Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

Howdy,
I've recently started reloading. Had all the stuff sitting in a box for a year as I was a bit anxious about doing it. I've completed and fired 50 rounds of .45 ACP. They fired great and I know what powder load I want to use. I had bought 500 new shell cases, thank God way before they dried up.

I've also got around 500 of single use cases that I have saved from the range. I deprimed and then cleaned them. I put them in tupperware filled with a 50/50 mix of Simple Green and water. I left them for a day and shook them every time I walked by them. I thoroughly washed them with cold water and put them on a towel to dry. Shaking once in a while to make sure they all drained.. Seems to be a little bit left around the primer hole on both sides. Seems to clean up with the primer tool. Other than that they are nice and shiny and clean of all grease.

So is this a bad idea? Seems like everyone uses a tumbler. Not having the budget for one I tried this. Will it hurt the brass? Any worries about chemical residue and the powder?

As long as its clean,who cares how they get there

Sounds like an awful lot of work.
Get a tumbler, I've been using the same Lyman tunbler for the past 20 years. I've used both corn and walnut media. I thrown in several used drier sheets to catch the crud, turn on the tumbler and let it run until the next morning. I'll dump the brass and media in the sifter refill the tumbler with more brass, media and drier sheets and go to work.
Depending on what I'm cleaning, I'll have 4-500 45 Colt cases or 400 308 ready to load.

Jim

Not much work at all.

The only thing you have to do is wipe off the case exterior. EVERYTHING else is done for the satisfaction of the reloader and has no affect on target.
I have no idea why so many go to Simple Green when a squirt of Dawn would be as good--but then again, I have no idea why so many spend so much time concerned about what is the least important reloading step.
I do not believe that you are doing any harm, just be sure cases are all dry before loading. I assume you read all warnings on the label that Simple Green is safe for brass.

Cleaning is good practice for precision loads (think bench rest/long range tactical/etc.) and good for corrosion/storage. I clean all of my cases, but some people don't clean theirs at all.

Bought a Harbor Freight rock polisher/tumbler last weekend. Ordered a 5 lb. bag of stainless steel pins yesterday. Already have water and Lemi-shine and some very dirty/stained brass.

When I get the stainless steel pins I'll be taking some before/after pics.

This method is only needed for really nasty looking brass. The vibrating case cleaner and crushed walnut shells does the majority of the brass.