brass cleaning question

Ken

Ken

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hello all

I was wondering what method you guys would recomend for cleaning the residual resizing lube from inside the case neck?

I have a tumbler, can I expect the tumbling media to effectively remove this? or should I clean them in some kind of solvent?

or not bother at all?

thanks in advance.
 
I've been podering the same thing lately. Lube left on the cases can prevent them from "sticking" to the chamber walls on firing and lead to exessive rearward pressure.

So far I've been too cheap to pick up a tumbler and wipe down the cases after loading. Gets all the leftover bullet lube off too but its sure a pain to do more than few dozen at a time!

Looking at water soluble lubes but I should get a tumbler sometime anyway...
 
Earlier this year I was looking into a ultra-sonic cleaner. Seems like a good way to clean very dirty cases. Probably look into it again in the new year. Been a few threads here about it.
 
We were resizing then using a nylon brush and case cleaner then using compressed air to blow the case's out but we traded that in for a tumbler resize brass throw it in the tunmber set for 3hrs come back clean primer pockets and give them a quick blow with air and they are good to load and nice and shiny to boot.
 
I've never bothered to remove excess lube from inside case neck but I'm careful not to over lube.I use rcbs case lube and it dries fairly quick. If you tumble after resizing that should remove any excess but be sure to check the primer port 95% of my cases have a piece of media stuck in the primer port
another alternative is to use white graphite lube for the inside case neck. they claim it won't cause any powder misfire issues the way excess wet lube can.
 
sunray said:
You shouldn't be using enough lube for it to make any difference.
Click to expand...

Exactly, plus there's no reason to ever throw lubed cases in a tumbler. Decap, tumbler, sort them out and check them and resize. Found that every 3rd case given a slight swipe inside the neck with a trace of lube on a Q-Tip stops all that high torque cranking on the press arm when pulling the expander back through. Or dip them in mica. Case lube won't interfere with powder ignition when used properly.
 
sbtennex said:
Exactly, plus there's no reason to ever throw lubed cases in a tumbler. Decap, tumbler, sort them out and check them and resize. Found that every 3rd case given a slight swipe inside the neck with a trace of lube on a Q-Tip stops all that high torque cranking on the press arm when pulling the expander back through. Or dip them in mica. Case lube won't interfere with powder ignition when used properly.
Click to expand...

+1. Also, if you're finding a fair amount of lube inside the cases, try using less to lube the cases. The other thing: clean your dies periodically to get the excess lube and other crap out of them. Your dies will last longer and function better.
 
I wipe the outside of the neck clean with WD-40 and brush the inside with a dry nylon brush ... I have a carbide expander button on my decapper(s) so I only lube every 5th case before neck sizing....but I use a "rolled up" piece of tissue to clean the inside of every case when done. I think that needs to be done maintain consistent release friction.
 
I find lube on the inside of the neck to be most objectionable. Powder grains stick to it, so you can't dump out your powder to check weigh it, for instance.

Since you have a tumbler, that's the way to go. I use corncob media, to which I add two or three tablespoons of Varsol - not enough to visibly dampen the media, nor to make it clump, but it is enough to keep dust down, and to help the media wick away every trace of lube on the case.

The size of media I have seems perfectly suited for sticking in flash holes, so these need to be cleared out. You can use a small piece of wire, perhaps a straightened paperclip (I use a brass fuel metering rod from a Carter Thermoquad carburetor; these things naturally find their way to your loading bench ;-).

Or if you use a progressive press, you can use a decapping-only die to clear the flash hole, and then seat your primer.
 
I personally believe that the desire for "tumble cleaned" brass is more cosmetic than practical. I have not come accross any evidence that "shiny" (tumbled) brass performs better than "clean" brass....consequently, I don't tumble. Whether there is any truth to it or not..... I read that tumbling brass results in "working" the metal which hardens it and creates the need for annealing more frequently....???? (On that note, I have never tried annealing either, as I understand that if improperly done, it can cause more problems than it resolves.)
 
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