I've been lurking around this forum for many months, gleaning everything I could about case cleaning, persuading your Hornady LNL AP to work consistently, and all things reloading - many thanks to those who have posted their experiences.
Time for me to pay you all back a bit.
I load 45ACP exclusively at the moment (next up is 30-06). I started out reusing vaguely cleaned cases with dirty primer pockets - and it worked fine. But I did lots of reading here and elsewhere and concluded that while it doesn't make a whole lot of difference, a clean primer pocket is going to be less trouble during priming than one caked with carbon.
So my first step is always to deprime all my range brass using a universal deprime die, so I'm not getting grit in my sizing die.
Turns out, getting primer pockets clean is a real chore, and a tumbler won't do much about it unless you use stainless steep pin media (which is itself a fairly drawn-out process), so I went looking for alternatives that would clean the primer pockets without a lot of touch labor.
Today, I'm loading shiny cases with perfectly clean primer pockets and not a lot of hand labor, and I assure you they start out tarnished and grimy.
Ingredients:
A large, powerful ultrasonic cleaner works wonders on cases. Hornady's Magnum is pretty cheap compared to lab units I found (got mine at Grafs for $225 incl shipping) and worked wonders compared to the smaller 1.5L unit (which does work, but is limited). The difference appears to be in the power of the two transducers - the smaller one works on small quantities (10-20 at most), whereas I can dump 80+ in the basket with the magnum and have some expectation of getting them clean.
I load roughly one layer of cases into the basket with no attempt at organization (doesn't help that much - I tried it). The basket looks about half full.
I fill the tank not quite up to the line with distilled water, then add 150mL of case cleaner concentrate (for the recommended 20:1 solution) as it says in the instructions for the ultrasonic cleaner and solution respectively.
re: cleaning solution. I tried the vinegar/baking soda/dish soap approach. It's cheap, but I had lots of variations in results, and not a few cases of severely etched cases (which are certainly my fault, mind you). Plus, the multiple steps take time. The Hornady solution (which is citric acid, a surfactant and probably a buffer) leaves the cases clean and tarnish free so long as you rinse them thoroughly. You can leave them in the solution overnight without fear of leaching out the zinc. And for $20, you get enough solution to clean hundreds of cases. I don't mean to be an ad for Hornady - obviously I'm using their stuff and like it. I don't have any comparison to other cleaning solutions so please take this as information, not a recommendation.
Hang the basket in the tank and run it for 30 minutes with the heat on and turned up to 120F (haven't played with temperature much yet).
When the timer ends, pull out the basket and start examining cases. Some will be completely clean, most won't. Those that are clean, I drop into a container filled with tap water. Some will be mostly clean, but there may be a little remaining crud in the primer pocket - usually this is carbon right around the flash hole.
I took a (new) Oral B electric toothbrush ($6) with a vibrating, rounded head and used a pair of needle nose pliers to remove all but the bristles in the center of the rotating part of the head - just enough to fit into a primer pocket.
Using the toothbrush with the still-wet case, clean out the remaining debris in the primer pocket (takes a couple seconds at most), rinse, inspect, and when clean, dump in the water with the rest of them. I don't bother with primer pockets that are still black or have a Y pattern - those go back in the basket.
You should rinse the brush from time to time - the crud doesn't stick to it as far as I can tell, so I just dunk it in the water for a second or two and go back to inspecting and scrubbing.
The first round of inspection takes out about 40% of the cases. The reason for removing the clean cases is that it improves the cleaning on the remaining cases. (no energy wasted on clean brass)
Put the basket back in the solution and run for another 30 minutes. When it's done, sort out the clean ones as described above, leaving only a few (10-15 at most) that are still dirty.
Put the basket back in for another 15 minutes with the last cases. They should be clean, or cleanable with the toothbrush when the time is up.
Now you have a container of brass and water. Put the basket in the sink and pour the cases back into it. If you have a collander, this works too. (I use the basket from my smaller ultrasonic cleaner). Shake them to knock off most of the water. Use the small desk fan placed face down on the basket. Turn it on and let it blow air through the cases in the basket for 3-4 hours to ensure they are dry. (no heat - just moving air to avoid assisting any chemical reactions that might be helped by heat and moisture)
When it's done, you should have a batch of shiny, clean, dry cases. They usually won't be perfect. I still find crud inside the cases attached to the inside walls, but I can't convince myself that makes any difference whatsoever since it doesn't interfere with loading. And if you don't rinse them thoroughly enough they will tarnish a little (not that this won't be mostly gone after the sizer die is through with it)
You can repeat with the same solution at least once. I haven't tried using it three times - by the time I get my second batch clean it's so black and cloudy you can't see the cases until they break the surface.
I cleaned about 300 cases this way today, total labor time on my part was maybe 30 minutes, most of which was sorting and inspecting primer pockets. This is as compared to 3-4 hours of shepherding the smaller cleaner for a handful of cases.
Hope this is useful. If anyone has any insights, I'd appreciate hearing about them.
Time for me to pay you all back a bit.
I load 45ACP exclusively at the moment (next up is 30-06). I started out reusing vaguely cleaned cases with dirty primer pockets - and it worked fine. But I did lots of reading here and elsewhere and concluded that while it doesn't make a whole lot of difference, a clean primer pocket is going to be less trouble during priming than one caked with carbon.
So my first step is always to deprime all my range brass using a universal deprime die, so I'm not getting grit in my sizing die.
Turns out, getting primer pockets clean is a real chore, and a tumbler won't do much about it unless you use stainless steep pin media (which is itself a fairly drawn-out process), so I went looking for alternatives that would clean the primer pockets without a lot of touch labor.
Today, I'm loading shiny cases with perfectly clean primer pockets and not a lot of hand labor, and I assure you they start out tarnished and grimy.
Ingredients:
- Hornady Magnum Ultrasonic Cleaner or equivalent
- Hornady One Shot Case Cleaner ($20)
- Distilled Water
- 1 Cup wet/dry measure (graduated in mL)
- Small (5") electric desk fan
- Battery powered electric toothbrush
A large, powerful ultrasonic cleaner works wonders on cases. Hornady's Magnum is pretty cheap compared to lab units I found (got mine at Grafs for $225 incl shipping) and worked wonders compared to the smaller 1.5L unit (which does work, but is limited). The difference appears to be in the power of the two transducers - the smaller one works on small quantities (10-20 at most), whereas I can dump 80+ in the basket with the magnum and have some expectation of getting them clean.
I load roughly one layer of cases into the basket with no attempt at organization (doesn't help that much - I tried it). The basket looks about half full.
I fill the tank not quite up to the line with distilled water, then add 150mL of case cleaner concentrate (for the recommended 20:1 solution) as it says in the instructions for the ultrasonic cleaner and solution respectively.
re: cleaning solution. I tried the vinegar/baking soda/dish soap approach. It's cheap, but I had lots of variations in results, and not a few cases of severely etched cases (which are certainly my fault, mind you). Plus, the multiple steps take time. The Hornady solution (which is citric acid, a surfactant and probably a buffer) leaves the cases clean and tarnish free so long as you rinse them thoroughly. You can leave them in the solution overnight without fear of leaching out the zinc. And for $20, you get enough solution to clean hundreds of cases. I don't mean to be an ad for Hornady - obviously I'm using their stuff and like it. I don't have any comparison to other cleaning solutions so please take this as information, not a recommendation.
Hang the basket in the tank and run it for 30 minutes with the heat on and turned up to 120F (haven't played with temperature much yet).
When the timer ends, pull out the basket and start examining cases. Some will be completely clean, most won't. Those that are clean, I drop into a container filled with tap water. Some will be mostly clean, but there may be a little remaining crud in the primer pocket - usually this is carbon right around the flash hole.
I took a (new) Oral B electric toothbrush ($6) with a vibrating, rounded head and used a pair of needle nose pliers to remove all but the bristles in the center of the rotating part of the head - just enough to fit into a primer pocket.
Using the toothbrush with the still-wet case, clean out the remaining debris in the primer pocket (takes a couple seconds at most), rinse, inspect, and when clean, dump in the water with the rest of them. I don't bother with primer pockets that are still black or have a Y pattern - those go back in the basket.
You should rinse the brush from time to time - the crud doesn't stick to it as far as I can tell, so I just dunk it in the water for a second or two and go back to inspecting and scrubbing.
The first round of inspection takes out about 40% of the cases. The reason for removing the clean cases is that it improves the cleaning on the remaining cases. (no energy wasted on clean brass)
Put the basket back in the solution and run for another 30 minutes. When it's done, sort out the clean ones as described above, leaving only a few (10-15 at most) that are still dirty.
Put the basket back in for another 15 minutes with the last cases. They should be clean, or cleanable with the toothbrush when the time is up.
Now you have a container of brass and water. Put the basket in the sink and pour the cases back into it. If you have a collander, this works too. (I use the basket from my smaller ultrasonic cleaner). Shake them to knock off most of the water. Use the small desk fan placed face down on the basket. Turn it on and let it blow air through the cases in the basket for 3-4 hours to ensure they are dry. (no heat - just moving air to avoid assisting any chemical reactions that might be helped by heat and moisture)
When it's done, you should have a batch of shiny, clean, dry cases. They usually won't be perfect. I still find crud inside the cases attached to the inside walls, but I can't convince myself that makes any difference whatsoever since it doesn't interfere with loading. And if you don't rinse them thoroughly enough they will tarnish a little (not that this won't be mostly gone after the sizer die is through with it)
You can repeat with the same solution at least once. I haven't tried using it three times - by the time I get my second batch clean it's so black and cloudy you can't see the cases until they break the surface.
I cleaned about 300 cases this way today, total labor time on my part was maybe 30 minutes, most of which was sorting and inspecting primer pockets. This is as compared to 3-4 hours of shepherding the smaller cleaner for a handful of cases.
Hope this is useful. If anyone has any insights, I'd appreciate hearing about them.
