Brass cleaning process.. which is best

[Charlie-NY]

Use a little Sprayway glass cleaner available on Amazon. It will remove lube from your brass better and faster than just using a dry paper towel or rag. I got this tip on AccurateShooter and it works great.

 

[ljalberta]

I wipe them with a paper towel. I used to wet tumble.

 

[goathunter]

I just wipe it off with a rag.

I've done that a bunch too. Tossing into a dry tumbler for an hour is way easier.

 

[goathunter]

Use a little Sprayway glass cleaner available on Amazon. It will remove lube from your brass better and faster than just using a dry paper towel or rag. I got this tip on AccurateShooter and it works great.

Do you have to wipe off the spray away?

 

[AZ_Hunter]

I have done every method. Wet tumbling is by far the best; it’s easier, cleaner and more effective. I use SS pins; with a rotary separator, very rarely will a pin get stuck in the brass. Rarely. I will catch it when doing the post washing case prep.

But shooting suppressed all the time, thus creating filthy brass, wet tumbling is the easy button.

I will put a batch of brass in, then go do something else… like work. Then later I’ll put the brass in the dehydrator. I break up the process throughout the week, so by weekend the cases are ready to be primed and loaded. One step each day, makes for an easy Saturday night of loading up for shooting Sunday.

 

[goathunter]

I have done every method. Wet tumbling is by far the best; it’s easier, cleaner and more effective. I use SS pins; with a rotary separator, very rarely will a pin get stuck in the brass. Rarely. I will catch it when doing the post washing case prep.

But shooting suppressed all the time, thus creating filthy brass, wet tumbling is the easy button.

I will put a batch of brass in, then go do something else… like work. Then later I’ll put the brass in the dehydrator. I break up the process throughout the week, so by weekend the cases are ready to be primed and loaded. One step each day, makes for an easy Saturday night of loading up for shooting Sunday.

I don't know, this sounds much harder than dry tumbling: resize, toss in for a couple hours, take out, quick wipe off "dust" with rag, load. I do use a primer pocket tool as part of prep along with trimming. Primer pockets are still dirty.

 

[SamsonMan22]

I've done that a bunch too. Tossing into a dry tumbler for an hour is way easier.

I hate cleaning media out of flash holes, especially small ones. For me it’s faster to wipe off lube with a rag than to go through and clean out flash holes. I used to tumble everything but I gave up on cleaning brass a couple of years ago and that ended up being a big time saver for me.

 

[goathunter]

I hate cleaning media out of flash holes, especially small ones. For me it’s faster to wipe off lube with a rag than to go through and clean out flash holes. I used to tumble everything but I gave up on cleaning brass a couple of years ago and that ended up being a big time saver for me.

hmm I don't really get media in the flash holes. Maybe it's the media? I use "lizard bedding" (walnut). But I need to clean my primer pockets anyways with a primer brush to clean the residue from firing

not saying my way is the best - I'd love to improve my process

 

[SamsonMan22]

hmm I don't really get media in the flash holes. Maybe it's the media? I use "lizard bedding" (walnut). But I need to clean my primer pockets anyways with a primer brush to clean the residue from firing

not saying my way is the best - I'd love to improve my process

I used corn cob so they could be why, also majority of my loading now is small primer pockets and relatively small flash holes. When I was loading for larger cartridges 1-2 out of a hundred would have media in them, with something like a 223 it seems like 1 in 3 has media in the flash holes.

I’m sure my process is not “the” answer, I’m just lazy and load a lot more ammo now than I ever did. I hate wasting time cleaning brass, primer pockets, etc because I have seen zero appreciable difference going from strict cleaning processes to zero cleaning. When I’m loading progressive all of that cleaning is kind of tough to do in the middle of the cycle anyway. I went from loading several hundred rounds a year to several thousand and in doing so I really wanted to streamline the process and save time where I could, that and I’m limited on space to store all of this stuff.

 

[Mikido]

I've done that a bunch too. Tossing into a dry tumbler for an hour is way easier.

I disagree

 

[goathunter]

I disagree

Roger that, wasn't trying to change your mind!

 

[Mike D Texas]

If your goal is clean, shiny,brass nothing will beat wet tumbling with SS pins.

It is more time consuming but it will get your brass clean; including inside and primer pockets.


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[ddowning]

I use a paper towel to wipe sizing lube off every case after sized, never re tumbled never had a problem. I get single digits.

I have done that, but it is not conducive to the volume of ammo I reload. It does work fine though.

 

[wind gypsy]

I dont end up with much rice media stuck in flash holes if its the right sized rice. It does happen so you've got to look but I'd guess its only 5ish percent.

 

[ddowning]

If your goal is clean, shiny,brass nothing will beat wet tumbling with SS pins.

It is more time consuming but it will get your brass clean; including inside and primer pockets.


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Yes, it will give you the cleanest brass. Then, to get it to shoot exceptionally well, you have to do a bunch of useless stuff to get consistent bullet release.

I hate loading. I avoid shooting to avoid loading and often train with rimfire to avoid it as well. I have had times in my life where I loaded 800-1000 rounds/week. For precision without unnecessary steps, I full length size dirty brass with lanolin/alcohol lube. Trim/debur/chamfer in one step. Then, for blasting or practice ammo, or matches I don't care how I place I load full progressive. For hunting or matches I'm trying to win, I seat primers, drop charges with auto trickler, seat bullets. With rifles capable and reloading components capable (usually lapua and berger) I have consistently gotten 1/2 moa 20 and 30 round groups. Very few guns are capable of that and most my custom guns are more around 1 moa.

You do not need clean brass to shoot well. Having squeaky clean necks is detrimental to accuracy. Even though there are better ways to get consistent seating pressures, leaving the carbon in the necks by dry tumbling is easy. The gains from that to brushing and lubing necks are negligible. In my experience, the best method to clean brass when shooting for precision is no cleaning or tumbling in dry media. I like to use medium grain sushi rice as tumbling media. It is a lot less dusty than corn cob or walnut.

 

[Mike D Texas]

Yes, it will give you the cleanest brass. Then, to get it to shoot exceptionally well, you have to do a bunch of useless stuff to get consistent bullet release.

I hate loading. I avoid shooting to avoid loading and often train with rimfire to avoid it as well. I have had times in my life where I loaded 800-1000 rounds/week. For precision without unnecessary steps, I full length size dirty brass with lanolin/alcohol lube. Trim/debur/chamfer in one step. Then, for blasting or practice ammo, or matches I don't care how I place I load full progressive. For hunting or matches I'm trying to win, I seat primers, drop charges with auto trickler, seat bullets. With rifles capable and reloading components capable (usually lapua and berger) I have consistently gotten 1/2 moa 20 and 30 round groups. Very few guns are capable of that and most my custom guns are more around 1 moa.

You do not need clean brass to shoot well. Having squeaky clean necks is detrimental to accuracy. Even though there are better ways to get consistent seating pressures, leaving the carbon in the necks by dry tumbling is easy. The gains from that to brushing and lubing necks are negligible. In my experience, the best method to clean brass when shooting for precision is no cleaning or tumbling in dry media. I like to use medium grain sushi rice as tumbling media. It is a lot less dusty than corn cob or walnut.

I understand all that.

But the thread topic is Brass CLEANING process, so I responded to his question.

I didn’t hold a gun to anyone and say that HAVE to clean their brass.


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[BBob]

I don't clean primer pockets, I don't clean inside necks and I don't clean brass other than to wipe it off before it gets sprayed with homemade 10% lanolin & IPA, sized then wiped off with a microfiber cloth sprayed with canned spray window cleaner. Basically I don't clean brass

 

[ddowning]

I understand all that.

But the thread topic is Brass CLEANING process, so I responded to his question.

I didn’t hold a gun to anyone and say that HAVE to clean their brass.


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I think that came off wrong. I didn't mean it to. I have a rotary tumbler and stainless pins that I used twice. Once to realize it was a step back, and once to confirm. I didn't want someone else to go through the same thing I went through and learn the hard way.

 

[Mike D Texas]

I think that came off wrong. I didn't mean it to. I have a rotary tumbler and stainless pins that I used twice. Once to realize it was a step back, and once to confirm. I didn't want someone else to go through the same thing I went through and learn the hard way.

Understood. I could have easily read the intent wrong.

I do occasionally deep clean my brass with SS pins. When I do this I lube the necks with neolube on the first loading after cleaning. After that the necks get burnished with a nylon brush until I decide to clean them again.


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[Charlie-NY]

Do you have to wipe off the spray away?

I use a little SprayWay on the rag or paper towel and then wipe the cases.