carbon cleaner for brass

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flyinlead

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I want to clean my brass up, more specifically I want to clean the carbon and powder residue out of the insides (don't care what the outside looks like)
I'm thinking of soaking it in a engine decarboning chemical such as seafoam, or the ones made by mercury or evinrude.

My question is will this weaken or wreck the brass?
 
wallnut or corncob, it doesn't really matter of how long you let them in your tumbler, they will stay black inside. The only effective way to clean the inside and out is with a wet rotary tumbler with stainless steel media. Don't waste your time and money with a ultrasonic cleaner, I tried it and it's not as good and fast as the ss media.

And yes, these are once fired

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Ya stainless pin shot and a rotary tumbler is the way to go. Mix it with water and a dash of soap and you're golden. I have yet to figure out why people always use a dry media in a vibratory tumbler as I find it really inefficient and a waste of time. 1hr in rotary w/pin shot is like running a vibratory all night more or less.
 
Wow, that stainless tumbling really works. I know the ultrasonic also works if you do it right and don't overload the machine (there is a great artilce on the accurate shooter website with the details)
However, I don't feel like buying any equipment right now so I am going to try a soak in the seafoam for a few hrs with a stir now and then.
 
My first question would be...why?
The carbon inside the case is a non-issue for any practical shooting I can think of. Aesthetics, possibly? Once the bullet is seated, no one can see the inside of the case anyway.
Regards, Eagleye
 
I figure if you have varying amounts of carbon in the cases they may have very slightly different capacities. My plan is to sort all the cases by volume so I want to be as accurate as possible.
Who knows maybee it doesn't matter but then maybee it does if you are splitting hairs, as I enjoy doing.
 
I thinks folks stay away from the stainless method due to the potential mess from water.

I prefer dry media, take the brass out and done, although I can see some wanting clean brass inside and out.Although there is no practical benefit.
 
Wet tumbling does an excellent job as shown above. Inside, outside and primer pockets too, and with no dust. I use 1 mm porcelain media which gives similar results. For those who have a problem with shiny brass, dipping it in vinegar and letting it air dry should restore that "he-man" L:cool::cool:k . Either way, anything worth doing, is worth doing well, for all the difference it really makes in time and effort,,,, IMH;).
 
flyinlead said:
I figure if you have varying amounts of carbon in the cases they may have very slightly different capacities. My plan is to sort all the cases by volume so I want to be as accurate as possible.
Who knows maybee it doesn't matter but then maybee it does if you are splitting hairs, as I enjoy doing.
Click to expand...

For you to notice ANY accuracy loss due to varying case capacity due to carbon, you would have to be one hell of a shooter with one hell of an accurate gun. And even then there are so many other meaningful variables that would have a greater impact on accuracy.

In short, a waste of time. IMHO :)
 
well, decided not to worry about the insides of the cases for now. Tried soaking a few cases in seafoam overnight. Stirred and shook them around after but the carbon did not dissolve and fall out as I had hoped.. It was certianly softened though, as I could swab the primer pocket out clean with a Q tip. Sure don't want to swab them all out though.

Has anybody tried measuring the capacity of a case before and after cleaning out the inside? Would the difference even be measurable?
 
Eagleye said:
My first question would be...why?
The carbon inside the case is a non-issue for any practical shooting I can think of. Aesthetics, possibly? Once the bullet is seated, no one can see the inside of the case anyway.
Regards, Eagleye
Click to expand...

What he said. It's your brass and your call, but I've never heard of anybody worrying about the fraction of a percentage point of difference it might make. Interesting project, all the same.
 
Ya, its not a big concern, I just don't want to sort my cases by volume, then clean them and find out the volumes have all changed and I wasted my time.
 
flyinlead said:
Ya, its not a big concern, I just don't want to sort my cases by volume, then clean them and find out the volumes have all changed and I wasted my time.
Click to expand...

Well to satisfy your curiosity, take ONE case, measure it, take a neck/bore brush and give it a scrub for a minute and measure it again.:)

In the name of science, of course......
 
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