Brass cleaning option?

[Mark204]

Stick with the media......as others have stated you want some carbon in the neck.............This is the ONLY time carbon is your friend.


Mark

 

[jlow]

There is a lot of misunderstanding as it relates to the use of stainless steel media. Some of course use it to get the bling, but the most useful reason is to clean without being exposed to the lead from the primers. Don't' take this as some liberal thing, but lead is bad for you PERIOD, and keeping the dust down and in the water is the MAIN reason I use the pins.

Pins do indeed affect neck tension as it removes the carbon, but that can be added back in with a neck lubricant.

 

[msinc]

I use several methods, depending on the loading I am going to do. What has the most bearing on which one I use has a lot to do with how many rounds I intend or "need" to load. If I just got a 5 gallon bucket full of range brass that has sat around and oxidized then it gets the primers punched and goes into the STS set up. If I am working with some special brand new brass that has been once fired I will chemically clean it. This is just washing it in Purple Power or some other 409 like cleaner and a good rinse with the hottest water I can get out of the spigot. If I just loaded some hunting ammo and the brass wasn't too bad I run it overnight in the vibratory thing.
I do not believe or I should say subscribe to the thing about sts being no good. Many people say that because it gets all the carbon out of the neck throw it away, it's dead, you killed it. I can feel a slight difference in seating a bullet in a case with the carbon in it. A case with a bare brass clean bone dry neck does definitely feel a little different. All that said, I have several hunting rifles that shoot 1/2 minute {sometimes a little better but it could be luck}, whether they are loaded with or without carbon in the neck does not change the accuracy or the chronograph readings. Maybe it's the tiny little bit of Imperial Sizing Wax I apply to the bullet first that makes it seat smooth and easy???
Maybe luck, maybe a bad chrono, but the figures seem to be in line. I have never had anyone yet satisfactorily explain and back it up with facts that sts cleaning is no good or some detriment to reloading other than to repeat what they have heard about the carbon removed from the neck. It's kind of like...which happened first, the chicken or the egg??? The bullet has to move and fight the neck to let it start to slide away or the case expands and there is nothing to stop it??? Then I hear that old "well, I use a pressure gauge and it takes more pressure to seat the bullet" gotta be wrong.....it seems like how much it takes to seat the bullet is useful from a consistency standpoint...all the same pressure for all the cases and bullets is great, but does that really have anything to do with launching it????? Especially given that the case might just expand and let it go initially??? What about those loaded to jam the rifling??? I mean we cant slow motion photograph this to prove it one way or another....so who can really say??? For me, either it don't matter or I cant shoot good enough to tell and see a difference, so I aint throwin' out my sts set up just yet. Now, you let me miss a big black bear at my cabin this fall and I will toss the whole mess off the mountain if I can even slightly reason it that way!!!!

 

[T-shooter]

For cleaning off the lube one of these media separators works well. Best to have a second one for this purpose. Fill it with hot tap water and Dawn detergent. Rotate and it agitates the water and works the lube off quickly. Then dump and refill with fresh water and rotate to rinse. Then dump the water and turn them a few more times to remove most all the water. I dump mine on an old bath towel and roll them getting all the water off the outside, then sit them neck up in a reloading tray and allow to air dry a day or two.

 

[GoWyo!]

This thread is the first time that I have ever heard of carbon residue in a neck being a good thing. Because it lubes the neck? This isn't graphite or fullerenes. I need references. Brass has self-lubricating properties, it makes no sense to me to think that dry carbon fouling would contribute anything to that.

 

[wholman]

steel wool

 

[jr600yd]

Still waiting for someone to tell me how much of a difference is made between carbon in the neck vs no carbon makes on paper?

 

[msinc]

Still waiting for someone to tell me how much of a difference is made between carbon in the neck vs no carbon makes on paper?

You are not alone sir, I have been asking since sts cleaning "went out of style" because of it for about six months.....one of those "I heard it said, it sounds good to me, so it must be true and I will repeat it as the gospel every chance I get" things. Reminds me of tomato juice for skunk spray.....must be different tomatoes 50 years ago because today it is absolutely worthless.

 

[Richard Coody]

to each his own. you will have to decide for yourself.

most rifles/shooters would never be able to see the difference on paper

you have to be looking at tenths of improvement to tell

 

[savagedasher]

You are not alone sir, I have been asking since sts cleaning "went out of style" because of it for about six months.....one of those "I heard it said, it sounds good to me, so it must be true and I will repeat it as the gospel every chance I get" things. Reminds me of tomato juice for skunk spray.....must be different tomatoes 50 years ago because today it is absolutely worthless.

Tomatoes are different back then they had seed in them. Same with watermelon. Both suck now . Larry

 

[onelastshot]

Still waiting for someone to tell me how much of a difference is made between carbon in the neck vs no carbon makes on paper?

I think it's just hype; think of all the brand new brass prepped and used for competition. New brass doesn't come with carbon necks.

 

[savagedasher]

I think it's just hype; think of all the brand new brass prepped and used for competition. New brass doesn't come with carbon necks.

Your correct except for hype Used and winning are Separate also . Larry

 

[msinc]

I think it's just hype; think of all the brand new brass prepped and used for competition. New brass doesn't come with carbon necks.

I agree...and I cant believe someone hasn't jumped on here yet to say that the "sts cleaning system peens the inside of the necks and being rougher that is the difference between sts cleaned and new"
Just like it is posted on varous threads that it "peens open the primer pocket and you will have loose primers". I have some 44 magnum and 223 brass I sts cleaned probably 20 cycles so far and there is no {zero} dimensional change anywhere.