garandman
Bolt Gun Bodacious
Seems the most prevalent practice.
I guess was looking for a mass / volume process like tumbling rather than wiping individual cases. I'll try that.
I must be missing something...
- Thread starter garandman
- Start date
Seems the most prevalent practice.
I guess was looking for a mass / volume process like tumbling rather than wiping individual cases. I'll try that.
farmerjohn
Gold $$ Contributor
If you use imperial die sizing wax it comes right off..... with a rag or paper towels.
John
John
D-4297
Gold $$ Contributor
@garanman ; To answer your original question . No ; there isn't a easy way to by-pass the second washing , unless you want brass sticking in your chamber , from case lube . I do not use SS pins , but I do a second wash of lukewarm water , a couple drops of dish soap , and a short squirt of Leme-shine . Run for a hour , or so . Rinse with Hot tap water , and roll-dry on towel . Blow out inside & primer pocket with compressed air . Do check the neck for inside burrs , though .
garandman
Bolt Gun Bodacious
I wouldn't have thought of not using the pins so, that's a process improvement of not having to seperate pins.
Here’s a crazy thought! Don’t clean them at all. If I thought cleaning them would help In some manner I would, but other then pretty brass I see no advantage or accuracy gain.
Occasionally I will clean the outside case necks with steel wool.
Bart
Occasionally I will clean the outside case necks with steel wool.
Bart
^^^^^^^^^^ This is from one of the best benchrest shooters on the planet, folks.
D-4297
Gold $$ Contributor
Happy to add my .02 when it helps .
@ BartsBullets ; I shoot on average , 5-600 rounds a month in Open and TR . I don't own a gun-shop . I don't have 3 or 4 actions sitting on the shelf , or a rack of chambered barrels at my disposal . Dad taught me to clean my firearms , take care of my brass , to extend it's life , and keep my powder dry . Worked in Nam , and still workin today .
@ BartsBullets ; I shoot on average , 5-600 rounds a month in Open and TR . I don't own a gun-shop . I don't have 3 or 4 actions sitting on the shelf , or a rack of chambered barrels at my disposal . Dad taught me to clean my firearms , take care of my brass , to extend it's life , and keep my powder dry . Worked in Nam , and still workin today .
Yup, I clean the outside of necks with 0000 steel wool, nylon brush inside, very light Imperial wax, size, wipe off wax with blue paper towel, quick brush the primer pockets, charge, seat bullets, shoot, repeat..
I don’t tumble till they get really dirty.
I do tumble my auto pistol brass every time, they’re nasty.
I shoot handgun more than rifle so I purchase inexpensive range brass to use, the mixed head stamps don't seem to matter. If they're really nasty looking the get a quick tumble to make them OK to go in my dies. If they're "good to go' they get sized, necks expanded and then tumbled, dried and bagged for future use. For the drying I spread them out on a large bath towel and lay them in the sun, in two hours or less they're completely dry. This time of the year I put them in the same towel and lay it over a floor register. The warm air blowing through them dries them just as well as the sunlight and outside breeze. I did a small batch of 9MMs and 223s last night and did this, by this morning they were completely dry.
if you’re handy with tools, build a box with a wire bottom on it that sits over top of a register. Size it to fit a tumbler full of brass. Place it over the register and let the air blow through the wet brass. This will add some humidity into the air at the same time.
Do what works for you and makes you feel confident in your equipment. I will take every step necessary in the reloading process to be as competitive as I can possibly be at the highest level. I will not cut any corners or take short cuts. However cleaning cases is not one of them. I personally prefer to leave the carbon in the necks and not remove it.
Bart
garandman
Bolt Gun Bodacious
no... I clean them in ss pins then dry then anneal then size then run them in a vibratory in corn cobb to get the lube off.. then trim and chamfer and debur , prime , charge and seat a bullet..
I clean my brass every time but it's just my preference. I use to wet tumble in SS pins but got tired of digging them out of the necks on 6mm brass (they lodge sideways in them) and changed my whole system to a RCBS sonic cleaner. I have to admit the sonic is the way to go for the least amount of work for the most gain. The brass is clean inside and out, primer pockets are spotless and if you use the correct solution its all shiny new looking plus no more chamfering peened necks. Solution is reusable many times and it takes only about 45 min.
garandman
Bolt Gun Bodacious
I put around 150 to 200 mixed cases in but the trick with rifle cases is you need to drop them straight in to get the air bubbles out of the case, air pockets will not allow proper cleaning. I have RCBS's largest cleaner and use their solution, it holds just over a gallon and when done I put it back in a gallon jug and let the "gunk" settle out then when pouring the solution back in I pour it in till the gunk is disturbed and just dump that out, add a little water and a tiny amount of solution till its up to the full line and go. The cleaner heats the solution so that is the slowest part waiting till its hot before you turn it on.
Sounds like the most magnificent shooter in the world don't pick up and use range brass, some of which might be oxidized. If all I shot was new in the box cases I probably wouldn't bother to clean them either.
But, like so many of us low down commoners, I don't just use brand new cases. So, here is my regimen...punch out the primers, wet tumble with pins, get all the pins out and rinse well, slosh around in some denatured alcohol so they dry quickly. Now, if I am going to resize a metric schitt ton I put about 4 tablespoons of Ivory liquid concentrated dish washing liquid in a large ziplock bag, add 100 or so cases {large, 200 small} and roll it around until the cases are completely covered good. Lay out a plastic trash bag and dump the cases on it to dry. Continue until they are all coated good with the Ivory Ultra. You might have to add some more to the bag.
When they are completely dry you can effortlessly resize them and I have never had to rinse after this. They are dry and the film left behind is slick but very thin and it don't hurt anything. You can rinse in clean water and dry with the alcohol if you don't like the "feel". Now you can do all the reloading alterations and move on to loading. I anneal before I size, but that's me.
If I am loading 50 or less, which is most of the time, they are already tumbled and dry in quantity, so I just count out what I need and proceed using Hornady spray resize lube. I also have never cleaned this off. Like the Ivory Ultra it dries completely dry and wont hurt a thing to leave the very little residue.
All that said, I do not wet tumble every time. I get them good and clean initially and from then on it's just load and shoot. I have said this before, I must have different pins than some folks, I have never seen any "peening" or otherwise damage to the mouths that needed anything other than loaded. The biggest thing with wet STS tumbling is that you must get all the pins out and visually inspect every case. I could seriously care less what they look like, but most of the time when I get Lake City from the local base they are in no condition to just load up and must be cleaned.
But, like so many of us low down commoners, I don't just use brand new cases. So, here is my regimen...punch out the primers, wet tumble with pins, get all the pins out and rinse well, slosh around in some denatured alcohol so they dry quickly. Now, if I am going to resize a metric schitt ton I put about 4 tablespoons of Ivory liquid concentrated dish washing liquid in a large ziplock bag, add 100 or so cases {large, 200 small} and roll it around until the cases are completely covered good. Lay out a plastic trash bag and dump the cases on it to dry. Continue until they are all coated good with the Ivory Ultra. You might have to add some more to the bag.
When they are completely dry you can effortlessly resize them and I have never had to rinse after this. They are dry and the film left behind is slick but very thin and it don't hurt anything. You can rinse in clean water and dry with the alcohol if you don't like the "feel". Now you can do all the reloading alterations and move on to loading. I anneal before I size, but that's me.
If I am loading 50 or less, which is most of the time, they are already tumbled and dry in quantity, so I just count out what I need and proceed using Hornady spray resize lube. I also have never cleaned this off. Like the Ivory Ultra it dries completely dry and wont hurt a thing to leave the very little residue.
All that said, I do not wet tumble every time. I get them good and clean initially and from then on it's just load and shoot. I have said this before, I must have different pins than some folks, I have never seen any "peening" or otherwise damage to the mouths that needed anything other than loaded. The biggest thing with wet STS tumbling is that you must get all the pins out and visually inspect every case. I could seriously care less what they look like, but most of the time when I get Lake City from the local base they are in no condition to just load up and must be cleaned.
I think that depends on the game you are playing. If your brass ends up in the grass and dirt, cleaning is in order.
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