The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post

hounddawg · January 25, 2013, 02:01 PM

I found a coffee can with 4.5 pounds, about or about 300 of .223 under my bench so decided to get some exact measurement for those who wanted them. These were a mixture of range brass and some once fired and deprimed LC cases that I bought a few years back and never reloaded and somehow ended up in the can. These were not real nasty or corroded, mostly just dull with some range dirt on and in some. There was some green looking tarnish spots on a couple but not many

3 quarts of hot tap water, 1 tablespoon dish detergent, 2 oz of concentrated lemon juice. I agitated by hand for 4 minutes, let em sit for another 15 then rinsed until the water ran clear while agitating. Total time 30 minutes total hands on time maybe 10 minutes. If I had wanted them shinier I would have let them soak another 30 minutes or an hour, but unless you shoot them right away they will oxidize back to a dull finish in a couple of weeks anyway so why bother.

These will get a second wash after resizing and depriming, may let em sit a tad longer since I am kicking around the idea of getting a cheap dry tumbler for the nasty ones and putting a wax coating on the washed ones.

before -

after-

Insides of cases in the neck area look like the outside and in my opinion these are plenty clean enough for depriming and sizing tomorrow. Got them in the mesh bag drying now. On the re oxidizing dry tumbling in a wax impregnated media may prevent that or at least slow it if real shiny is important to you. I have not tried it myself since I am still debating whether it would be worth it. On one hand really shiny brass is a tad easier to find but I find brass at my range all the time anyway and generally come home with a hundred or more cases than I left with it's not like missing a couple of 9's that did not land on the the tarp is going to ruin my day

I think this is about the last of all my dirty brass

January 25, 2013, 02:01 PM	#30
hounddawg Senior Member Join Date: March 1, 2009 Posts: 4,232	I found a coffee can with 4.5 pounds, about or about 300 of .223 under my bench so decided to get some exact measurement for those who wanted them. These were a mixture of range brass and some once fired and deprimed LC cases that I bought a few years back and never reloaded and somehow ended up in the can. These were not real nasty or corroded, mostly just dull with some range dirt on and in some. There was some green looking tarnish spots on a couple but not many 3 quarts of hot tap water, 1 tablespoon dish detergent, 2 oz of concentrated lemon juice. I agitated by hand for 4 minutes, let em sit for another 15 then rinsed until the water ran clear while agitating. Total time 30 minutes total hands on time maybe 10 minutes. If I had wanted them shinier I would have let them soak another 30 minutes or an hour, but unless you shoot them right away they will oxidize back to a dull finish in a couple of weeks anyway so why bother. These will get a second wash after resizing and depriming, may let em sit a tad longer since I am kicking around the idea of getting a cheap dry tumbler for the nasty ones and putting a wax coating on the washed ones. before - after- Insides of cases in the neck area look like the outside and in my opinion these are plenty clean enough for depriming and sizing tomorrow. Got them in the mesh bag drying now. On the re oxidizing dry tumbling in a wax impregnated media may prevent that or at least slow it if real shiny is important to you. I have not tried it myself since I am still debating whether it would be worth it. On one hand really shiny brass is a tad easier to find but I find brass at my range all the time anyway and generally come home with a hundred or more cases than I left with it's not like missing a couple of 9's that did not land on the the tarp is going to ruin my day I think this is about the last of all my dirty brass __________________ “How do I get to the next level?” Well, you get to the next level by being the first one on the range and the last one to leave.” – Jerry Miculek Last edited by hounddawg; January 25, 2013 at 02:42 PM.