What is the best way to clean the powder residue from the case neck?

Brass/Bronze bore brush chucked in a drill. Run it in the case for a second and they are clean.

I used a .22 brass bore brush (by hand) on a .223 case, but it seemed like too tight of a fit. I guess I could have a dedicated brush for the task in a drill, that would be pretty handy!

Not_ asks,

quote:

What is the best way to clean the powder residue from the case neck?

From the inside or outside? I never clean the inside of .223 plinkin' ammo, and rarely the precision ammo for my target bitch. Sometimes, but not too often. For the outside, just tumble it. If it still doesn't come off to your satisfaction, use a small patch of scotch-brite pad and spin the case in your trimming set-up, assuming your set-up spins the case...

Yeah I meant the inside. Since I am new to reloading I am just experimenting to see what works, what doesn't and what's worth the time to do. My AR is my target gun!

Soaking the cases in hot, sudsy water loosens the carbon inside the case pretty well. Maybe you can somehow attach a piece of the scotch-brite to a small wooden dowel and spin it inside the case mouth with a power drill if you have many to do. If you do this when the cases are still wet, you might be able to get them really clean. Me? I wouldn't put forth the effort because I just don't think it's necessary in a case of the .223Rem's volume. If it was a really small-volume case, the caking of carbon on the walls will reduce the volume and cause problems with charges and accuracy, et cetera.

If I ever get so anal about cleaning the insides of cases I hope to be doing that with an ultrasonic cleaner! Really I am curious about just the case mouth so all the bullets have a nice perfect even surface to be released from.