Cleaning brass

[Dentite]

I've never once had a pin stay in a case after tumbling and shooting thousands of rounds since starting to wet tumble. I use a separator with inner basket and outer drum.

I load rounds ranging from .204 caliber to .45/44 caliber and haven't had a pin hang around. I have seen photos of of a pin getting stuck in a case mouth, but mine must be just the right length to where it doesn't happen.

Those ceramic balls in dry neck lube have occasionally stuck in my case neck before though.

 

[orkan]

I load rounds ranging from .204 caliber to .45/44 caliber and haven't had a pin hang around. I have seen photos of of a pin getting stuck in a case mouth, but mine must be just the right length to where it doesn't happen.

I talked to a gentleman about 3 months ago that said the exact same thing. He never had it happen either.

Turns out when they were examining his suppressor, it had been happening a LOT. He just didn't notice until it was too late. Suffice it to say, he's no longer using pins nor a wet process of any kind. I seem to remember seeing someone with a damaged brake as a result of it as well, but I don't recall where that was.

This is just a guess, but I'd venture it's happening to everyone that uses pins, with the exception of straight wall cases. Whether they notice or not, is clearly much more complicated an issue.

Turns out that shooting rice down your barrel doesn't hurt suppressors. I did it on purpose a few times just to make sure.


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[The Oregonian]

I have not used rice before…how frequently does it get stuck in flash holes? Does anyone use any polish or just straight rice?

I haven't cleaned using vibratory in several years but am open to going back.

 

[marchboom]

Many tumblers are good just stay away from the wet method. Sure, it makes the brass REALLY shiny but at what cost (work hardening, etc). Use Lemishine for 45 mins and the dry tumble with crushed walnut media.

 

[Varmint Hunter]

One way SS pins WILL damage a brake is when you intentionally put your brakes in the pin tumbler to remove the carbon. The brake will be very clean but the threads can get damaged in the process.

Guess how I know.

 

[marchboom]

One way SS pins WILL damage a brake is when you intentionally put your brakes in the pin tumbler to remove the carbon. The brake will be very clean but the threads can get damaged in the process.

Guess how I know.

Many handloaders who clean using the pin method say that the pins do not damage the brass. But if the pins can damage the threads on a steel brake it will definitely damage brass which is much softer.

 

[Pdyson]

Unless you load the rifle by hand so your brass never hits the ground I suggest you clean the brass. I shoot suppressed and my AR brass looks like charcoal, I pin wash for 20mins after annealing along with my bolt action brass which does not get that sooty but it's still sticky with lube.
I understand the benefits of leaving carbon inside the case neck but I hate having powder sticking to the case lube. Hand wiping lube off 300 cases is not going to happen with my arthritic hands either. So I wash again for 15 mins and dry in a jerky machine. which sux because it adds more time to the process and cleans out the carbon from the neck which all the pros say is beneficial. So I've been coating the inside of my case necks with liquid graphite (neolube) For over a year now. For me it works just as well as leaving carbon in the neck, and my brass doesn't look nasty. Dirty brass is hard to see once it hits the ground.

 

[Varmint Hunter]

Many handloaders who clean using the pin method say that the pins do not damage the brass. But if the pins can damage the threads on a steel brake it will definitely damage brass which is much softer.

While that certainly may be true, I have never seen a downside to using the SS pin tumbler when used properly with my brass. Case mouths can get dinged if run too long but a quick touch-up with a chamfering tool will remedy that. A short run in the tumbler does not damage case mouths. The SS muzzle brakes that I put in the tumbler were in there way too long only because I didn't know that the very thin edge of the threads could be affected. The brakes were rethreaded and are fine but I won't be repeating that mistake.

 

[Barrelnut]

When I do occasionally "sonic clean" brass, afterward while expanding the necks with a mandrel, I apply a small amount of powdered graphite with a q-tip to the inside of the neck. The mandrel causes the graphite adhere to the sidewalls of the neck. Works pretty well.

 

[parshal]

I've done everything mentioned here at one point or another. I'm now processing 500-1000 pieces of brass at a time so the fewer steps I have the better.

I left wet tumbling (with or without pins) after two years due to having to deal with the water, drying cases (dehydrator, oven, sun), inspecting cases to verify all the pins are gone and the squeaky-clean necks requiring dry lube. All of this added up to more time and steps for no gain other than pretty brass.

I did the rice in both the vibratory and rotary tumblers. I liked it just fine although I did have rice stick in primer pockets every once in a while even with the suggested Nishiki rice. I also found it needed replacing sooner than walnut or corn cob. I've since gone to tumbling before removing primers so rice in the pockets would no longer be an issue.

I moved back to vibratory tumbling using walnut and corn cob blasting media. Walnut to clean and corn cob to tumble loaded ammo to remove sizing lube (8 mins in the tumbler is plenty of time to remove lube). I'm using a UV45 tumbler and can tumble 500+ Creedmoor or PRC cases at a time greatly reducing my workload.

 

[orkan]

@parshal seems like he actually gets round count enough to learn something.

If you shoot enough... the wet tumbling thing isn't even an option. You just don't have the throughput to load enough cases.

I have not used rice before…how frequently does it get stuck in flash holes? Does anyone use any polish or just straight rice?

I've packed the flash holes full of rice intentionally, and didn't actually discover any difference down range. I put a bunch of rice inside the case and shot it... and it changed things about to the tune of how much volume difference I created. No damage to any suppressors or brakes.

I mostly use milled rice now. It lasts longer than the un-milled and works in small cal cases, and separates easier. No additives or polish is needed.


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[Beluebow]

I've tried just about everything (except rice) for my reloading program, corn cob media works just fine. Mostly to get the sizing wax off the case...although sometimes I'll leave it in there longer to make it extra shiney.

 

[orkan]

@parshal how do you like that UV45? I didn't know if I'd like handling that big beast, so I just got 3 of the UV-18's instead.

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[parshal]

I have mine on a WEMO timer in the shop and move it out under the overhang to separate the brass after it's run overnight.

I have sifting screens that fit over 5 gallon buckets and simply pour the contents into the bucket. Take that brass and run it through a media separator and repeat. It's a bit heavy to move when full of media and brass but very doable.

I considered multiple smaller ones but found the UV45 used on ebay and couldn't pass up the price.