bpcr case cleaning

[bignut]

What is the best method of cleaning brass w/ bp residue?

[country gent]

I drop brass into a jug of water with dawn dish soap and lemishine after each stage at a match or as fired when testing practicing. Then when I get home rinse several times with hot tap water. Alot of crud comes out here shake several times working water out of cases. Pour out on a drying rack and let dry. Deprime and rough clean primer pockets then into the dillon polisher with 2-4 ounces of alchlol added and a little nufinish or Iosso brass polish. Run till clean and shiny

[Don McDowell]

There's about as many "best" ways to clean cases as there is shooters... I have a couple of cleaning regimes, here's one.
Deprime the cases, drop them into a plastic jug with a sealable lid, drop in a scoop of Oxyclean, then fill with warm water. Roll and shake the jug for a few minutes drain the dirty water out, flush until clean water comes out. Dry the cases in a case rack and when dry put them in a tumbler with corncob media and a dollop of Brasso. Let them run till shiny. Separate from the media, load em up and do it all over again..

[Gunlaker]

I think Don is right, there are several good ways. Like everything in BPCR land my opinion evolves as time goes on.

I've tried a few different ways. This is my current favorite and makes the cases look like new. It sounds like a fair bit of work but it's very efficient.

1. If at a match far away, put the cases into ziplock bags until I get home.
2. At home decap the cases and let them sit in soapy water for 15-20 minutes to dissolve the soluble parts of the fouling.
3. Stick them into a ultrasonic cleaner for 3 passes of 480 seconds.
4. Do a second pass on each case for about 10 seconds in an ultrasonic cleaner filled with water. This takes everything down to bare brass.
5. Stick them on my drying rack. If I'm in a hurry I dry them with a heat gun.

I believe that the key is to get the insides as clean as possible. Many techniques don't do this very well.

Chris.

[big bore 99]

I've read that Brasso contains ammonia and will attack the brass. I use brass polish from Midway. Ammonia free.

[krems]

The above methods work great...I like to deprime first, drop in a jug of water with Dawn soap, shake up well, rinse and clean the case necks with a brush, I then polish the brass with ceramic media and water, dump them out on a rag and let dry. I'm talking about the larger cases with my sharps bp rifle used for long range target shooting. If I was shooting pistol cases I might change things up a bit.

[13Echo]

Shoot - deprime at the range - immediately soak in a jug of water with some Dawn dishwashing soap - rinse at home and use a test tube brush to make sure all the crud is out of the case - tumble the still damp, not soaking wet, cases in walnut that is prewet with three caps full of mineral spirits and a tablespoon of Bon Ami - run for two hours. Brass looks new.

[wills]

Put a nylon bore brush in a cordless drill and brush out the wet soapy cases then rinse. Put the cases in a tumbler with the lid off.

[rfd]

too many good ways to skin the black powder cleaning cat. at the range and after firing a round, i deprime and dump the brass into a gallon jug of water that has a few squirts of dish washing liquid in it. back at the ranch, the jug water solution gets dumped out and the jug half filled with water and dumped a few times. the brass goes into an ultrasonic cleaner for 30 minutes. cleans the outside (nice) and the inside (important). after the sonic cleaning, the brass gets wiped down with a towel to remove any fine residue.

the results ....

[krems]

Those brass cases sure look purdy!...... Looks to be a 45-70. Never used an ultrasonic cleaner. I like the cordless drill and the nylon brush trick. BP cases are a pain in the butt to take care of but you get used to it. Of course now that they are cleaned it's time to anneal them.....that's a different ballgame.

[oldred]

too many good ways to skin the black powder cleaning cat. at the range and after firing a round, i deprime and dump the brass into a gallon jug of water that has a few squirts of dish washing liquid in it. back at the ranch, the jug water solution gets dumped out and the jug half filled with water and dumped a few times. the brass goes into an ultrasonic cleaner for 30 minutes. cleans the outside (nice) and the inside (important). after the sonic cleaning, the brass gets wiped down with a towel to remove any fine residue.



the results ....

Naw we ain't about to fall for that, them there's brand new unfired cases!!!!




Joking of course, but really Wow, those buggers come clean! I have been considering an ultra-sonic cleaner and I think that pretty much cinches it!

[BrentD]

I have an ultrasonic but it couldn't get me cases anywhere close to that clean. Presoaking at the range didn't help either. Just didn't get it done. I had been using ceramics before that and hated digging them out of primer pockets and sometimes even bridged inside the case. They had me worried that sooner or latter I would shooot some down range and score my barrels. In fact, last summer, I found some ceramics in front of the firing line at Raton that makes me think someone else has already been there, done that.

As a result, for the last several years, I've been using the steel pins and they work really well for me. There were a few tricks to learn but overall, I'm very happy with them because they make the insides of my cases look like those that rfd just posted. And, they are fast as well.

[cajun shooter]

krems, I will have to say that I disagree with your posting statement that BP cases are a PITA to clean. As Don posted, they have just about an endless amount of cleaning regimes to use as they have shooters of BP. Some of them are simple and fast and a lot of them require way too much labor and time.
I shoot nothing but BP these days and it's been over 9 years since I loaded and shot a smokeless powder round of any kind. If I shoot, it's BP cases that have to be cleaned and it's very easy and fast.
I have a bucket of water with Dawn W/Oxy that I carry on my truck. When the shootings over, I dump all the fired cases into the bucket for the ride home. The bumpy ride will provide a pre-wash so to speak and the water will be a deep black.
Rinse them until the water is clear
Put in your rotary tumbler with enough steel pins to cover the brass and add water until it's about one inch over the pins and brass. Add about two good squirts of Dawn W/Oxy and 3/4 teaspoon of Lemi Shine. Tumble for about 3 hours.
The brass will look the same as the day it was made, inside and out.
Remove all the pins from your brass and put them on a old towel to either air dry or use a heat gun if you want them done right away.
It's easy to remove any dropped pins if you use the pin magnet that cost about $15 and it has a release handle on top to make it fast and simple.
This is not hard and I find it easier than cleaning some of that other powder that is used.
Take care and Good shooting to You, David

[Chill Wills]

The pins work well but I have some issues with them. Just a personal choice. I find them just a little hard to deal with and they get away from me. Plus the case mouths take a beating if in the cycle too long. Again, my issue only. There are ways to avoid that but I went the ceramic route. I really like ceramic and I have got it down to "quick & easy"! My cases come out spotless as any new one ever was, for what that's worth.

Is there a clean case competition? If so it would be a three way tie as far as I can tell. Clean is clean. Good to have choices!

Free advice....
For ceramic Dave Maurer (shooter 2) has different sizes and shapes of ceramic and he can tell you what size will work best for the case or case types you clean. I started out with the larger round size with diagonal ends. Worked well for 45-70 but the primer pockets were just OK. Good enough and much better than walnut ever cleaned a case but then, Dave sold me a smaller size and shape that cleans everything, pockets, inside, outside and never sticks in 38-55, 40-60 Maynard, 40-70 Sharps Straight, and any of the 45's load for. The only caution is he said never-ever try them with 22 Hornet. Hmmmm, I wonder how he knows?

His e-mail is dkittydave@aol.com and his phone number is (517)-669-9801. He is retired from the auto industry where he worked with this. He knows a bit about it. Plus he is a long time cast bullet shooter and a good guy.

[Gunlaker]

Brent my utrasonic cleaner wasn't very satisfactory until I started doing it in two stages. The first with solution, and the second with pure water. On the second pass I do the cases one at a time, holding them in the center of the tank. I swish them around until they are clean. That typically takes about ten seconds per case. I don't know what prompted me to try this, but it really helped. I think the main issue with ultrasonics is that the units sold for reloading purposes are kind of cheap and underpowered.

I've yet to try pins or ceramic. The number of people that tell me that they have experienced case mouth peening is about equal to the number that tell me they have not, so fear has held me back

Chris.

[Gunlaker]

Michael, do you use a vibratory tumbler, or a rock tumbler?

Thanks,

Chris.

[Don McDowell]

You can cure a lot of the ceramic stuck in the cases thing by using less ceramic and more water.
I have also used the ultrasonic route, and while brand new once fired cases will come out about as shiny as they went in, old cases with many firings on them come out clean, but not quite so shiny. I use the ultrasonic to clean cases when on extended shooting sessions such as the BPTR nationals etc, where you are shooting 50 or so cases every day for a week.

[BrentD]

Chris and Michael,
I don't get the case peening, perhaps partly because I very rarely anneal my brass. But also, I use a Lortone tumbler which has a different style of drum than the more common Thumbler and I think this is the biggest help with the peening issue. The drum is huge so I run 150 cases and a fill right to the brim with a gallon or more of water.

I use Dave Maurer's cleaning detergent in it.

My ultrasound is sold as a lab unit not for reloading specifically. My guess is that it is dramatically underpowered for the job. It was a bit too cheap to be true sort of deal. I'll send to anyone for the price of postage if you want to play with it.

Brent

[Chill Wills]

Michael, do you use a vibratory tumbler, or a rock tumbler?

Thanks,

Chris.


I use a model B tumbler The low speed one. That is important, to get the low speed one.
I have not had any trouble ever with peened case mouths with it. That is..... if I don't forget it and not turn it off for a day. Hmmm, who would ever do that???

For cleaning solution there are lots of stuff but I have found the cheap Cascade liquid dishwasher detergent (not "complete") and a small amount of Lemi-shine does it. I use lots of water. Fill it about an inch from the top. That helps keep the case mouths from getting beat up too. Two hours and good.

[BrentD]

Michael, I have a timer unit that I plug into for just that reason.

I don't think timer speed is the whole story. It is also how far the pieces fall as the drum turns. The Lortone has more facets on the inside so there is a "shorter step" from one facet to the next as the drum rolls, relative to the Thumblers. Maybe this is why I don't have peening with the steel pins.