How often do you clean your brass???

[Matt Regalia]

Do you put your brass in the tumbler everytime you reload it or every other time? What is the rule of thumb for this? Just curious. I have never gotten a straight answer so I figured I would ask the question to everyone here. Like a survey.

Thanks,

Matt

 

[Dave King]

Matt

I have gotten away fron tumbling brass. I clean the necks with very fine steel wool before reloading (each reload). When tumbling, use corncob media and not walnut/red rouge, the walnut gets bound up in the flashhole and the rouge leaves a residue in the case.

 

[Ian M]

Like Dave I prefer corncob but have a bunch of walnut to use up so have to watch the flash-holes and get rid of the dust. After tumbling I throw the brass into an old towel and rub it around, seems to get rid of the dust.
I find that if I keep a cleaning patch soaked in solvent on the bench and give each case a wipe around the neck after I take it out, that I don't have to clean the brass nearly as much. Seems to wipe very easily when it is right out of the chamber. This is only when shooting from the bench and not in the field obviously. Also use the extra-fine steel wool that Dave mentions if the necks are really sooty.

 

[Brent]

Somewhere around 5 reloads or so they're getting pretty stained so I throw them in for a polish, kind of scientific isn't it. I'm not too anal about how my brass looks though, my father on the other hand, polishes after each firing.

 

[Matt Regalia]

Thanks for the replys. That is what I wanted to hear.

Matt

 

[Guest]

Matt,
I agree with with Dave & Ian on the cleaning. There is one thing I do to clean my casings that probably no one else does. I put my casing in a glass jar, standing up, and fill it it with "vingear" to totally submerage the casings. I then put the jar in the microwave and on high for about 1-1 1/2 min.'s, enough to heat the vingear very hot. Then I leave it stand on the counter for about 1/2 hour, drain & rinse good-really gets the "crude" out
I have been doing it this way for over 15 years now and no problems.

 

[Brent]

No sparks doing it like that?

 

[Gary Rihn]

I guess I'm one of those guys who would rather shoot than clean. As long as my brass isn't corroded or causing problems, I just load it & shoot it.

I rub each case with an old towel to remove the lube after sizing, and figure that's worth something!

 

[Guest]

Brent,
You will never have any sparks as long as the casings are totally covered with liquid. The vingear gets the lube off the casing very well too.
I have a cousin who's name is same as yours, I use to work with him in Anchorage. I have been to Palmer back in 1977.

Later

 

[Nighthawk]

I tried the microwave thing and I got blue sparks. The last time I will ever try that again.

 

[littletoes]

I clean my brass after every shooting. I use a tumbler with corn cob media, the walnut leaves an oily film on the brass. I wipe the brass off with a towel after tumbling and after sizing. The corn cob media also gets stuck in the flash hole. I use steel wool. Four ought-0000. It is the finest steel wool. I wrap some four ought wool around a phosphourous brass brush of the caliber I am shooting and use it too run up and down inside the case neck to polish the neck. This will keep all the necks more uniform. I clean all my brass after every firing-MY GUN IS WORTH IT. SO ARE MY DIES. If any kind of spec of dirt or grit is on your brass and you run it in your die, and scratch your die, it will be scratched for ALL TIME! My gun is worth perfect brass, isn't yours?