us there something wrong with cleaning brass before reloading?

[whitenup11]

SO I met an old timer who said he reloaded professionally for 17 years and now own a gun store and range. I was asking him about reloading in general and mentioned when I tumble my brass etc... He replied "why are you doing more then just running a brush through the case and making sure the primer pocket is free of residues?" I said I don't know, because all you hear about is making sure the brass if free and clear of all residues and the shinny new look is kind of nice. He just shook his head and said "guaranteed your reloads will be less accurate running them thru a tumbler or the brass pins/lemy shine method, because that is gonna leave residue for sure" I understand what he is saying, but what do yall think. Is he right, should I just use my case prep center and run it through the brushes and primer pocket cleaner? He has me a little confused.

 

[Rhyno]

Run mine through a tumbler stainless steel media, Citric acid and dish soap. I highly doubt there is any residue left in them.

 

[whitenup11]

Run mine through a tumbler stainless steel media, Citric acid and dish soap. I highly doubt there is any residue left in them.

i think what the guy was saying is that there may be a bit of walnut media or a watery/soapy residue left on the inside of the case that you wont see. He was just hinting that what powder residue you cant remove with a brush would be fine.

 

[rpk762]

Look at what the BR guys do. Many use ultrasonic cleaners to remove everything from the inside of the case. They then use a dry lube to prevent welding of bullet to cassings. Having build up of residues can and will affect internal volume of the case. As distance increases small variations are more apparent.

With that being said tumbled brass can have inconsistent neck tension. A little annealing action brings you back to a base line of consistency.

 

[Pinecone]

For those wet cleaning, unless you rinse well with plain water, there IS some residue. It might be a small amount and not change anything, but it is there.

For those who dry tumble, there is also some residue. Som dust, some of the polish you use.

But either way, I doubt you will see the difference.

I tumble, but just enough to get rid of any dirt/grit. Not to make nice shiny rounds.

 

[19Scout77]

Give it a test. Clean a batch. Leave a batch dirty. Unless you are shooting benchrest...and doing it well...you will have no discernible change in accuracy, nor will your dope change.

 

[Trapshooter12]

If your shooting for groups it might make a difference. I personally do not clean my brass before I reload. I look at the primer pocket and clean them and then I load. The problem with reloading is there are so many BS Wives tales about it you don't know what to believe.

Do what you have time to do and what makes you feel good.

 

[pmclaine]

Per chance was this man buying new sizing dies while complaining that his dies tend to wear out more than other reloaders, and no matter how much lube he uses he still sticks cases or gets a "gritty" feel when running his press? Also he states his dies leave his brass with deeps scratches along its length?

 

[wilecoyote]

G.I.G.O. law : Garbage In, Garbage Out_
same as feeding an engine w.dirty fuel & dirty oil
(maybe this man wasn't an ol'timer: it was only old)

 

[GIXXER2000]

I use steel and wet tumble. After they are done in the tumbler I remove them use a clean water rinse then into some alcohol to remove the water. In 5 min the clean and dry and ready to start the loading process.

 

[ZombieMonkey]

Nothing wrong with cleaning before loading, keeps the crap out of your dies as well. I have gone to throwing my brass that was run in the wet tumbler into clean corncob with a light amount of polish before I load as I've found that this puts a very thin protective film on your brass keeping it nicer looking longer (if you care about that) and more importantly it puts a light amount on the inside of the necks, helps make seating more consistent and requires less force. For me it's just easier than using a dry lube and seems to be working well.

I stopped cleaning pistol brass via wet tumbling as the brass does not run through the press nearly as effortlessly when trying to keep up a good load rate on my Dillon.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

I like shiny brass and tumble the heck out of mine before reloading. I also like clean dies, and the two go well together.

As far as bimetallic bonding between projectile and neck, I minimize that by only making up a batch of ammunition for a timely and specific purpose, and keeping my bulk components unassembled, rather than as a stock of ready ammunition.

I find that ultrasonic cleaning with acidic additives leaves the brass with a mottled appearance as time accumulates. I believe this means I need to neutralize the acid residue better, and/or rinse the clean brass better.

Neck interiors might benefit from a dry lube, but I could use some advice about what to use and how.

Mainly though, I really prefer to keep my handloading as uncomplicated as possible.

Greg

 

[427Cobra]

I belong at the same club in Denton Texas that Mike Stinnet belongs to, just in case yall don't know who he is, he owns the world record at 100 yards, .007, and has another pending record in review now, BR shooters hand clean there brass, quick wipe with a Krazy Klothe or 0000 steel wool on the neck, quick brush in/out of the neck, brush the primer pocket and load, cleaning brass with SS Media is over cleaning, as is US cleaning, the carbon left inside the neck after brushing aids in consistent bullet release(ie lower spreads between shots) and in my tests dry lubes in the necks are not as effective as the carbon, plus all the extra work envolved with SS US cleaning is less time shooting, less time reloading means more time shooting.

 

[dmike]

Overcleaning is a matter of perspective. Look at the msds and PEL of lead styphnate, it is EXTREMELY toxic. personally I don't like the idea of dry brushing that shit all over my house. Lead poisoning is irreversible, cognitive and emotional impairment. Dogs, kids are highly vulnerable too. At least with US cleaning it goes down the drain

 

[thefitter]

I belong at the same club in Denton Texas that Mike Stinnet belongs to, just in case yall don't know who he is, he owns the world record at 100 yards, .007, and has another pending record in review now, BR shooters hand clean there brass, quick wipe with a Krazy Klothe or 0000 steel wool on the neck, quick brush in/out of the neck, brush the primer pocket and load, cleaning brass with SS Media is over cleaning, as is US cleaning, the carbon left inside the neck after brushing aids in consistent bullet release(ie lower spreads between shots) and in my tests dry lubes in the necks are not as effective as the carbon, plus all the extra work envolved with SS US cleaning is less time shooting, less time reloading means more time shooting.

Same here. All the competitive BR guys that I know follow this routine. I still tumble but only to get off sizing or turning lube, 5 minutes. I have learned after much evaluation that I get better results with a layer of carbon in the neck.

 

[427Cobra]

I have worked at Toxic Waste Dumps(Airports) for 28 years, so I really don't care to flood my brain with more useless MSDS stuff, but if your theory is true, how do you explain life long reloaders in there 80s

 

[dmike]

I didn't say it shortens your life. Symptoms:Lead poisoning symptoms: 1.Headaches, irritability, fatigue, difficulty sleeping, difficulty learning or concentrating, aggressive behaviour 2. Stomach pain, constipation, vomiting, nausea, weight loss 3. Hearing loss 4. Anemia, unusual paleness, slowed growth, seizures, coma, staggering walk 5. Kidney damage, loss of appetite 6. Reduced sensations 7. Muscle weakness.

If you want to cowboy up and drink some TEL like Thomas Midgley it's cool with me. MSDS is for pussies.

 

[Lofty]

Overcleaning is a matter of perspective. Look at the msds and PEL of lead styphnate, it is EXTREMELY toxic. personally I don't like the idea of dry brushing that shit all over my house. Lead poisoning is irreversible, cognitive and emotional impairment. Dogs, kids are highly vulnerable too. At least with US cleaning it goes down the drain

What lead residue do you get from a solid copper jacket bullet?

 

[dmike]

What lead residue do you get from a solid copper jacket bullet?

Not from the bullet, from the lead styphnate in the primer. I've heard elemental lead (like when you bite fishing weights) isn't so bad. It's when it's in other organic compounds that it's dangerous. I'm not a chemist though so don't take my word for it. I'm just not going to dust my house with it when I've got a dog and baby crawling around

 

[deadnbrkn84]

I belong at the same club in Denton Texas that Mike Stinnet belongs to, just in case yall don't know who he is, he owns the world record at 100 yards, .007, and has another pending record in review now, BR shooters hand clean there brass, quick wipe with a Krazy Klothe or 0000 steel wool on the neck, quick brush in/out of the neck, brush the primer pocket and load, cleaning brass with SS Media is over cleaning, as is US cleaning, the carbon left inside the neck after brushing aids in consistent bullet release(ie lower spreads between shots) and in my tests dry lubes in the necks are not as effective as the carbon, plus all the extra work envolved with SS US cleaning is less time shooting, less time reloading means more time shooting.

This is 100% true. I still SS clean but everything you're saying is correct.

 

[STLSteve86]

Shit I have my wife tumble dry my brass on delicate cycle. They don't only come out shiny but smell fucking fantastic. Downy gets my brass squeaky clean!!!!

 

[Greg Langelius *]

I didn't say it shortens your life. Symptoms:Lead poisoning symptoms: 1.Headaches, irritability, fatigue, difficulty sleeping, difficulty learning or concentrating, aggressive behaviour 2. Stomach pain, constipation, vomiting, nausea, weight loss 3. Hearing loss 4. Anemia, unusual paleness, slowed growth, seizures, coma, staggering walk 5. Kidney damage, loss of appetite 6. Reduced sensations 7. Muscle weakness.

If you want to cowboy up and drink some TEL like Thomas Midgley it's cool with me. MSDS is for pussies.

Aw crud; an' I just thought I was gettin' old...

Greg

 

[thefitter]

Aw crud; an' I just thought I was gettin' old...

Greg

No shit! I suffer from half of those things.

 

[velillen]

FYI they arent called MSDS anymore..OHSA is moving to the Safety Data Sheet system.


I SS tumble my brass. Im not a good enough shot to notice the difference. Im happy when i shoot a .5MOA group and when its 1MOA or more i know its cause of me. Those guys can hand clean their brass and all that but it wouldnt do me any good. Then again i dont have the custom chamber, custom barrel, custom stock, custom actions, custom ect to take advantage of it either

 

[Trevor300wsm]

The only time my brass gets cleaned is when it gets annealed......every 5th-6th firing. I use One Shot for lube and after sizing, I simply and quickly wipe them off by hand with whatever multipurpose cleaner is within arms reach. Usually Windex.

And for all you OCD guys that care more about cleaning than you do shooting, this will really blow your mind......wait for it.......I have not cleaned a primer pocket in over 2 years, or roughly 6,000+ precision centerfire rounds. I can still shoot a 100yd group in the .1's-.2's any day of the week using this old dirty Lapua brass.

When you are literally reloading rounds 3-5 nights a week, every week, you will find ways to streamline the process as much as possible. Anything that is not needed, is not done......cleaning primer pockets is pointless. And before you say something about "debris" in the pocket, I have not had a single round fail to fire due to this since I've started leaving them dirty.

 

[Ledzep]

I dry tumble in walnut shell media. No cleaner, no polish, just to get them shiny enough to see in the grass. Every so often I'll get motivated and trim them. That's about it. Imperial sizing wax to resize, wipe it off with a dirty cloth, bingo bango... Admittedly, I will anneal necks every 3 firings or so. That's as OCD as I go.

I've been tempted to try the SS stuff, but it seems like a lot more work than I'm willing to put up with. I'm getting 1/2 MOA vertical out to 800 and that's good 'nuff for me. I have some serious doubts about carbon fouling building up to be a significant volume reducer in the case.... to the point that you'd notice anything. I also tend to think that the brass work-hardening does way more for neck tension than carbon or dry lube holding the bullet. buuut maybe I'm off my rocker.

 

[red hawk]

I clean my brass because my dies likes clean brass,unclean brass is bad for dies.