How clean are the insides of your cases?

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Fumbler

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I haven't bought a tumbler yet.
I have been cleaning my .308 cases by using a pistol brush and brushing inside the case with hot soapy water.

What I want to know is how clean must a case be at minimum?
How much carbon must build up before it affects accuracy and safety?
Do vibratory tumblers clean the insides of cases just as well as they do the outsides?
Last question, for those of you who do not use tumblers, what is your cleaning regime for rifle cases?
 
.45 ACP reloaded several times. They're black inside. They shoot in the same place. 'nuff said IMHO.
 
For pistol I use general pet bedding corncob. For rifle I use the very fine stuff and pay the extra cash. I hate when they load up.. For both I use Nu Finish car polish.
 
For pistol, I don't. Tumble when dirty, don't sweat otherwise. Bottleneck rifle, I polish neck insides with brush/steelwool/drill combo, use extruded to burn cleaner, tumble in corncob with a glug or two rubbing alcohol prn. :D

Tom
 
After you tumble the bottlenecked stuff is the inside as clean as the outside?
I am asking because if it's not as clean or if it doesn't matter then I won't invest in a tumbler. I don't need the outsides to be shiney (the outside doesn't even get dirty except around the neck, which is easily cleaned).
 
I polish the insides with a Qtip and jewelers rouge. Each one is measured with a laser device of my own making, and trimmed to the nearest angstroms. I use a molecular balance and sort the cases by molecule, which is easy ssince I have an arrangement with the brass manucturer to hand select my brass anyway. Each primer is seated to unifrom depth using a tiny hydraulic press I weigh and count each grain of powder by hand. For my 6.5x55, This method has already given me a one shot group measuring an astonishing .264 center to center...thats the size of the bullet!

As soon as I load another round, Im gonna fire another shot. Ill report next month, as I am only up to the 100th grain.


WildprecisionAlaska
 
lol, funny. as soon as I read "jeweler's rouge" I automatically thought "pullin my leg."
How much do you have to pay the brass companies to let you come pick out the shells? Do you take your molecular scale with you? ;)


What I really want to know is essentially this:
Will not cleaning the inside lead to degraded accuracy or dangerously high pressure from decreased volumes due to carbon build up.
 
By the time the carbon layer gets thick enough to cause higher pressures the case neck will have already split, the primer pocket will be looser than a $2 lady of ill repute, and the brass will have stretched and been trimmed more times than Carter has liver pills. Basically, you can run a bore brush through the neck of the case, then tumble or vibrate to get the rest of the case clean, then load away.

For pistol brass, just vibrate or tumble, nothing else.
 
Nice thing about a power cleaner is that it takes almost zero time and effort. When I come back from shooting, I dump my empties into the little mesh bags that Lyman has...keeps calibers separate...them put them in the media for a few hours while I do something else. About 30 seconds in the media separator and they're ready to load

If you do get a power cleaner, put a bandage around your forehead before you use it the first time. Then, when you beat your head against the wall for trying to get along without it, the blood won't make such a mess :banghead:

:)
 
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I polish the insides with a Qtip and jewelers rouge.
Click to expand...

Do you find a clockwise or anti-clockwise polishing stroke to be more effective? I would assume that matching the twist of the rifling would give the most harmonious result.
 
It has been my experience that tumbling the brass cleans both the inside and the outside. The inside never gets polished like the outside, but all the soot and debris is cleaned off.

I believe you would have to get a LOT of buildup inside the case before it affects pressure or accuracy. So its a bit of a non-issue, as you can tell from WildAlaska's enjoyable exaggeration.

But tumbling will get the gunk off the inside.
 
I have yet to be convinced that internal case discoloration make any difference at all. Now if solids remained that's different.

Like someone mentioned earlier re .45acp reload cases - black inside? No sweat ... get on and reload and don't waste time prettying the inside!!
 
One day...when I get a real job... I will get tired of washing brass and buy a tumbler.
Click to expand...

If you have a spare $5 or $10, and don't wanna wait, do a search about going to the thrift shop and using a used ice cream maker or rock tumbler as a brass tumbler.
 
hehe, I've already looked all over the place and all I came up with was a $20 one from Walmart.
I would have gotten it, but the drum was about the size of a soda can. I figured for $25 more I could get a Frankford Arsenal one from midway, so I shouldn't waste my money.

I have a fan that isn't used, I may pull the motor and make my own rotary tumbler.
 
I started reloading way back in 1966. In all those years I have never known anyone who intentionally washed the inside of brass. It gets washed incidental to washing in a liquid cleaning solution but to take each case and wash it with soapy water is odd to say the least. Lighten up; the practice of reloading is an interesting and fun adjunct to shooting center fire cartridges don’t get so wrapped up in the minutia that you spend all your time washing the inside of cases or hand polishing every little speck of tarnish from the outside. Get yourself a cheap case cleaner, either vibrator or tumbler, throw your cases in there for a few hours or over night and they will be more than clean enough. :)
 
If it doesn't need to be clean then whats the use of even getting a tumbler other than to clean the outside of the brass for reliable feeding in autoloaders?
How it looks means nothing to me.
 
I think the biggest advantage is keeping grit out of your dies and chamber. Before I had a tumbler I would get a little carbon on the necks of cases after many reloads. I don't know for sure that it would be abrasive, but I would rather not take the chance. That can be removed manually with solvent and scotch brite, but a tumbler makes it easy. Other than that, I think the main advantage to a tumbler is cosmetic. With that in mind I usually tumble only long enough to remove the crud, not long enough to polish.
 
Tumbler

You guys crack me up!!!

Fumbler, heed griz's first sentence.To me ,it's easier to spot a problem case that needs to be tossed if it's clean too.
 
I started shooting centerfire, and reloading, in 1950. Other than cleaning out the primer pocket residue, I have hardly ever done any cleaning on a cartridge case.

I've never had a problem with group size.

Grungy, scrounged brass is a different story, of course. I do tumble clean all my pistol brass.

:), Art
 
Tumbling or vibrating your brass shows a reloader that takes care and pride to produce the very best product possible. Dirty brass? I wonder what your loading bench looks like. Besides. There isn't nothing like a shinny new brass case with a shinny copper jacketed bullet stickin' out of it.

Those with out tumblers/vibrators here is a cleaning recipe for cleaning really dirty brass. And it cleans the insides too:
1 pint of water
1 cup of white vinegar
1 tablespoon laundry or dishwashing detergent
1 tablespoon salt
Agitate every few minutes for about 15-20 minutes. Winse, dry and hand wipe.
 
Tumbling or vibrating your brass shows a reloader that takes care and pride to produce the very best product possible. Dirty brass? I wonder what your loading bench looks like. Besides. There isn't nothing like a shinny new brass case with a shinny copper jacketed bullet stickin' out of it.
Click to expand...
Thanks for making assumptions.
As a matter of fact I am anal about cleanliness.
My loading bench is a bare coffee table top.
I use a Lee hand press that is kept neatly organized in a toolbox.
Why do I use a Lee handpress? The same reason I don't own a tumbler, why I spend tons of time scrubbing brass by hand, and why I polish my rifle case necks (the only part with carbon residue after being shot) while they're chucked up to my case trimmer. It is because i am poor.
Just because I want to know the bare minimum of cleanliness for cases doesn't mean I'm a slob.

Thanks for the cleaning formula, I'm gonna try it.
 
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