I just came back from Gander Mt. and saw several types of chemical casing cleaners as an alternative to tumblers.

Any thoughts or ideas as to a cleaners use to clean up the brass?

I have used IOSSO. It somewhat messy and labor intensive.

It's not a magic elixir but it will clean your cases.

It won't leave an even "polished" finish on your brass.

Your brass will come out yellow and somewhat blotchy but it will be clean. Not factory looking clean just clean.

I specifically used it on my 500 S&W grass as it had heavily smudged. It cleaned it ok but not like a tumbler.

I don't use it anymore as it is too much of a hassle. Dunking and drying the brass was a pain.

I use a home made solution some times. Basically, a little citric acid and Dawn dishwashing liquid mixed in hot water.

It is cheap, non-toxic, and effective. Citric acid can be found in the canning section of your local grocery store.

hello
a cheap method
half part white vinegar half part of water
a handfull of coarse salt put on fire until
is boiled ,stop and let cold 20 minutes
and rince
regards

I use lemon juice and salt. Don't remember the exact formula, I just use a quart bottle of real lemon and mix in a 1/4 to 1/2 cup salt. It works good. Leave brass in it for 30 min, to one hour. I saw this used by a guy on tv named Homer Formby in the early 70's. He had a tv show and sold finishing materials for woodworkers. His stuff is still on the market. He was finishing brass on one show and gave out the formula. I didn't write it down, but this is close. It's citric acid and salt.
Phil

While they work, I don't like them because they are messy and take too long, especially to dry. If there is still water or corrosive in the brass when you load it, that's trouble.

I use a Midway tumbler and walnut shells.

Although I don't have proof, I attribute these case failures to the over use/over exposure of a chemical type cleaner.



These are Remington Peters 41 mag brass of unknown age I picked up rather cheap.

In about 30 years of handloading handgun ammo this was the first instace of circumferential failures of handgun brass I have ever seen.

I have had case head seperations in rifle loads but never a handgun load.

Any chemical strong enough to clean your brass will weaken it with overuse/over exposure.

quote:

Although I don't have proof, I attribute these case failures to the over use/over exposure of a chemical type cleaner.

That's enough to scare the crap out of me and not use the chemicals.

ATC,

I've had the same kind of case failures with new factory loaded R-P .41 mags. I don't think that can be attributed to cleaners of any sort.

There are several acids that will clean brass (ammonia isn't an acid), like dilute acetic acid (vinegar) and citric acid (as found in Real Lemon and such).

The real question is, why clean brass to begin with?

I have 40 year old brass that was only recently cleaned and I can't say it shoots one bit better after being cleaned.

That old dirty brass also has never messed up a die, even the steel dies we used back in the 1960s.

Other than aesthetics, cleaning brass serves no useful purpose, if reasonable care is taken in handling fired brass.

Paul, I rarely tumble/clean my revolver brass but here in the desert my autoloader brass picks up a significant amount of sand.

Bullet lube tends to remain somewhat sticky when it's 110 and with sand all over my brass I'm not interested in running it through my dies.

Revolver brass is a different story. I will shoot my revolver brass till it's as black as a woodchucks bunghole. I ain't selling it an what it looks like is nobody's business but mine

The brass for my 500 S&W was so smudged and black you would swear I had beeen shooting Goex triple f thru of it.

Thats when I decided to use the IOSSO. It never did work as well as I thought it should and finally left the lid off of the container and let it all evaporate.

A little soap and water followed by compressed air will solve the sand problem. This is especially true after using a water soluble lube, like RCBS2.

The areas of my place that will grow things is covered with a 5 foot thick layer of sand, then it turns to clay.

Soap and water with compressed air is still a little too labor intensive.

Apartment living does not provide the room or availabity for an air compressor.

I have "sun dried" brass in the past but I don't like my apartment dwelling neighbors "eyeballing" my business as they are the type that will take what is not thiers.

A tumbler is almost too easy, I accumulate 1000 empty cases (filled with sand)
drop them in the tumbler before I go to work and when I come home they are ready to load.

quote:

Originally posted by ATCDoctor:

I have "sun dried" brass in the past but I don't like my apartment dwelling neighbors "eyeballing" my business as they are the type that will take what is not thiers.

I put my black powder cartridges in the oven to dry after they've been in soapy water and rinsed. Just put the oven on low for about 30 minutes and that's that.

Smitty

I toss my APP (BP sub) 44-40 cartridges in Birchwood Casey Brass Cleaner for a half hour or so, rinse thoroughly, and let dry in the open air (sometimes in direct sunlight on my window sill).

They still get the tumbler routine like any of my smokeless cartridges before they get reloaded. Dumping them into the brass cleaner takes no time at all, and I just pour the stuff through a metallic mesh colander which I use to rinse them off. The whole process takes about 5 minutes (not counting the time I let them sit in the stuff).

WG840