Do you really need to clean your cases before reloading?

[pacrat]

I have quite a few .380 and .38 cases that look pristine after firing. Like they are still shiny and show no signs of dirt or gunk. Do I need to still clean or rinse them?

Short answer...................NO!

Not under the circumstances you noted. Like M1NM, I started reloading in 1968. I've never worn out a sizer. I've scratched a few. I have some dies by "Wells", and some by "Bergstrom" that were both made in the 1930s or 40s.

IIRC, I got my first "Lyman 1200" in 1998/99. Now have 2, one with walnut [for dull tarnished P/U cases] and one with corn cob for a high shine.

Whether walnut first, then cob, just cob, or not at all, depends on condition of cases.

When I tumble dirty brass, I first give it a hot water/dish soap bath. I do a lot of shooting in the low desert and the dirt is alkaline. I deprime AFTER tumbling. [universal depriming die] Hate picking crap out of flash holes and primer pockets.

When you ask a dozen guys how they clean their cases. You will get approximately a dozen variational answers, yet with a common outcome. Clean Cases.

JM2c

[Bumslie]

Via Lyman #43 c. 1964

[gunboat]

Probably best you wipe off the coyote poop and dislodge the mud dobber.
other wise it is not NEEDED although certainly neater--

[drdarrin@sbcglobal.net]

The response from RCBS....



Not exactly eloquent but to the point.

[BillyGoatCrawler]

Yeah, scratch up your dies by not cleaning the brass and then send them back to the manufacturer for a replacement. Then the rest of us will have to absorb the costs in the form of increased prices. Sure, that's a real good plan.

That's how the trailer trash and others so inclined go through life and that's why 2/3 of the state budget is spent on social services.

LOL. Calguns threads always seem to go off track to "how society is falling apart because these damn kids" within three posts.

[Cowboy T]

With all the chiming in about how it actually doesn't "wear out" a die, time to revise my previous statement. To those of you who've been doing this for a while, you are joined by another "ol' timer" reloader whom I checked with upon seeing this thread. He told me he doesn't bother doing so for his handgun brass and hasn't a problem in decades. My thinking had been that some of the grit might be hard enough to scratch things up pretty badly over time, but apparently this isn't an issue in practice.

I stand corrected. Thanks.

[Grunt81]

I agree that clean cases make it easier to detect cracks. I'll spot them sooner or later.

I deprime pistol brass on a universal decapper. It's one step and goes faster than any progressive press.

All my rifle brass doesn't get decapped before sizing. I'll let the sizer die do that. I don't care how dirty the primer pocket is because all my rifle brass gets the primer pocket uniformed which makes it nice and shiny. All my rifle brass gets charged on a loading block. I inspect each case for powder before placing bullets in them. So now I have a loading block full of primed and charged cases with the bullets sitting in the case mouth. I grab each case with the bullet in it and seat the bullet, with the utmost confidence I don't have a squib.

For pistol brass, I maintain a jar of 700 decapped and tumbled range brass which get loaded beginning to end on my Lyman T-Mag II turret press. I also inspect the cases for the proper powder level before seating a bullet. A benefit to having mirror-like cases (I wet tumble) is if my eyeball isn't hovering directly of the case mouth to inspect for powder, then I can see the powder level by the reflection of the powder inside the case. I know if there's powder in each case before my hand is ready to drop the bullet in. Only takes a glance of the eye and the reflection of the powder in shiny cases helps.

Also, as I resize rifle brass, I drop it straight into my Harbor Freight tumbler drum. I've found it is faster for me to tumble lubed cases to get the lube off, instead of wiping each one by hand.

[LynnJr]

Grunt81
The moderators don't want you picking on anyone and making them feel uncomfortable. We all started out knowing less than we know now so let's teach when we can.

We have just debunked Calguns myth 583.

[bigedp51]

I hate any firearm that throws perfectly good brass away, and lets it hit the ground and then dirt and grit becomes embedded in the brass and then transfers to the die.

Grit can and will be embedded inside the die and scratch every case you resize.

In the end you have two choices.

Clean and inspect the brass before it enters your die.

Or polish the inside of the die to keep it from scratching the brass.

I have had to polish the inside of my dies too many times, and now I wet tumble everything with stainless steel media.

I also have brass OCD and my son yells at me every time I pull the trigger and look up to see where my brass landed. (dad! cheek weld, keep your head down!)

I clean my brass every time its fired and I wash my hands every time I use the restroom.

[Syntax Error]

I don't get the controversy in this thread. Either clean your cases or don't, it's your choice. Personally, tossing some cases in a vibratory tumbler for a few hours and separating out media and brass with a media separator is not that much effort, and makes resizing easier, especially for rifle cases.

[Grunt81]

Grunt81
The moderators don't want you picking on anyone and making them feel uncomfortable. We all started out knowing less than we know now so let's teach when we can.

We have just debunked Calguns myth 583.

I know where you're coming from and agree with you, Lynn. This thread changed pretty quickly so I made the corresponding adjustment. I can gaf less who I make feel uncomfortable. Insulting United States Marines is something I will never let slide. The best men I'll ever know gave there lives in Iraq. Anyone who bad mouths my brothers will get an earful online, and even more in person. I'll gladly be banned for that.

I know your intentions are good but don't forget there two sides to every story.

[Grunt81]

Bigedp51, that brass meets my expectations. Good on you for that but keep the combat mindset when you're training man!

I wet tumble also and that's how they look when I take them out of the oven. The higher the water and dish soap ratio to dirty range brass, the faster and more immaculately they'll be cleaned.

[Reloaderdave]

Allow me to throw my two cents in here. I started reloading in the late 1970's, I got an RCBS Rockchucker reloading kit and a set of RCBS .44 mag carbide pistol dies. Started by mounting the press to the kitchen table with c-clamps. (the wife was less than pleased at that). Anyway, I did not tumble my brass before reloading. I cranked out perfectly fine ammo.

Fast forward to over twenty years ago. A real good friend of mine and I decided that we would combine our reloading efforts. He bought more equipment including Dillon products, dies, and a Dillon tumbler. I provided the space (my garage) We had an efficient set up, all were carbide dies.

Now, my thoughts after all these years......carbide dies are the best thing that has happened to the sport of reloading (yes, it's a sport, think about it) since the first case was reloaded.

after over 40 years in the aerospace/machining industry, carbide is not the be-all end-all of anything. There are multiple different grades of carbide. Yes, it's very hard. Yes, it can be honed and polished smooth to a mirror finish which is what our dies are.

Final results: carbide dies can be used to resize cases that have not been tumbled/cleaned and produce good ammo. No problem.

Bottom line is: IMHO, carbide dies are for resizing cases without the use of any case lube at all, and that is a very good thing. Carbide will scratch and have deformities depending on the dirt that is on the cases, but that will only surface over time, not right away. If you want to have your carbide dies last a lifetime, tumble them before resizing/decapping. At the very least, please wipe down the cases before shoving them into your die. You will be much happier in the long run.

Dave

[pacrat]

Reloaderdave said,

Bottom line is: IMHO, carbide dies are for resizing cases without the use of any case lube at all, and that is a very good thing.

That statement is true up to a point. I have never scratched a carbide die. I have used carbide dies to scratch the crap out of many cases though.

If you size a lot of nickel pistol cases without "any" lube. The nickle will not hurt the die but the pressure and friction of sizing will "burnish" streaks of nickel onto the carbide sizing ring. Which will then scratch the crap out of every case run through it until you clean it off of the ring.

Brass cases, no lube GTG........ Nickel cases, I use just a tiny amount applied with a wipe of the thumb to every tenth case sized. This alleviates the nickel burnish problem.

JM2c