Brass cleaning / removing carbon layer

[Lefty Trigger]

Should I be cleaning the carbon layer from my brass or not? Some say its needed for resizing and bullet "lube" and others say its ok to have perfectly clean brass on every reload. I have been cleaning the brass to like new condition on every firing and lubing the inside case necks for resizing then swabbing with q-tips to remove the excess lube (not using dry lube)

 

[JMayo]

I like Ford's myself.
No matter what you do do it the same way to every cartridge ....
I don't clean anything but p pockets and outside neck/shoulder.

 

[JFrank]

I like Ford's myself.
No matter what you do do it the same way to every cartridge ....
I don't clean anything but p pockets and outside neck/shoulder.

Same here except I lightly nylon brush inside the necks

 

[LA50SHOOTER]

For rifles that I'm looking for the very best accuracy from (i.e. 1000 yd. BR and the like) I never tumble brass in a vibratory tumbler as of yet. - I wipe cases with a micro-fiber cleaning cloth & at the most use a little never-dull & wipe well. - After 5 or more firings I may look into tumbling the brass in stainless steel pins if case capacity has lessened to some degree or adjust the load down slightly. - I'll run a nylon brush one stroke in & out of the necks,- I'm using moly that is very refined (small in size - less than 10 microns from NECO or Imperial Dry Neck Lube) to dip my bullets into when I seat the bullet into the case.
As was mentioned, uniformity I believe is "key" in what we do. There are more than one way to get good results.

 

[Lefty Trigger]

Well I have decided to do a "back to back" comparison test to find out. I took 10 rounds fired and decapped (not cleaned at all) scrubbed the primer pocket and resized them, also took 10 rounds of clean brass, primed and loaded them exactly the same. First off I can tell you its harder to press in the bullet with the dirty brass. The rest will come at the range as I will setup my Labradar and get good ES and SD numbers from them to compare.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Get a 21st century hydro press and see which method is more consistent for you

 

[Puzzaz01]

Get a 21st century hydro press and see which method is more consistent for you

Two thumbs up!

 

[Lefty Trigger]

Heres the results,... This is 20 rounds total, 10 dirty brass with only the primer pockets cleaned, 10 like new clean all FL resized loaded using my Chargemaster lite using IMR 4166 40.0gr / Nosler Custom comp 175gr / Rem 9 1/2 primer / seated to .036 jump.
The data is as follows...
Dirty brass velocity 2494 / ES 45 / SD 17.4
Clean brass velocity 2500 / ES 25 / SD 9.9
And the actual target from 200 yds. with the top 10 shots dirty and the bottom 10 clean.

 

[KenOath]

Heres the results,... This is 20 rounds total, 10 dirty brass with only the primer pockets cleaned, 10 like new clean all FL resized loaded using my Chargemaster lite using IMR 4166 40.0gr / Nosler Custom comp 175gr / Rem 9 1/2 primer / seated to .036 jump.
The data is as follows...
Dirty brass velocity 2494 / ES 45 / SD 17.4
Clean brass velocity 2500 / ES 25 / SD 9.9
And the actual target from 200 yds. with the top 10 shots dirty and the bottom 10 clean.View attachment 1069775

When you say clean like new are you cleaning in a corn cob type media tumbler or a wet SS type tumbler?

 

[Lefty Trigger]

When you say clean like new are you cleaning in a corn cob type media tumbler or a wet SS type tumbler?

I wet tumble with the SS pins, normal run is 2.5 hours all come out "like new".

 

[JFrank]

I wet tumble with the SS pins, normal run is 2.5 hours all come out "like new".

Nice
That settles that!

 

[luckeeshot]

I wet tumble with the SS pins, normal run is 2.5 hours all come out "like new".

I do the same but i use SS pins shaped like tiny footballs so they dont get caught in flash holes

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Heres the results,... This is 20 rounds total, 10 dirty brass with only the primer pockets cleaned, 10 like new clean all FL resized loaded using my Chargemaster lite using IMR 4166 40.0gr / Nosler Custom comp 175gr / Rem 9 1/2 primer / seated to .036 jump.
The data is as follows...
Dirty brass velocity 2494 / ES 45 / SD 17.4
Clean brass velocity 2500 / ES 25 / SD 9.9
And the actual target from 200 yds. with the top 10 shots dirty and the bottom 10 clean.View attachment 1069775

Quit telling folks our secret!!

 

[nmkid]

I do the same but i use SS pins shaped like tiny footballs so they dont get caught in flash holes

Where did you get those?

 

[michaeljp65]

What does the actual group size measure? looking at the target there would be very little difference in group size measurements.

 

[dkhunt14]

What does the actual group size measure? looking at the target there would be very little difference in group size measurements.

I bet if he shot it at 600 or 1000, the difference will show better. I see a much tighter cluster and the potential to to shoot smaller. Matt

 

[RedfootRanch]

I do the same but i use SS pins shaped like tiny footballs so they dont get caught in flash holes

After noticing a couple cases with a pin lodged in the shoulder on 204 cases (easily free'd), I ordered 10# of the SS media from Southern Shine and haven't looked back.

 

[Nick Caprinolo]

I bet if he shot it at 600 or 1000, the difference will show better. I see a much tighter cluster and the potential to to shoot smaller. Matt

But for some of us, very little difference is all the difference in the world.

 

[Lefty Trigger]

What does the actual group size measure? looking at the target there would be very little difference in group size measurements.

Actually your right the groups are very close but so was the velocity. I was actually only after the ES / SD numbers as I figured that would show the most difference. I don't claim to be a great shooter and really have a hard time dealing with the wind which was hard in from the left. Actual aim point was the left two red squares, I made no corrections and shot for same aim point. Squares are 1 inch.

 

[Richard Coody]

Actually your right the groups are very close but so was the velocity. I was actually only after the ES / SD numbers as I figured that would show the most difference. I don't claim to be a great shooter and really have a hard time dealing with the wind which was hard in from the left. Actual aim point was the left two red squares, I made no corrections and shot for same aim point. Squares are 1 inch.

well whatever works for you is what i always say. the experts can't even agree about how to clean a barrel. many ways to skin this cat.

but when i see one of these test with a definitive conclusion many thoughts go through my head. lots of variables here. Now if this load was developed with clean brass and then the same load was used in the dirty brass i would question the results. the only way i can see a fair comparison would be do load development for both and compare the.results. a blind test would be best to eliminate any personal bias. even then the results would be for one shooter and one rifle.

you have to find out what works for you.