Do you clean your brass?

[Hard H2O]

I do not clean my brass. Never have.

For my rifles I only shoot brass that has been fired in them. None of that brass hits the concrete.

For my pistols I inspect and examine brass very carefully. I only use either my own brass or range pickups that are pretty pristine.

 

[Calvin45]

I clean with acetone after all case work and before I prime. They come out of the gun without the tarnish that used to be there after firing. I might tumble a cpl times/year.

Acetone!?!? That stuff just keeps showing up as a useful tool in the kit. I use it as part of my bore cleaning regimen now AND as a way to apply hex boron nitride to the inside of the cleaned bore, making a suspension of hbn in acetone, soaking a patch, running it through as the acetone just evaporates away leaving a thin film of the hbn behind. Acetone, pure alcohol, either or. Someone has suggested mineral spirits work even better, I'll have to see.

I know I mentioned this elsewhere once but my wife confronted me (in a good natured way) the other day…

I had a bottle of her nail polish remover (which is acetone), an old hair dryer that I had been using to apply heat to a vibratory tumbler when tossing projectiles in hbn (might also work for the chicken tumbled rice I mentioned earlier ), a nail file with that I had "borrowed" to smooth down a part on something EVER SO SLIGHTLY, all of my conventional tools seemed like they'd be too rough for the job, and I had stolen her tweezers to get some very tiny springs back inside something, I can't even remember what now, but my ape fingers as she calls them kept dropping the spring…tweezers worked great.

Anyway, she was

a) a little peeved at me for "borrowing" all these things without putting them back and

B) genuinely curious, concerned perhaps , about what exactly it was that I had beEn doing in my "gun room" with a nail file, tweezers, a hair dryer, and nail polish remover!!!

 

[JPatzig]

I follow Alex's method of using a tight brush, like an Iosso, on the inside of the neck with a drill to warm up that carbon right before I seat my bullet. Warming up and leaving the carbon in the case has seem to make seating much more consistent and prevent's some cold weld. If I am using new brass without carbon, then I will use a dry neck lube.

I've seen Alex's posts about this process, but I'm still confused on the actual purpose. Is it to scrub off excess carbon? Heat up the carbon for slicker bullet seating? Sounds like it "increases consistency and accuracy", but how?

 

[Beluebow]

just long enough to get whatever sizing lubricant you use off. 30-40min in dry tumbler

This^^^

 

[fnlights]

I've seen Alex's posts about this process, but I'm still confused on the actual purpose. Is it to scrub off excess carbon? Heat up the carbon for slicker bullet seating? Sounds like it "increases consistency and accuracy", but how?

Honestly great question haha - all I know is that it definitely works and I have seen great results. @Alex Wheeler likely knows wayy more about it than I do. All I know is that the dude knows his stuff!

With not near the experience of Alex, I personally believe that it "smooths" out the carbon and will remove any excess debris. Sometimes when you let the carbon sit in there for awhile it will get discolored and such, so hitting it with the brush and drill I have noticed smooths it right out. Really no carbon "scrubbing" being done at all.

 

[Calvin45]

One thing I can say is DO NOT clean it with vinegar or other acids in any way. It leeches the zinc out of the brass leaving very compromised copper behind. Not good. Learned that from experience. Once.

 

[Rosebud]

Neck shoulder bump, overnight in the corncob media. Anneal, shoot repeat.

 

[Pdyson]

I wet tumble, used to let it run for 4 hours for that like new shine…but it beats the chamfer off of the case mouths. I saw that E Cortina video as well and I have tried to wean myself off of the cleaning ritual, but it's hard. I only wet tumble for 30min now and I don't run them thru a second time to wash off the case wax anymore. If I'm in a hurry and need ammo for an upcoming match or practice session I'll just reload them dirty. I Don't see any difference in impact or group size. But if I have the time, my OCD won't let me run em with out at least a quick wash and dry in the Jerky Dehydrator.

 

[WapitiBob]

I have no desire to contaminate my tumbler dry media with case lube.

 

[Calvin45]

I have no desire to contaminate my tumbler dry media with case lube.

Interesting. I contaminate away but I do notice I gotta replace it after awhile as it gets "sticky" haha. I'll try the acetone trick. Where's that nail polish remover now?….

 

[Culpeper]

I was just watching an interview with a long range shooter and he claimed that he doesn't clean his brass. Most of the time I clean mine because I was told I had to. Do all of you clean your brass before you reload it?

The only thing I do is wipe the exterior with a moist cloth with mineral spirits.

EDIT: You merely asked a closed question. My answer is basically "Yes"

 

[GUNNNN]

I was just watching an interview with a long range shooter and he claimed that he doesn't clean his brass. Most of the time I clean mine because I was told I had to. Do all of you clean your brass before you reload it?

It depends on how dirty they are if they're funky looking I'll put them in the tumbler before sizing for a day or till it gets on my wife's nerves when this happens I might leave 2 days LOL

 

[Bravo 4]

Couple turns on a green scotchbrite pad after sizing. I used to put the cases in a Lee zip trim to turn them on the scotchbrite pad, but that 10 seconds per case took too long.

 

[skipglo]

I was just watching an interview with a long range shooter and he claimed that he doesn't clean his brass. Most of the time I clean mine because I was told I had to. Do all of you clean your brass before you reload it?

For almost 40 years I never cleaned ( tumbled) my brass....now I do...sure looks pretty!