Newb - Cleaning Brass

Avalonthas

Avalonthas

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Hi Folks,

I usually target shoot on crown land so I am starting to build up a bucket of 9mm, 223, and 30-06 brass, and I intend on getting into entry level reloading equipment soon, I am going to stick with factory ammunition for a little bit longer as I learn my firearms a bit more with various grains, etc before making my own.

Anyways, I have just been throwing the brass into the container after each outting.

Question - Do you recommend I go out and buy a tumbler/media and clean the brass after each outting prior to throwing it into the bucket, or can cleaning wait until I am ready to go full steam ahead with the reloading
 
i have a homemade tumbler to clean my brass... in about 90 minutes i get nice shiny brass...

the other night (on the advice of another gun nut), i put some dirty brass in a cloth cleaning kit bag and threw it in the laundry with some clothes.. it then ran it in the dryer with the same clothes and they came out just as clean as the ones from my tumbler..

the tumbler brass was shiny and clean.. the laundry brass was also very clean but not as shiny.

you dont have to clean it until you're ready to reload it, but if you want to try the laundry method, it wont cost you anything..

u can use a pillow case to put the brass in, or if you live with a girl, you can use the little bag they wash their thongs and stuff with.. just dont put your brass in with the thongs, she might not like that
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It can wait until you are ready to reload. the only advantage to doing it now is you can check and sort now, look for cracks etc and be ready when you want to reload.
 
Have been reloading for 45 years or so. I have never thrown my brass into a bucket. I'm concerned about denting the necks. And I have never tumbled brass to clean it. Seems like a purely cosmetic exercise, and I would rather spend my time and money making the stuff shoot straighter.
 
valmet762 said:
u can use a pillow case to put the brass in, or if you live with a girl, you can use the little bag they wash their thongs and stuff with.. just dont put your brass in with the thongs, she might not like that
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Dude, the whole reason I took up shooting is that my wife stopped wearing stuff like that. I needed something other than bedroom romping to pass the time.

I don't have a lot of experience, but I've never heard of cleaning brass the moment you get home from the range. Just store it and clean it in batches.
 
I reload about 3000 rnds/yrof centerfire rifle. My routine is:
1) one turn of a nylon brush inside the neck
2) wipe outside of neck to remove the carbon (black) with "gun conditioner"
2A) if I am going to full size, I apply lube to the whole case...but usually do not full size as anything i fire in gun "a" will fit in gun "a" --- bolt actions
3) neck size (or full size)
4) clean primer pocket
5) insert primer and relaod
Tumbling is not necessary. Shinny clean brass does not shoot better than just plain clean brass.
 
.223 casings get tossed into a 5gal bucket until I am ready to reload. Then it is tumbled, if nothing else it makes it easier to find casings on the range and takes about 5 minutes of my time per 200 casings. I shoot a couple of ARs so everything gets full length resized.
 
"...can cleaning wait..." Yep. It's not going to get any worse.
When you get that far, you can prepare all your brass to the point of needing powder and bullet and store 'em. Any container with a lid will do.
 
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