way to go!. so you can then pin polish and all sorts of fluffingdom?

Warsh em with a garden hose and.. anyway, nevermind.

 

[1SOW]

As cheap as 9mm cases are, I would toss them or stick them in the recycle pile. Time is money.

How "cheap" are yours?

I shoot an avg of 275/week with just one pistol. In that pistol, I prefer WIN cases, so that's what I use 100%. The others don't get shot as much. How much would it cost me?
It costs me the water, soap and vinegar/300-500cases.

 

[jcwit]

As cheap as 9mm cases are, I would toss them or stick them in the recycle pile. Time is money.

This is true, but only when I'm working, which isn't often anymore. Do I count my time while I eat, sleep, go to the County Fair, ect., ect. This is a hobby and is ment to be enjoyed with no thought of time or money while participating in it.

I always spent more time enjoying life than worring about acquiring wealth which will mean nothing as the years pass.

 

[mcofboise]

When I'm range-rattin' I usually carry a piece of stiff wire in my shirt pocket to dig the adobe wadcutters out of cases as I pick them up. They rattle around in the plastic bucket with their brethren and cistern on the ride home and that dislodges most of the rest of the dirt before they get sorted and tumbled. If it's a really dirty batch (shortly after a storm or whatever), they get worshed and dried.

mike

 

[nosmr2]

After rereading the OP question, I did not answer the question. The two choices given were tumble or clean out. My correct answer should have been clean out. Throw away was not an option and that's what I suggested.

However, I would throw out the 100 the OP had instead of cleaning them. Assuming he will return to the range with concrete in the near future it shouldn't be hard to grab another 100 without the mud requiring the extra effort at no cost.

A quick check of the for sale postings and you can pick up 9mm shipped for:
1800/$50
1000/$50
450/$20
That breaks down to .027 cents and 5 cents each or between $2.70 and 5 bucks I suggested to be trashed or recycled for scrap.

Time is time and I can think of a hundred things I would prefer to be doing over cleaning mud out of cases. But your time is your time.

 

[evan price]

I let them dry so the mud shrinks. Then dump them in the tumbler without any media. The shaking knocks the shrunk mud out of the cases. Then dump, sift, and retumble with some mineral spirits and walnut and they are like new.

 

[RustyFN]

How "cheap" are yours?

All of my brass is free. I started with 300 pieces of 9mm brass that came from factory ammo. Every time I would go to the range I would pick up more brass. After six years I have around 15,000 pieces of 9mm, 5,000 pieces of 45 auto and 4,000 pieces of 223, all free range pick up brass. All of the 40 brass I have picked up I give to friends. If I find brass full of mud or dirt I leave it also.