How clean should brass be?

[Battis]

I reload .41 Swiss and .50-70. After shooting, I clean the brass inside and out, clean the primer hole, but how clean should the brass be? After it dries, I've been using a soft buffing wheel (soft enough not to hurt fingers) in a drill press, and it gets the brass shiny, but is that overkill?

[chsparkman]

Whatever makes you happy is about enough.

[zidave]

I tumble mine until the outside is shiny, few hours max. The inside isn't as important to me.

I like mine shiny so it's easier to spot on the ground at the range.

[Sgtonory]

I just pick my brass off the ground and as long as there is no stuck on mud or dirty i just reload it as is. Tumble clean my brass about once a year. Brass will have 5 or 6 reloads by then.

[Nobade]

For all cases I tumble them with the SS pins and dish washing liquid. Smokeless ammo gets cleaned every 4 or 5 firings or whenever I feel like it. Black powder ammo gets cleaned every time, and tumbling them for an hour makes them look absolutely new. But buffing them? If you want, but it isn't helping anything. Any buffing compound left on the cases can minutely scratch your chamber and dies as well.

-Nobade

[EDG]

The cases need to be clean - as in completely free of grit and dirt to protect your dies and barrel.
The cases do not need to be shiny.

[Battis]

I figured I was overdoing it. I don't use buffing compound, just 5 - 10 seconds on the soft, felt-like wheel.
I finally got the right length for the .41 Swiss Vetterli cartridges so I can use the magazine. I tried not crimping the cases but that did not work.

[Texantothecore]

I just put them in soapy water, rinse them off and reload them. I like dark brass as it has a real period look and it works just fine.

[Matt85]

I rinse the BP residue out then tumble with corn cob for 2 hours. they don't look factory new but they look nice enough for me.

-matt

[dragonrider]

I tumble my brass for 30 to 45 minutes. It is then clean, may not be shiny but I don't need it to be.

[CanoeRoller]

You need to place it under a uv lamp for several minutes, and after sanitizing your hands, put sanitary gloves on and place it in hermetically sealed bags....wait that is for swiss cheese, not brass.

A good bath of some sort of dilute cleaner, such as dish soap and vinegar will do in water, rinse the bath until suds are done, and dry them off. If you want to do a bit more, then clean the insides of the brass with a bore brush or stick them into a polisher for a while. They do not need to by shiny, you just need to clean the corrosive bits.

I remember one old timer would show up at matches, his brass was two toned, almost black on the bottom half and shiny on the top, as his resizing method would scrape the grime off the upper portion of the shells when he seated his boolits. Cool look.

[TXGunNut]

Hot, soapy water gets BP-fired cases as clean as they need to be. Just decap and agitate in a jug with hot water and a dab of dish soap and rinse well. I dry them in the oven @ low heat and enjoy the patina and colors but I generally toss them in the tumbler anyway, just because I like shiny brass.

[Two Rivers]

After a Buffalo match, I punch the primers, throw them in hot water & Dawn, rinse, dry and reload. No muss no fuss. I like the old brass patina look.