Just started reloading yesterday and one question I have is about cleaning my brass. So far I've loaded 92 .38 specials using once fired brass that I pocketed after shooting them myself, but I also have a number of casings I found lying on the ground at the range. Those ones have some dried dirt in them so I haven't loaded those yet, but those I fired just looked a little sooty and they're now reloaded.

Gonna test em when I get a chance sometime this week, but was it a bad idea to load these once fired and uncleaned brass? Would the ones with some dirt be okay to load up? Also, would it be fine to reload my brass again after they've been fired twice? Basic questions, I know, but only have 92 successful reloads of experience.

A lot of reloaders never clean brass, and a lot of reloaders have OCD and clean and polish until it looks like new. Try your reloads, and if they go bang you have answered your own question.
Do you have a reloading manual? It covers things like this.
Be safe above all else.

I'm on the side of wanting my brass to look clean and better than new. I generally run my brass in the tumbler with corncob media for at least 3 hours and sometimes even overnight.

A couple of thoughts of cleaning brass:

1. When I started reloading about 40 years ago, I never cleaned brass.

2. After a few years of reloading I would clean primer pockets of excess carbon flakes with a primer pocket cleaner from RCBS

3. If there is ANY dirt inside the case, clean it out

4. Three years ago I got a case tumbler with SS pins and now routinely clean all my brass looks really pretty, shoots the same

5. Cleaning range grit off the brass will lessen the scratching on your sizing dies

6. If I have cartridges that need to be lubed when sizing (.30 cal carbine) I will always wash the cases after sizing before priming

Good shooting - - - - -

the only real damage from dirty brass is the transfer of curd from the brass to your sizing dies, even carbide dies can be scratched and this will in turn show up as vertical lines on your brass. You would then need to polish/sand out the sratches on your dies.

You don't have to make it shine like new, but it does need to be somewhat clean. I have two tumblers, does not hurt to just throw the brass in there and let in run overnight. No biggie ready to load the next morning. You can not over tumble

i like to clean it before i do anything with brass, only about a hour to get rid of grit and dirt. after depriming and resizing i will run it through the cleaner again for about two hours to finish the cleaning. just a little less abuse on the dies.

If you don't want to buy a tumbler,just slosh them around in a bucket of soapy water (or barkeepers friend works well),rinse and dry them in the sun

for the past couple of years, this is all I do to mine, and i find it very satisfactory for my purposes

Yeah, Arjay's method is shockingly effective. An empty two- or three-liter soda bottle or milk jug makes life even easier - agitation easily removes crud. And our arc-lamp NM sun dries cases quicker than the Dickens.

I never cleaned cases for about the first fifteen years I reloaded. Some of those .38 cases were being reloaded the entire time.

10mm Shooter does a good job of stating my thoughts on the necessity of cleaning above. I have found that some of my range pick-up brass is pretty gruesome after the monsoon season, so I'll wash that stuff before use. After that washing, I generally just tumble every few times - I use rice in the tumbler which imparts a light coating of rice dust to the outside of the cases, and I find this "dry lubes" the cases and makes even my carbide dies happier.

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How God has blessed us!

Dirt is the culprit you need to avoid. On the outside of the case, it will scratch your dies, and on the inside of the case it has a tendency to reduce case volume, resulting in higher than normal pressures. At the very least, the dirt ejected along with your bullet may scratch the barrel of your gun.

Probably 90% of reloaders use pickup brass. A little soot doesn't hurt anything, but get rid of the dirt.

IOSSO is another liquid solution to clean brass. It works well for me, but I usually tumble instead.

The only time you HAVE to clean your brass is if it's got something abrasive on or in it of if oil or some other desensitizing compound is on/in it.

I like shiny uniform brass but I spend my time elsewhere. Discoloration of the brass doesn't bother me.

Lately I wash them in a colandor in hot soapy (dish detergent) water. When the water cools I clean them by the handful letting them drop back in the colandor until I've hit them all a few times. Then I rinse and let them drain. Occasionally when I walk by I'll tumble the brass by hand to get water trapped in any cases out. Then I shine my hair dryer on them stirring until they get too hot to handle. Check for moisture later. Usually that's it. Discolorations don't matter.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I've grown a bit more meticulous in my brass cleaning routine.
I think it enhances feeding in autos, and it just looks better.

Thats aside ... the die scratching issue warrants at least some sort of cleaning step.

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it just needs more voltage

Brass picks up sand and grit here in S FL. I tumble lightly to clean that off for the obvious reason. The only time my brass gets "polished" is when I forget the tumbler is running!

Gave up cleaning primer pockets long ago. No negative effects to date. Those who feel they need minute-of-gnat-butt accuracy at 20 miles range are welcome to take whatever case cleaning steps they feel is necessary. Got better things to do myself.

Cleaning brass is pretty effortless. For revolver brass hat doesn't hit the dirt, I resize and expand before tumbling, then tumble for 3 hours, then clean in sonic cleaning tank. The work is done while I sleep. For auto brass that hits the dirt, I dunk them in water fist to rinse, then let dry overnight. Then tumble and sonic clean after I resize and expand. So the clean brass is ready for primers and powder.

I would never load powder into a case that had actual dirt in or on them.

I size, de-prime, clean the primer pocket, then clean hulls in Citric Acid and water, with a dab of Dove dish washing detergent. Works good.

I have one set of Midway 357 brass that I bought about 25 years ago and am still reloading. Probably been thru the mill at least 15 times (no, I don't bother keeping track), all with low pressure loads. Gone from 200 down to about 150. A few split cases and a few split rims but mostly loose primer pockets account for the culls. Don't worry about loading two or three times.
Clean cases make for long equipment life.

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Foster Positivity.

I used to never clean brass. I do maybe 75% of the time before reloading now.

When I don't, I dump the brass onto an old bath towel on the floor, and knead it. That gets a lot of the powder residue off the brass with very little effort.