My new case prep sequence, thanks to your ideas!

[NWPilgrim]

I have reloaded for over 20 years and never washed a case. I would dump brass from the rnage straight into the tumbler, then go right to decap/resize, and continue reload steps.

In the past few months I've seen posts that others do to wash, vinegar soak, polish, etc. I admit, I got jealous of the SHINY brass. The next time I reloaded I noticed just how grimy my hands and everything else got from the still-dirty brass.

This lead me to experiment with some adding some more cleaning steps to my brass prep. Washing brass with dish soap gets rid of all the range dirt and grime. A solution of 1:2 - 1:4 vinegar to water solution soaked for an hour makes the brass very shiny.

My new sequence:

• Decap brass with Lee universal decapper die (so dirt does not scratch resizer die, and open flash hole allows brass to dry faster, and vinegar residue does not rust press ram)
• Wash decapped brass in dish soap solution to remove dirt
• Rinse and soak in vinegar/water solution of about 1:3 for one hour to remove tarnish and make shiny
• Thoroughly (!) rinse brass several times (any trace will rust press parts)
• Dry brass (I use a food dehydrator on 130F and it takes about 30 minutes)
• Tumble in corn cob media with squirt of car polish for about 45 minutes to one hour (polish keeps brass from tarnishing from air contact and makes for nice handling in reloading steps)
• Lube and Resize (currently I full length resize for semi-auto rifle cases)
• Trim if not using X-Die yet (I am just starting with RCBS X-Dies)
• Charge, seat, crimp if semi-auto as normal

I use the same sequence for handgun brass except no case lube or trimming. Now the brass gets cleaned as early in the process as possible and then stays nice for handling or storage.

Thanks to all the previous postings and case prep that motivated me to try a new approach. An old dog can learn new tricks.

 

[CrazyHorse89]

wow

WOW, that seems like way too much work IMO, but thats just me.

I just grab the brass from the Range, and leave it in WallNUT with Polish for about 3-4 hours, no matter how dirty they where they come out Shiney NEW.

 

[rjrivero]

WOW, that seems like way too much work IMO, but thats just me.

I just grab the brass from the Range, and leave it in WallNUT with Polish for about 3-4 hours, no matter how dirty they where they come out Shiney NEW.

I agree. I put it in the tumbler with polish and call it a day.

I clean it, size/decap it, trim it, then load it and call it a day.

 

[Shoney]

Toooooo much work!

If you put a tablespoon full or two of Mineral Spirits (also sold as Stoddard Solvent and Paint Thinner) into the media; tumble for 1/2 an hour; then add a handful of cut up, used dryer sheets for another 1/2 an hour.

Zip Zowie and Swooooooosh!!!!!!!

Clean Brass!!

 

[Sevens]

Mine comes from the range...
Gets separated by caliber...
Dropped in the tumbler...
Half a cap of Nu Finish...
Tumbler connected to lamp timer for four hours...

And that is for dang sure good enough for me. And I'd never decap before tumbling, or I get to spend more time poking grains of media out of the flash holes.

 

[Inspector3711]

My hats off to the OP. You've reached new heights in your addiction. If only I had time... Nufinish and walnut or corncob and I'm done. And no, I don't clean the pockets any more. NWPilgrim, you be from Oregon... I grew up in St. Helens... Dad still lives there and has a reloading addiction like I've never seen before.

 

[PCJim]

To each his own...

But I'll stick with walnut and solvent. Two hours of unattended cleaning that lets me accomplish more important tasks.

 

[Kyo]

if thats how you like your hobby so be it.
I have been tumbling mine with primers in it, but im gonna try without tomorrow and see if that will save me time so i don't have to use the primer pocket cleaner.
then after tumbling in walnut, prime, charge seat, crimp and clean with a rag. off to the box it goes.

 

[Sevens]

and see if that will save me time so i don't have to use the primer pocket cleaner.

...and after you've tried that, try not cleaning primer pockets at all and see how much more time that saves!

(I still do it for rifle rounds... but not for any single handgun round ever again the rest of my life)

 

[NWPilgrim]

Haha! I must have too much time on my hands.

Like I said, I did what most of you describe for 20 years, never washed it, just dumped from range to tumbler for a couple of hours. It doesn't take much time to wash the grit off first. About 3 minutes to wash and put in vinegar solution. Another three minutes to rinse and put into dehydrator. And a minute to dump from dehydrator trays into the tumbler. I don't stand there and watch brass soak, dry or tumble. I do batches of about 200-300 cases depending on size.

I'll have to try the mineral spirits method and see how that works out.

While this is just housekeeping stuff, I am excited about my new Wilson case trimmer and trying out RCBS X-dies on my next batch of .223 and .30-06 reloads. Not having to trim anymore and getting many more reloads per case would be very nice. The local shop finally has more primers and Varget in stock so I can increase the rate of reloads now.