Oddball question about cleaning primed brass

MosinMan13

MosinMan13

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Okay so this question gets asked a lot, but always in regards to tumbling or the polish of the brass vs the interior/contamination. What I’d like to ask here this morning is, how worried should I be about cleaning the inside of a primed case from a formerly loaded but unfired brass?

Specifically I have a bunch of smokeless 45-70 I cooked up a while back and I was getting a little silly with the load and they started to get too spicy (for me) I shelved them and around the same time started dabbling in black powder cartridges, which I’m thoroughly enjoying now despite that making me some sort of hill person.

I would now like to pull the bullets and powder, and reuse the primed brass if I can. I might be overthinking this because the amount of powder or residual remaining in the case is likely trivial at best, and I’ve definitely heard of duplex loads before, but it’s a question I’ve never found an answer for at any end of the internet or book.

Should I clean the inside of the case? Is a dry wipe down with a few cu-tips enough? Will I contaminate my black powder? Can anyone see a scientific reason for why this would be a problem? Is this a problem going from smokeless to smokeless just for general information?

I know it seems cheap trying to save a handful of primers but I just hate to be wasteful in this age.
 
Just dump out the smokeless powder and visually inspect the inside of the brass to ensure no remaining smokeless powder. Use a flashlight and a magnifier if your eyes are tired.

No powder should "stick" inside of the brass.

The only place I could imagine bits of powder getting stuck would be inside of the primer itself. Between the anvil and the primer cup, or between the anvil and the priming compound. Depending on the powder used, it should be pretty obvious to the naked eye if there is a powder grain in there.
 
It seems to me that the easiest solution to your question would be to de-prime and size your cases the same way you would normally do it, then wet tumble your brass. You can re-use the primers. I've done it many times. Just make sure the anvil has not fallen out of the primer before you put them back in.
 
I don't see an issue at all. Turn them over, tap them a few times on the bench, look inside to make sure they're empty, reload.
 
I have pulled bullets on previously loaded rounds, but it was smokeless powder that I dumped out and replaced with a different kind - depending on the "case fill" that you used - amount of powder compression when your bullet was seated - the powder may or may not fall out. I would suggest that you are going that have to look into each case to know for sure whether or not all the powder came out - good light, etc. I am not sure whether this next part is required or not, but I did remove the de-capping pin from the expander ball - I set the FL resizing die with a "loonie" between bottom of die and the top of shell holder, and "re-sized" the necks before I seated the "new" bullets - could see a mark on neck that was perhaps "loonie" thickness from neck-to-shoulder junction (308 Win case). I did no other "treatment" to those cases - did not tumble, did not "re-clean", did not de-cap and re-prime - all seemed to work fine, as best as I could tell. I am pretty sure that I did the above with both new, unfired cases, as well as with cases that had been previously fired, wet pin tumbled, FL re-sized, etc.

In the end - take out 4 or 5 and load up as you normally do - shoot a 100 yard group - then use same number of "re-builds" - shoot another group - are groups similar size? If so, you have proved to yourself that what you did was as good as you can produce "normally". If the "re-build" group is significantly different, then you will need to investigate further, as to why the group (s) were better or worse.
 
OP, There's a very simple solution.

Go to the Dollar Store and pick up a package of Bamboo sticks, the type used for skewering bits of veggies for drinks.

Not the thin ones. They make them round, with pointed ends, appx 20cm long and 4mm in diameter. These are perfect for scraping around the interior of cases that have just had the bullets pulled.

It's not unusual for compressed loads to stick inside the case, but a bit of stirring with the skewer will loosen it all up and the powder will just fall out or may need a bit of scraping with a few. Perfectly safe.

That being said, a few grains of smokeless mixing with the BP isn't even going to be noticed.

I have an old duplex load that I use for my 577 Snider.

I was having issues with "hang fire" conditions and an old friend Jack Stead gave me his recipe to alleviate this situation and give reliably consistent ignition.

I use six grains of HS6, pistol powder over the primer and 60 grains of FFG on top, all held down by a hollow base cast lead bullet.

I used a similar recipe in my 577/450 Martini and 50/70 Rolling Block.

This creates an ideal condition for BP ignition. Doesn't increase pressures, ensures good, consistent ignition, and burns cleaner.
 
I would worry about it, I’ve pulled a bunch of unknown 9mm handloads and dumped the powder. I visually inspect the case after dumping powder and they were all clear, if I had any powder residue that wouldn’t tap out I’d run a soft nylon bristle brush through. Case mouth brush would work well I’d expect. A bunch of pipe cleaners stuffed in would probably work in a pinch, even a brass bore brush of appropriate size.
 
if any power comes out and its replaced with black powder it will be weaker then the original load. so say you have 35gr of imr3031 in the case you dump out 30gr since 5 gr sticks in the case and add black power to make it a full case it will be lower pressure then the original 35gr of irm3031.

just take note as you dump them out, if one feel like less powder poured out maybe take a look in it, also if you dump the first few and it was highly compressed and some or all sticks probably check them, if it pours out like non compressed power there probably isn't much need to check/worry
 
MosinMan13 said:
Okay so this question gets asked a lot, but always in regards to tumbling or the polish of the brass vs the interior/contamination. What I’d like to ask here this morning is, how worried should I be about cleaning the inside of a primed case from a formerly loaded but unfired brass?

Specifically I have a bunch of smokeless 45-70 I cooked up a while back and I was getting a little silly with the load and they started to get too spicy (for me) I shelved them and around the same time started dabbling in black powder cartridges, which I’m thoroughly enjoying now despite that making me some sort of hill person.

I would now like to pull the bullets and powder, and reuse the primed brass if I can. I might be overthinking this because the amount of powder or residual remaining in the case is likely trivial at best, and I’ve definitely heard of duplex loads before, but it’s a question I’ve never found an answer for at any end of the internet or book.

Should I clean the inside of the case? Is a dry wipe down with a few cu-tips enough? Will I contaminate my black powder? Can anyone see a scientific reason for why this would be a problem? Is this a problem going from smokeless to smokeless just for general information?

I know it seems cheap trying to save a handful of primers but I just hate to be wasteful in this age.
Click to expand...

It's not cheap to not save primers or save $.

make sure the smokeless powder is removed so no large grains or clumps of powder remain in the case. There should be no clumping unless the powder or cases were damp, or the loaded case has sat for a very long time in poor conditions. You don't need to scrub the inside or be overly concerned even if a grain or 2 was mistakenly left behind. Carry on.
 
May be a Captain Obvious thing, but after pulling bullets and dumping powder (with tapping on bench + visual inspection to make sure no powder stays in the case), you will have to re-size the neck of the case (or the equivalent for the straight-sided 45-70 case) to ensure proper projectile tension when you reload. Be sure to remove the depriming pin in the die if it has one when re-tensioning the next, and use a bit of rub-on case lube or wax.
 
MosinMan13 said:
Okay so this question gets asked a lot, but always in regards to tumbling or the polish of the brass vs the interior/contamination. What I’d like to ask here this morning is, how worried should I be about cleaning the inside of a primed case from a formerly loaded but unfired brass?

Specifically I have a bunch of smokeless 45-70 I cooked up a while back and I was getting a little silly with the load and they started to get too spicy (for me) I shelved them and around the same time started dabbling in black powder cartridges, which I’m thoroughly enjoying now despite that making me some sort of hill person.

I would now like to pull the bullets and powder, and reuse the primed brass if I can. I might be overthinking this because the amount of powder or residual remaining in the case is likely trivial at best, and I’ve definitely heard of duplex loads before, but it’s a question I’ve never found an answer for at any end of the internet or book.

Should I clean the inside of the case? Is a dry wipe down with a few cu-tips enough? Will I contaminate my black powder? Can anyone see a scientific reason for why this would be a problem? Is this a problem going from smokeless to smokeless just for general information?

I know it seems cheap trying to save a handful of primers but I just hate to be wasteful in this age.
Click to expand...

You are WILDLY overthinking the whole thing. Dump powder. Reload case. Get on with your life.
 
bearhunter said:
OP, There's a very simple solution.

Go to the Dollar Store and pick up a package of Bamboo sticks, the type used for skewering bits of veggies for drinks.

Not the thin ones. They make them round, with pointed ends, appx 20cm long and 4mm in diameter. These are perfect for scraping around the interior of cases that have just had the bullets pulled.

It's not unusual for compressed loads to stick inside the case, but a bit of stirring with the skewer will loosen it all up and the powder will just fall out or may need a bit of scraping with a few. Perfectly safe.

That being said, a few grains of smokeless mixing with the BP isn't even going to be noticed.

I have an old duplex load that I use for my 577 Snider.

I was having issues with "hang fire" conditions and an old friend Jack Stead gave me his recipe to alleviate this situation and give reliably consistent ignition.

I use six grains of HS6, pistol powder over the primer and 60 grains of FFG on top, all held down by a hollow base cast lead bullet.

I used a similar recipe in my 577/450 Martini and 50/70 Rolling Block.

This creates an ideal condition for BP ignition. Doesn't increase pressures, ensures good, consistent ignition, and burns cleaner.
Click to expand...

Perfect thank you! Thats more or less what I was asking. I do tend to overthink things but information on black powder cartridge is scare and scattered across the internet, often littered with misinformation and myths. I just noticed when pulling bullets and powder that the smokeless left a residue like a fine dust, and what I do know about BP and the reasons we entirely fill, and even compress our loads just had me concerned with any residual propellant remaining in there. I’ll give them a once over and get these guys loaded up!
 
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