Hand washing brass

[JMayo]

Anyone really OCD? would 5 times fired brass with carbon buildup have any effect on case capacity. Curious....if you you would lose a grain or 2?

My 30br brass has 10 + firings by end of season. (300 cases)
If capacity is effected it would be a layer of powder so that is 10-15 sticks of powder that's 1-2 grains.
Since I'm compressing the load i also wonder if new, clean cases hold more.
I'll prolly test this after season.

I'll add..i got a vibrator thingy from harbor freight and some lizard media allot cheaper than any thing with a brand name ...

 

[David Milisock]

Hey guys, After a lot of research and number crunching, I think I may be able to afford the Lee 50th Anniversary kit to get restarted on my reloading journey. That said it does not come with a tumbler. I’ve been researching different tumblers between vibratory, ultrasonic, and rotary. And it’ll be a month or two before I can afford to get one. Bare bones budget here. So I was wondering, since, at least according to some manuals as I’ve read testimony on the inter webs, you can ‘get away with’ hand washing brass, what’s to stop me from getting a cheap mesh laundry bag and tossing the brass in the bag and sticking them in a full load of laundry on cold or warm…AND OF COURSE LETTING THEM AIR DRY AND NOT PUTTING THEM IN THE DRYER. sorry for the caps. Just wanted to be clear that was not my intention.

Depends on what you're doing. My varmint guns are only neck sized and all I do is wipe off the case, maybe a very light steel wool. My game rifles are full length sized but still no need for tumbling.

Self loaders vary, all full length sized, my AR brass in 5.56 and 6MM ARC need very little cleaning but tumbling makes handling the volume easier, same for the Garand. My M1 Carbine on the other hand they just get tumbled every time. It's just a little pig pen!

 

[6.5 forever]

The only time I have washed brass is when I picked up handgun brass from USPSA matches.
The dust kicked around or a little mud and these cases were in pretty bad shape. They had to be cleaned before running thru a carbide die.

 

[6BRA]

If guys are sorting brass from the same lot for case capacity, what are their sorting requirements? I would expect this would fall within the .02 to .04 grain area. I already have a gut feeling on this, and will continue my process for this exact reason. Pressure and ES/SD. I would almost bet it has an effect. Longer distances

 

[PopCharlie]

I use an Olson's vibratory tumbler and corn cob media. I clean only because it's easier to see signs of damage.

PopCharlie

 

[JimSC]

I used to just pop mine into a old pot with a dab of detergent and a squirt of lemon juice and bring them to a boil them on the stove. Then I would turn off the heat and let them sit for 10 or 15 minutes. Did that for years mostly with 9 mm and 45ACP until I found a Frankfort Armory rotary on sale at a price I could not refuse.

 

[ChrisA]

Dawn dishsoap and hot water in an empty Kirkland cashew container, shake and swirl around, triple rinse with clean water. Then toss in the Iosso case cleaner kit for a couple minutes, triple rinse with clean water, and then air dry; I usually bunch a few cases in hand and flick the water out to speed up dry time.

Have never owned a tumbler.

Chris

 

[Dave M.]

Hey guys, After a lot of research and number crunching, I think I may be able to afford the Lee 50th Anniversary kit to get restarted on my reloading journey. That said it does not come with a tumbler. I’ve been researching different tumblers between vibratory, ultrasonic, and rotary. And it’ll be a month or two before I can afford to get one. Bare bones budget here. So I was wondering, since, at least according to some manuals as I’ve read testimony on the inter webs, you can ‘get away with’ hand washing brass, what’s to stop me from getting a cheap mesh laundry bag and tossing the brass in the bag and sticking them in a full load of laundry on cold or warm…AND OF COURSE LETTING THEM AIR DRY AND NOT PUTTING THEM IN THE DRYER. sorry for the caps. Just wanted to be clear that was not my intention.

No offense intended but reloading, especially for extreme accuracy will become very expensive, very quickly. Please don’t wash your brass in the washing machine or dishwasher. Get a vibe bowl if you insist on having shiny brass (which by the way doesn’t matter one bit).
Dave

 

[Straightshooter1]

Anyone really OCD? would 5 times fired brass with carbon buildup have any effect on case capacity. Curious....if you you would lose a grain or 2?

I thought there would be some carbon buildup after a number of firings, but I could never find any real info about it. So . . . I decided to run a little experiment to find out. I took 5 .308 cases and fired them 7 times, not cleaning the inside of the neck and measuring the neck thickness after each firing with a micrometer. I could find no discernable difference in the neck thicknesses after 7 firings. I also measured the case volume after the 7th firing and found no difference from before the 1st firing (I was expecting some difference, but nothing detectable with the normal reloading tools I have).

 

[divingin]

The water, vinegar, salt and dawn dishwashing liquid wash works.

Salt? What does that do?

 

[JMayo]

Salt? What does that do?

That's the recipe 10% of each mixed. Soak for 20min or so. Too long and they'll have a pink tenge.

Look it up and read more. It's a known thing.

 

[MSS]

Back in the day I used to lightly steel wool neck and CLP my brass. This worked well for a few bolt gun reloadings. You will run into resizing issues if the brass isn‘t clean.

 

[Dave M.]

I thought there would be some carbon buildup after a number of firings, but I could never find any real info about it. So . . . I decided to run a little experiment to find out. I took 5 .308 cases and fired them 7 times, not cleaning the inside of the neck and measuring the neck thickness after each firing with a micrometer. I could find no discernable difference in the neck thicknesses after 7 firings. I also measured the case volume after the 7th firing and found no difference from before the 1st firing (I was expecting some difference, but nothing detectable with the normal reloading tools I have).

I’ve loaded my current 6 dasher brass 19 times and I’ve never cleaned the inside of the case at all (with the exception of a single nylon brush in and out prior to annealing). I’ve never seen any change in performance due to case capacity (ie pressure or velocity).
Dave

 

[urbanrifleman]

In 40 years of competitive shooting dirty brass was never a problem. I do remove sizing lube with paper towels and a degreaser. I would think the necks would suffer in a washing machine.

What he said.

I use 409 or Mr. Clean.

 

[GLO123]

I press out my primers, clean the primer pockets, remove any chamfer on my brass. Then i find an empty liquid Tide jug and remove the plastic funnel. I load my brass in the jug, add Dawn dish soap, a bit of Lemi shine and shake up. Let sit for a few minutes and drain. Rinse a few times and let dry out in the sun for a few days.

 

[divingin]

That's the recipe 10% of each mixed. Soak for 20min or so. Too long and they'll have a pink tenge.

Lol it up and read more. It's a known thing.

The pink is from the acid. Happens when people get overzealous with Lemishine, as well.

Still don't know what the salt does. Soap is a surfactant to get and hold the released stuff into solution. The acid (Lemishine, vinegar, whatever) helps to break down surface oxides and oils.

Salt is used as a household cleaner, but as far as I know it's for it's granularity - used more as a scouring powder. Never heard of using it in solution as a cleaner.

Not saying you're wrong, just wondering about its purpose.

 

[Hohn]

Hey guys, After a lot of research and number crunching, I think I may be able to afford the Lee 50th Anniversary kit to get restarted on my reloading journey. That said it does not come with a tumbler. I’ve been researching different tumblers between vibratory, ultrasonic, and rotary. And it’ll be a month or two before I can afford to get one. Bare bones budget here. So I was wondering, since, at least according to some manuals as I’ve read testimony on the inter webs, you can ‘get away with’ hand washing brass, what’s to stop me from getting a cheap mesh laundry bag and tossing the brass in the bag and sticking them in a full load of laundry on cold or warm…AND OF COURSE LETTING THEM AIR DRY AND NOT PUTTING THEM IN THE DRYER. sorry for the caps. Just wanted to be clear that was not my intention.

If you have a utility sink and a large colander, you have all you need to clean brass sufficiently. Wear long rubber gloves so all those nasty things in the water aren’t in contact with your skin.

 

[DGP4]

I use a ultrasonic cleaner with range brass. I mix 50/50 solution of water and vinegar. Leaves the brass spotless inside and out, including the primer pockets. Clean not shiny.

 

[Twisted Chemist]

Yep save that money for these crazy expensive reloading components.

I went an alternative route. Bought a $40 rock tumbler from Harbor Freight and stainless steel media. It works just as well as those crazy expensive commercial reloading components.

 

[cmysix]

Dish washer does a great job!