Brass cleaning / polishing

[carrguy1]

Have always used "Roger's Sizing Magic Dust". Works great on all pistol straight walled cartridges, including .45-70's.

I usually put whatever cases (tumbled, but not deprimed or lubed) I'm reloading into a 1 gal. Ziploc bag, put a few squirts of "Magic Dust" in the bag, seal it up, then gently roll it around in my hands for about twenty seconds, being careful not to inadvertently open the bag and scatter my cases all over the floor. The motion helps distribute the dust across all cases.

I think of it as pixie dust, for it sure works its magic - no stuck cases - and no BS! It's affordable and one bottle lasts a long time.

FWIW, also use a Dillon 550B for about 10-15K rnds per year, depending on what's going on...

Here's the link: http://www.kingshooters.com/magic-dust-p-25767.html

I've actually heard of that stuff. King's is only a minute or two from where I work. Can you use it on shouldered rifle cases or just straight walled pistol cases? I've never had a problem not using lube for straight walled pistol cases in carbide dies.

[762xIan]

The press is a Dillon 550 progressive so sizing, depriming, and priming is all done at stage one. He likes to lube the cases, size/deprime/prime, then tumble to get all the lube off of them to help keep the other stages' dies

I do not lube pistol cases at all, never have.

The only straight wall case I lube is .30 carbine, that is because the case has a slight taper to it and if you don't you will crumple some cases.

I lube all rifle cases...personal favorite lube is Imperial sizing wax, when I resize cases even as long as a .30-06, it is like I am resizing a pistol case.

I don't bother tumbling or cleaning in between steps, a little case lube on the outside of a case shouldn't (hasn't affected mine anyway) affect your powder, seating or crimping stages. I usually only give my reloads a wipe down with a rag as I am boxing them up. Sometimes I will give them a tumble, depending on the ammo.

Nice thing about Imperial is a little goes a long way, so there really is very little lube on the outside of a case.

[bamboomaster]

I've actually heard of that stuff. King's is only a minute or two from where I work. Can you use it on shouldered rifle cases or just straight walled pistol cases? I've never had a problem not using lube for straight walled pistol cases in carbide dies.

Just straight walled cases. But way to go with the carbide dies!

Like 762xIan, Imperial is great and I use it if I'm only doing a tray of bottleneck's (50). But if I'm doing 200 - 500 at a time, I use Hornady One Shot. A little messier, but it all wipes clean at the end before I case gauge, weigh, and box them for the range.

[Posit]

"Here's a question for you guys on the order in which I tumble/size/deprime. I've only ever done straight walled pistol cases by myself with carbide dies so I don't lube the cases. I've reloaded for rifles before with my dad but I'm going to be doing more on my own now. I'm going on his advice and this method has never let him down so I have no reason to doubt it but I thought I'd get some other opinions while we're on the subject. The press is a Dillon 550 progressive so sizing, depriming, and priming is all done at stage one. He likes to lube the cases, size/deprime/prime, then tumble to get all the lube off of them to help keep the other stages' dies (powder, seat, etc.) clean before moving to said stages. I'll also be tumbling once before size/deprime/prime to keep the sizing die clean. Thoughts? "

JMHO: I don't like to tumble lubed cases... tends to gum up the media. And I never tumble after sizing... in fact, after I size cases, I handle them very carefully to avoid any possibility of dinging (especially) the mouth.

Some of my handloads are for long range rifles - my most accurate. I'm especially particular with these.

I understand many people tumble after sizing, and if it works for them, OK with me. But I don't, for the reasons cited.

[Arrdy]

In a "What If" moment I threw a 1/8 cup of baking soda in with my corn cobb media. Figured if it's ok for my teeth what can it do do brass?

Makes it Nice and Shinny!

[USMCGRUNT]

Thanks for all the responses. Invaluable amount of info I'm gathering on here. Thanks!

[Edg]

Im new to this, but heres is what I have been doing. Deprime and size, then into the ultrasonic cleaner 250 rounds at a time. then rinse and put on a cookie sheet and bake at 170(lowest my oven goes) stirring them around every 15 minutes or so. I did 1000 Tuesday night like this. As one batch was in the cleaner I was sizing and depriming another batch. I put all 1000 brass on the same cookie sheet to dry, was about 3" deep on a big cookie sheet, took about an hour to dry. There was some residue on the pan, but none I can see on the brass. Took me about 4 hours in total.
What I need is a better rinsing system. Im assuming the residue on the cookie sheet was a little of the cleaning solution left over. I cant see any on the outside of the cases or inside if I shine a light on so Im thinking its so minute it wont matter.
Next trim length, remove military crimp and they are ready.

[bamboomaster]

Im new to this, but heres is what I have been doing. Deprime and size, then into the ultrasonic cleaner 250 rounds at a time. then rinse and put on a cookie sheet and bake at 170(lowest my oven goes) stirring them around every 15 minutes or so. I did 1000 Tuesday night like this..

Edg, I hope it's OK that I just bring something to your attention that you may not have yet considered.

When you dry cases in the fashion that you have explained (on a cookie sheet, in the oven), the lead residue from the ultrasonic cleaner that you're evaporating from the cartridges has to go somewhere. Most likely on the inside surface of the oven and the cookie sheet. While it may not be a big deal if you don't have young kids (for they're more susceptible to the lead absorption), even if you use a cookie sheet that gets segregated and never again used for cooking, there's still the lead in the oven issue and the air venting in the kitchen when you open the oven.

If you cook anything in the oven, lead particles are eventually going to be transferred to your food.

I don't have a solution to this for you (other than do this outside with something that is NEVER used for cooking food - maybe the old grill that somebody's wheeled to the street in the neighborhood for trash pick-up) but I just wanted to give you a head's up with a cautionary note.

Next time you have an appointment to get your blood chemistry done, maybe check the box for PB (lead) just so you have a baseline?

No, I'm not a doc - just a concerned forum member...

[Posit]

Im new to this, but heres is what I have been doing. Deprime and size, then into the ultrasonic cleaner 250 rounds at a time. then rinse and put on a cookie sheet and bake at 170(lowest my oven goes) stirring them around every 15 minutes or so. I did 1000 Tuesday night like this. As one batch was in the cleaner I was sizing and depriming another batch. I put all 1000 brass on the same cookie sheet to dry, was about 3" deep on a big cookie sheet, took about an hour to dry. There was some residue on the pan, but none I can see on the brass. Took me about 4 hours in total.
What I need is a better rinsing system. Im assuming the residue on the cookie sheet was a little of the cleaning solution left over. I cant see any on the outside of the cases or inside if I shine a light on so Im thinking its so minute it wont matter.
Next trim length, remove military crimp and they are ready.

When you take them out of the ultrasonic, rinse them first in a solution of baking soda and water to neutralize the acid in the vinegar (I'm assuming you're using vinegar in your cleaning solution), then rinse them thoroughly in clear water.

I cover the baking pan with foil before I put the cases on it and into the oven. Keeps everyone healthy and happy.

[carrguy1]

Just straight walled cases. But way to go with the carbide dies!

Like 762xIan, Imperial is great and I use it if I'm only doing a tray of bottleneck's (50). But if I'm doing 200 - 500 at a time, I use Hornady One Shot. A little messier, but it all wipes clean at the end before I case gauge, weigh, and box them for the range.

That was going to be my next question, is Hornady One Shot any good. The two lubes I currently have are that and the Dillon pump spray. I'm going to try doing it the way my dad does it and see what it does to the media (it's cheap and replaceable) I'll also be needing to trim the cases so if tumbling the sized and primed stuff cleans them off it would be nice to not have to trim them while they're lubed. If it's not a good idea to tumble primed cases I suppose I could lube, size and deprime, tumble, trim, them prime only on the downstroke of the dillon press at stage one and then index the plate as normal.

JMHO: I don't like to tumble lubed cases... tends to gum up the media. And I never tumble after sizing... in fact, after I size cases, I handle them very carefully to avoid any possibility of dinging (especially) the mouth.

Some of my handloads are for long range rifles - my most accurate. I'm especially particular with these.

I understand many people tumble after sizing, and if it works for them, OK with me. But I don't, for the reasons cited.

I can understand where you're coming from with that. I'll be loading 6mm Rem for a varmint/target rifle and my dad has a similar rifle in .25-06 so they are long range precision loads. Like I said I'm in the process of getting ready to do this stuff by myself without him but with his methods we never had trouble hitting groundhogs at 600-800+ yards.

In a "What If" moment I threw a 1/8 cup of baking soda in with my corn cobb media. Figured if it's ok for my teeth what can it do do brass?

Makes it Nice and Shinny!

Interesting.