Washing Brass ?

[pmd]

In search for the holy grail of media compounds (corn cob, walnut...) I got to talking to a friend who swears by washing his brass and not tumbling.

He's been doing this for a little over a year with great results.

Just to try, lastnight I mixed up a small batch of Birchwood Casey brass cleaner. Following the directions I washed and rinsed a couple small batches of 9mm range brass.

I was really impressed on how quickly the cases appeared to be cleaned. I placed the newly washed brass on a towel and laid it out to dry.

Tonight I plan to inspect - I am curious if water/solution has gotten into primer pocket and if the case completly dries out.

Anyways - the reason for the post is to see if any of you advid reloaders wash your brass and if so what techniques do you use to dry etc..

Also on the other hand if any of you have tried and do not like washing brass let me now.

I like the Idea of not tumbling and dealing w/ the media .

But...I guess we will see.

Thanks in adavnce

Paul

[Tri Burst]

I tried washing once and it was just to much work. When you tumble/vibrate you throw the brass in, turn on the motor and walk away. Come back a few hours latter and empty the brass and media into a sifter and separate the media from the brass.

Also I found the brass did not try completely, there was always some moisture left in it or I just didn't let it sit long enough.

[Carlos]

I was unemployed when I started reloading & could not afford a tumbler ($50 at the time) vs. $8 for a bottle of BS case wash. It worked OK. Left the brass in a yard-sale tumbler over the hot air vent in the house I lived in back then. Dried in about an hour.

It took more labor & a little more time than tumbling & might ultimately cost a little more; on the other hand, the water probably trapped & carried away lead without producing the dust cloud that tumbling/seperating produces (I even add dryer sheets to the media but there is still dust). Its a concern for me as it is not possible to tumble or seperate outdoors around here.

[JD45]

For some reason I don't like my own method for "important ammo", like self defense or big matches, but I do wash cases for practice ammo. My main problem is the sand and red clay that gets in the brass. I dump about 200-300 cases in a plastic container, squirt in a little liquid dawn, and fill with hot tap water. Then stir and agitate for 30 seconds and pour out dirty water and rise until clean with cold water(from the hose in the back yard). I let the cases dry at least two days. I have never had any trouble. It keeps grit out of dies and take some of the soot off.

I really need a tumbler though.

[Moruger]

I have washed range brass for years and had no problems,The one caveat is to make sure they are rinsed several times to get all the cleaner out.Then let them dry at least 2 days at room temp or tumble them afterwards to polish and dry.

[Little Bill]

If I get grungy range brass, I will set-up some 5-gal buckets with a homemade strainer, fill one of the buckets with cleaner (like BirchwoodCasey), and the others with rinse water. Then I let the brass sit as directed in the cleaner, and then rinse in the other buckets, like an assembly line. At the end, I use a hose on the strainer, and then lay them out flat to dry for a few days. I did about 10k pieces of brass 2 hours or so. (This included hand sorting the obvious junk out)

Because this brass is for practice, I then gave them a quick tumble in walnut (20-30min) and then they are ready to go.

[Mistral404]

Please forgive the stupidity of the question. But,

Has anyone used a washing machine?

I was thinking about putting the brass in a bag designed for laundry and putting the stuff in the washing machine on gentle. This way it would be washed and rinsed at the same time.

So is this a bone head idea?

tks

[Patrick Sweeney]

Yes, it is a bonehead idea. As related to me by a customer, the brass cases will nick the enamel coating of the washer drum, and eventually, no matter how careful you are, one case will escape, plug things up, and require a whopping repair bill.

I have washed cases many times. In the warm weather months, pouring the strained/drained brass onto a dry beach towel in direct sunlight will dry them in less than an hour. In the winter, an oven set at 200 degrees for 20 minutes gets them bone-dry.

[bernmart]

I've been using Patrick's system ever since I started reloading, with excellent results, using Birchwood-Casey case cleaner in solution, then the oven at 200F. I don't get the argument that tumble cleaning is less work than this system. It's certainly more expensive and messier than wash/dry. But I do love the shiny, pristine look of tumbled cases.

On the other hand, I recall a recent post about a guy who's been reloading for 25 years and never cleans his cases at all--just reloads and fires. Hmmm.

[Jeeper]

Paul,

I hated dealing with media also until I started tumbling with plain white rice. It is really easy to deal with and there is absolutely no dust. It is really nice to deal with.

[Carlos]

"I hated dealing with media also until I started tumbling with plain white rice."

. . . and when it wears out as a media substitute, you can still make it into a tasty compliment to any meal! Thanks for the tip.

[Jeeper]

. . . and when it wears out as a media substitute, you can still make it into a tasty compliment to any meal! Thanks for the tip.

It would definately add some heavy metal and other chemicals to your diet.

[Yardbird]

Seems to me that washing would be a pain in the butt but I've never tried it so who the heck am I to judge but...

My tumbler already has media in it so I put in a few spoons of cleaning juice, pour in the brass and turn it on - two minutes worth of work. Two hours later I open it up pour it through the separator and pour the media back into the tumbler. Done. Five minutes worth of work, brass ready to load. No drying. Doesn't get much simpler or quicker than that.

[Mistral404]

Guys,

Thanks for the responses.

The impetus for the question was that I recently got a smoking deal on a 1050 (as posted here).

I have six cat litter containers (33gal size) of .40 brass. I actually roll sized it all at the same place I got the 1050.

My good friend is going to send me a Dillon tumlber, etc. but until the stuff arrives I was thinking about reloading on my 1050. The brass is a little dirty which I suspect may be causing some of my primer flow problems. My loads are in the 180 power factor range.

Hence I was intrigue by the washing technique as a method to get started on reloading.

BTW: I am going to work up a load using 180 JHP VV320 probably in the 4.8-4.9gr range. I think this will get me to 165 pf without too much of a problem. My start using smaill rifle primers also. I have heard that they require less powder.

Again, thanks for the advice.

[Mistral404]

Jeeper,

I like the rice idea. I will price the stuff at Costco this weekend.

But my wife is on a health kick--brown or white rice?

[Jeeper]

Mistral,

The rifle primers require the same amount of powder from my tests. I had problems with them and once fired brass. Every couply hundred rounds I would get a weak load. It ended up being from a non-sealed primer pocket since the rifle primers have a harder cup. There are a few old posts here with the same problem arising. You really dont need them with a 165 pf load. Just a heads up. I know many people that use them and they work fine but they didnt work for me.

I bought regular white rice from wallyworld in a 20lb bag. It was like $5 or something. I tumbled about 7K rounds with that bag and then had to get rid of the rice because it was too dirty. It was all really nasty range brass though. Rice doesnt polish like walnut but it works well and is easier than anything to deal with.

Good luck!

[.40AET]

BTW: I am going to work up a load using 180 JHP VV320 probably in the 4.8-4.9gr range. I think this will get me to 165 pf without too much of a problem. My start using smaill rifle primers also. I have heard that they require less powder.

Thread drift> Small rifle primers will require less powder. Your formula with 4.9g N320 gets me 168-172 PF. 4.8g did not get the slowest round over the PF.

[gwalchmai]

I sometimes wash my range brass before separating by caliber prior to tumbling. I use about a cup of Simple Green in a gallon of warm water. Soak and stir for five minutes, then rinse in clean water and air dry.

[Guest Larry Cazes]

Small rifle primers will require less powder

My experience is that winchester small rifle primers are not any hotter then small pistol. They do, though, seem to handle higher pressure loads better which agrees with the theory that the cup is harder.

[Harmon]

thread drift:

if you are in search of a hotter primer, i think federal small magnum rifle are as hot as it gets(for that size primer pocket)

though the federal primers may be softer than any others, the only ones i have had fail were remington...

i dont think the rifle primers are any harder, i think they are just thicker...or they may be both.

I tried the brass washing thing, i still do it only when the brass is really nasty(like it just rained in east texas nasty)

[Jim Norman]

Jeeper,

I like the rice idea. I will price the stuff at Costco this weekend.

But my wife is on a health kick--brown or white rice?

It will start out white at any rate

[Guest Larry Cazes]

White rice sounds like a good alternative to the fine corn cob I've been getting locally. Do you still add a little polish to it?

[Jeeper]

White rice sounds like a good alternative to the fine corn cob I've been getting locally. Do you still add a little polish to it?

I havent but I know that others do.

[EricW]

Man, you guys sure like to work. Put your dirty, muddy, high-dollar rifle brass into your Dillon separator then run the garden hose over it while you turn. Then you can use good ol' centripetal force to spin most of the water out.

Bam. Done.

[EricW]

I like the rice idea. I will price the stuff at Costco this weekend.

But my wife is on a health kick--brown or white rice?

The brown rice in the giant bag at Costco is good for two things (maybe three, if you include paint removal via media blasting): cleaning brass and livestock feed. I don't have a ranch, so guess what I used it for?

Buy the Basmati rice and eat that.