Is it safe to wash deprimed brass in dishwasher by themself (no other dishes, pots….)

You ‘COOKED’ off a round in the oven, love it but I bet the Mrs was not amused. I did get my ss AMT Hardballer washed one day with a load of clothes accidentally. I had been shooting and the Mrs’ decided ‘we’ were going to town. As this was before I had a gunsafe I wrapped my .45 up in a towel and sat it in the washer. Of course forgetting it was there until my wife ran the washer that evening. It survived the wash and the rounds in the magazine all fired the next day after drying out. My Mrs was not amused either but we hung in there for 42 years so I must not have been too much of an idiot. Falls under the category of ‘it seemed like a good idea at the time’.

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Originally Posted by Baltimoreed

I wrapped my .45 up in a towel and sat it in the washer. .

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I'd bet it clunked around in the dryer louder than any tennis shoe.:bigsmyl2:

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Originally Posted by Rapier

You folks that use gasoline, to clean brass, write me down in your will. .

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Gasoline was marketed and sold as a cleaning solvent long before cars came along.
It isn't any more flammable than most other petroleum based thinners and solvents.
Oh, and it's a great weed killer too.

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Originally Posted by Winger Ed.

Gasoline was marketed and sold as a cleaning solvent long before cars came along.

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Do you have a historical reference for that?

I was aware it was discarded as a useless byproduct of making kerosene and discarded before the internal combustion engines created a demand. During the 60's and 70's gas was widely used as a cleaning solvent. I remember the PSA's stating not to do it. Todays gas is much different than the gas for the 60's and 70's. That had a sweet smell and kids would sniff it. I saved a young girl that was sniffing her dads tank and had passed out That was about 1970. Also during that time if you stuck your hand in gas is was almost soothing. Today it burns.

https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/...f-gasoline.php

https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-gasoline-1991845

https://www.softschools.com/inventio...e_history/198/

My Hardballer thankfully never made it to the dryer. It was ‘found’ when my wife went to move the clothes. It did clean up nice. I don’t remember the grips getting wrecked so it probably had wraparound pachmyers on it.

I was in the fuel repair business for 46 years without a claim. Riding a motorbike without head gear is a lot more dangerous. I am 78 and still wash my hands with it when greasy. My dad hauled gasoline for a living and lived to be 96. Some people are afraid of bench grinders. You got to know you limits. :violin:

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Originally Posted by Baltimoreed

My Hardballer thankfully never made it to the dryer. It was ‘found’ when my wife went to move the clothes. It did clean up nice. I don’t remember the grips getting wrecked so it probably had wraparound pachmyers on it.

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My EDC is a S&W Model 38 Airweight that I bought for my Father. He put it through the washer once as well. It was winter and I told him to just lay it on top of his cast iron radiators and I would be over the next day to pop off the side plate. There was zero rust or moisture when I did. I lubed it and closed it back up.

why not try Lemi-Shine bath in a bucket also i use an old food dehydrator as a case dryer works for me.. although I still throw in a vibrator lyman for polish.

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Originally Posted by M-Tecs

Do you have a historical reference for that?

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Best I can do is from a biography of Henry Ford.

When he was experimenting and building his first horseless carriage-
He bothered his neighbors so much with the engine noise they took up a petition for the local
general store to stop selling him cleaning solvent to run the engine on.

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Originally Posted by Geezer in NH

No it is not safe it will line your dishwasher with lead residue from the fired primes and then wash the dishes you eat off? DON"T DO IT

Besides your wife or mother will KILL you.

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this

Its impossible for gasoline to detonate, However it can deflagurate.

Gasoline is an effective cleaner for greasy stuff but it's not much on anything soluble in water and few fired cases are greasy. Mineral spirits (odorless paint thinner) works just as well and it's far less volatile/dangerous than gasoline. For cleaning cases I can't think of anything that works as well as soapy water.

The fear of "lead" in spent primers is vastly overrated even if you have old primers that had lead in it's formula. Primer pellets are quite small, the amount of lead in them is very small and, like everything else inside a case, it gets blown out. Any micro traces of lead left in a fired case would be absorbed and drained away in a soapy water wash so there would be no serious harmful residuals possible in a dishwasher.

Tarnish is not dirt and it does no harm, don't sweat it. But actual dirt should be removed, inside and out, before any reloading begins. That said, no external washing machine can do much to the insides of most cases, especially so if they are a contained mass held inside a sack.

An old friend taught me his technique for cleaning brass from BPCS. As soon as it was fired he threw the case into a jug of soapy water (Dawn dish detergent) which, after he finished shooting, he would agitate well. When he got home he would place the jug in his laundry sink and run hot water into it until the suds stopped. He would then shake the excess water off and throw the slightly damp cases into a vibratory tumbler with walnut hulls. A couple hours later the cases looked new. :mrgreen:

With smokeless I simply polish in the vibratory timber with ground walnut hulls or corn cob media until the cases are as well cleaned as desired. As a general rule I do not mix cases of different calibers as the smaller ones tend to nest inside the larger ones and neither is cleaned properly. :groner: I used to clean really nasty stuff with the wet ceramic tumbler method, but my tumbler is worn out so now I try not to let it get so bad. :wink:

Froggie

Yea gasoline was used for years even in my garage to clean with. I used to clean the dirt bike chain after an enduro or hare scrambles. But that was long before it had ethanol added to it. The fumes spread way easier and further than 100% petroleum. It is much easy to get burned in a flash than it used to be.

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Originally Posted by 243winxb

No. If bag opens, dish washer may eat brass. They grind up small food particals. Maybe brass too?

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:mrgreen: oopsie!

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Originally Posted by imashooter2

That seems pretty far fetched. How do you support this claim?

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Gasoline vapors are explosive. The vapor will find an ignition source and the flame will travel back to the source of the vapor much faster than you can run.

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Originally Posted by DAVIDMAGNUM

Gasoline vapors are explosive. The vapor will find an ignition source and the flame will travel back to the source of the vapor much faster than you can run.

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And how will this occur in brass cleaned in gasoline? You rinse the cases, the gasoline evaporates, you load.

it appears most folks on here don't clean the screens and strainers in their dishwashers. I have not seen the openings big enough to even let a piece of 22lr brass to the pump as long as the screens are installed properly. A bunch of pumps intakes have a screen like the drain in your shower with a spring wiper across the front to keep debris from entering the pump. If you read the owners manual for your dishwasher, it says to remove and clean the screens/strainers once a week on most models. Found a Viking with the strainer welded to its threaded base with powdered Calgon wash soap. That Viking cost as much as used car.

Dishwasher has a hard enough time washing eating utensils and glassware. Imagine trying to hit the hole on brass to rinse the soap out of the cartridge case. Wash nozzles spray upward. Not many spray sideways. A cement mixer would be the best for large amounts of brass.

https://www.interfire.org/res_file/def_det.asp

I have been to several fire explosions in laundromats over the years. The reason why was cleaning greasy rags with gasoline mixed into the washer to help.

For those who say it won't you are not in your right mind and are dangerous to others. In each case I made arrests on DA's advice on criminal negligence. Convictions obtained