Cleaning shotshells

[Dusty Driver]

I am still new to reloading shotshells. Other than just wiping them down prior to reloading, how do others clean their plastic hulls prior to reloading them? Or do they?

Brass for my revolvers and rifles I know, and have been doing for several years. Wet is my preference . Shotgun? I am still learning. 

Hopefully this falls under the "there are no stupid questions" banner.

[Garrison Joe, SASS #60708]

Wipe dust and dirt off.  If really mud-caked, toss those in a mesh laundry bag and slosh around in a wash tub of warm water.  They really don't need a lot of attention because the sizing dies in a shotshell loader touch just the head cover (what used to be called the brass) of the hull.  Never load hulls with moisture inside - you WILL get some squibs from that.  While checking them for "clean enough," do keep an eye out for split hulls or petals burnt, crunchy, crispy and having splits and tears at the folds - those do not crimp securely and should be tossed out. 

 

And watch for trash down inside the hull.   I have found foam ear plugs, chewing gum, rocks, feathers, .22 cases, etc - all of which are bad news if loaded over.  good luck, GJ

Edited June 6 by Garrison Joe, SASS #60708

[Boggus Deal #64218]

I tumble them like I do my brass. In the cement mixer turned tumbler.

[Cheyenne Ranger, 48747L]

I use a MEC Super Sizer on all mine first thing, and that's where I wipe them off and check for "bad" hulls.  Probably don't need to use it, but it gives me something to do while the wife is figuring out my next set of chores

 

 

[Abilene, SASS # 27489]

Howdy Dusty, when I sort through my spent hulls deciding which to toss, which are good for the SxS, and which are "okay" but for '97 only, I have a wet paper towel handy to wipe down any dirty hulls with.   I stick with Winchester for smokeless and Rem. STS or Nitro for BP to keep them separate.  I can use a Rem hull 4 times or more with BP so the brass can get pretty tarnished and I've been known to twist the base in a wad of steel wool a few times, but that's strictly cosmetic.

 

I will note that long ago I had a bunch of STS hulls that had been in the mud and I stuck them in a laundry bag and threw them in the washing machine.  They came out clean but the plastic sides were pretty scuffed up.

[Chancy Shot, SASS #67163]

threw them in the washing machine. 

 

You must be single

 

Chancy

[Eyesa Horg]

I spray Armor All on a blue ship paper towel and wipe down the outside of the hulls and give them another quick look over. No, the Armor All doesn't leave them sticky or slippery!

[Three Foot Johnson]

Some years back, Harbor Freight had a small cheapo Chinese cement mixer on sale for $99.99, so I bought one for the express purpose of washing shotshells. I got it together and I can't believe this lightweight piece of crap would ever mix more than a couple drums of concrete before it broke or the motor burned up, but it works great for washing shotshell hulls. 

[SouthwestShooter]

Don't forget to swipe them with Armerol before shootin',,,,,if you use a side by side.

[Chas B. Wolfson, SASS #11104]

 I process my shotgun hulls just like my  brass.  I load my Rebel 17 with 2/3-3/4 hulls.  I fill with water to an inch of the top.  Add a tablespoon of Strato-Sheen and a tablespoon of Meguires wash and wax.  Run for three hours.  Rinse the hulls and this time of year in Phoenix, place on towel on a table in the sun until totally dry.

The hulls are very slick without being slippery.  Run through the Hornady 366 slick as snail snot.

Annie and I compete in FC categories using real BP.  Shells come right out of the chambers.  Hulls mostly look just as once fired.  Again, slick without being slippery.

I use the water mix for two to three batches before discarding.  

Not using Armour All, silicone or whatever means hulls do not attract dust and are not slippery.  

Works for us.

Regards,

Chas B

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 7 by Chas B. Wolfson, SASS #11104

[J.S. Sooner, SASS #73526]

Smokeless, just wipe them off before sizing and de-priming on my Size master.  I like to find problem hulls prior to loading on my Grabber.  

 

I will wash black powder shells if I want to reuse the hulls.   Wash them in a bucket of soapy water outside.  I did them in the kitchen sink one time many years ago.  Thought I could get it done before my wife and daughter returned home from shopping.  Didn't work, I got the stinky eye from both of them as the  kitchen smelled like the fireside circle on Blazing Saddles with all the cowboys eating them beans.  

 

[Boggus Deal #64218]

1 hour ago, Three Foot Johnson said:

Some years back, Harbor Freight had a small cheapo Chinese cement mixer on sale for $99.99, so I bought one for the express purpose of washing shotshells. I got it together and I can't believe this lightweight piece of crap would ever mix more than a couple drums of concrete before it broke or the motor burned up, but it works great for washing shotshell hulls. 

Works good on brass, too. 

[Shooting Bull]

Put them in a mesh bag and toss them in the washing machine.

 

Laundry bag

[Sedalia Dave]

3 hours ago, Shooting Bull said:

Put them in a mesh bag and toss them in the washing machine.

 

Laundry bag

 Just make sure your better half doesn’t find out. 

[Three Foot Johnson]

My blood lead level is already high enough.

 

[wyliefoxEsquire]

Very easy method.

Tumble them washout media for 45 minutes in a wet tumbler. A small amount for automatic dishwasher detergent.

Rinse three times.

Shake them of water, put in sunshine to dry completely.

[watab kid]

only pick up once fired hulls of your preference and dont do anything but sort and reload ,m the sort is to get rid of those that are not clean and fully intact , i know there are those that reload multiple times- i have a ready source at the gunclub i work at i only reload once and discard , i reload federal premium and they are factory fresh once fired mine get tossed after i shoot them , life is short - once fired hulls are plentiful , i will never clean shotgun hulls 

[Rye Miles #13621]

Nope I never clean them never wipe them off I just reload them a few times and toss em!

[High Spade Mikey Wilson]

I've never cleaned a shotgun hull in my 55 years of reloading them. When the crimp area starts cracking too bad I pitch it. Other than that I don't do anything else.

[Anvil Al #59168]

I spray a little armor all on a rag. Just enough to get all the dust off of them.

It doesn't take much. 

 

It might be a few months before I reload them. 

They are not real slick. But nice and clean. 

I don't do anything to them after that except load and

run through a gauge checker. 

 

Has worked well for almost 20 years.  

[Sedalia Dave]

I discovered that if I tumble the STS or Nitro hulls with media in my FA tumbler, it will smooth out any rough areas on the outside of the hulls. 

["HH" (a.k.a. Dave)]

I just toss them in the kitchen sink with some soapy water, let them soak for about 10 - 15 minutes, then swish them around before draining, rinsing and finally turning them open end down in the dishwasher rack to dry a few days.  Started doing it this way for my BP Sub loads, then just started doing it on all the hulls.  It's much quicker/easier than wiping them down and I'm lazy...  I tried (once) tumbling them in my vibratory tumbler, but they all came out looking like they were in a fire.  All the carbon just adhered to the plastic, so that was a loser.

[Kid Rich]

I suspect that most of the shooters that never clean used  sg hulls live where they have grass at their range. Where I live it is dirt or dirt and rocks or just rocks. If you don't clean the sg hulls you don't reload.

I just wipe off the outside of the hulls and reload.

kR

[Choctaw Jack]

Like Kid Rich, I live and shoot in a dry, dusty,rocky area of the southwest. So, to keep the crude out of my Mec, I wipe the hulls down with a cloth sprayed with silicone spray lube.

Knocks the dust off and gives me a chance for a quick visual inspection.

Wipe them down, run them through the loader, drop them in the shell checker, and then in a 25 plastic 25 round cartridge box.

Gives plenty of time for the silicone to dry, and I'm GTG for the next match.

Choctaw

 

 

[Vail Vigilante]

Throw them in a cardboard box and hit them with the air compressor.

Then check each one for debris as you place it in station 1.

 

[Gateway Kid SASS# 70038 Life]

15 hours ago, Kid Rich said:

I suspect that most of the shooters that never clean used  sg hulls live where they have grass at their range. Where I live it is dirt or dirt and rocks or just rocks. If you don't clean the sg hulls you don't reload.

I just wipe off the outside of the hulls and reload.

kR

I live in western Colorado, which has been known to be pretty dry, dusty, rocky and grass is a bonafide luxury. In the winter it can get muddy and sometimes we will have a monsoon but that is infrequent at most. Then I will let the hulls dry and wipe down with a dry towel to get the mud off. Otherwise the only cleaning is a quick swipe between thumb and forefinger as I set the hulls into the sizing collet. If I miss some dirt I will catch it either when I case gauge off the press or when I case gauge at the range before loading my belt. Don’t care for silicone spray or wipes either as I prefer my shells dry. Clean chambers help a lot. So far this year I have had one hung hull and it had more to do with sloppy technique than dirty hulls. YMMV

Regards

    

Gateway Kid

[Kid Rich]

6 hours ago, Gateway Kid SASS# 70038 Life said:

I live in western Colorado, which has been known to be pretty dry, dusty, rocky and grass is a bonafide luxury. In the winter it can get muddy and sometimes we will have a monsoon but that is infrequent at most. Then I will let the hulls dry and wipe down with a dry towel to get the mud off. Otherwise the only cleaning is a quick swipe between thumb and forefinger as I set the hulls into the sizing collet. If I miss some dirt I will catch it either when I case gauge off the press or when I case gauge at the range before loading my belt. Don’t care for silicone spray or wipes either as I prefer my shells dry. Clean chambers help a lot. So far this year I have had one hung hull and it had more to do with sloppy technique than dirty hulls. YMMV

Regards

    

Gateway Kid

I use a cleaning rag dampened with water, nothing else. Don't really like silicone or whatever, just a personal preference.

kR

[H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619]

You clean plastic hulls?

 

I've got AA's that are over 60 years old, reloaded countless time, and have never been cleaned prior to reloading.

 

 

[Kid Rich]

14 hours ago, H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619 said:

You clean plastic hulls?

 

I've got AA's that are over 60 years old, reloaded countless time, and have never been cleaned prior to reloading.

 

 

You got grass in the NE. AZ does not.

kR

[German Jim]

If they're crushed or muddy, I throw them out.  If they're a little dusty, I wipe them off with my hand.  Otherwise I just reload them.  Nothing special.

[SouthwestShooter]

I leave  a bunch of hulls in the bed of my pick up when I go to the carwash.....JUST KIDDING. 

[Sedalia Dave]

It bears pointing out that just like spent brass, spent hulls are contaminated with lead.

 

Any time you handle them be conscious of where you put your hands and don't eat, drink, smoke, or vape without washing your hands.

[Abilene, SASS # 27489]

27 minutes ago, Sedalia Dave said:

...Any time you handle them be conscious of where you put your hands and don't eat, drink, smoke, or vape without washing your hands.

Always wash immediately after handling contaminated items before you have a chance to spread it to steering wheels, doorknobs, furniture, utensils, ANYTHING.  I keep a wet washcloth with D-Lead soap on it in a baggie in the trunk.  I wash my hands with that after loading the trunk after a match, before getting in the car and driving.  And every so often wiping down said doorknobs, steering wheels, gear shift, doorknobs, reloading press arm handles, etc. with a D-Lead wipe.

[Sedalia Dave]

37 minutes ago, Abilene, SASS # 27489 said:

Always wash immediately after handling contaminated items before you have a chance to spread it to steering wheels, doorknobs, furniture, utensils, ANYTHING.  I keep a wet washcloth with D-Lead soap on it in a baggie in the trunk.  I wash my hands with that after loading the trunk after a match, before getting in the car and driving.  And every so often wiping down said doorknobs, steering wheels, gear shift, doorknobs, reloading press arm handles, etc. with a D-Lead wipe.

 

Simple Green is also an excellent cleaner for removing lead contamination from surfaces. Just be sure to use paper towels and not reusable wash cloths.

[Lawdog Dago Dom]

On 6/9/2025 at 10:43 AM, Sedalia Dave said:

I discovered that if I tumble the STS or Nitro hulls with media in my FA tumbler, it will smooth out any rough areas on the outside of the hulls. 

What media are you using?