I assume most of you have a tumbler for cleaning your cases. Assume you were a poor student or something, and didn't have a tumbler. How would you clean your cases? Particularly the necks & shoulders?

I have been wiping them with a rag that has a little case lube on it. Not very effective. And in the case of the .17, its hard cleaning that tiny neck. And I worry about my dies getting cruddy if the necks are not real clean.

Any tips? Or am I being too picky about getting the necks clean?

0000 steel wool or bronze wool if you can find it will make quick work of the task.

Before I bought a tumbler I use to clean my 25-06 cases using a liquid brass cleaner made for cleaning bullet cases. I'd drop them in the cleaner for 2-4 minutes then wash them off with water and let them dry before sizing. The liquid cleaner is about $5 a bottle and will last a long time.

DaveR...try to get a tumbler as soon as you can.
They do make reloading alot easier and cleaner.
I clean my cases before I do anything else.
Keeping your brass clean, lessens the chance of scratching your dies on the inside.
Good luck and welcome to reloading!!....sakofan..

get some 0000 steel wool and some Hoppes #9. Sop the steel wool in the hoppes, twirl the case neck and shoulder in the steel wool and the crude goes away. Actually, you are being a bit anal about your dies. Wipe the cases with a dry cloth or paper towel and any crude that would transfer to the dies will come off. Remember, there are no extra points in a shooting match for "pretty" brass.

I use oooo steel wool but I simplify it by using my cordless drill. I have some old lee trimers with the case holders and the shell holder fits the drill. No need for solvent. They come clean as new. I even give them a spin with the neck brush also. Works real fast and clean.

I use my primer pocket brushes with the corless also. Why it took me so long to figure this out I don't know.

Get a bucket and a Gal. of Cider Vinager (white Vinagar will also work).
3 parts water to 1 part Vinagar, soak for 1-2 hours, stirring ocasionaly. Rinse with hot water and allow to dry in the sun. Used water/vinagar solution can be saved and used again, or poured down the drain.
Heating the solution will speed up the cleaning.
Adding salt (somtimes recogmended) will turn your brass pink.
Your brass may not be all shiny, but it will be clean.

What's to clean?

If you're talking about discoloration or "tarnish", then that's only cosmetic and of no impact on performance. If you mean dirt, grit, or other foreign material, then just wipe it off with a DRY cloth prior to lubing. If you're talking about the lub residue left after sizing, then wipe it off with a dry cloth or paper towel on the outside and "screw" a probe of tightly twisted paper towel down the inside of the neck to get rid of inside neck lube (this requires changing the towel after every few cases, and can be a real pain with .17's).

Tumblers are convenient for ridding yourself of lube residue improving the cosmetics of cases, but they do nothing to improve the performance of your reloads. I got by without one for the first twenty years or so of reloading.

[ 06-18-2003, 22:26: Message edited by: sakofan ]

Dave R,

While I have a lot of stuff including a Lyman cartridge case vibrating polisher I don't use it much. I just can't wait to reload the same cases over and if I clean them by hand I don't loose lot control.

I wipe each rifle case neck off by hand with a paper towel to get the loose stuff off and then I wipe the necks with "Nevr Dull" wadding. Then I wipe off the entire case again with a paper towel.

This gets it over with really fast and the cases look bright and clean. In the past I did not clean or vibrate the brass and I have worn out the neck portion of a FL die until it would not hold a bullet in the sized case.

You can find Nevr Dull at Walmart. There must be other products that work also and steel wool is good too but rougher. Bronze wool can be found at boat chandelers.

What I do may be of some advantage for you. I take a 35mm film can to the range when I shoot. I keep a couple of cleaning patches and a chunk of a Scotch Brite pad in there. I shoot a couple of shots of Kroil on them when I go to the range and I wipe off each case after I shoot it. I've used bore solvent also but the Kroil does a better job of removing the carbon around the necks. For the stubborn spots the Scotch Brite pad takes care of it. When you get home the brass is ready to be resized and reloaded. I have a tumbler which I use only for brass fired out of firearms that eject onto the ground, such as semi auto pistols and rifles. For bolt actions wiping the cases off after firing is much easier before the carbon has a chance to take a set on brass. When they tarnish a bit after several months of use I do use the tumbler.

Once the brass gets tarnished, which it will with time, you can clean the tarnish with the NRA formula of pure white vinegar, one quart, with two tablespoons of salt. This will clean your brass in about 20 minutes, but as the earlier poster stated, it isn't with a real shiny polish, but it's clean and ready to go once it's rinsed thoroughly and dried off.

[ 06-18-2003, 22:25: Message edited by: sakofan ]

For years have been using Never-Dull wading polish available at wal-mart on my 17cases.Wipe in on and wipe it off with a clean cloth when dry. Yes,it is safe to use on copper cases and other metals.Works well for me.

Back to that vinegar solution: add about a teaspoon of dishwasher detergent and slosh. Removes grease, oil and carbons (neck interior will still look dark but be much cleaner, feel it) while even after one rinse, creates a sheeting action so cases don't water spot. They won't look polished, but much brighter and cleaner.

I used to waste lots of time with steel wool. I did the hot soapy water thing and a 24 hr drying period, CLR got them pretty clean but what a pain. Then one day I saw an old ice cream making machine in a 2nd hand store for 5 bucks and the wheels started turning.

Find one of those, take out the inner stir unit, add some tumbling media, throw in your brass, lay it on its side and plug it in. Next step is to return in an hour and get out your clean brass.

[ 06-19-2003, 06:22: Message edited by: Wstrnhuntr ]

Wow, great suggestions. This place is a wealth of information.

I use a "Krazy Kloth" from Sinclair's (www.sinclairintl.com) for 3.95. It's impregnated with a polishing agent.. takes any deposits left on the case neck off easily.

Just on a whim, I tried something new. Soaked the brass for 20 min in a solution of Clorox Oxygen Action powder.

On the one hand, it has no bleach, safe for all fabric, etc.

On the other hand, its a skin irritant. Contents are Sodium percarbonate and sodium carbonate. Contains no phosphorus.

Anyway, a 20 min soak in a weak solution of that stuff (general cleaning dilution), and then a hand wipe with the rough side of a household sponge, and the necks came clean.

Its fast, but will that Oxy stuff harm brass? Any ideas?

As a general rule (there are exceptions) anything that irritates your skin will also attack the zinc in any brass alloy.

NEVER use an acid to clean cases - not even vinegar or salt water! The acid leaches the zinc.

NEVER use an alkylide on cartridge brass - it combines with the zinc and nitrates when fired and causes decomposition from the inside out.

0000 steel wool is the accepted form of cleaning to get soot and grime of the case and neck area of the brass - and tumbling will do a good job too. Mild non-chemical abrasives are the best way to clean your cases. There are some neutralized chemical cleaners that do a decent job without hurting the chemical make-up of the case but they are expensive.
The least expensive (and possibly the best way to clean brass without a tumbler or vibrator is to simply wipe the dirty case with 0000 steel wool and then with a soft (terry-cloth) clean towel.

PaulS

Poor mans tumbler...1 plastic pail(2 1/2 gal. or less)with a TIGHT lid...3 rolled up sleeping bags...Cloths dryer...Polishing media.
Place media and brass in pail, center in dryer held in place with sleeping bags,run dryer. Likley do when wife NOT home.