How to clean brass? Lube or no lube?

[Recon$$]

I suspect evryone on the forum had their favorite procedure, and the bottm line as I see it is: "Does it work for me, and am I happy with it? I deprime the fired brass and then tumble in walnut with a touch of Nu Finish until bright an clean. I then lube the cases. resize, check length, trim if nedeed with chamfer and deburr. I then put thru Ultrasonic cleaner with Lemi Shine and drop of Dawn in hot water. With my cleaner, four 8-minute sessions and and it is done. Gets a rinse in clear cold water, dry in a dehydrator. After double checking primer pocket cleanliness. prime, drop powder and, with a bit of dry neck lube, seat the bullet. This process works for me.

Exactly what I do minus the ultra sonic. I just load for hunting and 1/2 MOA is my standard. I think alot of guys take it a little far. If your shooting f-class and stuff I get it but for hunting that's all I need for 800 yard rigs.

 

[Baboltin]

I guess what I'm getting at is I'm not going to have a malfunction and have my rifle blow up on me if I use an ultra sonic cleaner and the neck has no carbon left in it and it could possibly weld itself together ?

 

[Recon$$]

IMO, as long as it's stored in a dry place. No it won't.

 

[esshup]

IMO, people waaaaay over-think this stuff. I rarely ever clean my brass and don't anneal either. I simply run a brass brush inside the neck to remove any excess carbon/fouling and then reload with bushing dies. Most of my hunting rifles will shoot .5moa at 400yds. When the brass gets to 7-8x used I just toss it.

This simplistic approach has worked for me for many years.

That depends on the brass. I shoot a wildcat based on the .338 Lapua. If I don't anneal the case after every firing I will split the cast at the junction of the neck/shoulder. For what it costs for the brass, then add the cost of fireforming the brass, I wouldn't be able to afford to shoot that rifle if I didn't anneal. With this cartridge, I tried just neck sizing with bushing dies. Shooting the same powder amount, same bullet, same primer, same lot numbers saw signs of high pressure. FL size the case, bumping the shoulder back a hair until the bolt has a slight resistance to closing the last 1/4 of the way and the high pressure signs went away.

 

[Varmint Hunter]

I'm not opposed to cleaning brass (I own a STM system) or annealing. I just think people spend far too much time deliberating over things that may not matter much. Ever case is different.

 

[skipglo]

I was reading another post and it brought a question to my mind that I needed to ask the individuals of this forum that have way more knowledge of reloading then I do this question.

should I clean my brass in an ultrasonic cleaner? I have a bunch of one shot nosler brass for my 7 mag that I am doing brass prep on and when I originally reloaded them I never used neck lube or anything just seated the bullet into the brass. Should I use lube? And if I shouldn't use a ultrasonic cleaner then what does everyone recommend to clean brass with? I also have a nut shell media tumbler, that I could use instead.
Thanks! I appreciate everyone's help on this forum for helping me learn how to be a better reloader.

I like to keep things simple and eliminate steps where possible.....I don't like DRYING TIME of ultras....but it's just me!

 

[misterc01]

Exactly what I do minus the ultra sonic. I just load for hunting and 1/2 MOA is my standard. I think alot of guys take it a little far. If your shooting f-class and stuff I get it but for hunting that's all I need for 800 yard rigs.

I also shoot F-Class and yeah, I go a little far. A good day: : Sub-MOA at 600 yards!

 

[misterc01]

I'm not opposed to cleaning brass (I own a STM system) or annealing. I just think people spend far too much time deliberating over things that may not matter much. Ever case is different.

That's FUNNY!!!!!

 

[misterc01]

A little dry neck lube and the weld issue goes away.

 

[G. Neely]

A little dry neck lube and the weld issue goes away.

I use a little dry lube on the case before using the mandrel. The residual lube guides the bullet in smoothly and will prevent the cold welding problem.

 

[Baboltin]

What dry lube do you guys recommend?

 

[G. Neely]

I use Imperial dry lube on the case mouth (graphite). Imperial wax lube on the case proper.

 

[Tulsa Reiner]

When you seat the bullets do
You lube the neck?

I've recently started lubing lightly with Imperial wax on the outside for FL sizing, and dipping the case mouth into Imperial powdered graphite for seating. (Both as a result of advice from this forum.) Of course the graphite has to to be done just before charging because it requires inverting the case. Both greatly reduce the friction/resistance for these 2 steps.
I've been very happy with the results.

 

[Baboltin]

Thanks for the tips and tricks everyone !