Cleaning Brass

[cracker57]

for those using citric acid, vinagar or any type of acid it is corrosive and that's what makes it clean so well.You should neutralize the acid to stop the corrosive action of the acid.
I have used vinegar and water with a drop of dish soap in a five gallon buckets and just agitate by hand once in a while more or less let them soak for an hour or 2. Then they are rinsed and neutralized with baking soda to stop the corrosive action. they come out nice and clean with enough shine for me.

 

[kbm6893]

for those using citric acid, vinagar or any type of acid it is corrosive and that's what makes it clean so well.You should neutralize the acid to stop the corrosive action of the acid.
I have used vinegar and water with a drop of dish soap in a five gallon buckets and just agitate by hand once in a while more or less let them soak for an hour or 2. Then they are rinsed and neutralized with baking soda to stop the corrosive action. they come out nice and clean with enough shine for me.

I used to add a dash of Lemi Shine but I stopped due to rose colored hue on some brass. I thoroughly rinse the brass in clean water after the tumble but it still happened. Just hot water and Dawn for me in the wet tumbler with pins.

 

[SS336]

My best tip for cleaning brass is when shooting 45acp and 9mm at the range, separate the brass BEFORE dumping them in your case polisher.
Because only the 45 will be clean and all the 9mm will be stuck inside the 45acp. I mean really stuck inside the 45acp.

 

[BillBro]

My routine is deprime/resize, rince off rcbs case lubes in hot water, ultrasonic cleaner with lemishine+salt+lemon/vinegar disposal for 15 minutes, rinse in hot water, put cases in a plastic colander and blast them for about 5 minutes( from a distance) with my handheld heating and reload. So simple and easy and fast it's ridiculous. Are they clean you ask, yes, they're awesome.

 

[Engineer1911]

I have my popcorn. If the case outside is clean, it's time to reload. Clean primer pockets, shiny inside of cases, mirror like polish / shine on outside of cases are all grossly overrated. Just how do you dry water washed cases in the winter time in Minnesota? Flash dry in the sunshine is possible year round in Georgia.

Has any one compared group sizes with clean / polished brass versus dirty brass? I shot some of my best scores with untumbled dirty brass that was only wiped off with a shop rag, rifle or pistol. This year I've shot some of my worst groups with mirror polished brass. Maybe it was the passage of 40 years, rather than shiny brass. The tumbler ran all night, the brass had a shiny glow after 11 hours. Time is precious for me, and I'm not wasting it with mirror bright, eye blinding brass.

See you at the range.

 

[BillBro]

Exactly, I dont tumble mine at all. The ultrasonic loosens the black crud inside the vase and all I do is make sure they're dry and reload. This process is for pistol brass, some of my rifle brass gets a different treatment but what I'll do to it is more for consistency in dimension not a super shiny appearance, sometimes that doesnt hurt my feelings though.

 

[Frailer]

How to dry water-washed cases in winter? Simple. All you need is an oven, a cookie sheet, and a long-suffering spouse.

 

[BillBro]

Or you can do like I've done thousands of cases and just use a heatgun, takes about 5 minutes. They'll get no hotter than they do when you fire them if you just use common sense and not put the heat gun an inch from your brass and hold it there. It's much faster than the oven and you wont have to be interrogated by the wife.

 

[len917]

How about going to Walmart and buying a cheap toaster-oven for $15

 

[divartydad]

I like many others use the wet method. I decap/resize then load up the tumbler. I place a layer of SS media in bottom of tumble and put in 100-150 pieces of brass and fill the water just above the brass. No chemicals used. My brass may not be the prettiest but the insides and primer pockets are pristine. Have fun with it!

 

[kbm6893]

How to dry water-washed cases in winter? Simple. All you need is an oven, a cookie sheet, and a long-suffering spouse.

Or a food dehydrator from Walmart. I use a Lyman case dryer which is basically the same thing. Before I got that I just used to spread them out on a towel in the garage for a couple of days

 

[Dahak]

Harbor Freight tumbler, stainless pins, dishsoap and lemishine for me. I use less dishsoap and lemishine that is used in the various videos I have watched. The "secret" that is most effective for me is to bring the canister into the kitchen and use HOT water from our built in hot water dispenser. I would guess about 180-90 degrees F. 25 minutes gets the brass more than acceptably clean, 90 minutes gets the brass super shiny. The amount of brass I am trying to get through in the day determines where in that time range I settle upon.

 

[jcelect]

Polished brass

For those that don't polish their brass! Polishing produces a clean smooth surface on the any metal by removing oxidization on the surface of the metal. Oxidization is an imperfection in the surface of the metal which is a porous condition on the surface! We all know Iron Oxide (Red Rust) which leaves pits on the surface that we can seen without magnification! When you polish a metal it removes this oxidization and when a filler substance is used (car polish/wax) the metal surface is left with a coating which makes the surface "slippery", smooth. This new surface on your brass reduces the wear on your dies which can add up over many years of use and round count!
Corn cob or walnut shells with Nu Shine for me!
jcelect

 

[BillBro]

How about going to Walmart and buying a cheap toaster-oven for $15

Or instead of giving walmart ANY of your money go to a goodwill or Salvation Army or like in my area the humane society has a thrift store and buy a used one for little money and maybe help someone or a cause that will actually appreciate it.

 

[rockquarry]

For those that don't polish their brass! Polishing produces a clean smooth surface on the any metal by removing oxidization on the surface of the metal. Oxidization is an imperfection in the surface of the metal which is a porous condition on the surface! We all know Iron Oxide (Red Rust) which leaves pits on the surface that we can seen without magnification! When you polish a metal it removes this oxidization and when a filler substance is used (car polish/wax) the metal surface is left with a coating which makes the surface "slippery", smooth. This new surface on your brass reduces the wear on your dies which can add up over many years of use and round count!
Corn cob or walnut shells with Nu Shine for me!
jcelect

I've handloaded lots of many different cartridges since 1965 and have never seen evidence that a less than "slippery" smooth surface caused any sizing die wear. I have some pretty old sizing dies that have been used regularly for sizing many, many thousands of cases.

 

[Dr.Tramp]

4-5 hrs seems excessive. Mine look great within two hours.

I don't really adhere to a strict time schedule, I just usually remember to check after about 4 hours. One time I forgot and left the tumbler running all night; didn't seem to effect anything.
After shooting black powder in my 45-70 the brass does seem to take a bit longer to get completely clean.
Ride Safe. Dr.Tramp.............

 

[BillBro]

I love to hear experience speak.