The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

A necessary evil or a 'vanity' thing?

Necessary in my humble opinion.

Case cleaning is necessary however it does not have to be tumbling. Workable alternatives include ultrasonic cleaning and mechanical cleaning methods such as scrubbing the case neck with a worn out kitchen scourer and using a primer pocket cleaning tool and PB brush for inside the neck for the first few loads.

Necessary for me as I like my brass all clean and shiny, not quite in a Gollum "My Precious" sort of way though :lol:

It helps to spot any defects and the stainless media means primer pockets are always fully cleaned and the flash holes are clear.

Just bung 'em in a sock, and put 'em in the washing machine. They come out shiny and clean, and any nicks - if any - that the cases pick up in the machine will be corrected by the sizing die.

You know, I was going to suggest that flippantly but perhaps it wasn't a bad idea!

I do small batches (50rnds or less) in the washer as well, quick force wash in a jug with lemon washing up liquid to get any loose crud out then a 14min wash at 30c followed by 10mins in the Ultrasonic tank for the primer pockets.

I tumble mine before I resize/de-prime. The comments about primer pockets make me wonder if you guys are cleaning twice or resizing before cleaning.

SevenSixTwo wrote:A necessary evil or a 'vanity' thing?

Never done it - over a season, my 6PPC benchrest brass will get about 40 firings - accuracy is not diminished. However, I do clean primer-pockets and case-necks - inside and out.

ptheta wrote:I tumble mine before I resize/de-prime. The comments about primer pockets make me wonder if you guys are cleaning twice or resizing before cleaning.

Depends on the cases, for my 308 oe 300BLK target loads I de-prime, quick wash, dry then full length size, trim, chamfer and de-burr followed by a stainless media tumble for 2 or 3 hours.

For indoor gallery 308, 300BLK 44mag I usually full length size/de-prime, stick in the washer and ultrasonic then trim, chamfer and de-burr followed by a quick wash and dry to remove any residue from handling.