Cleaning dirty range hulls

[Jamesconn]

I know some of y'all are gonna say I never clean mine cause I catch them on a tarp well I dong get that luxury I'm saving up for a mossberg 500 and I'm picking up hulls from the outdoor pistol range its not supposed to be a skeet range I guess they shoot paper targets or bring their own machine.
Well I've heard people put the hulls in a mesh bag and put in the dishwasher which sounds great except I clean my dishes in there I don't want to get lead poisoning and my nephews and nieces come over sometimes and they are 6 and two others are 12 I font want to get them sick when I move out I'm only 16 now and get my own place I'll have alot more room now after i get my degrees I'll just buy a cheap dishwasher off somebody that's upgrading and use it just for that but now what do I do.
I get 12ga hulls from the range and I just came from scout camp and the instuctor let me have an industrial trashcan filled to the top with 20ga AA and winchester hills.
They are a bit muddy and dusty

[diehard]

I try to keep the fiber and rolled paper-based hulls dry (like Federal Top Gun or Estate) so I wouldn't wash them if they were mine. I don't see why you couldn't wash the plastic-based hulls (WinAA, REM GC, or Fiocchi, for example) in a bucket of soapy water if you were so inclined. I have done it only once on a really messy batch of hulls I picked up. If you deprime them first they are likely to dry faster inside. I've heard of folks running their hulls through a tumbler with media, just like brass, but that may or may not be an option for you. Normally, I just wipe the hulls on the outside with a damp rag as I sort them, or with a dry rag as I prepare to use them. I don't get all that worked up about how they look.

If you are trying to sell them, I'd be leery of soaking them too much...some of the case heads will rust if left wet for too long. I have a whole bucket of Remington 20ga hulls that someone gave me because they have rusty heads. Shoot fine. Look like crap.

[Calamity Jake]

Deprime first then put the ALL plastic in that mesh bag and put them in the washing machine, maybe use 2 bags so to keep balance on the spin cycle. when finished lay them out on a tarp to dry.

Then run the washer again with nothing in it to clean it.

[bumpo628]

I wouldn't put anything like that in my dishwasher, but that's just me.
I have used the soapy water & bucket method before. Put them upside down in a rack to dry.

[southpaw]

I am pretty much with diehard on this one. I just wipe off the dirty ones and make sure that there isn't anything (mud, rocks ect) inside. It doesn't matter too much what they look like just so long as they aren't wet inside when loaded.

Being that you want to sell some of these I would seperate out the clean ones from the dirty ones. Then in your spare time you can clean up the dirty ones.

Jerry Jr.

[1kshooter]

dollar store clothes washing bag and throw them in the washing machine! ...let them dry well before loadding and viola!! i have doen thousands of them this way!
Jonathan

[tomme boy]

Take them to a coin laundry mat and do them there.

[1kshooter]

dang that is smart Tomme boy!

[Jamesconn]

lol yup never thought of that

[RaymondMillbrae]

Passing-on the residue to the unsuspecting public is bad...ghetto as heck!

Rethink this.

It looks bad if someone sees you, and is even worst if you are OK with doing this to your fellow Americans.

If it was a joke, cool. But there are ALWAYS idiots who will see this as being a legitimate alternative, and do so.

Kinda like your children getting head lice, and then washing everything in a public laundrymat so your own stuff doesn't get contaminated. By doing so, you are acting as a vector, and possibly contaminating a population if there are any headlice or nits that didn't get killed in the wash.

Bad ju-ju all around!

We need to watch what we post.

In Christ: Raymond

[mac1911]

If a quick wipe and tap dont get them clean enough dont bother. If needed find a trap/skeet/sporting range offer your clean up skills. offer to police the cases that shooters do not want, offer to fill the trap machine also. You could also offer to place a container with a "donate your shells here" ?

[tomme boy]

Myself I would be more worried about all the diseases from the machines than a little powder dust.

[speedjunkies]

I dont clean them.
Go to gun club, get kids to empty all used shell buckets on Friday PM.
Check weather forcast for rest of the week. Let all the skeet, trap, and
sporting clay buckets fill up till its supposed to rain. Empty before the
cut the grass again on Friday. Gets you enough hulls to last a life time and
you are helping out your club.

Got 4 boxes of these now. Kids have deprimed and resized.

[plmitch]

nice hual there speedjunkies

[W.R.Buchanan]

I agreee with Calamity Jake, on the washing machine method. I also put some tee shirts in the shell bags to soften the load up a bit, and help the washing action.

I have Old and New style Winchester AA hulls. I deprime and size them, and then wash them in the washer everytime I process them, as that makes them dry out faster. I have about 700 of the old style hulls that I have loaded 5 times now, and they will usually go 10 before the case mouths start to crack. I have 2500 new style hulls I paid $100 for. Remington STS hulls are also good and load exactly like new AA's.

When you wash them in the washing machine they come out looking new, and part of the reason is the tee shirts or towels in the bags with the shells. This makes your reloads look much better. And they also don't get your hands filthy when you are shooting Trap or Skeet where you are handling 100-200 shellls in a days shooting.

But in the first place, there is absolutely no reason to clean cheap hulls. You can't reload them but once or maybe twice at best anyway. I throw Win Universal hulls in the trash at the range. They aren't worth messing with except in an emergency. Load em once leave them at the range. Definately not worth it if you need to clean them too.

You'll note that I said I paid $100 for 2500 Win AA hulls, that's .04 ea.. You also note you got the Universals for free from the trash. Nobody resells the cheap hulls, nobody is buying them cuz they are one time usage and not safe to reload more than once.

Right now Winchester Universals are $46.95 for 10 boxes at Walmart or $$5.25 a box. Winchester AA's are $7.97 a box at Walmart. Same load, better hulls.

Randy

[LUBEDUDE]

No big deal -

hold upside down and tap on the bench to get the dust out of the inside -

then use Armor All Wipe to clean the outside to prevent damage to dies.

Been doing it for years, takes no time at all.

[Sonnypie]

I just washed the last pile (plastic hulls) I did in a 5 gallon bucket with some Palmolive dish soap.
Cleaned them right up after a little soak, swish, and rinse. Then spread them out on an old beach towel in the sun.
They are all loaded up now and ready to go to the trap range again.

PS: I think my wife would have a cow if I washed hulls in her clothes washer.

[Four Fingers of Death]

Our shotgun shooters shoot on the second Sunday every month. I have been scrounging the Federal steel base maroon coloured hulls for Black Powder reloading. I got a bunch, but lately they seem to be shooting other brands and I am lucky to get a box or two.

I did a search for 303/25 cartridge brass and one firm here that sells them also sells once fired shells. Winchesters are $50 a 1000 and the Federals I use are $40 a thousand. hardly worth scrounging at those rates. Unfortunately they don't have ashop front and charge $25 a 1000 to post them. The only way you can buy without postage is to see them at a Brisbane gun show (500miles away Still, 7.5 cents a hull is OK.

As to cleaning the hulls, I don't think there would be much harmful stuff there, running a cycle after you cleaned them would clean out the machine adequately. If I was handcleaning them I'd try and do it in the sink (no bending). I would clean the outside with my fingers of my weak hand and use a cordless drill or screwdriver with a nylon bristle brush for the inside of the case (or a handheld brush, they wouldn't need much. I would then dunk them in hot water to rinse them off and finally, I'd douse them in a bucket of boiling water then spread them out on the lawn or a towel giving them a good shake to dry them out. The hot water will warm them and make them dry quicker.

I wouldn't bother trying to sell them unless I could get reloadable Winchester cases, they are the only cases most shotgunners are interested in buying these days and they are rare.

This doesn't apply to paper cases, clean them carefully with a brush and cloth and use a damp (not wringing wet) cloth for stubborn bits of mud. Paper cases are rarer than rocking horse poop and any I could get would be hoarded for black powder usage. If you don't see a future for yourself with black powder (we call it the dark side!), the black powder shooters will pay a premium for them as they can be reloaded several times, unlike plastic hulls (the BP burns too hot for the plastic hulls and most won't trust them past one reload.

Good luck, personally if there was a lot of them, I would just take the cleaner ones and dispose of the rest. Get rid of them and you sorting job will be easier next time. I'd also put a drum or two there with 'shotshells' or similar written on it, never know they might use it. Punch a few holes in the bottom to let the rain drain out. Find out when they shoot and check it out shortly afterwards. Join them for a shoot and I would think they would help you collect the hulls. Good luck.