I also have carbide dies when it's appropriate, including the two mentioned. I mentioned lube because most people don't shell out for the carbide dies and proper lube is needed. Thanks for the info though, much appreciated. I also have the stainless pins and tumbler. I just find it all a waste of time. I most certainly won't knock anyone that goes through the effort of making their brass shiny clean. It's all up to the individual.
How clean is your brass?
- Thread starter Euro
- Start date
I also have carbide dies when it's appropriate, including the two mentioned. I mentioned lube because most people don't shell out for the carbide dies and proper lube is needed. Thanks for the info though, much appreciated. I also have the stainless pins and tumbler. I just find it all a waste of time. I most certainly won't knock anyone that goes through the effort of making their brass shiny clean. It's all up to the individual.
- Location
- Calgary, AB
That's what I use, and it's really good. I use Lemishine and Dawn. The brass looks better than new.
- Location
- West Quebec
Try a little Tide liquid it does not foam as much...
- Location
- Port Edward BC
When i first started reloading I bought all the gear for cleaning the cases. I bought the vibrating one with a couple of different cleaning mediums. Had to wait for hours for it to do its job. Then blow out the cases with air to get medium out of flash holes and cases and insides would still be dirty. I started a new routine. Brush inside of case neck with brush (which I was already doing) got some very fine steel wool and polished the carbon off the outside of the neck, only takes a couple of turns. Then spray BrakeKleen on a rag and wipe down the case.(Which I was already doing). After reloading give I give everything a final wipedown with Brake Kleen to get any residue off and call it done. Comes out looking shiny and new with a lot less fooling around.
Holy mother of ammo, brushing the inside of individual cases? I would reload 2 rounds: the first one to shoot myself, and the second one to make sure I can finish the job in case I miss.
Took me 2 hours to reload 1000 rounds yesterday. I got very bored. Can't imagine cleaning cases one by one.
Tumbler with corncob or crushed walnut for an hour or two while your working on something else then size, prime, and reload, repeat until they split then throw them out. I don't put much effort into pistol loading and usually prep batches of 1000 at a time.
Tarnished works just as well as shiny but if it's really bad I just toss them, it's not like 9mm or 45acp brass is expensive or hard to find. I used to go to the local indoor range here and buy their range pickups by the box of 1000, now I have so much I don't know what to do with it all.
Avoid Norinco brass, when loading 45acp I can feel the difference compared to Federal or Win brass and I just cull that stuff and give it away to friends that are less picky than I am
Tarnished works just as well as shiny but if it's really bad I just toss them, it's not like 9mm or 45acp brass is expensive or hard to find. I used to go to the local indoor range here and buy their range pickups by the box of 1000, now I have so much I don't know what to do with it all.
Avoid Norinco brass, when loading 45acp I can feel the difference compared to Federal or Win brass and I just cull that stuff and give it away to friends that are less picky than I am
GunsNotPuns
CGN frequent flyer
Bassmaster
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- WMU 48 - Whitetail country
It took some experimenting to get the soap/brass/water ratio figured out but now I get brass that's just as shiny as from a media tumbler with my stainless pin Frankford tumbler.
I usually do about half an ice cream pail of brass at a time. I did a full pail of 9mm once and it came out shiny, just had to run it longer.
I usually do about half an ice cream pail of brass at a time. I did a full pail of 9mm once and it came out shiny, just had to run it longer.
Purple shoulder
Regular
- Location
- Winnipeg MB
Just curious. Is there a reason everyone uses dawn? I know a few guys use laundry detergent, but nobody just says dish soap. They usually say dawn. Ive used dawn and laundry detergent and cant say there's a difference.
I use Sunlight cause that's what I have in the shop. People often buy dish soap with lemon in it for the citric acid which is good for cleaning brass, but there isn't enough in the soap to have much of an effect. Mostly the soap just helps cut the grease and oil. Lemi shine is fairly easy to find and has a much higher concentration of citric acid. I got lucky and came into a couple of big pails of citric acid for free.
