How clean does your brass have to be?

[TripleChris]

I tumbled 250 cases last night. Outsides of them are like new. Insides not so much. Some of them have dark spots inside the cases and especially down near the flash hole. I used a q tip with a little brass polish on them, nothing comes off. The cases are clean, I use a Lee primer pocket cleaner on each case before putting them in the trays. Are tumblers supposed to make the insides of the brass like new?

 

[PresentArms]

Get some Case Neck Brushes. Removes powder residue and foreign matter from inside the necks of your cases

 

[3rdRcn]

I tumbled 250 cases last night. Outsides of them are like new. Insides not so much. Some of them have dark spots inside the cases and especially down near the flash hole. I used a q tip with a little brass polish on them, nothing comes off. The cases are clean, I use a Lee primer pocket cleaner on each case before putting them in the trays. Are tumblers supposed to make the insides of the brass like new?

I usually just run a bore brush down the neck when I'm doing my prep to get the carbon off the inside of the neck. The tumbler has never done anything that is visible to the naked eye to make the inside of my brass any better. Make sure you clean the primer pocket well and you should be good to go.

 

[Evil Twin]

I am at the beginning stages of learning to reload. I have tumbled just over 2000 cases in 7.62 X 51, and I'm happy with the results. I have a pair of tumblers that I keep in the garage, due to the amount of noise they make, and I usually let them run for about four hours with around 200 cases in each. The inside looks just about as clean as I would hope to see. No black stuff left in them at all. Now, if I could only find a case of #34 primers at a reasonable price.

 

[alucard0822]

Tumblers only clean the outside, to clean in the necks the easiest way is to use a neck brush, or mount a plain cleaning brush facing up on a peice of wood, and simply slip the case over it for 1 pass. The neck doesn't have to be spotless on the inside, but removing carbon buildup helps keep neck tension consistent. The flash hole and primer pocket can be cleaned with a tool for it, but outside of heavy buildup you shouldn't have to do this much, however if this is for a rifle, a flash hole uniforming tool can help take any irregularities or burrs out of the hole and give you more consistent ignition, any portion of the inside of the case that doesn't contact the bullet, or the primer doesn't really matter, as long as there isn't heavy buildup. Some people use liquid cleaners in ultrasonic baths for these, in order to keep matched brass consistent, but they also tend to anneal cases, turn necks, and do all sorts of other time consuming things to eek out the slightest gain in accuracy for long range competition. For the average shooter with mostly stock firearms, these steps don't really matter.

 

[TripleChris]

Thanks guys. I put too much brass polish in the media, the media is clumping. I use a little plastic tipped pick to get the crud out of them, and run a Q tip on the inside of them.

One think I noticed are the differences in the primer hole between brands. Blazer and PMC have slightly larger holes than Winchester. Most of my brass is Winchester, a lot of it is stamped FC 02 MATCH, and the rest is mixed.

I also found two pieces of Federal NT stamped .45ACP with a smaller primer pocket. Looks like it was designed for small pistol primers instead of large pistol primers. I discarded them.

 

[R81]

If you are just reloading pistol brass, I wouldn't worry much about the interior of your cases. If they've been tumbled, it's a non-issue.

 

[j8064]

As alucard said, tumblers can clean the outside of your brass but won't do much for the inside. Brushing the insides of cases is a good practice in reloading (especially for cases where you can't easily see inside). If there are major and obvious deposits of carbon and other gunk inside the case mouth, primer pocket and flash hole, clean it up as part of your case preperation process. Cases don't have to be perfectly spotless and 'beautiful' to be reloadable, but they should be clean and free of defects. The integrity of a reloaded case (and what it's going to experience next time it's fired) is more important than how 'shiny' it is IMHO.

Thoroughly inspect all cases you intend to reload as part of your process. Do not -(and I repeat - Do not) - reload any case that is suspect. It isn't worth the risk

 

[TripleChris]

As alucard said, tumblers can clean the outside of your brass but won't do much for the inside. Brushing the insides of cases is a good practice in reloading (especially for cases where you can't easily see inside). If there are major and obvious deposits of carbon and other gunk inside the case mouth, primer pocket and flash hole, clean it up as part of your case preperation process. Cases don't have to be perfectly spotless and 'beautiful' to be reloadable, but they should be clean and free of defects. The integrity of a reloaded case (and what it's going to experience next time it's fired) is more important than how 'shiny' it is IMHO.

Thoroughly inspect all cases you intend to reload as part of your process. Do not -(and I repeat - Do not) - reload any case that is suspect. It isn't worth the risk

I have my primer pockets scoured up pretty good. The WWB brass (which is about 60% of what I have on hand) always has filthy primer pockets, which take a good scrub to get clean. The Federal Match ammo must use a better primer and powder, they come out spotless, and the primer pockets are pristine.

I am curious about the Federal NT stamped cases, I only had two, with the small primer pocket. These are lead free primers, the NT stands for Non Toxic, and as far as I can tell not reloadable. The primers take a crimp, and even if you had small pistol primers the depth at which the primer needs to be seated is screwy, the pockets are much deeper than say, 9mm primers would sit in. For guys who pick up range brass, be on the lookout. These might screw up someone's automatic primer if unnoticed.

 

[GBMaryland]

I have an RCBS case prep center, and I use a bore brush attached to one of the output to clean the case necks.

Works great.

GB