I was curious if it is absolutely necessary to clean once fired .223 brass before reloading? I know you HAVE to clean out the primer holes for the new primer to seat properly but is it a must to clean the shells inside and out on once fired brass also. I don't have a tumbler and media and all of that YET but I used a small round wire brush to clean out the inside of each of my previous shells I reloaded. Would you all say this was necessary and if so is there another way to do it since I don't have the tumbler YET?

Digger

Not necessary to clean, although most of us do so just to be anal.

Take a tip from Benchrest shooters. We reload the same case over and over during a match and we don't have our tumblers with us. A swipe with a bristle brush to the inside of the neck and a wipe of the outside with fine steel wool or even a towel is all that is necessary. Most of us have a tool to clean the primer pockets but tests have proven that step is not really necessary.

My own personal opinion is that brushing the inside of the neck is the only cleaning step that has any value as far as accuracy is concerned.

Ray

Nope. But I do like to knock the slag from the primer pocket.

Range brass or brass from your own rifle from having fired factory loads??


Ranger brass? absolutely.

If your rifle is a semi auto and the brass hits the ground, absolutely.

IF OTOH you shoot a bolt rifle and you drop your brass in a nice neat pile on the shooting bench... No.

On NEW brass
If you size, trim or do other prep you might want to as well.

When I get new brass how I handle it depends on which rifle.

ALL get run over a tapered carbide expander button
to round out the case mouth dings.

ALL brass gets trimmed, chamfered and has it's primer flash hole deburred.

Brass intended for my remington auto it gets run through
an XSB sizer, THOSE cases must be cleaned of the RCBS water based case lube I use, that is done with hot water.

No strictly speaking you don't need to remove the lube, but I hate rounds that get "slimy" when you hold them in your hand, I don't like rounds that might carry lube inside the chamber and I really don't like the tendency of cases that were lubed to attract dirt like a freakin magnet.

For my "precision" rifles (my 223 Varmint rig and my bull barrel 7mmMag) I prefer to do all my trimming with a file type trimmer and a single cut chainsaw "guage file"
So file type trimmers being what they are those cases
must be lubed and subsequently cleaned.

AD

Without an ultrasonic cleaning system it’s pretty hard to clean the inside of a case. It’s the outside and the primer pocket of the case that is more concerning to me. My rule of thumb is; if it hits the dirt, it gets cleaned before it goes into the dies. If I use resizing lube on it, it gets cleaned again before it gets reloaded.

Because you don’t have the equipment yet, do the best you can with rags and paper towels. “Allan DeGroot” has a good idea about using a water-based lube and washing them off.

I don’t care all that much if the brass is super shinny, it just needs to be dirt free and dry to the touch. As “Allan DeGroot” put it, non-”slimy” or sticky. Slimy / sticky brass collects dirt, it needs to be clean.

You at least have to get dirt and grit off of it or it will ruin your dies.

Wipe them off with an oily rag or knock out the primers by hand and wash in soapy water and rinse in hot water.

You can also wash them off with alcohol.

Just don't run dirty brass through your dies.

I rarely polish cases but I do keep them clean.

I reloaded for many years without a tumbler when I was young and money was very tight. I scrimped and saved my money just to buy bullets, primers and powder. I used to have a funeral every time I "lost" a piece of brass... and that was when I only had ONE rifle ( a 243)...

You don't need one. They are nice, and I do have one and use it now. Mostly to keep the insides of my dies clean, but also for the pride in craftsmanship of making a quality product. It just "feels" better.

Hell when I was a kid with that 243, I used to use Brasso and a cloth to clean all my brass one at a time. No one was around to say "don't use Brasso", and I never knew you weren't supposed to until many years after I stopped doing it. It never seemed like a problem to me?




The only reason I had a press and dies is because my old uncle took pity on me and bought them for me. I still have the press, but the dies are long gone.

Clean the primer pocket and reload.

I agree with Cheechako. Give the outside a wipe, run a brush thru the neck and you're good to go. (this is your own brass, not range pick ups)
I've been reloading for almost 50 years and except for a short trial where I determined that cleaning primer pockets was a wasted effort, I haven't cleaned a pocket. Of course, if it makes you feel better, by all means, do it. Just don't try to tell me that it makes old trusty-rusty shoot better.

For what it is worth.
It's your dies and your rifle's chamber you are going to put the brass in. You decide if the cases are clean enough.

muck

now that i have a tumbler, i do it as part of the routine and it doesn't seem to hang up the process. before, i had the chuck/lectric screwdriver/steel wool setup and it made nice-looking brass.

either will work, and as has been said, the small amount of time involved is worth the potential savings in dies or chamber.

Well, cases must be free of dirt and grit before they are run into a sizing die. So at least they must be wiped off!

Yep, not required but desireable to keep dirt & grit out of your polished sizing die.

routine?
I hate to tumble brass. the primer pockets never get clean. the outside only after several hours and to use some type of liquid cleaner is no good for me either. so what you do is inprovise.
I found that spinning the cases and a pad of green scotch brite would do the job nicely.
picked up one of those rcbs case prep machines and champer in and out a brush with steel wool wraped for the inside neck and one of rcbs little short stiff brushes for the primer pocket. 2 steps and 100 cases later about 10 min. and your ready to load.
I know thats not what you asked just had to get off my chest.