Cleaning Inside Cases - Worth Doing?

[AlanF]

I have never used a tumbler with media, or an ultrasonic cleaner, or any other means of cleaning the inside of cases (apart from brushing the inside of the neck which I do every time). There are two possibly worthwhile reasons I have heard for doing this (1) to prevent carbon buildup from reducing the capacity of cases (2) to prevent the possibility of relatively large chunks of carbon from dislodging during firing and affecting performance. The first one doesn't concern me, because the carbon buildup would be minor and gradual, and I don't use new and old brass together. Its the second possibility that has the potential for causing bigger problems. I just had a look inside a number of my "unclean" cases of various ages with a borescope to see how much carbon buildup occurs. The first-fired ones show a spattering of carbon, then over many firings this increases to full coverage of the surface. And there are occasional signs of the carbon flaking off, evidenced by small sharp-edged areas of bare brass. But the largest I found was about the size of a powder kernel, and being a very thin flake, much smaller in mass. The question is, would this sort of thing affect performance, possibly by reducing the efficiency of the powder ignition, or by reducing the speed of the gases out of the case?

It would be interesting to know how many of our leading F-Class shooters clean inside cases, and after how many firings. It would also be interesting to know if there are others like me who have never bothered.

Alan

[Brad Y]

Alan- far from a leading shooter, but after each day at the range my cases go in the tumber for a couple of hours and I use the lyman green media in it. Im not fussed about shiny cases or cleaning inside cases, but my main goal is that all or most carbon off the case is removed before putting them through dies. Im probably worried about nothing, but its the way Ive done it.

[DenisA]

I started tumbling and then went to ultrasonic cleaning. I noticed at the beginning that the carbon inside the cases was extremely easy to remove completely if done after every firing. The cases that had never been ultrasonic cleaned and and fired 4+ times were very difficult to clean.

Its also much easier to feel for case head thinning with a scribe and to measure the thinned walls when the carbon is removed.

[Quick]

Same with me, not a leading shooter but I clean carbon off the necks with autosol on a rag and then resize brass and do case prep and then tumble cases for 3-4 hours and they come out clean as heck and haven't had any significant carbon build up that I have noticed.

[johnk]

I try to avoid the problem of carbon messing up gear by depriming on a universal depriming die & decarboning the outside of my cases by wiping with an upper engine cleaner type product.

I've wondered if the byproduct of the various tumbler media is any more or less deleterious than carbon, or more to the point, whether it's doing all that much good inside the case. I've been told that ultrasonic devices of suitable power will do the trick, but I've never been happy with the delay involved in drying them or waiting for them to drip dry - it could be a right bugger in your motel during a Queens. They say that stainless steel pins do a wonderful job, but their aficionados also concede that it rounds the sharp mouth of cases, so maybe the benefit there is a tad overstated.

I wonder if a vibrating device loaded with upper engine cleaner would do the trick? It's too late for innocence, damn you, Alan.

[Malcolm Hill]

Alan
I put mine through the ultrasonic after each firing. I decap them first and it gets the primer pockets sparkling as well. You actually have to see an ultrasonic in action to see how much shit comes out of a case after one firing. It gets the insides clean so you know there is no loose carbon particles floating around but more importantly it removes the carbon from the inside of the necks so if you use an expander button when sizing it goes through smoothly without that rough feeling. If you don't use an expander button you will still benefit from more even and smoother feel when bullet seating. My ultrasonic cleaner will get replaced immediately if it ever fails.
Regards Malcolm.

[jasmay]

I do mine after 2 firings through an ultrasonic, I find there is not much to worry about after the first, but there is definite signs of carbon buildin after 2.

As you know, when we were in the states cleaning was not possible and some if the brass went up to 4, I never noticed a dip in accuracy, baht I do feel if you have access, and peak performance is what your after it only makes sense that this be another step in the process of consistency.

I do like shiny stuff too.... Damn it!!

[IanP]

I clean mine after every firing and am happy with the results!

I still brush the inside of the necks and wipe a little remaining carbon from the outside of the necks as well. I use Ballistol on a roar wipe and wipe the carbon off the necks and the tiny smear of remaining Ballistol lubricates the neck for sizing. Brushing the inside of the necks after ultrasonic cleaning gives me very consistent neck tension.

Alan if you decide to go ahead and buy one make sure its got some serious cleaning power, as there are some low wattage units out there that are only good for cleaning jewelry, one diamond ring at a time. I got a Jaycar twin transducer cleaner, but I like the look of the Hornady Sonic Magnum (twin transducer) Cleaner which is available at SARA store and probably locally for you as well.

http://www.hornady.com/store/Lock-N-Loa ... r-220-Volt
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=YH5410

Ian

[johnk]

Ian,

Could you expand on your cleaning/drying procedure, thanks?

Bugger, that Jaycar deal looks so good & I just happened to come into some readies.

John

[IanP]

Ian,

Could you expand on your cleaning/drying procedure, thanks?

Bugger, that Jaycar deal looks so good & I just happened to come into some readies.

John

John, to dry the cases I put them on paper towel, on an oven tray and set them in the oven at 75C fan forced for 20 minutes.

Somewhere in the Equip & Tech section of this forum is a thread I started years ago with how I do it detailed. Basically I use 50:50, vinegar:water and a drop of ph neutral detergent in beakers to clean the cases. I find 15 minutes to clean approx 50 cases and then 5 minutes in water to neutralise vinegar acidity.

I have not tried the Hornady or Lyman ultrasonic cleaning solutions but they may be better than the vinegar mix? I'm happy with vinegar and its cheap in home brand 2 ltr bottles.

Ian

[DenisA]

A cap full of Birchwood Casey Brass Cleaner with a squirt of dishwashing liquid works incredibly well and doesn't require neutralising afterwards.

Each solution lasts for quite a while and the bottle lasts for ages.

Its cheap and doesn't stink out the room.

[aaronraad]

I wonder if a vibrating device loaded with upper engine cleaner would do the trick? It's too late for innocence, damn you, Alan.

Upper engine cleaner, is that a non-flammable type?

[johnk]

Toddled off to the local Jaycar to look at their cleaner. None in stock - the floor stock was handed out on warranty returns. Hmmmm!

[Seddo]

I go a little silly with brass cleaning but its only because its easy.

1. decap them with a universal decapper.
2. drop them in a stainless steel tumber for about an hour and then let dry on a towel outside
3. lube and size the cases
4. put them back in the stainless cleaner for 2 hours or so and dry
5. load

This is the tumbler i use http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com/

The reason this works for me is i can do it at my office and leave them outside in the sun to dry. It takes longer in winter but they still dry, i have thought about using a food dehydrator or oven but its easier to leave them on the table at work in front of the window to dry.

[Seddo]

This is one of the 308 cases i from the first lot of brass i cleaned in it. They were 3-4 times fired cases that were cleaned with walnut shell in a regular tumbler after each firing. It was amazing at how much cleaner the stainless tumbler gets them. It was in the tmber for about 2 hours, with the way i do it now they are in there a bit longer. The directions say to leave them in there for 3 hours but i didnt see the point as they are pretty much clean after 1 hour and its just the primer pockets that need longer.