Lead residue in cleaned cases

linkstate · Apr 14, 2018

Should I be concerned about lead residue stuck inside of cases after wet tumbling my brass?

The .45 colt cases I'm prepping have come out perfectly clean. Those cases are new once fired by me. The bullets were lead round nose from Georgia Arms.

I have a bunch of .38 special cases that are reloads also from Georgia arms. The bullets that were fired in them by me were LWC and LSWC.

As you can see from the picture, some of the .38 special cases still have lead in them after tumbling. Is this an issue? Should I just load and shoot them, clean longer or toss them as it's not worth the trouble? Maybe chuck a brass brush in a drill and try to clean them that way. Or is this just a normal occurrence when loading lead projectiles?

iH8DemLibz · Apr 14, 2018

That little bit of lead would only concern me if the thickness of the lead caused the diameter of the finished round to not fit in the cylinder chambers.

Load one up and measure the outside diameter.

Check that diameter against published load data.

John from MD · Apr 14, 2018

Are you sure that is lead and not a graphite lube? I have loaded probably millions of my own cast bullets and have never seen leading in the case. I have seen bullet lube stuck in the cast though and tumbling doesn't always remove it especially if it is Lee ALOX.

TGR · Apr 14, 2018

Load em up. I see it all the time in my 38 brass after tumbling. Especially the nickel plated brass. I’m not convinced it’s lead residue though. Always thought it was residue from the tumbling. Either way. I’ve never had a problem.

linkstate · Apr 14, 2018

iH8DemLibz said:
That little bit of lead would only concern me if the thickness of the lead caused the diameter of the finished round to not fit in the cylinder chambers.

Load one up and measure the outside diameter.

Check that diameter against published load data.

That's a good idea to measure the finished cartridge OD to be sure.

John from MD said:
Are you sure that is lead and not a graphite lube? I have loaded probably millions of my own cast bullets and have never seen leading in the case. I have seen bullet lube stuck in the cast though and tumbling doesn't always remove it especially if it is Lee ALOX.

You might be right about it being lube residue. I took a brass pick and the residue kind of smushed around and broke off in very small specs. It didn't flake off like what I've seen when removing lead from a barrel for example. It also didn't seem particularly hard though a wooden toothpick didn't really faze it.

TGR said:
Load em up. I see it all the time in my 38 brass after tumbling. Especially the nickel plated brass. I’m not convinced it’s lead residue though. Always thought it was residue from the tumbling. Either way. I’ve never had a problem.

Good to know that it hasn't caused you any issues.

I'll probably work a case brush though a few and see how that works. Maybe load a few with the residue in place and see if I notice any issues. Thanks everybody.

tony b · Apr 24, 2018

Does it come out easily?

Trekker · Apr 24, 2018

Are you sure it is lead? I know that my water leaves mineral deposits on things (water kettle, water bottle, etc.), and have seen that same thing in some of my wet tumbled brass. That said, that stain in the brass cases becomes visible after the water dries out.

I actually have a little glass jar in which I have collected some of the larger chunks of mineral deposits from my water kettle, thinking I might try and identify it at some point.

Lead residue in cleaned cases

The #1 community for Gun Owners of the Northeast

Member Benefits:

linkstate

Ultimate Member

Attachments

iH8DemLibz

When All Else Fails.

John from MD

American Patriot

TGR

Active Member

linkstate

Ultimate Member

tony b

Ultimate Member

Trekker

Active Member

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Latest threads

Forum statistics

Share this page