Cleaning Brass.

[drone]

I used to do this religiously but now I just deprime, necksize and fill them up, no cleaning at all though I do blow the primer pockets through with compressed air.
Reason being a throw away remark by a friend along the lines of cleaning primer pockets causes wear.
Are there any advantages to cleaning that I'm missing, apart from the cases looking pretty?

[dromia]

The only reason I clean, with walnut media for smokeless, is so that I can inspect the cases properly.

I am totally adverse to things shiny.

Rarely bother with the primer pockets as it makes no difference on the target.

Black powder need cleaning every time out for which I wet clean with ceramic and those damned pins for the smaller cases, 32-20, 300 Blackout, etc

I hate wet tumbling fiddly, faff on of a process.

[drone]

I've found that by just neck sizing cases last indefinitely. I just sold a 308 ruger no1 and I had about 50 federal cases given me with it when I bought it.
20 of those cases got reloaded upwards of 13 times and they rarely needed trimming. Case inspection is a valid reason for tumbling but I've found if you suspect a case that spraying it with brake cleaner and leaving to dry with show up any cracks like a non destructive crack test.
I was a bit leery transferring this philosophy to my 30/30 lever gun cases, but I needn't have worried, I used the 308 neck size die and the difference between full length resizing and plain neck sizing is remarkable, the cases stretch nearly 20 thou in my gun and I understand this is commonplace. The only time I full length resize is new and new to me second hand cases. I lub with silicon spray but the brass is really hammered going through the die compared to neck sizing.

[Dark Skies]

I've been dumping my cases in a cheap rock tumbler with the same filthy walnut media for, oh, twenty years, and somehow it still results in clean cases. I'm not much interested in the shiny cases, as Dronia, said, but I do like working with clean hands and not having lube cack getting transferred everywhere. I don't arse around with primer pockets, either other than a tap on the bench to shift the odd bit of walnut. I'm lazy and cheap on the insignificant stuff.

[Incom]

I recently got a Frankford Arsenal rotary wet tumbler, which I'm using with steel pin media. I'm not finding it too much faff - and I am pretty allergic to faff!

The cases come out looking like new - but does it make any real difference? Probably not.

A slight advantage is that the shiny cases are easier to find on the floor at our Cowboy Action Shoot.

[hitchphil]

Cleaning does prevent all the crud from firing or laying on a firing point being mixed with lube & then contaminating more expensive dies etc. its alos so cheap to do its hardly not worth avoiding.

[Mattnall]

As Dromia says, shiny brass is easier to inspect and spot trouble before it happens.

All case cleaning is a faff to me, it gets done purely because of the above reason and the fact I've always done it. Now I use vibro-dry and wet steel pin rotary methods depending upon the case size I'm cleaning, both have their pros and cons and both are a process I could do without.

[Graham M]

The main reason I clean brass is so there isn't anything in or on the brass that will mar the chamber. Doesn't have to be shiny, just clean.

[Mauserbill]

Hello
Sorry but I find it intensely satisfying making up clean and shiny ammunition there's just something about putting those shiny cartridges into the chambers of my rifles.
I know it probably makes no difference to the accuracy ??? but it always puts a smile on my face and I like it....

[Graham M]

Hello
Sorry but I find it intensely satisfying making up clean and shiny ammunition there's just something about putting those shiny cartridges into the chambers of my rifles.
I know it probably makes no difference to the accuracy ??? but it always puts a smile on my face and I like it....

Nothing wrong with that