Question about dirty brass.

[Battlerifleelitist]

I have a reloading confession to make: I never, ever, clean my pistol brass.

I use a lubed, lead cast bullet, and have had no troubles 4 loadings+ through my most used batch.
They are filthy, and my only a couple times used cases are also dirty.

What would be the consequences to continuing to reuse dirty brass?
I'm actually kind of curious as to how despicable my rounds could be before I get problems, and what problems could come up.

 

[madcow]

Excessive dirty brass can cause damage to dies, cause brass to be scratched, lessen life of brass.

not including extra lead contaminants you physically come in contact to, and a dirtier gun.

 

[thump_rrr]

I have a reloading confession to make: I never, ever, clean my pistol brass.

I use a lubed, lead cast bullet, and have had no troubles 4 loadings+ through my most used batch.
They are filthy, and my only a couple times used cases are also dirty.

What would be the consequences to continuing to reuse dirty brass?
I'm actually kind of curious as to how despicable my rounds could be before I get problems, and what problems could come up.

STOP, STOP, You dirty, dirty man.

 

[Dogleg]

I've never seen that they shoot any better clean. If it isn't affecting function, and you don't mind grungy ammo you can continue what you're doing. Clean brass is a little easier to spot flaws in, and as someone pointed your dies might last longer. For most people a carbide pistol die's life is infinite. Infinity and a half, or infinity X 2 is more, but in practical terms may not matter all that much. If you value your time at a penny an hour you can buy new dies.

You can expose yourself to lead from cleaning media (primers mostly) as well as handling dirty cases (Primer and bullet). You can wash your hands, but once you breath lead you pretty much own it. I don't know anyone who died of lead poisoning, but somebody musta.

I compromise by cleaning cases if I feel like it.

 

[luckey]

+1

1. scratch your die.
2. some damages/cracks could be covered by dirt.

I've never seen that they shoot any better clean. If it isn't affecting function, and you don't mind grungy ammo you can continue what you're doing. Clean brass is a little easier to spot flaws in, and as someone pointed your dies might last longer. For most people a carbide pistol die's life is infinite. Infinity and a half, or infinity X 2 is more, but in practical terms may not matter all that much. If you value your time at a penny an hour you can buy new dies.

You can expose yourself to lead from cleaning media (primers mostly) as well as handling dirty cases (Primer and bullet). You can wash your hands, but once you breath lead you pretty much own it. I don't know anyone who died of lead poisoning, but somebody musta.

I compromise by cleaning cases if I feel like it.

 

[islandkent]

Why don't you wash them in a mixture of soap, degreaser and a shot of vinegar in very hot water. Cleans up nicely. That's what I did till I finally got a tumbler.

 

[the_tracker]

In addition to the above, there is definitely a potential to score your chamber. I hope you haven't shot yourself in the foot with this post. It may deter members from buying any of your guns.

 

[silverfoxdj]

+1

1. scratch your die.
2. some damages/cracks could be covered by dirt.

And breathing the stuff directly is something I try hard to avoid

 

[bigedp51]

Battlerifleelitist

Clean brass is easier to inspect for defects.

Clean brass will not scratch your dies and cases.

To me the purpose of reloading is to make better ammo than factory loaded ammunition.

The simplest thing to do is wash the cases, but even better is to wet tumble with stainless steel media. The media scrubs the cases and removes any embedded dirt and grit and makes it very easy to inspect the cases.

Below is a link for homemade firearms cleaning products, and also the mixture I used to clean my brass before I had case tumblers.

A solution of 1 quart of water, 1 cup white vinegar, 1/2 cup lemon juice, 1/4 cup laundry or dishwashing detergent, 1/8 cup salt. Soak with some agitation for 15 to 20 minutes and follow with a rinse of soapy hot water and allow to dry. This may leave brass with a slight pinkish cast which will disappear with a short tumble in media.

http://www.frfrogspad.com/homemade.htm#Solutions

Today if I don't want to tumble the brass I use the same mixture for wet tumbling which is dish washing liquid and Lemishine.

 

[Suputin]

I loaded for more than a decade before I bought a tumbler. Never had any issues.

However it is nicer to work with and nicer to your dies if the cases are clean. Having said that I have a set of 9mm and 45 ACP dies that I have been using for nearly 30 years and they still work just fine.

 

[ykkid]

A quick twist with an old towel or paper towel will remove loose grit, which could otherwise scratch your dies. I have not seen evidence that washing, tumbling or obsessing removes embedded grit, which is more likely to harm a die. Not to say such techniques won't remove embedded grit, just never seen any controlled testing to demonstrate yea or nay. Some of the brews you see suggested for case cleaning definitely are chemically aggressive to brass, but give the relatively short dwell time, I doubt they much affect case life or safety.

A neat old story about revolver-armed cops back before any kind of formalized training or re-cert testing, relates how at beginning of watch, cops were inspected for how neat and shiny their kit was. The story goes that it was common practice to polish the rounds in the cartridge loops, and some neat-freaks even polished the rounds they carried chambered. Now, if you had to buy your own ammo, and if you thought the revolver on your hip was just a bloody great weight, and if the sergeant was happier if your ammo was shiny and your tie was straight, then you shone the rounds before every watch, and put the shiny ones back in the chambers.

Use enough Brasso, enough times, and when the day finally came that you needed to fire the danged anchor weight, and supposedly cases separated, and heads extracted, leaving bits of case neck to prevent reloads!

Moral of the story? Don't obsess. Clean enough, as in not grungy, is good.

 

[fingers284]

I loaded (both rifle & pistol) for 35 yrs before I bought a tumbler, my rifle were brass cases and pistol were95% nickel plated. The rifle were high enough pressure that carbon deposits were almost non-existent and only on the neck if there was any and the nickel pistol cases never show any fowling that sticks to them. I couldn't really see any use for one (tumbler) until I started loading cowboy loads for a .45 lc. Low pressure loads for them are notorious for back-feeding fowling and soot a long ways back on the case and since I had the thing for the .45 cases I just started using it for everything. The wife is really the only one who really gives a damn if her cases are "pretty and shiny".