Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters October handloader; squeaky clean brass

When at the range, I use a small rag with a dab of Hoppes or other similar cleaner to immediately wipe the carbon off the case neck which goes a long way towards getting the brass clean. Tumble in treated corn cob with cut up dryer sheets, then spray with One Shot, then size, wipe cases quickly with paper towel and then reload them.

Tumbler ranks right up there with the powder trickler for space-occupation/dust collection.

It might sound crazy, but being true to my Sig Line, put all your cases in a container and cover them with Diet Coke overnight. Drain and rinse the next morning. I usually use a neck brush when rinsing them out. Then put them upside down in a loading block to dry. Clean inside and out for a dollar and just pour it down the drain. They won't be shiny, but they will be totally clean. It's too cheap and easy.

Speaking of sig lines, I no longer see them. Is this something that I, in my continuing (and losing) battle with all things computer, managed to eliminate, or is it universal?

MD, have you written anything specific to the cold weld issues you've mentioned here? I am sure I am not alone in wanting to know more about what you experienced. I wouldn't expect you to rewrite an entire missive for those of us who may not have read every article you ever penned or wouldn't remember if we had...but a link or just a few words would be well received. TIA.

I can see yours.

I have a Thumblers Tumbler. Will be doing more brass today. My BR brass is thrown away after a weekend match. Only wipe them off during a match. My dies use carbide neck bushings, so I don't have a die wearing out problem. I am a gadget freak also. About once a year I round up a lot of brass and do the SS pin clean. I do like the look, but do not think it does anything to an advantage.

Mule Deer, I would also like to know more about cold welding. Did you have less problems when carbon was left in the necks? Kinda like an anti sieze agent? Cold welding more prevalent with new or squeaky clean brass?

Yeah, and I've published information on it more than once.

Damn, I keep forgetting to zip back up!

Actually, that prompted me to check my settings, where I found that I somehow had chosen to not see sig lines. I don't recall every having visited that page before to make the choice to not see them. Just another mystery in my relationship with computers.

LMAO!

A small spoon and a roll of paper towels have served me just fine for 58 years. I see no need to switch now, and my 58 y/o 30-06 dies somehow still work fine.

I started out using things like STP for sizing and still do sometimes, just to keep my curmudgeon factor at full tilt.

I use a stainless steel pin tumbler to clean brass now. I always hated the vibratory tumblers with corncob or walnut shells, just because of all the dust and the lead salts it carries. I switched to SS wet cleaning partly because of that, and partly because of input from a former Small Arms and Ammunition Test Director from Aberdeen Proving Ground talking about damage to barrels from carbon, and primer residue in particular. He also talked about barrel longevity and how he measured or determined that. I have high confidence in what he has to say, so that stuff pushed me over the edge into wet SS pin cleaning. I don't regret it at all.

Sounds to me like you fellas are playing around with that passing fad known as "smokeless powder".

Lord Black has standards and commandments.

#1: Thou shalt clean thy brass.
#2: Every time thou dost jerk the trigger
#3: Thou shalt anneal thine own cases
#4: Thou shalt compress thine charge
#5: Thou shalt act superior when in the company of passing fad shooters.

My notion, totally a WAG, is that the Imperial neck lube I use before sizing should be enough "contamination" to prevent cold welding, even on new brass.

What do you think?

About once a year I fill a cloth bag full of various brass (mostly 223) and toss it in the washing machine with a load of clothes. Comes out nice and clean. Pour it on a baking sheet and set it out in the sun to dry.

I tend to reload/prep/size in pretty good-size batches, plus I'm not too proud to scrounge if the pickings are good. So, tumbling once or twice in a cycle is standard practice. I have trays and sifters and a squirrel cage that all nests in one compact bunch, total tumbling time "work" is maybe three minutes per setup. I ESPECIALLY like the "second go" on FL-sized batches, as lube is way cheaper than a stuck case and THAT rigmarole. I've learned that cases left lubed just mung up too fast.

That said, when I'm just NSing fired cases for a bolter, I don't bother with cleaning very often.

I like "pretty," but am more concerned with if the cases feel clean and don't attract more grunge.

Does new ammunition experience "cold welding?" I doubt it. I have some old .223 ammo that was loaded 20 or so years ago. Dang near half of them had split necks after being fired. I didn't have stainless pins back then so they had to be full of carbon. What happened? I'm thinking they cold welded.

M, I think brass, or certain lots of it, undergoes "embrittlement" over a period of years. There have been alloys, such as Zimac, that were famed for it, a whole company's worth of toy trains self-shattered. The alloy had wonderful production and finish properties, but just unglued itself. And since brass has some zinc in it, maybe its the same phenomenon.

Your Rifle Looney card is never in jeopardy if you clean fastidiously.

I decap, do the wet stainless thing, perform any annealing, trimming, chamfering, turning, sizing required and then use a vibratory tumbler with corncob pretty regularly heavily treated with liquid carnauba car
wax. The last step removes all lube and remains from the previous procedures, polishes like crazy including any leftover sharp edges, but also protects the brass from tarnish and I am convinced prevents the cold welding phenomenon. Makes me feel warm inside....

Given my relationship with water, I will not try this. I have trouble keeping it in a pond or stock tank, but no matter how many holes you drill in a plastic boat seat, there will be water in it when you sit there in the dark. It will get in a ice chest, with the lid closed, sitting in the yard, a tackle box or a a tool box. Leave your tools out while your run to town and get parts, and they will be wet when you get back. The same holes that let water into your boat while fishing, will not drain it sitting in your yard, even with the plug out. Water is mysterious stuff and I don't want it inside my rifle cases under any circumstance. miles