Do you clean brass that’s just been on the bench?

[Reece123]

Question for you people much smarter than me. Lately I’ve been doing more loading and testing with small batches of brass and I’ve come up with a question. Do you guys feel the need to tumble (wet or dry) brass that was loaded, shot, ejected from a bolt gun onto the table, then picked up and tossed in a baggy? I do a wipe down but I haven’t been tumbling. Am I missing out by not tumbling and getting the insides clean or is tumbling mostly for range pickup that’s fell into the dirt/rocks etc?

 

[jfk69]

No. I tumble brass after FL sizing only. I usually anneal, FL size, tumble. Next two loadings I only neck size so my brass only gets cleaned every third firing to clean off lube. I don’t care about shiny brass.

 

[HuntHarder]

Need to? No. I choose to because it adds no time to my process and I like clean brass in my sizing die and I like the look of bright shiny brass.

 

[Chris in TN]

Brass cleaning is generally something I do in the winter when I'm bored. I mean really bored.

 

[Castle Rock]

Brass with a bit of patina works better

 

[JFK]

I will clean after a few firings but generally I just wipe them down and run a nylon brush chucked in a drill through the neck. It takes any crud out and leaves a nice burnished finish for seating bullets. From there I resize and load ammo.

 

[Marbles]

I don't clean beyond wiping off obvious dirt. Even if it is covered in myst, I just rinse it off and let it dry.

I will use a little acetone to clean lub off after resizing.

So, my vote is no.

 

[SDHNTR]

The only reason why I clean brass at all is to remove case lube.

 

[mtnbound]

I dont worry about it unless its green an fuzzy

View attachment 1002222

I agree.

 

[Dave Thomas]

I tumble in corncob media after sizing to get the lube off. You don't have to clean brass as long as it's not filthy.

 

[Vern400]

I tumble clean in walnut media after sizing long enough to get the die wax off. They still look nasty and I don't care. They shoot.

 

[RME]

When loading at the range sometimes I wipe the necks with never-dull to take the carbon off. A twist or two is all.

 

[WhoGarrDen]

Got a Lyman tumbler and 5# of walnut media so might as well use it. I have a simple wall timer so I just put ~150 in at a time and let it run for 2hrs in the garage. Whenever I get back to it, I dump it out. Total effort (including dumping out media from cases) ~10 min. Makes me feel good and they look purdy.

The more I hear about people getting cold welds on handloads makes me wonder if I'm better off leaving as much carbon in the neck as possible though... adding in a dry lube dip to put something back on after tumbling to get it off just seems silly.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

I tumble when it gets gnarly looking.

 

[BCsteve]

I tumble (wet or dry depending on the size of the batch) to clean sizing lube so i tumble every time.

 

[Telford29]

I tumble to clean lube off also, it is nice to have shiny cartridges loaded up. Not necessary though.

 

[49ereric]

Never cleaned brass. Old ammo might get some minor green but it comes off.

 

[Pilsner]

I barely get around to cleaning brass that NEEDS cleaned. WTF would I clean brass that is already clean?!
To be fair I like to stand around in my shop and drink as much as the next guy but cleaning brass that doesn't need it? That is like ice fishing - I don't need to drink bad enough to do THAT...

 

[Chris in TN]

I just want to say that I did something the other night that I rarely do - most of my reloading is dirty brass or brass that comes packed in nice 50-round boxes. I dipped into a 50-piece bag of new Starline brass.

Shiny, new brass cases, with the perfect amount of lubricant on them, for me to run my fingers through to grab 2-3 at a time and prime, then lay out in a loading block, then I charged them all with a measure (I usually weigh charges) and seated them all.

Something about the clean brass in a bag was soothing. I may clean some brass and offer to let people come process/load it for me for a nominal fee as stress relief. Like Tom Sawyer's fence.

 

[Pilsner]

I dont worry about it unless its green an fuzzy

View attachment 1002222What magazine is that?