Cleaning a *really* nasty reload: need advice

Use white vineger
Les Kramer

As Les said use white vinegar, totally submerge it for about two hours, drain, clean what you can and repeat. I know this sounds like shampoo directions but it works. when you want to between and definitely after soak in clear water to get all the vinegar off of it. Use a medium to stiff tooth brush to clean the threads, I use an M-16 cleaning brush it has two ends and works great. I also carry this along with a lot of paper towels to the range and an eighteen inch length of 1/2" dowel to shove them through the casing for a tight fit, it cleans it out better. Good luck and let us know how it went.
- Dale Martin NAR 80678 L2 N0JFM

Scott There is a gun solvent called "Hoppe's #9" that is the best thing to clean motors with. It is designed to remove any type of fouling from gun barrels and it works great for motors. Because it works so great, I often don't clean my motors for days after fireing. Simply soak the parts for a half hour or so and wipe off. If residue remains, soak again for another half hour and wipe. I would caution against using anything more abrasive than a tooth brush on the parts. Using Hoppe's.......you shouldn't have too, anyway. I know a lot of guys use vineger but I found it to not to work that well. When using it, you normally still need to use some abrasive to remove the hard stuff. Besides, it's a mild acid and attacks bare alunimum(sp?:-). Hope this helps.
Lloyd Wood BRS Secretary Level lll

The drawback to Hoppes is the cost. A jar large enough to soak say a 38/480 casing will set you back more than the reload. Yes, you can re-use it, but it's still an expensive bottle. Any one know what's actually in the stuff? My guess is 90% or more kerosene. Which is also very cheap at the store or at the pump.
Vinegar is far cheaper than Hoppes or anything else. You can buy a gallon jug at the supermarket for a couple bucks. And even though our casings are anodized, Lloyd is correct that it *IS* an acid, so don't leave it soaking for a long time. And vinegar doesn't clean some of the lubes. Like the red high temp bearing grease I've been using. But it does work with Vasoline.
I've also used a pickle jar full of Gumout carb cleaner. Soak the casing in that overnight, and scrub it out with a toothbrush. It does seem to get rid of my red lube. BTW, a brass toothbrush is great on the threads and doesn't seem to scratch the anodizing.
Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!

I will have to agree with you on 'Lincoln's motor cleaning service', he was at Fire on the Farm last year and did a great job on all my casings and you cannot beat his prices. Great Kid, it was nice to see him again at LDRS with the UBetchya's.
Scott Pearson TRA #9225 T.H.O.R.

I've seen it. Not with the black AT cases, but with the colors, which seem less durable. Not sure if it is the anodizing that is coming off or just the dye.
Mike F.

That happened to me with a Doc Roc 29/180 case. It's now a light red/pink color. Serves me right for forgetting about the case in the bowl :(
Ted Novak TRA#5512

I don't know how well they would work on a "nasty" reload case but, if you clean it shortly after use, Baby Wipes work really well without the strong smells and drips of solvents.

Grab a couple of "moist towellettes" at the gas station every time you go. Well, that's if you launch the puny 38mm and below stuff I do. Now that I think of it, one would need a BIG box of "moist towellettes" to clean the casings of a five cluster N rocket!
Patrick

Just the dye...the anodizing is a harder layer of aluminum oxide at the surface of the casings which is then dyed using aniline dyes that then leach out in a weak acid (vinegar).

Soaked the case in warm vinegar for about 2 hours as suggested. It cut through the crud holding the old liner in and I was able to get everything out. Now it's just a normal dirty reload which I can take care of easily.
Thanks to all for their advice.
-Scott