Cartridge Cleaning

Brass Cleaning

Few things start more of a debate in the reloading world than cleaning of brass. People have many views on how clean brass needs to be, and it runs the spectrum from leave the brass filthy to clean room style clean. I think that I am in the middle of the road.

I used to be of the mindset that clean brass was not that important. But then I noticed a few things. First as brass gets dirty it becomes more difficult to seat primers. Second on rifle cases the carbon that forms on the neck can mask split necks. I used to shoot a lot of wildcat rounds and a lot of those rounds are susceptible to split necks. Clean brass facilitates the inspection of brass prior to reloading. 

So I started playing around with cleaning techniques. I figured that I would share my technique with you.

First I remove the primers. After all one of the things that I am trying to accomplish is clean the primer pocket. Then I start by ultrasonic cleaning the brass.

In this case I am cleaning some 38 Special Pistol Brass. For Pistol Brass I use the plastic holders that come in commercial ammunition boxes to hold the brass. For rifle brass I either put the brass into the stainless tray directly or I use a beaker holder that I have made for the ultrasonic cleaner. 

I have tried many concoctions for my cleaning solution but so far the best that I have found is LemiShine, Dawn Dishsoap and Hot Water. I use a very small amount of each, a dime size drop for Dawn, and about the same of the LemiShine. LemiShine is Citric Acid and if you use too much it will Discolor your brass. Some discoloration does happen and we will address that later. 

Both are very inexpensive and go a long way, what can I say I am Cheap! 

  

Here are my trays of brass (100 rounds) Placed into the Stainless Tub of my Ultrasonic Cleaner

Here is the LemiShine/Dawn/Water just after I turned on the Ultrasonic Cleaner. This is once fired brass and not that dirty, but you can see lots of carbon in the primer holes. 

This is about 15 minutes into cleaning operation, The water is now starting to turn black and most of the primer pockets are free of carbon.

Here I have removed the dirty solution and replaced it with clean rinse water and a dash of Baking Soda, I add a small amount of Baking Soda to neutralize that Citric Acid in the LemiShine. After this I do one more rinse in clean water to remove the Baking Soda. 

At this point the brass is clean and free from carbon. 

 Next I dry the cases, I use a food dehydrator to do this. But you could also air dry in the sun or use the oven on warm. 

Sometimes at this point there is some discoloration of the brass. So I put the cases in my tumbler just to give them a final polish. 

After tumbling they look like new. You would not know that these cases have been fired several times. 

Clean both inside an out. 

Is this process for everyone, Probably not. But it works for me. 

I take really good care of my guns and like to feed them with the best ammunition that I can. So to me it is worth the extra step to clean the brass before I start reloading.