Jump to content

Reloading Gurus: ? about case cleaning


EVILGTP98

Recommended Posts

Sup guys, picked up a hornady sonic case cleaner, started cleaning a handful of cases, having mixed results. Picked up the hornady specific case cleaning solution, just picked up few gallons of distilled water today, havent tried it with distilled water yet but my problem is that I knocked out the primers and its getting em pretty clean but the cases are becoming tarnished. I took some scotch bright pads and buffed em, look good but after a day or two they start to look shitty, any advice?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sup guys, picked up a hornady sonic case cleaner, started cleaning a handful of cases, having mixed results. Picked up the hornady specific case cleaning solution, just picked up few gallons of distilled water today, havent tried it with distilled water yet but my problem is that I knocked out the primers and its getting em pretty clean but the cases are becoming tarnished. I took some scotch bright pads and buffed em, look good but after a day or two they start to look shitty, any advice?

 

I believe brass will oxidize when exposed to air, so unless you can keep it airtight, it will continue to do so. Just make sure they are clean prior to loading and forget about the rest.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like pretty ammo too. Nothing wrong with a little elegance in your weaponry :)

 

Just curious, are you tumbling them first and then sonic cleaning? When I did the research it seemed to me in reality this wouldn't replace a tumbler, but would provide some benefit as an additional step to improve the overall cleaning job. I think I had decided that I would tumble, deprime, then sonic clean if I got a sonic cleaner but it was a while ago I looked at this so that may not be right. I'm still just using a tumbler only now.

 

And it's true brass will tarnish over time no matter what ... not sure if that's what is happening to you or not. I may or may not have taken brass polish to clean up a box or two of my .375 ammo after sitting on the shelf for a year or two. Some of the cases had gotten really dark for some reason, now that $60 box of ammo looks like it's worth at least $30 again :p

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have this setup in addition to my dry media tumbler. I only use it for my low quantity, precision rifle brass. It turns out great but is a pain in the ass to use for anything high quantity.

 

Do you have the 15lb model B?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am just using a sonic cleaner, had some luck last night with a set of Hornady match brass, sonic cleaned for 25 min with heat, soaked after for 15 min, dried cases then hit with case lube and they looked great this morn, little tarnish on a couple cases but for the most part looked good. I may end up with a dry media setup as well, be the next step but I do like some pretty reloads.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I believe that's what it is. Still, it doesn't do a whole lot of brass at one time and the drying part sucks. One spec of moisture and the round is toast.

 

A lot of guys are putting them on cookie sheets and putting the in the oven at like 250* for 15 minutes from what I have seen. I wonder how silica gel beads or rice in a vibratory tumbler would do.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Who cares what it looks like as long as it is accurate?

 

Just my though...

 

KillJoy

 

 

Agreed, if you crack open a case on the range, while in the military they are not shiny brass like they just came from a factory. They are reloads, that look like they may have been wiped off at best. They typically look like they have been reloaded more than once, as the brass near the round itself starts turning blue from the repeated heat cycles.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A lot of guys are putting them on cookie sheets and putting the in the oven at like 250* for 15 minutes from what I have seen. I wonder how silica gel beads or rice in a vibratory tumbler would do.

 

I do that, again for the low quantity stuff. I'm not about to do that every time I load up 1000 pistol rounds, though. Too much work.

 

If all I did was load precision rifle brass, I might consider just a stainless media setup. But, IMO, it really only fills a niche role. For time and effort, a dry media setup still reigns supreme.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...