Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Brass cleaning

I bought some primed brass that was stored for years.
I'm wondering what the best way to clean off some of the accumulated "stuff" is.
Rag with alcohol?

The best method is probably a wet tumbler with stainless pins. Does require some investment though.

If just a few cases are involved a package of Flitz should work.

steel wool a little shoot them then tumble them ,hard to do much with them with a primer in them yet ?

What pete53 said. And then attack problem if really necessary.

Media polish on a rag will clean it right up as would using just about any liquid car wax on a rag.

I've been using the Krazy Kloth for years. I've yet to wear one out.

https://benchrite.com/krazy-kloth/ says out of stock, but has reviews.

Amazon gots the cloth too. https://www.amazon.com/Cadie-54-3-Krazy-Kloth/dp/B00CQRDRW8

I've never had any issues decapping live primers. Don't bounce on them, don't go fast so there's impact, but slow squeeze .. no problem. Sometimes put a rag around the press in case something does "pop" but I haven't had it happen (yet). So I would FL size them including decapping like I would any other brass, then tumble.

I usually use a vibratory tumbler. I have a rotory tumbler .. it f**ks up the brass pretty bad denting the shyte out of the case mouths no matter how much liquid I have in the tumbler so if I use it, I have to re-straighten and re-champfer the case mouths so it doesn't shred the bullets during seating and cause problems during chambering.

This. Cheap used tumbler or one from Harbor Freight, 2lb bag of pins and you're off and running. Hot water, Dawn, 1/2tsp Lemi Shine. Shiny, new clean cases...and primer pockets depending how long you want to tumble.

What "stuff" is on it? Unless the brass is badly tarnished, buy some of these to plug the case mouths and dry tumble them for a half hour:

https://www.amazon.com/High-Temp-Ma...d82cd20&pd_rd_i=B00V6H1IW0&psc=1

The plugs will keep the primers from any chance of contamination.

Of course you have to buy the correct size plug for the cases being cleaned.

I've got a Lyman "Turbo" vibratory cleaner.
I always resize before I polish. That way, there is no chance of a live primer.
If a case makes it through the polishing phase dark, I try Brasso first. If that doesn't get it clean, I go to 0000 steel wool. From there, it goes into the loading cycle or the scrap bin.
Polishing removes the case lube from the case.
After the loading process is complete, I go back with a clean, dry cotton cloth and wipe down and inspect each round.

Any brass I purchase, new, once fired or otherwise, it's "sized" then polished. I bought primed brass one time because that's all that was available at that time.
I don't recall that I had any problems depriming it. Like somebody else posted, just don't go slamming the decapping pin into the primer. Be gentle!
.....OR.....a squirt of WD-40 to kill the primer. I'd give the brass 24 to 48 hours to allow the WD-40 to dissipate. Polish again, then reload.

Well - OK
Face mask and hearing protection ON!
I've done the de-capping before - on a few rounds.
Now 150.
Need to set back the shoulder a little, so, universal decapping die.
HERE WE GO!!!!

You could resize without depriming though.

A couple of options as stated...plugs then tumble, de-prime then tumble or resize without the de-prime pin installed. I have done all three. The only thing to add is use hearing and eye protection while de-priming live primers. Also let everyone in the house know what you are doing. The wife and kids will not panic thinking you has an AD in the house. I have never had one go off on me though.

I know, but need to set the shoulders back a hair.

I've not either - YET! Probably what I'll do.
Just built up gunk on the outside, if I didn't need to set the shoulders back, it would be simple.
I was hoping to clean the outsides enough to resize without decapping. may be easiest and quickest to just de-prime, then carry on.

If the cases look that nasty, I'd want to use a fresh primer anyway. Decap, tumble, size and prime.

Simply deprime them with a depriming die or a regular FL die backed out to not size the case. Just push the primers out slowly with steady force. Don't try to 'kill' the primers with WD40, etc. so you can get aggressive in removing them...it's amazing how hard they are to 'kill'.

Good shootin' -Al

I have a Thumblers Tumbler, use the same as above, make them like new inside and out. One of the best things I own for reloading.

As I said before -
And 219 DW (short) brass isn't just an everyday item.

I have some loaded ammo that evidently has been sitting on the shelf too long. Instead of the tight groups they used to shoot, the group sizes expanded to 6" to 8". I pulled the bullets. Some came right out and some were difficult to get out of the case. Some of the difficult ones actually had brass from the case 'welded' onto the bullet.

I believe it was MD that said cleaning the inside of the neck helped the welding process along. I know there's times when I want to clean the cases, but I am not doing it like I used too. I have a rotary cleaner with steel rods and a vibratory cleaner. Years ago, I had the cleaner going most every day.

Now I'd like to find something to use inside the necks of cases to stop this welding process. I wonder what the industry uses and what the military uses.

Deprime them and throw them in a tumbler. You can reuse the primers.