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Thread: Another Brass Cleaning Thread !!

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  1. #11
    Join Date
    1st February 2006
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    Parker, Colorado
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    I also use ss pins in a Thumler model B. I get the same very impressive results. During the rinsing step I notice what I can best describe as brass dust at the bottom of the tumbling drum. Next time, I'll collect it and weigh it, versus the number of cases, to see what kind of loss is happening. The dust is subjectively a very small amount. Are other ss pin users seeing the same brass dust? Taking a very conservative perspective, over time this loss of material may eventually have some impact on the case. Perhaps the effect is so small that the cases will be lost or otherwise rendered unusable before there would be an unwanted/unexpected effect from the material loss. I'd appreciate any thoughts others have.

  2. #12
    Join Date
    17th February 2011
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    SE TX
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    Decap.
    Wet tumble with SS pins.
    Resize.
    Run through the vibratory tumbler with walnut media and Flitz for 30 minutes to an hour.
    Doesn't always get the primer pockets as clean as I want them. But I have some more work to do on my home made wet tumbler drum.

  3. #13
    Join Date
    12th October 2008
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    North Carolina
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    For a number of years I just reloaded into shells with just a wipe down as I inspected each case. Never had a problem. When I started reloading for .45 Auto, I got a Lyman tumbler (really, a shaker) and some walnut media. Like Hawkmoon, I found that 2 hours shined them up nice and purty, and greatly facilitates the inspection process. Recently I tried a Cabela's medium with a reddish colored polish already mixed in to the medium. Now they come out even shinier with about 1 hour of tumbling. I like.

    The purpose of polishing your shells is not to make them pretty. That's a side benefit. The purpose is to expose any cracks or other faults in the shells before you load them and put them in your weapon. With .45 Auto being a rather low pressure round, the chanced of having the brass fatigue is relatively low, but not impossible. With rifle rounds and some handgun rounds, the chances increase. You should always inspect each round before loading it, and after as well. You don't want to find out about bad brass by having a kaboom.

    Wade

  4. #14
    Join Date
    27th April 2009
    Location
    Byron, GA
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    Quote Originally Posted by XinTX View Post
    Decap.
    Wet tumble with SS pins.
    Resize.
    Run through the vibratory tumbler with walnut media and Flitz for 30 minutes to an hour.
    Doesn't always get the primer pockets as clean as I want them. But I have some more work to do on my home made wet tumbler drum.
    The timer on the Frankford Arsenal SS pin tumbler maxes out at 3 hours. I usually run it for 4 hours and my cases are hound's tooth clean including the primer pockets.

    The FA tumbler turns are a pretty fair clip; much faster than my Lortone rock tumbler. The tub is large and I clean a minimum of 500 cases at a time.

  5. #15
    Join Date
    2nd June 2007
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    In the desert
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    And here I have been loading since 1973 and NEVER had a problem during case inspection (prior to cleaning) seeing any issues with a case.
    To me, it just rings of an excuse, as I haven't seen the need.
    However, what ever works for you is what counts, just that a whole lot of time, money, and effort is being spent on something that isn't going to show on the target.
    Right now, I read about folks who:
    1) deprime
    2) tumble in SS pins for 2-6 hours
    3) dry in a oven or dehydrator they purchased just for drying cases
    4) tumble in corn for 30 minutes to 2 hours for that final shine (with Nu-Finish)
    5) Lube all cases
    6) tumble cartridges to remove the case lube
    NRA Life Member

  6. #16
    Join Date
    27th April 2009
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    Byron, GA
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    Quote Originally Posted by noylj View Post
    And here I have been loading since 1973 and NEVER had a problem during case inspection (prior to cleaning) seeing any issues with a case.
    To me, it just rings of an excuse, as I haven't seen the need.
    However, what ever works for you is what counts, just that a whole lot of time, money, and effort is being spent on something that isn't going to show on the target.
    With all due respect, you really didn't need to say any more than the part that's now bold.

    When a new reloader, or even one with some experience, asks about cleaning cases it would be much more productive to explain their options rather than how one person does it and make it sound as if that's the only reasonable method while everyone else is wasting their time, money and effort.

    I've been reloading since 1966 and my preference is to have my cases look like they're new. Others don't see the need and that's fine with me. However, anyone with a question about how to best clean their cases has a lot of information presented to them in this thread. It serves no purpose to tell them that my way, your way or someone else's way is the only way. They can read how others clean cases and then they can choose the method that best suits them.

    While this forum is devoted to pistol shooting, anyone involved in precision rifle shooting will understand that a perfectly clean bottleneck cartridge case will effect accuracy for a number of reasons. Many bench rest shooters, in particular, are fanatics about cleanliness and consistency. Maybe that carries over to pistol cases for some of us.

  7. #17
    Join Date
    2nd June 2007
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    In the desert
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    >When a new reloader, or even one with some experience, asks about cleaning cases it would be much more productive to explain their options rather than how one person does it and make it sound as if that's the only reasonable method while everyone else is wasting their time, money and effort.

    Yes, one should NEVER explain their reasoning, just agree. Yup, that's the way to go, I guess. There is the "correct" side and the "I have to just agree" side. No more presenting different sides of an issue.
    My point is that too many of the "shiny fanatics" post as though their way is the only way. I feel that almost any way is more than good enough and that the last thing a newbie needs to do is waste time or money on shiny cases--actually reloading and shooting is a lot more important.
    This is my personal experience with case cleaning:
    Alway inspect my cases. Thus, I simply started (sometime in the late '70s) to deprime, inspect, and sort my range brass prior to cleaning. Makes sense to me.
    1) Wiping off the case exterior during inspection and sorting worked great for about 2 years except my wrists got sore from wiping the cases, so I got a tumbler.
    2) I went from 30 minutes to 24 hours with corn and nut media. Neither cleaned the cases much more that the first 30 minutes accomplished. Nut media generated a LOT of dust and some got packed into cases and had to be removed by hand. Always used 20/40 corn as it doesn't fill the flash hole or primer pocket. Have a 40 lb bag I bought more than a decade ago for $25 and still have more than 2/3 of it remaining.
    3) Tried ultrasonic cleaning, using hot water, Dawn, and Lemi-Shine. Got the cases completely clean in 20 minutes, inside and out. Did not polish the cases very much, but very fast. Air dry on towel works perfect. Liked it enough that I bought a Lyman 6000 on sale for under $200, as it has a tap to drain the water out of the tub.
    4) Tried SS pins in my Thumler Tumbler B with water, Dawn, and Lemi-Shine. Needed 6-8 hours for complete clean. Very shiny. Air dry on towel works perfect. Use my RCBS media separator, with tub full of water, to separate out the pins from the cases. Takes about 1-2 minutes for all the pins to fall out into the water. Have not yet found a pin in a case, but I still pass a magnet over the cases as they air dry to detect any.
    Those are my personal results.
    Never knew a bench rest shooter who worried about clean cases (other than the case exterior), but I haven't been around that area for about 10 years.
    However, taking any thing used to go from 0.4 MOA to 0.35 MOA may not apply to handguns shooting 12 MOA...
    NRA Life Member

  8. #18
    Join Date
    25th June 2016
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    Atlanta, GA
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    I also use a Thumler Tumbler, with SS pins, which I bought from Sinclair Int'l. It's MUCH quieter than a vibratory tumbler, by they way. Before using the Thumler, I used a lyman vibratory tumbler, and the plastic bowl became .... sorry for the technical terminology.... just nasty after using it for several years with various types of media & compounds.

    I don't clean my cases that often, but when cases are really dirty I clean them, and with a VERY little dishwashing liquid, they come out beautifully in this tumbler with SS pins.
    "Only accurate rifles (and 1911's?) are interesting", (Col. Townsend Whelen)

  9. #19
    Two hours for a bright, new look? That sounds like a plan, and lately I've been settling for closer to an hour for than in-between shine.

  10. #20
    Join Date
    17th February 2011
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    Well, my process works for me for what I do. But I'm not reloading because I'm going to be shooting in competition and need thousands of rounds. I reload just because I kind of enjoy it as a way to while away in my work shop. Were I in need of shooting thousands of rounds, I'd change my entire setup and routine. But I decap first because I like clean primer pockets. It probably makes no difference, I just like them clean. Then wet tumble because I don't want to run gritty brass though my dies. I usually dry tumble after resizing and it makes them look almost new. The last polish isn't necessary. But I let a load run through that while I'm doing other things.

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