Being new to BPCR, i just had some ?s ,found Shooting buffalo rifles of the old West very good and informative, but still have a few ?s
After shooting how clean does the brass have to be ? i just washed in in vinegar and Windex ,but it still has the black discoloration, is that okay to leave it like that ? and reuse it ? or should it be cleaned in media each time ?
Should brass used for Black powder be kept specifically for only Black powder ? e.g 45/70 and smokeless kept for smokeless only .How often should it be FLS or Annealed ?
Thankyou
Cheers

The black color is just cosmetic. If you have removed all the powder fouling the cases are good to load. I do tumble my cases in walnut with three capsfull of mineral spirits and a heaping tablespoon of BonAmi cleanser. They just look nicer but are no more effective than just clean.

There is no reason to segregate for BP and smokeless but there may be good reason to segregate cases for each rifle depending on how you load them.

I always anneal any new Starline cases but my Remington 45-70 cases were fine as delivered. I would anneal after three reloads if the cases are sized.

If shooting fireformed unsized cases in the same rifle it may not be worthwhile. There is considerable controversy on this topic with some very good shooters annealing after each use.

As for sizing I minimally resize to get a bit of neck tension on the .45-90 cases for the Sharps, For the Trapdoor Springfield I partially full length size. I do not do a complete full length size on any of my BP rifles, however if I had a lever action rifle I suspect that would be necessary.

Thanks Jerry !

I don't know that what Jerry said can be improved on. Good advice.