Washing brass after cleaning

[winniedonkey]

1-Does anyone measure the amount of cleaning solution they use for ultrasonic/wet tumble?
2-How throughly do you wash the brass after it has been cleaned?
I use dawn dish soap and heated water. I do have hard water if that matters.

Reason for this is I recently did a 55 shot range session over the MS(300-900) and was looking at variables I can control better. This is one that popped in my head as something I never paid much attention to however I know each cleaning/washing session hasn't been consistent and I could definitely make it consistent. Thanks.

 

[lash]

You are washing the brass in dawn and hot water after US cleaning, correct? Are you rinsing it afterwards?

If you have hard water, use white vinegar in your wash and rinse water to keep from getting hard water spots. Your brass may also be slightly brighter.

I am not real sure how much variation you are getting from your cleaning process though, unless you’re somehow getting leftover soap residue on the inside of your brass. How controlled are your other possible loading variables like primer depth, case mouth chamfering, brass hardness (annealing), case lube during resizing, full length/neck sizing powdering and seating depth?

 

[winniedonkey]

My thinking is I have been lazy in the washing off of soap after it has been cleaned. That is not to say all the other variables aren't playing their part. It was just a thought about the soap leaving some residue. My other steps:
1-Deprime
2-Ultrasonic clean with dawn soap
2-FL size(redding), typical bump of .002(check with comparator and bolt drop)-Lube is One Shot in a bag and some light imperial wax every 5-8 cases.
3-Expand with 21st mandrel
4-Ultrasonic clean/wet tumble with pins and dawn soap
5-trim,chamfer,debur (wft2 trimmer, RCBS case prep station)
6-Prime with 21st primer (.001 depth control)
7-CM thrown powder
8-Seat bullet, twist and reseat.

No annealer at the moment. I did the salt bath for a bit but way to slow in a 1000* garage. I'll try the vinegar out, didn't think about that.
55 shots ended with an SD=9, ES=40.

 

[HellcatActual]

my wet tumble recipe for between 80 to 120 cases is hot water with a table spoon of dawn, a tablespoon of lemi, tumble for 45 minutes, water change with cold water and a teaspoon of lemi for 20 mins. water change with cold water with nothing added for 10 minutes and separate, wet brass gets tumbled in a towel for bulk drying then in a dehydrated for few hours for set at 115degrees.

they still come out too clean where I have to lube the neck for bullet seating.. so I dont do it every cycle... every 3 or 4 cycles.

 

[lash]

My thinking is I have been lazy in the washing off of soap after it has been cleaned. That is not to say all the other variables aren't playing their part. It was just a thought about the soap leaving some residue. My other steps:
1-Deprime
2-Ultrasonic clean with dawn soap
2-FL size(redding), typical bump of .002(check with comparator and bolt drop)-Lube is One Shot in a bag and some light imperial wax every 5-8 cases.
3-Expand with 21st mandrel
4-Ultrasonic clean/wet tumble with pins and dawn soap
5-trim,chamfer,debur (wft2 trimmer, RCBS case prep station)
6-Prime with 21st primer (.001 depth control)
7-CM thrown powder
8-Seat bullet, twist and reseat.
No annealer at the moment. I did the salt bath for a bit but way to slow in a 1000* garage. I'll try the vinegar out, didn't think about that.
55 shots ended with an SD=9, ES=40.

If you are getting an SD of 9 over 55 shots, you are doing pretty darn good in my book. Is that .308?

Yeah, white vinegar accomplishes the same thing as lemishine does.

 

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[winniedonkey]

If you are getting an SD of 9 over 55 shots, you are doing pretty darn good in my book. Is that .308?

Yeah, white vinegar accomplishes the same thing as lemishine does.

Yes, 308. Cool, I have both. Sitting unused for some reason. I'll give them a try.

 

[Western Living]

With respect to the SD/ES, you can try to throw a light charge with the CM and then trickle up and it will be a little more consistent. For seating, you can qualify your neck tension using a Wilson seater and an arbor press to feel variance from one case to the next or quantify it with a hydro press (21st C) and sort. What bullets, and do you sort them?

With respect to case cleaning, why clean ultrasonic if you will tumble with pins? The ultrasonic bangs the brass around less, but does not clean as well.

If you don't have one already, get a timer to control tumbling time. I have simple cheap dial timers that shut off. I also clean cases twice (once before lubing, depriming, and re-sizing, and once afterwards to clean the primer pockets and case lube). I suggest wet tumbling for no more than 15 minutes each time. I set the timer to control that automatically. I have never seen residue on my cases after 15 minutes of tumbling. I use dish soap and "lemi-shine" (no more than 1/4 to 1/3 teaspoon) which is citric acid which is an alternative to vinegar. I have hard water and the mild acid helps. I rinse in hot water to heat the cases and aid in drying. It also helps separate the pins. I don't understand why, but pins stick to cases with cold water, and they always fall out quickly with hot water. I never have any difficulty separating pins with just a hot water rinse. I use a sieve-type separator over a 5 gallon bucket. The only time I use my strong neodymium magnet is if I spill pins. I towel dry and then use a vibratory tumbler with dry media (corncob or walnut) to further dry the cases and of course this prevents any water spots. I use a timer on the dry tumbler also but I believe it is less critical because the tumbler is very large with lots of media and the cases are well cushioned from peening.

I think the alcohol (isopropyl or ethanol) would work very well for a rinse and I would probably do this if I had higher humidity. Since the RH here is usually very low (less than 20%), water evaporates quickly off hot brass.