Why clean brass?

[outrider58]

As far as cleaning brass, I clean each piece twice. First time right after a range trip and the second time after resizing using corncob or walnut media.

 

[DarrellA]

As far as cleaning brass, I clean each piece twice. First time right after a range trip and the second time after resizing using corncob or walnut media.

Similar here. I decap then wet tumble with SS pins all brass. After resizing, brushing neck and primer pockets, trimming to length, deburring and chamfering ... back into the wet tumbler.

 

[Pinecone]

As far as cleaning brass, I clean each piece twice. First time right after a range trip and the second time after resizing using corncob or walnut media.

I do this with rifle brass to remove the lube. I don't lube pistol brass, so the second cleaning is not needed.

 

[outrider58]

I do this with rifle brass to remove the lube. I don't lube pistol brass, so the second cleaning is not needed.

Ditto.

 

[SevenT6Vet]

Helps get out the unburnt powder as well. Clean brass = more consistency.

 

[byf43]

I do this with rifle brass to remove the lube. I don't lube pistol brass, so the second cleaning is not needed.

Ditto.

Same here.

 

[Pinecone]

Helps get out the unburnt powder as well. Clean brass = more consistency.

What unburnt powder?

And once you fire them, the next time you fire them, you have the same amount of carbon residue. It does not build up. Something about the process of firing, blowing out any excess.

 

[Sharpeneddark]

I was in the Navy. Brass will be polished.

I wet tumble my brass (after decapping) then drop it into the corncob tumbler to dry and remove any left over residue, soap, and water from the cases. The cases get sized reworked to 'load ready' conditions. Then, right before loading it, I dump the brass back into the corncob and add some dillon rapid polish to make them absolutely gleam when getting loaded.

Is it extreme? Yeah. But I like shiny brass.

 

[toolness1]

When I first started reloading, it was with bolt action rifles. The brass didn't fall into the dirt. All I did was wipe them down before reloading them and it worked fine. With pistols, you definitely want to clean your brass. Pistol dies are meant to be used without case lube, so cleaning them lets you size them smoothly. I also get range pickup brass in various conditions, so tumbling in stainless steel gets them all clean as new. My rifle brass just gets tumbled in walnut media, and then rolled over a wet paper towel to pull off dust.

Start saving your used dryer sheets. Rip them into a couple pieces and throw 4 of those pieces in your tumbler before you run it. Replace them each time.

It'll save you that step of rolling them on a paper towel to remove dust.

I use a mix of about 3/4 untreated corncob with 1/4 of the dark red treated walnut

They are spotless and shiny when I take them out, no dust.