Case cleaning for reloading

[rmca]

I´m looking for opinions on cleaning cases for reloading.
Mainly ultrasonic vs tumbler.
I'm leaning more towards the ultrasonic cleaner because it allows to clean gun parts as well.
I'm loading mostly pistol, and some rifle cartridges from time to time.

I'm interested in hearing your experiences on ease of use, cost and results.

All opinions are welcomed.
Thanks

[machinist mike]

I recommend using stainless steel pins in a rotary tumbler. Note that you need to use a rotary tumbler rather than a vibratory tumbler. As a plus, if you deprime, size, and flare the case mouths before tumbling you will also clean the primer pockets and the cases will look better than new, and it only takes about 4 hours. Another plus is that you never have to renew or replace the media.

[Sa-tevo]

I like wet tumbling deprimed cases with a tumbling kit from http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com/s ... ckage.html I deprime, tumble, then size/flare/load.

4 pounds of brass takes about 4 hours, maybe another 15 -20 minutes to rinse and separate the media from the brass under water. I use a 1/4 teaspoon of Lemishine, 1 tablespoon of dish detergent, and two tablespoons of car wash with wax. The brass comes out shiny, clean, de-burred and waxed for easier handling in the reloading press.

The advantages I see are no dust, less dirt on my press when reloading and a clean case to look into to check loads before inserting a bullet.

My friends use a hillbilly tumbler made from PVC pipe and a used exercise treadmill. No duct tape.

[paulmcallister]

Hello,

I am cleaning mine ultrasonically with Hornady One Shot Sonic Cleaner Ultrasonic Case Cleaning Solution. It does nice job of cleaning the outside of the case and an okay job of the primer pockets and the inside of the cases. My interest is just to get the cases clean so I don't have any feeding problems.

If you are looking for nice sparkling cases then this isn't the cleaning process for you.

[Rover]

Use carbide dies and forget cleaning.

[RandomShotz]

I used to use an ultrasonic cleaner. You can make your own cleaning juice for a fraction of the cost of the brand name stuff. There are plenty of formulas on the web, many of which should be avoided since they involve some acids which may alter the brass. I just took the ingredients from the MSDS of one of the commercial solutions - it's just a detergent and citric acid - and putzed around with the proportions until I got satisfactory results. Citric acid is used in canning, and the detergent I used is a mineral detergent called "Spray Power" both of which are available at WalMart. ("Spray Power" is an awesome detergent in the kitchen, too. And cheap.) This was followed with thorough rinsing and a dip in one of the automotive "Wash 'n' Wax" solutions to keep the brass bright. I followed that with more rinsing and a final rinse in deionized water which I got that free from the lab where I work. It's nice because it eliminates water spots, but not necessary.

But that's a lot of trouble - I wouldn't want to do it for more than 2-300 cases per week. If you shoot more than that, look into a tumbler.

Roger

[wv109323]

A lot depends on what brass you start with. If it is used dirty range brass and you want shiny new then the wet tumbling with SS pins cleans very well.
If you start with new brass and pick it up then a tumbler with corn cob or walnut hulls will work.
I not not real familiar with ultrasonic.

[Trooperjake]

For match use only,
I deprime the case, and use the Hornady Ultrasonic One Shot Cleaner. Rinse the cases very well.
I spread them out for 2 days then tumble then in Lyman Green media for 3 hours.
Most people think it is brand new cases.
For practice Ammo I just tumble the cases for about 5 hours.

When using an Ultrasonic cleaner you have to be very careful no moisture remains in the case.
It can kill your primer.

Rover is an idiot.
If you are shooting 32 cal cleaning is very important.
Even 45 shooting at 50 yards it's important to use clean cases.
In rapids clean cases feed and extract much better.

[Rover]

I can picture you all asshole and elbows scrubbing your cases like a washerwoman.

Obviously, you haven't tried the method I suggested where the cases come out stained but clean.

[Gort]

I must be an idiot too, as I don't clean cases very often if at all. Also, if you use the stainless steel pins or aggressive ultrasonic solutions, they clean the cases as to render the interiors bare. Unless you lube the insides of the necks with graphite or mica, the necks will gall in the neck expanding operation operation. Not something you can do on a progressive press. The carbon fowling acts as a lubricant in the neck expanding operation and bullet seating. If you ever use factory new brass, you will see this problem.
Gort


PS: I do manually clean primer pockets and lube necks (graphite) in benchrest rifle.

[rigwhanson]

I agree that a coating of burned powder residue or mica on the inside of clean cases will reduce the galling at the expanding die I don't think that a clean surface is the primary problem with new cases. The clean surface no doubt contributes to the galling issue but I believe the real culprits are the sharp corners and slight burrs at the mouth of the the new cases created in the trimming operation when the cases are made. When loading and expanding new brass I have noted a lot of brass particles accumulating on the shell plate I suspect coming from the sharp corners from the trimming operation. It would be interesting if someone with a tumbling setup with the steel pins would run a batch of new brass through a good tumbling before loading them to see if it does not eliminate most of the problem. With most bare metal surfaces high pressure sliding of metal together without lubricant will tend to start galling but one small metal particle from a burr on a corner will accelerate this process and once it starts it is all down hill from there.

[fc60]

Greetings,

I purchased some 32 S&W Long Lapua cases that were once fired. Sadly, they looked like they were left outside and rather grungy in appearance.

I deprimed all the cases and gave them a good washing with stainless pins and Palmolive dish soap. They still were sort of ugly looking so I then gave them an additional tumbling with a 5% solution of Citric Acid.

Finally, they looked like new brass.

Sadly, the expander plug on my press galled and loaded up with pieces of brass welded to it. Very much like loading new brass.

Solution was to flare the cases only with an undersize expander and stuff Speer HBWC bullets in the cases.

After firing them, they clean up fine with the pins and soap as usual.

Personally, I prefer once fired brass to new brass for the galling reason.

Prior to using the pins, I deprimed and wet tumbled all my brass. I got tired of cleaning little bits of tumbling media out of my progressive press. With the wet tumbling method, I get no loose pieces of crud and the machine stays clean. Also the primer pockets accept new primers easier.

Cheers,

Dave

[john bickar]

Personally, I prefer once fired brass to new brass for the galling reason.

Dave,

Have I got a deal for you!!!

Simply send me five cases of Lapua .32 ammo, and I will send you back a generous supply of once-fired .32 brass. I will even cover the shipping.

EVERYONE WINS!

Sincerely,

John Bickar

[paw080]

I recommend using stainless steel pins in a rotary tumbler. Note that you need to use a rotary tumbler rather than a vibratory tumbler. As a plus, if you deprime, size, and flare the case mouths before tumbling you will also clean the primer pockets and the cases will look better than new, and it only takes about 4 hours. Another plus is that you never have to renew or replace the media.

Hi RMCA, I'm with Machinist Mike; also I have found that the resulting polished cases really help when looking

for anomalies and minute case cracks. Drying is a cinch. I just place the just cleaned cases into a large terry cloth

totew ; shake them, and place the opened towel onto a small table to dry in the sun. It only takes about 20 minutes

where I live(Riverside county California). Good luck;

Tony

[GunRunner]

I prefer to tumble, using treated corn cob and jewelers rouge and add a cap full of liquid car wax to the mix you can buy the mixed corn cobb on ebay, a few hours and brass looks as new as wet tumbling. these will load like butter. wet tumbling takes many more steps, you have to deprime first then tumble with ss pins, add lemishine and dish liquid, then you have to get all the pins out, dry the brass which can take days if the humidity is high and you dont have a dryer then the brass is clean but it will load like pulling a rope thru a needle cause the brass has no lubricity so you need to tumble in some kind of media with a lube or wax or spray the cases with case lube. Its just way over kill for pistol shooting to me. My accu-lock 45 tested .68'' for 5 shots at 50 yds with once fired tumbled brass.

[Rover]

Why is simple so hard on some people?

[Sa-tevo]

Why is simple so hard on some people?

I dunno. I'm having fun reloading.

GunRunner, if you find three pieces of Starline with serial numbers A00168, A00325 and A00677 in your collection could you return them? It's messing up my ledger book not having them.

[paulmcallister]

Greetings,

Prior to using the pins, I deprimed and wet tumbled all my brass. I got tired of cleaning little bits of tumbling media out of my progressive press. With the wet tumbling method, I get no loose pieces of crud and the machine stays clean. Also the primer pockets accept new primers easier.

Cheers,

Dave

Dave do you find with wet tumbling that you do not see and issues with galling on the expanding die?

[fc60]

Greetings,

Galling of the expander plug is associated with brass that is "chemically clean". That is, there is no residue remaining from the cleaning process.

New brass is essentially "chemically clean" and tends to weld itself to the expander plug. StarLine used to post tips on using a lube with new brass.

Wet washing with dish soap tends to leave a very light film of soap on the brass which works as a lubricant.

Should you add "Lemishine" or Citric Acid as a final rinse, it tends to remove the soap film.

Yes, wet washing is added work. However, my Progressive machine stays clean longer.

Cheers,

Dave

[RandomShotz]

I never had a problem with galling, so maybe the "Wash & Wax" dip I did after ultrasonic cleaning was preventing it. I was just doing it so that the brass would stay bright and wouldn't oxidize - I thought that variation in the oxidation of the cases would affect consistency of extraction. So I did the right thing for the wrong reason.

Roger