Cleaned Cases: How Clean on Inside?

[Eager]

My new bench and 550b aren't quite finished/set-up yet, but I had a little spare time waiting for a part, so I decided to tumble some cases in my new Dillon CV500. I tumbled about 300 .45 ACP cases in Walnut shell pet litter at about 2/3 full for 3 hours. The outsides of the cases are a satiny clean but the insides (on the bottom) are still black, presumably with powder residue, although arguably clean. I (maybe niavely) sort of expected the inside to look like the outside, but I've never read anything that mentions what it's supposed to look like on the inside. Do adequately cleaned cases remain black on the inside when ready to reload?

As aside note, I noticed that many cases had a small bit of walnut shell stuck in the primer hole, if that's the correct term, the spent primers are still in, and there is a small hole as seen when looking down into the case from the top. It seems like this bit of walnut shell will be pushed out with the spent primer. It won't cause a problem will it?

[Thomas Moore]

Eager, your fine, no need to have the inside of the case clean there will be another explosion the next time it's fired anyway. And the media will come out when the case is deprimed and sized on your dillon press.

happy reloading.

[ima45dv8]

The only time to get overly concerned about how clean the insides of the cases are is when they were loaded up with something like mud to begin with. That could cause a significant reduction in case capacity, sending pressures higher (more critical in .40 than .45). The black residue is primarily the result of the primer compound burning and won't hurt anything.

My experience is that walnut makes a better polisher while corn cob makes a better cleaner. Making your cases look like factory-new stuff isn't necessary, just attractive.

[kevin c]

If you really need to see the inside of the cases gleam like the outside, it is possible, even though not necessary.

Get some Iosso brass cleaner. I'm not talking about the polish for dry media, but the liquid that you dunk the brass into directly. The burned powder residue will come right out, and your cases will look brand spanking new except for the fired primers.

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/...m_campaign=9315

Actually, there is technically an advantage to having the inside of the case mouth sooty. If you've ever loaded brand new unfired brass, you may have noticed how hard the case can stick in the die when being flared. This can happen even using case lube. Supposedly fired cases don't stick nearly as much because the carbon residue acts almost like graphite to lube the case mouth and reduce the sticking.

+1 on the media inside the primer cup proper being pushed out in depriming and not being a problem, but look out if you have big chunks of media in the case itself. That can happen (I know) if you add too much polish to the media and it ends up clumping. If you don't jam up in the depriming station, you might miss that the case is half full of gunk and finish loading the round. With the media hogging space inside the case, the fired round may be very overpressure the same way as with a deep seated bullet - could get nasty.

Edited June 8, 2007 by kevin c

[Eager]

I tried out the same cases in corncob tonight, and it removed the walnut bits stuck in the hole and it cleaned the insides more. I also got to play with the Dillon media separator.

I'm ready to put the press together and start playing with it.

[valkabit]

I'm about 3 weeks ahead of you. I've had my 550 assembled & working about 3weeks, It's been a lot of fun. I had a Lee loadmaster, and the Dillon is a much better press. I really enjoy it. I hope you enjoy yours as much as I enjoy mine.

[Silascobb]

Good thread. I am in the same boat right now, just got the boxes yesterday, tumbled some brass and had the same question myself.

You might also try mixing the walnut and corn cob media 1/2 and 1/2, the Dillion pamphlet mentioned you could do it, and it is working pretty good for me.

Edited July 5, 2007 by Silascobb

[Shoot-4-Ever]

Good thread. I am in the same boat right now, just got the boxes yesterday, tumbled some brass and had the same question myself.

You might also try mixing the walnut and corn cob media 1/2 and 1/2, the Dillion pamphlet mentioned you could do it, and it is working pretty good for me.

I had asked about same questions awhile ago perhaps in another forum. I also found that depriming then putting back into the tumbler to clean out the primer pocket made priming a whole bunch easier. Here is the biggest question I had...So if I have a Dillor (or any progressive) I can't tumble, deprime, tumble again because it would not be progressive. So what about the Dillon, I assume it just makes the priming process easy with the dirty uncleaned pockets not being an issue. What do you Dillon guys do if there should be an issue such as above, does it ever happen?

I want to weed out some of these issues too while waiting on my new 550. I think Eager has asked some good questions drawing many good replies.

[revchuck]

Here is the biggest question I had...So if I have a Dillor (or any progressive) I can't tumble, deprime, tumble again because it would not be progressive. So what about the Dillon, I assume it just makes the priming process easy with the dirty uncleaned pockets not being an issue. What do you Dillon guys do if there should be an issue such as above, does it ever happen?

Few here clean their primer pockets, since there's no demonstrable benefit for the effort it requires. Likewise, the inside of the case just needs to be free of foreign matter...it only has to be shiny if you want it to be. I tumble my brass for an hour in treated corncob medium. It takes the firing residue off the outside of the case, and gets the loose stuff out of the inside.

If you de-prime and then tumble, check the flash holes after the second time - corncob is the exact right size to stick in there. Just use some kind of punch - a ball point pen is the right size - to punch it out.

[tightloop]

Go to WalMart and buy the biggest package of QTips they have..also get a large can of Brasso and after you tumble the outside, start polishing the inside with the brasso and qtips...

BTW...the rest of us will be shooting while you polish...LOL

[GentlemanJim]

I know people that dont even tumble or polish brass ...they just keep loading it

Doesnt seem to cause them any problems.

Jim

[Carlos]

The outsides of the cases are a satiny clean

That appearance is usually the result of slight nicks that result from too many cases and not enough media. You might try changing the ratio.

The other tricks I found useful:

-add a cap full of liquid car polish to JUST THE MEDIA and turn machine on for 5 to 10 min. THEN add dirty casings. This really cleans and shines up the cases and seems to reduce cleaning time to 1 hr.

-add a 5"x5" piece of damp rag or a damp dryer sheet to the load. Cuts dust. Discard dirty sheet w/ each use.