Cosby Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 I have a large quantity of AAs that have only been fired 1x or 2x but they are really nasty dirty. Has anyone tried washing hulls? If so, how did you wash them and maybe more importantly, how did you dry them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricW Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 Buy a Dillon Large media separator. Fill the tub with soapy water and rotate. Rinse and spin dry similarly. I've done it with muddy 308 brass that I just couldn't afford to leave lying. Works like a champ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosby Posted March 10, 2005 Author Share Posted March 10, 2005 Thanks Eric, I have a Dillon media separator. I was hoping for less effort (always looking for the easy way out). Was really wondering if anyone had washed them in the dishwasher or a washing machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricW Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 I'd wash my shotgun hulls in *your* washing machine. Don't think I'd ever defile my own that way. The problem is the rims. Most of them are brass-plated steel now and would just beat the crap out of your porcelain tub. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosby Posted March 10, 2005 Author Share Posted March 10, 2005 Probably right on the washing machine. My wife has these nice little mesh bags she washes her delicates in. What do you think of the hulls in one of those in the dishwasher? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Sweeney Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 Get a mesh bag like those used for potatoes or other bulky heavy crops. Take the hulls and the bag to the quarter car wash. You probalby don't even need soap, just the hot water rinse. Then spread them in the sun. I trust you won't do this in NYC or some such place where the SWAT team will call Homeland Security on your butt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sargenv Posted March 10, 2005 Share Posted March 10, 2005 Have you thought of maybe tumbling them in your tumbler? I've done this in the past but it really made no difference. The brass bases got really shiny though. The gun didn't care. Really dirty after 2 firings? What did you load them with? BP? Mine start to get pretty grungy after 4 or 5 firings, I just keep loading them till they split then I chuck em. Vince Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tightloop Posted March 11, 2005 Share Posted March 11, 2005 Just shoot them dirty..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Freeman Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 Put them in a big trash can, add some dawn dishwashing soap, and spray off with a high pressure tip hose. Stir with a 2x4, drain and rinse. Better than the bathtub or washing machine bit. Be sure to completely air dry them in the sun. The back lawn and an old blanket work well. Tumblers with corncob media tend to remove the "slipperyness" of AA and STS hulls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clay1 Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 Forget the water you pistoleros. I reloaded 10,000 rounds through my MEC 9000 G one season and after that went to shooting rimfire silhouette - (no damn reloading). By the way, these days with the G34 I shoot blazers and let 'em fall. The problem with water is that it can get between the brass and the plastic hull. At least AAs are a one piece plastic hull, but some of that other junk out there has permanent paper bases and that would really screw up the cheap stuff. This has been bantered about on the sporting clay boards more than a couple of times and continued response is to forget the water. If you want to go a head and tumble them in a media in your tumbler that would be cool. Personally I might take the mesh bag and instead of water use an air compressor and just blow the hell out of them with air. If you want to wipe them with a cloth that would be OK too. I'm more worried about the chamber of my gun than hulls. Knock that grit off of them, but I would pass on the water my friend. Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dickwholliday Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 i've done it before....i resized them first so the shell wouldn't hold water...sort of made a mess in my sizer because mine were really dirty (But FREE)used a little brake cleaner and washed the sizer on my mec out....i put them in a mess bag that the dry cleaners uses to keep your junk separate from everybody elses...and washed them....i then spread them out and let them dry....looked like new....D I C K PS.... Wife was out of town Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tightloop Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 When I reloaded shoatgun ammo, I use to clean off the outside, but never worried about the inside....loaded them till they wouldn't crimp properly and then trashed them...never had a problem.... Forget about washing them... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sargenv Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 I'm with Tightloop. Load em till the fall apart, leave them after they wear out. Vince Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Sweeney Posted March 16, 2005 Share Posted March 16, 2005 Hmmm, maybe I jumped to a conclusion. If your hulls are muddy and crusted with dirt, fine, hose them off. But if it is just powder residue from shooting, fuggedaboutit. Load them until they won't hold a crimp, and toss 'em. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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