Brass Cleaning steel pins overated?

[bigedp51]

If you SS clean your brass, it will give you more neck tension and bigger es on your loads because the clean inside of the neck grips the Bullets more and the release of the bullet is more sporadic.
So, I have been wiping the inside of my necks with imperial sizing wax. This gives a better release of the bullet, lowering your es.

There are actually competitive shooters who wet tumble with SS media and they have two fixes.

1. They seat their bullets long and before a match re-seat the bullets to the proper OAL and break any bond between the case neck and bullet.

2. Dip the case necks in Imperial dry graphite neck lube which is just powdered carbon and re-coats the inside of the neck. It is the film of carbon that keep the bullets from bonding to the case neck.

The bonding process is because excess positive electrons like jumping over to other atoms with too many negative electrons. This is also what keeps galvanized steel from rusting, the zink coating keeps transferring its positive electrons to the steel.

Some people will say I have a lot of balls for writing the above, "BUT" if you look at my photo below you will see I do have a lot of balls.


Imperial Dry Neck Lube 1oz Powder

The easy way to apply dry neck lube to case necks. Simply dip the cartridge case neck into the ceramic media. The media consists of high density ceramic spheres that are pre- charged with Imperial Dry Neck Lube.
(powdered graphite which is nothing more than fine carbon particles)

 

[Deleted member 46119]

...The bonding process is because excess positive electrons like jumping over to other atoms with too many negative electrons. This is also what keeps galvanized steel from rusting, the zink coating keeps transferring its positive electrons to the steel...

My engineer detector is screaming.

 

[bigedp51]

My engineer detector is screaming.

Your funny, I was a electrician and my son is a electrical engineer. After college and the second day on the job for Motorola he called me and said his truck would not start. After translating the sounds over the phone my son made the retired electrician had to tell the electrical engineer he had a dead battery.

P.S. When we poor undereducated electricians were trouble shooting and could not figure out the problem we blamed it on queer electrons and fixed it any way. (these type electrons were confused about their polarity)

 

[Deleted member 46119]

Recently I went through all methods. Each one has pros and cons.

A con for SS media is how much it beats up the case mouth. I figured out the mess and got a dryer.

I tried the rice media. It's harder to separate and draws mice into the shop for any spillage. No better than walnut.

Walnut. We all know it. Fine cob works too. If I FL size I "clean" the lube off in a walnut vibratory.

Sonic. Well, I just never liked it. My small Hornady can't do very many cases.

I'm still refining my wet SS procedures. Pretty much down to decap, SS clean and dry, anneal, size, if lubed-walnut tumble and dust off with yellow microfibre cloth, trim, champher, debur.

Worked fine for tiny 5.7x28FN to 50-DTC.

 

[bigedp51]

Recently I went through all methods. Each one has pros and cons.

A con for SS media is how much it beats up the case mouth.

Shorten the time and put more brass and pins in the tumbler. I just hit the cases after tumbling with my WFT and then hit them with a deburring tool. This is if I forget and leave them in the tumbler too long, normally the case mouth is not that bad and I just lightly hit them with a VLD deburring tool.

 

[J E Custom]

Like everyone else, I have MY preferred method of cleaning my brass.

I like the Stainless media the best because it leaves the cases the cleanest of all methods. There is no carbon left in the case to shorten barrel life, The primer pockets are clean, and there is no damage to the cases if it is used properly. drying the cases is troublesome but now you can get a
drier for that problem. (It looks like a jerky/fruit dehydrator).

When using the vibratory method I found that the abrasive in the media was left behind in the case
and also increased barrel wear unless it was removed so I used a sonic cleaner to finish cleaning the cases to remove the abrasives. But I still had to immediately dry the cases after the sonic cleaning.

When using the sonic method the cases looked clean but were not shiny (Everyone likes clean shiny cases).

As to the neck issue, I don't want anything inside the neck to lessen the tension. I adjust the expander ball or the bushings to get the proper neck tension. some even place oil, graphite or some type of lubricant in the neck and/or on the outside of the case. this places more thrust on the bolt and if placed inside the case neck, Case neck tension is less consistent.

A good clean case is best for sizing and gives better life to the dies. If the inside of the case is truly clean and has nothing but powder in it barrel life will be better.

All methods of brass cleaning have there good points and bad points, In MY Opinion, Stainless media has the most strong points and the least weak points. Like many other things the extra work is worth the effort.

JUST MY OPINION

J E CUSTOM

 

[orangediablo]

I've only used the SS method and have no qualms except it takes longer to clean and dry, especially the pins. Also, I've ranged my cleaning times from 1 hour to 4 and MY results weren't too different, maybe a LITTLE cleaner primer pockets, I'm not a competitive shooter, so I don't think slightly cleaner pockets will effect me at all. Drying is the PITA part, with my method being rinsing the case, drying the outside, and blowing compressed air into the case to remove almost all water inside. I tried putting the cases in the oven at low temp, but took a lot longer than hitting them with the air. I rinse the pins, throw them on a cookie sheet, put it in the oven for about 30 min and bone dry and clean. I can go from dirty cases to clean, dry cases and pins in under 2 hours.

Someone mentioned using the graphite to lube the inside of the mouth and got me thinking if I even have to crimp or not, but that's another convo.

 

[Wachsmann]

Maybe if I had a bushing die that allowed me to control the neck tension better then I would do some more cleaning with the stainless median and do some testing to see if this changed my ES for the better. But for now I just sticking with the walnut red media and my used dryer sheets.

 

[maninthemaze]

Your funny, I was a electrician and my son is a electrical engineer. After college and the second day on the job for Motorola he called me and said his truck would not start. After translating the sounds over the phone my son made the retired electrician had to tell the electrical engineer he had a dead battery.

P.S. When we poor undereducated electricians were trouble shooting and could not figure out the problem we blamed it on queer electrons and fixed it any way. (these type electrons were confused about their polarity)

I work in the control room of a coal fired power plant here in Kentucky. When our senior electricians have a problem that is intermittent, they blame it on a "Bad UEP Card". Some of the younger electricians starting using this excuse without really knowing what a UEP card is. Makes me chuckle every time. I've been at that plant for going on 20 years. I had an older electrician tell me right before he retired, that UEP stood for Unexplainable Electrical Phenomenon. They just started throwing the Card word on the end when the computers came about. Sorry, your story reminded me of today's youth. Old age and treachery will always beat youth and skill.

 

[M1A1ABRAMS]

I'm curious as to what the old timers did to clean there brass before tumblers were made. I thought maybe they used a bucket with maybe some sort of soap other than lye. Or maybe a baking soda solution ? Or did they just hand clean ? And with what ? Burlap maybe ? I was given a container that looks like a portable potty with about a 3 gallon bucket in it. I got this when I bought a load of dies from a friend. It is for media cleaning he said. I'm just not sure how it works. Did they fill it with some form of cleaning solution & let it soak for so long. And agitate the brass occasionally ? It looks like it may have been from the 70s. But I'm still curious as to how the old old timers cleaned their brass. Or didn't they even bother ? I have some antique loading tools. And am not sure how they work either. lol

 

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

When I started reloading quite a while ago we just used some steel wool on the neck if really dirty and Q Tips with some Alcohol for the inside of the neck and/or primer pocket.
Then got a Vibrating machine with walnut to clean.
When Frankford came out with a wet tumbler & SS Pins system with water, brass cleaner/Dawn & Lemonshine used that system ever since.

 

[M1A1ABRAMS]

When I started reloading quite a while ago we just used some steel wool on the neck if really dirty and Q Tips with some Alcohol for the inside of the neck and/or primer pocket.
Then got a Vibrating machine with walnut to clean.
When Frankford came out with a wet tumbler & SS Pins system with water, brass cleaner/Dawn & Lemonshine used that system ever since.

I was wondering what the early 1900s used or did they not bother ?
And since I got your ear. This is off topic though. I have purchased a 1917 Enfield action all polished. And seems to be in good working order. I was curious if you would know what for stock would work for these ? I understand the companies did make a commercial rifle after the war. I believe a 30M. It's in 30-06. I would like to complete it. I ordered a magwell & trigger guard, etc. But I am having no luck with a stock besides a beat up military style. Which I see as overpriced for the condition. There has to be a alternative out there somewhere. Or should I cut down the walnut tree in the back yard & get busy ? lol

 

[Mikecr]

This thread is very old.

 

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

I was wondering what the early 1900s used or did they not bother ?
And since I got your ear. This is off topic though. I have purchased a 1917 Enfield action all polished. And seems to be in good working order. I was curious if you would know what for stock would work for these ? I understand the companies did make a commercial rifle after the war. I believe a 30M. It's in 30-06. I would like to complete it. I ordered a magwell & trigger guard, etc. But I am having no luck with a stock besides a beat up military style. Which I see as overpriced for the condition. There has to be a alternative out there somewhere. Or should I cut down the walnut tree in the back yard & get busy ? lol

Good luck on fitting a newer stock on it.
If you have a good Walnut tree with some lines and color you can send it out and have a Steller stock made.
After the war these rifles were really inexpensive. You could buy a crate of 10 for $100 and then sell for $20. Most people turned them into "Sporters" Had a competent guy in a you machine shop where you work and cut the barrel down and stock. Used for deer hunting.
There are some companies out there now that deal in modern stocks for the 1917 Enfields. Keep searching and you will find one. You might also find a GS that could get a stock and inlet it for you.
I have a Mauser 98 Sniper rifle with double set triggers, Sniper Scope and everything marked with the "Eagle" the Stock was made by someone to look like a regular hunting rifle. It was used in the WWII war. I need to sell it Along with a WWII NIB M1 Grand Sniper Scope still in the box with the original tissue paper for padding.
I stopped working on older firearms almost 10 years ago. Just not worth it for time to invest and restoring older parts.
I said to Jill when we re-started the business last year that we would only do new Custom chambering. some fitting for Chassis and little inlet on new stocks. Also some bead blasting of metal and Cerakoting. If my IRA ever rebounds we will get a high tech engraver for additional services.