Cleaning Brass - Wax bullet edition.

My family is amazing.  I can't think of a single area in which one member or another doesn't have the expertise that expertise that we can apply to any problem.  From basic plumbing to advanced medicine, we've got it covered.  Someone knows the answer, or the technique, or can point us in the right direction.

For example, my youngest son's wife is a scientist, currently in veterinarian school at LSU.  She's taken all the "ologies".  So, one day last year during our Sunday get-togethers I posed the question; "What will dissolve wax bullet residue from cartridge casings?"

She took out her smartphone and asked the question, then scrolled around for a bit.  "A volatile hydrocarbon."  Then she launched into this explanation with multi-syllable words that started to sound like yada-yada-yada.

I stopped her.  "Break it down for me, sweetie."

"Charcoal lighter fluid.  Soak them in charcoal lighter fluid."

So, I did.  I found an empty "butter bucket,", dropped the cases in and covered them with charcoal lighter fluid.  I sat it in a sunny spot and over the next three or four hours, swirled them around every time I thought about it.    Later that afternoon, I drained the lighter fluid and put the casings in the sun to dry.  They came out clean as a whistle.

I've since passed this on to other shooters and it seems to work just fine for everyone who tries it.  Better living through chemistry..  Being the frugal sort that I am, I funnel the lighter fluid back into the bottle and use it as usual for lighting charcoal.  You can't taste in on your burgers.