Bullet Cleaning

[opsoff1]

Anyone out there actually clean their bullets? I somewhat stumbled upon this aspect during my quest to remove moly from a batch of bullets that I had coated a number of years back.
After the moly removal - by way of tumbling...I decided to rinse them off as I did not want any residual dust on them - specifically to prevent the walnut dust getting into my dies and my barrels.
I rinsed them in laqueur thinner - easy, quick and dries in a few seconds.
As a curiosity - I rinsed some new Hornandy, Sierra, Berger and JLK's - each batch separately and in clean solvent.
WOW - absolutely amazed at what came off of them....the solvent from the Hornandy & Sierra bullets was filthy with actual dicernable residue. Bergers were fairly clean and the JLK's were very clean.
So - curious if anyone does this or if it is of concern?
We are anal about cleaning barrels - why not look at what is actually going down them too?

 

[Citysmasher]

GOOD POINT!!!

I guess we clean them with the barrel huh? Then buff them with the paper...

I recently got a bulk box of bullets and it still had corn cob media in the box... The bullets were very dusty. Since I wet moly the bullets get cleaned.

 

[wapiti25]

You are right to look at how dirty the bullets are. You also need to remember that you have carbon particles from the powder from each shot. We wear the barrels or ruin them mostly from the heat burning the surface and blasting that surface with carbon particles. Also keep in mind that cleaning rods do damage to the barrels, I only started to wipe the one piece rod each time it is inserted in the barrel using a custom bore guide about 4 yrs ago. I have repaired three rifles (not mine) that the crown had major wear from cleaning rods. Bottom line don't get too concerned about having super clean bullets. How many times have you put ammo in your pants pocket and then shot it with out wiping it down. I did exactly that last Oct when I spotted a big bull moose and my rifle was unloaded. That rifle has a Krieger barrel with a custom chamber, I shoot annealed neck turned brass in it with Berger bullets.

 

[opsoff1]

Wapiti25 - no arguement over the carbon and other residual contaminants - and that is a very good point. It is is however largely out of our control. I am pretty consistent with my cleaning and maintenance.
I chamber and build all my rifles (I hold a HM card, Distinguished, P-100 & Palma 20) and crowns are a source of constant surveillance as well. Your advice on cleaning your rods is spot on - been doing that for 20+ years. Stunning what comes off the rod. I am also of the firm belief that on average - more damage is done to barrels by improper cleaning techniques than shooting. This is based on inspection of bores with a borescope - I have looked at 1000's of barrels - not a lot of happiness inside....
It just really surprised me how dirty some of the big manufacturers bullets were - the smaller (relatively) outfits seem to do a far better job at cleaning their finished product.
This aspect really connected the dots to my dies - as I maintain my settings and tolerances - introducing potential abrasive material into the die is not something I'd like to do. I have in the past disassembled competition dies to find all sorts of crud inside. We all spend far more than we care to admit to oursleves (& our wives) on our equipment and tools - I just don;'t want to add something that will shorten it's repective live span.

 

[AlNyhus]

You'll be surprised how much crud is on many 'factory fresh' bullets..right out of the box.

Acetone works best for cleaning as it flashes off almost instantly. For polymer tipped bullets, mineral spirits works nicely and won't harm the tips.

Good shootin'. -Al