cleaning caselube

[mpeltier]

When you guys that load rifle have finished cartridges how are you guys cleaning the lube off? I have tried my case cleaner but the media and polish leave a red clay like substance on them. I think the polish binds with the Dillon caselube. Whats the secret to this?

[Coleman]

I get the lube off in the tumbler till the cases are clean, I use my old walnut hulls in the tumbler. You might try to tumble them longer and see what happens, it usually takes 30-60 min for me.

[Skydiver]

Supposedly, Hornady One Shot can be left on the case.

For my pistol reloads, I prefer the Dillon Case Lube and just leave it on.

[Guest]

There seems to be four schools of thought on this; 1) tumble it after sizing, but before loading, 2) tumble it after loading, 3) after sizing clean cases with a solvent, or 4) don't bother and shoot it with the case lube.

I'm not sure that any option is horribly wrong, it's more of a personal prefrence thing. The red clay stuff you describe sounds like polishing compound, maybe just try plain (untreated) corn cob or walnut media. The only (reasonably safe and cheap) solvent that I've found to work on lanoline is alcohol. The waterbased de-greasers I've tried (dawn, simple green, the goo gone stuff) just make a big mess on the cases.

I don't like to leave the lube on the cases, so here is what I do for the lanoline base lubes: (cut and pasted from a previous thread about removing the dillon lube)

What I do for bulk cleaning of the lube is take a sponge or two, cut it up into about finger sized chunks, put them in a 5 gallon bucket (one that has a nice tight fitting cover like a paint bucket is best), fill the bucket about half full with brass and then pour a few quarts of wally world special 91% Isopropyl Alcohol over the cases (BTW - now is not a good time to smoke or be near open flame or spark producing devices, and you should do this where you have good ventilation – outside is recommended). Put the cover on the bucket and let it sit for a couple minutes and then agitate/swish it around by shaking the bucket or stir with a stick, then pour off the IPA and sponges into another bucket and dump the degreased cases on a towel for a few minutes to let the IPA evaporate. I re-use the IPA for several buckets worth which seems to do at least 5k worth of cases. It doesn’t get them all squeaky clean, but it takes probably 90% of the lube off. The whole process takes about ½ an hour to do 5k worth of cases.

good luck!

[mildot1]

223 brass gets tumbled before sizing.

Next lubed with DCL and sized. Back into 20-40 grit corncob(does not plug flash holes) for 20-30 min's. Ready to load.

Mildot

[Marv Z]

I just wipe my rounds down with a microfiber towel with some brake cleaner sprayed on it. Works great, only takes a few minutes.

[BillD]

I just wipe my rounds down with a microfiber towel with some brake cleaner sprayed on it. Works great, only takes a few minutes.

That sounds tedious when loading in 1000 rd batches.

I put mine in a tumbler after I load, a different tumbler than I use to clean brass.

[kevin c]

To save you the search ( ):

One large terry cloth towel.

One spray mister full of 70% isopropyl alcohol (the stuff from the pharmacy).

One bucket of loaded ammo with lube on.

ONe empty bucket for the cleaned ammo.

Spread the towel flat. Spritz with alcohol. Dump on ammo, 200 to 300 rounds at a time. Spritz the ammo again and stir. Fold up the corners of the towel and rub down the ammo for a few seconds and then dump into the clean bucket. Repeat as necessary.

Slightly more labor intensive than using your tumbler, but faster.

eta: Faster yet: leave it on.

Edited February 9, 2012 by kevin c

[Linear Thinker]

No-one mentioned the ultrasonic cleaners...

My rifle brass gets 3 ultrasonic baths - range brass wash, remove lube after sizing, and tumbling dust wash.

I've been using ultrasonics for a long time.

My favorite rifle sizing lube is the Dillon petroleum-based spray-on - it's excellent but Dillon stopped making it ~15 years ago.

It's toxic to primers and powder, so has to be removed completely before priming and charging. That's probably the reason why Dillon went with the non-petroleum lube.

The ultrasonic cleaners are perfect for removing the lube quickly.

They are cheap nowadays, and both Lyman and Hornady make them for the reloading market. I prefer the commercial units, eg. Branson.

LT

[jmorris]

post load tumble. If your media is leaving crap on the cases try new media.

[Kyle O]

mineral spirits and an old towel.

[Sarge]

To save you the search ( ):

One large terry cloth towel.

One spray mister full of 70% isopropyl alcohol (the stuff from the pharmacy).

One bucket of loaded ammo with lube on.

ONe empty bucket for the cleaned ammo.

Spread the towel flat. Spritz with alcohol. Dump on ammo, 200 to 300 rounds at a time. Spritz the ammo again and stir. Fold up the corners of the towel and rub down the ammo for a few seconds and then dump into the clean bucket. Repeat as necessary.

Slightly more labor intensive than using your tumbler, but faster.

eta: Faster yet: leave it on.

I do this as well for 9mm. I use odorless mineral spirits though.

[sdm74]

To save you the search ( ):

One large terry cloth towel.

One spray mister full of 70% isopropyl alcohol (the stuff from the pharmacy).

One bucket of loaded ammo with lube on.

ONe empty bucket for the cleaned ammo.

Spread the towel flat. Spritz with alcohol. Dump on ammo, 200 to 300 rounds at a time. Spritz the ammo again and stir. Fold up the corners of the towel and rub down the ammo for a few seconds and then dump into the clean bucket. Repeat as necessary.

Slightly more labor intensive than using your tumbler, but faster.

eta: Faster yet: leave it on.

I do this as well for 9mm. I use odorless mineral spirits though.

Where do you buy the oderless stuff? Because the regular stuff is intense on the nostrils.

[Sarge]

To save you the search ( ):

One large terry cloth towel.

One spray mister full of 70% isopropyl alcohol (the stuff from the pharmacy).

One bucket of loaded ammo with lube on.

ONe empty bucket for the cleaned ammo.

Spread the towel flat. Spritz with alcohol. Dump on ammo, 200 to 300 rounds at a time. Spritz the ammo again and stir. Fold up the corners of the towel and rub down the ammo for a few seconds and then dump into the clean bucket. Repeat as necessary.

Slightly more labor intensive than using your tumbler, but faster.

eta: Faster yet: leave it on.

I do this as well for 9mm. I use odorless mineral spirits though.

Where do you buy the oderless stuff? Because the regular stuff is intense on the nostrils.

It is generally right beside the regular stuff at Lowe's or the Depot.

[wide45]

Oops! Failed reading comprehension on the OP.

Nevermind.

Edited February 11, 2012 by wide45

[caz41]

Supposedly, Hornady One Shot can be left on the case.

For my pistol reloads, I prefer the Dillon Case Lube and just leave it on.

Anyone else leaving one shot on?

[Guest]

I use just a little bit of Oneshot for pistol and leave it on, after loading I can't even tell it's there. Not so for the Dillon case lube on the rifle stuff...it just takes more to lube up the rifle cases.

[Sarge]

Supposedly, Hornady One Shot can be left on the case.

For my pistol reloads, I prefer the Dillon Case Lube and just leave it on.

Anyone else leaving one shot on?

I used to leave it on but found that even though it was barely noticable it was just tacky enough for random flakes of powder to stick to the loaded rounds. It only takes one flake of powder to gum up a case gauge. I got tired of repeatedly dropping the same round and having it fail because there was a stray flake in the gauge. I now wipe them off with mineral spirits before gauging and do hundreds at a time with no gunking up the gauge.

[21 shooter]

To save you the search ( ):

One large terry cloth towel.

One spray mister full of 70% isopropyl alcohol (the stuff from the pharmacy).

One bucket of loaded ammo with lube on.

ONe empty bucket for the cleaned ammo.

Spread the towel flat. Spritz with alcohol. Dump on ammo, 200 to 300 rounds at a time. Spritz the ammo again and stir. Fold up the corners of the towel and rub down the ammo for a few seconds and then dump into the clean bucket. Repeat as necessary.

Slightly more labor intensive than using your tumbler, but faster.

eta: Faster yet: leave it on.

This is pretty much what I have been doing, with the exception of using Wally World 91% Isopropyl Alcohol. I would use 99% but it is difficult to find in my area unless you want to pay a lot for it. When I was using One Shot I just left it on the case. Since I started using Dillon Lube I have several cans of One Shot that are not getting used. :-)

[RePete]

I've been using Lee Case Lube for over 30 years and see no reason to change.

It can be left on the cases but I tumble them after sizing/decapping using the same media that I cleaned them in. Afterwards I just check the primer pockets and action accordingly. I use 40/60 mix of Lyman Treated Corn Cob (green) and corn blast.

The procedure works for me. YMMV.

Edited February 13, 2012 by RePete

[sauza45]

I do the same as kevin C I put some alcohol in a spray bottle spray on a towel put loaded ammo on towel spray alittle more and rub around in towel.

takes maybe 5 min. for 1000 round and no media in the hollowpiont of the rounds

[kevin c]

To save you the search ( ):

One large terry cloth towel.

One spray mister full of 70% isopropyl alcohol (the stuff from the pharmacy).

One bucket of loaded ammo with lube on.

ONe empty bucket for the cleaned ammo.

Spread the towel flat. Spritz with alcohol. Dump on ammo, 200 to 300 rounds at a time. Spritz the ammo again and stir. Fold up the corners of the towel and rub down the ammo for a few seconds and then dump into the clean bucket. Repeat as necessary.

Slightly more labor intensive than using your tumbler, but faster.

eta: Faster yet: leave it on.

I do this as well for 9mm. I use odorless mineral spirits though.

Where do you buy the oderless stuff? Because the regular stuff is intense on the nostrils.

It is generally right beside the regular stuff at Lowe's or the Depot.

I use the alcohol because it is less irritating to the eyes/nose. Better yet is 70% denatured ethanol, also available in most pharmacies.

[dmc_md]

My steps are:

Tumble to clean and polish

Lube

Size

Tumble to get lube off

Trim

Load

Shoot

I do this in batches of 2k so I only have to do it every 2-3 months

Darren

[SNSCaster2]

Microfiber towel and a light mist of a silicone spray will have them shining bright in no time and have a really slick finish. I massage about 200 at a time for maybe 15 seconds so it's not like it's taking up much time.