Cleaning Pull-Down Brass

[Maj Dad]

I bought 500 pieces of primed pull-down LC 7.62x51 (308) from Wideners a few months ago, and the inner necks have black sealant still present. I know trying to drop powder through them will almost certainly result in powder granules adhering, and I am not sure I want to push them out of the way with the bullet. Anybody dealt with this? I will also have to run them through at least a neck-sizer as some of them have little creases & dings (and little nibbles from the collet puller), and then trim to an overall a few thousandths less than normal, but the big issue is the sealant: should I try to clean 500 pieces of brass one by one with some kind of solvent, or just drive on... it's always something...

 

[Hummer70]

Just sent you a PM, give me a call and I can walk you through it.

 

[50 Shooter]

Pull a bullet and then find a tight fitting bore brush, chuck it up in a drill and go to town on them. 50 BMG has some nasty tar, used to be when you bought it new the sealant came seperate. Now Win. makes all the brass with the sealant already inside of it. I freakin hate it as it plays hell on your accuracy.

 

[rcmodel]

Or use the search function.

There was just a long thread on this about a week or two ago.

rc

 

[Maj Dad]

I tried the search, rc, but got this on several different wordings - give me a hint!

Sorry - no matches. Please try some different terms.

 

[rg1]

Slow but works for me is to use odorless mineral spirits on a rag with a rod to wipe out the tar. I remove the tar, resize, and tumble to remove lube.

 

[Captaingyro]

Here's the thread RC was referring to:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?p=8799951#post8799951

 

[45lcshooter]

you could use a scotch brite pad, forcefully roll them. but it will be time consuming.

 

[Maj Dad]

Captaingyro, outstanding! I had contemplated something of this sort but with steel wool or the like - this looks much better, and I will start on it this week. Have you had any issues with media clogging the flash hole or getting into the primer when you tumble the cleaned & unloaded brass? I use 20/40 corncob - it is pretty good about not clogging primer pockets, and I am going to try it, just wondered if it was a problem or a minor issue....
Thanks gents!
George J.

 

[Hummer70]

http://www.superiorbarrels.com/Bore Guides/Bore Guides.htm

You can make one of the above but cut case in half, heat it and ease into plastic funnel from Wally World and let cool.

Lets you insert inside 7.62 case mouth and insert propellant, seat bullet and shoot it and it is burned out.

 

[Reefinmike]

If i remember correctly, someone on here was soaking a small pile of brass, necks only in acetone, mineral spirits or whatnot and then running a bore brush through the neck. I forget what was done afterwards, but Id dip them in a "slop bucket" so to speak to get rid of the excess grunge after bore brushing, and then shake small batches around in some more spirits. I'd think a quart of spirits should do the job for the batch of 500

 

[Hummer70]

When I remove mouth lacquer from 173 bullets I use Zep 505 from Home Depot. Comes in gallon cans.

I fill glass jar with bullets, add 505 to cover bullets and let sit about 8 hours and pour off liquid into another jar. I then take garden hose and flood jar rinsing the bullets and dump them on old towel.

Bullets look like they are brand new Sierra Matchkings. The mouth lacquer falls right off bullets in little sheets.

Obviously with primed cases you are going to need to keep the Zep away from primers and then rinse just neck area and store them mouth down till they dry.

Below is what they looked like before soaking in ZEP 505



Still easiest way to clean cases is load'em and shoot'em

I have also used dental probe to knock off stuck propellant kernals from case mouth and then seat bullet.