Primers and Xylene

[VinceU1]

Well, I've bought some of the primed 7.62X51 brass from Wideners and now I've got to find out if the tar is gonna give me problems. I've trundled off to Lowe's, picked up some slow dry Xylene and cleaned the tar from 10 cases. Now, I'm not sure if the xylene is gonna cause primer problems or not, and so spent a couple of hours searching around the internet to try to find out. Here in another hour and a half or so, I'm gonna run these 10 cases through a rifle and see if they go pop.
I'll post after I try this.

 

[Mgderf]

I think I would try isopropyl alcohol.
I believe xylene is going to leave an oily residue.

 

[Drail]

I don't think you really want to soak primers in Xylene. I would not even bring that stuff into my house. Why are you soaking primed cases in solvent?

 

[VinceU1]

I soaked just the necks in xylene to get the tar sealant out of the necks. It's what Widener's said to use to remove it from the cases. I didn't want to load these cases without getting the tar out due to there being powder embedded in the sealant. And yes, out of the 10 cases I tried like this, 4 popped normally, but the other six just popped about like a paper cap would in a cap gun. So I'll either have to live with the powder grains that are imbedded in the tar or find some other way to get it out. I've already tried isopropyl alcohol and acetone, but neither of them really softened the tar enough to get it all out.

 

[Mgderf]

Might as well go full bore then.
Get yourself some M.E.K. (Methylethylkeytone)

Do NOT breath the fumes
Do NOT get in contact with skin/eyes/mouth...

On the other hand, it may sound counter intuitive, but try WD40. It is petroleum based just like the tar.
Most any light-weight oil will dissolve heavier petroleum products like greases and tars.
It would also be cheaper and safer.

 

[Leadeye]

Xylene is a medium dry aromatic solvent, good for cleaning things like tar. Aromatics though are what get the huffers high. MEK dries much faster and will dissolve a wider rangs of things.

 

[Sniper 79]

Can you soak them in something clean them up and size and deprime them? Then no worry of the old inconsistent primers.

Or pop them off through a rifle and clean and load as normal.

 

[sloughfoot]

I hope they were really cheap. It seems like an awful lot of effort.

 

[flashpuppy]

Knock the primers out and start from scratch.

 

[Sniper 79]

Knock the primers out and start from scratch.

Rock on Flash!

 

[88E30M50]

Might as well go full bore then.
Get yourself some M.E.K. (Methylethylkeytone)

Do NOT breath the fumes
Do NOT get in contact with skin/eyes/mouth...

On the other hand, it may sound counter intuitive, but try WD40. It is petroleum based just like the tar.
Most any light-weight oil will dissolve heavier petroleum products like greases and tars.
It would also be cheaper and safer.

MEK is good stuff. Back when I first joined the Air Force, we used it to wash our hands to get sealant off at the end of the day. By the time I left the Air Force, we had to use full aprons, face masks and elbow length rubber gloves if we were doing anything with it. I have a lot of skin trouble with my hands and I always wonder if it might have been from soaking them in MEK so much back then.

Follow all precautions recommended by Mgderf. It's a good solvent, but is also a dangerous chemical if not used correctly.

BTW, I use WD40 as a degreaser on auto engines. It works great as a cleaner.

 

[jcwit]

Do it for 10 or 20 cases and wait a period of time then take them to the range and try them.

After all nothing ventured, nothing gained.

 

[Tactically Fat]

Tar?

Why not just use WD-40 or PB Blaster?

 

[VinceU1]

I was hoping to get the sealant out and use the brass as is. Already sized, live primers, don't have to futz with the crimps or resizing or trimmer or cleaning, just load and go. That's what I'll do with the brass that I didn't kill, the rest of the brass that I inerted the primers will get run through the press, crimp removed and then loaded. Still a good learning experience.

 

[flashpuppy]

I was hoping to get the sealant out and use the brass as is. Already sized, live primers, don't have to futz with the crimps or resizing or trimmer or cleaning, just load and go. That's what I'll do with the brass that I didn't kill, the rest of the brass that I inerted the primers will get run through the press, crimp removed and then loaded. Still a good learning experience.

One still needs to size the brass, remove the decapping pin if you wish to retain the primers. Necks can get out of round in the demilling process and shipping. This is why I HATE pre-primed brass. Gonna have to get the lube off the cases after sizing still. Therefore a ride in the corncob after loading is necessary and then my cob gets all lubey...

 

[Clay]

MEK is some nasty nasty stuff for humans, but works well as a solvent