Effect of powder residue in my "clean" brass

[MrBorland]

I posted this in the reloading section, but thought I'd post here to get thoughts from wheelgunners. Anyhow, I'm somewhat new at reloading, and I had an epiphany over the weekend, and I'm wondering if I'm making much ado over nothing:

For a number of reasons, I started reloading in stepped batches. IOW, I'll deprime & clean a bunch of brass, then resize & prime a bunch, then load the powder & bullet later.

In doing this, I've been putting the newly resized & primed brass primer-side up in trays for storage, and this weekend I've noticed (what appears to me) burnt powder residue falling out. I knew the interior of the brass isn't always sqeaky clean, but before putting the prepped brass into trays this weekend, I gave each an upside down tap, and it's incredible how much gunk accumulates after even 50 pieces.

So, there's 2 issues I'm wondering about:

The first is what effect this residue has on accuracy - surely its presence in the loaded round would affect the burn characteristics (rate and total amount burned) of the power? Since the amount of residue varies between pieces of brass, the powder could be expected to burn slightly different for each round, affecting accuracy, no?

The second is the effect the residue has on how clean the rounds run. I assume this is residue that'd otherwise get blown into my gun, so I'm expecting these newer loads to run a bit cleaner.

But I'm also wondering if even more unburnt residue would accumulate if the residue impedes efficient burning. Kind of a double whammy - the old residue is dirt, and helps make new dirt, too?

The experiment, of course, is to simply shoot these new loads and see if they're cleaner and more accurate, but I'm curious what your thoughts are.

[Carmoney]

I don't think you'll see any difference.

[snertley]

I don't think you'll see any difference.

Diddo, try leaving the cases in you tumbler for another hour or so. Otherwise I really don't think you will see any difference like Mike said. The extra time cleaning should take care of most of the crap showing up.

[professor]

I'll run the brass through a cleaning cycle, and separate it from the media. You ought to wipe out the bowl of the vibrator with a damp paper towel to remove any media powder residue that forms from the media breaking down.

Then I'll put the cleaned cases back in the vibrator bowl WITHOUT any media.

Then I'll activate the vibrator for about a minute without the cover on, while 'combing' my fingers through the brass to aid in the mixing. Without media, the brass hits the bowl harder [and a lot NOISIER] than normal, but I think this knocks out a lot of the crap that might be trapped in the primer holes or head grooves, or elsewhere on the brass. Put it through the sieve again to let the loosened crap fall out, and you should have cleaner brass for the rest of the reloading process.

Edited April 14, 2010 by professor

[Rather-B-Huntin]

I never bother going to the pains which you've described, and have never noted any marked difference in accuracy between same loads from new brass and fired brass.

Load it and shoot it.

[Bwana Six-Gun]

I agree with Mike and Snertly, load it and shoot it. On a side note, I am kind of anal, so I use one batch of brass for my wheels and one batch of brass for my Limited gun. For the wheels, I use WW nickel for major matches and Winchester for local. For Icore and steel I use RP. The main thing with this is that I can pick up a box of ammo and look at the headstamp and know what it is loaded for. My experience is that it all shoots good, but I do what I do for convenience. YMMV. My .02.

[Boats]

Like Bwana keep my brass separated if possible, if just to keep track of loads for particular guns. Little residue inside the case won't hurt, I empty my Lyman vibrator, brass, media and all into a sifter pan made by Lyman that's on top of a plastic oil change pan, nice fit. But to really get all the crud out use a cake pan and dump the brass back and forth between the sifter over the top of the tumbler a few more times. Few exchanges and most of the loose stuff from inside comes out. Deprime after cleaning so the last little bit under the primer gets knocked out during that process.

Moonclips I dump into the tumbler still clipped up, separate the cases from clips after they are clean. I think it cleans faster, larger package in the tumbler and more resistance to the tumbling. Nobody agrees with me though.

I shoot some black powder single shot cartridges, cleaning the inside must be done and is a real chore.

Boats

[John Z Sr]

I have never noticed any difference myself, but anything you do with your reloads that makes you think they are better, can't hurt, maybe a waste of time, but can't hurt

[Blueridge]

I have not found any problems with just simply tumbling the brass and proceeding with the reloading process. I do what must be done during the reloading process, but have not found any extra cleaning of the interior of the cases to be one of those processes. For shooting competitions that I participate in (IDPA, USPSA, CAS, & Steel Challenge) going to the level that a precision shooter or the like does has not been necessary for me.

[Service Desk]

For the last million or so 38's I have just tumbled them for a few hours then dumped the brass into the 1050 and cranked away on the handle until they were all ready shoot again.

All the rounds were just fine...

[megathumpzilla]

I like the idea of tumbling with no media, thanks!