Cleaning brass?

[ChillyDog]

So I found walnut shell media for sand blasting at Harbor freight Went with the coarse they had fine also. Added some Nu finish and its working good. The 25lb box set me back $30.00

 

[gjgalligan]

If you do go wet, don't get rid of your dry one. The large wet one's work great for cleaning large amounts of brass, but if you decide to work up a reload for a gun, it doesn't make sense to run a full load of laundry for 20 or so cases. JMO...

Why not just take 20 or so cases out of a big batch and save the rest for later??

 

[kbm6893]

I started with a dry tumbler and it worked fine, but for shiny, like new brass, stainless pins in a wet tumbler is a miracle. It also doesn't have all that dust in the air. So now I use both.

When I come home from the range, I dump my brass into a bucket. When there is enough to justify a tumbling session, I wet tumble them without the pins. Just hot water and Dawn. This way, they are clean so I don't dirty up my dies. I bought a case dryer from Hornady. When they're dry, I quickly lube and de-prime and expand. Wet tumbling gets them so squeaky clean they need to be lubed. I put them in a bin for another day.

When the mood strikes, it's time for the stainless pins. The pins get the primer pockets and inside of the case clean. Same deal after they're done. Into the case dryer they go.

When they're dry, a quick dry tumble with some crushed walnut and Nu-Finish car polish to slick them up. Then prime them while watching TV and dump them into the bin, ready to be loaded.

It sounds like a lot but it isn't. The tumblers do all the work. Separating the pins is a bit of a chore, but a media separator and a magnet gets them all.

I just like to have shiny and clean brass. I only do this routine maybe 3 times a year on a Saturday. It's no big deal to me.

 

[Gamecock]

When I clean my brass, I use the same walnut and nu finish media.

But I don't usually clean my brass very often. I get 2 or 3 uses out of 9mm brass before cleaning. And I do it for cosmetic reasons; I don't believe brass needs to be "clean."

I use nickel plated brass for .45 ACP. After firing, I put the brass on an old bath towel, ball it up and roll it around. That's all the cleaning it has ever needed.

One big exception: .223 brass out of my AR-15. It always comes out really dirty, requiring cleaning after every use.

 

[BOB FRONSEE]

An advantage to using the Nu Shine Car cleaner/wax is it leaves the cases very slippery! I use Carbide resizing dies in all my pistol rounds and it most definitely makes them resize much easier and I'm sure it reduces the ware on the dies!
jcelect

How much Nu Shine do you use?

 

[Mountain425]

I had a lyman wet tumbler and it really works well .

 

[tlawler]

I try and separate my brass at the range, usually shooting all I have of one caliber, then sweeping them up and bagging them. I'll usually have a few extraneous cases mixed in, but it makes it so much easier than sorting hundreds of mixed calibers. I store them in gallon size plastic dollar tree containers by caliber and when I get a full one, I run them through the wet tumbler without pins in hot water with a little dawn detergent. That gets enough crud off to deprime and resize without damaging the dies. When tumbling with or without pins, I never mix calibers. They tend to nest together and not get clean inside and out. I don't even mix .38 and .357mag, for example because I don't want to have to separate them again. I deprime with a Lee AP press and universal decapping die and I can easily do 1K cases in an hour. Easy peasy and you never have to touch a spent primer. After depriming, I run them through the wet tumbler with pins this time and clean hot water, dawn, and a half teaspoon of Lemishine for three hours, which is the max setting on my Lyman tumbler. You don't want to overdo the Lemishine or you'll get dingy looking cases, not the bright shiny new looking ones. When done, I rinse them well, separating as many pins as I can and spread them on an old towel and put them out in the sun for a few hours. I'll mix them around a bit every couple of hours to help them dry. I usually let them sit in an open pan in my garage for a few days before I reprime to make sure they're really dry. I reprime the clean cases with a hand primer and store them. That way I have several thousand primed cases ready to reload with whatever powder charge and bullet I want to use.

Lee APP - YouTube

 

[Wee Hooker]

IDK, I get peoples attraction to something new ( and I've looked at it myself) but .......I'm doing what the OP is doing now and not in a hurry to fix what isn't broken. My brass comes out clean and shiny in one short step with minimal waste/use of media.
Enter the engineer in me here:
-Wet tumbling means another investment in equipment and supplies.
-Then it adds complexity and time in the process with the need for separate operations in cleaning then drying.
-Lastly, there is the getting rid of the byproduct with each use. ( I can bag walnut after 6 mos use and toss it in the trash. I'm not dumping wet toxic sludge into my $35K septic system weekly.)

I'm just not sold that wet tumbling is "better" or worth the added hassle. Your mileage may vary.

 

[Hasbeen1945]

I use the RCBS rotary with SS pins. I also use the Lyman seperartor pans. Along with Frankfort arsenal magnet. Still have my vibrator tumbler for small batches. Plenty of sunshine in S/E Texas for drying outside.

 

[max503]

You said in the OP cleaning brass. I don't tumble. I use the old formula, one cup vinegar, two cups water, 1 T salt and one t soap. It seems to work well. I lay it out to dry on a cafeteria tray.

Last time I sized about 1K of 9mm brass while it was still wet. Afterwards my dies got cleaned with WD-40. It actually worked pretty well. I was loading on a single-stage press.

 

[Hasbeen1945]

You said in the OP cleaning brass. I don't tumble. I use the old formula, one cup vinegar, two cups water, 1 T salt and one t soap. It seems to work well. I lay it out to dry on a cafeteria tray.

Last time I sized about 1K of 9mm brass while it was still wet. Afterwards my dies got cleaned with WD-40. It actually worked pretty well. I was loading on a single-stage press.

I use a Lee universal de caping die. First thing after a trip to the range. Knock out all the spent primers. This allows for primer picket cleaning. Also dirty brass doesn't harm my resizing die.

 

[tlawler]

IDK, I get peoples attraction to something new ( and I've looked at it myself) but .......I'm doing what the OP is doing now and not in a hurry to fix what isn't broken. My brass comes out clean and shiny in one short step with minimal waste/use of media.
Enter the engineer in me here:
-Wet tumbling means another investment in equipment and supplies.
-Then it adds complexity and time in the process with the need for separate operations in cleaning then drying.
-Lastly, there is the getting rid of the byproduct with each use. ( I can bag walnut after 6 mos use and toss it in the trash. I'm not dumping wet toxic sludge into my $35K septic system weekly.)

I'm just not sold that wet tumbling is "better" or worth the added hassle. Your mileage may vary.

Dave, one big advantage to me with shiny clean brass is that it is really easy to get a good visual on the charge after the powder drop. Especially with tall skinny cases like .327fedmag or small bottle necked cases like .22tcm and .223/5.56. I've got a camera set up to see down into the cases and with bright brass, it gives me the contrast I need.

[ame]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mDtgVo-y9pc[/ame]

 

[azhobo]

Dillon vibrator, unmeasured shot of Brasso, throw in 50-60 decapped and sized any brass, turn on and walk away for a couple hours.
Noisy? No clue, it's in the shed running it's little heart out. If noise was the issue I shoulda taken up archery.
Come back in two or so hours brass looks brand new. Shake it through a collander and load it. No biggie!

 

[johngalt]

I used to dry tumble with corn cob media, got fed up with the dust and mess. I switched to wet tumbling, wish I had done it a long time ago. I tried using the steel pins briefly, but found it's not necessary unless you want the insides and primer pockets shiny also.

 

[racoonbeast]

I have the big Frankford Arsenal Tumbler and use it to wet tumble with the pins that they supply. I add some Dawn and some bottled lemon juice to each batch. I have a large food dehydrator to dry them out. It all works great.

The good news: They case come out absolutely stunningly beautiful. They did not look this good the day that they were made.

The bad news: These pins end up everywhere. No matter how careful you are, and it would take a short thesis to explain how careful I am, you end up with pins in places that they do not belong. It is inevitable. If you load ten or fifteen thousand rounds over a week or so, you are going to end up with pins in at least one or two of the finished rounds. I can't see how this can not happen despite your very best efforts.

The scary news: I can't get anyone to tell me what will happen if one of these stainless pins ends up in my barrel sideways or otherwise. What happens when the next round heads down the barrel? I have called Frankford Arsenal three times and asked their support people to give me an answer. They all start out by telling me that they have no idea. I remind them that they sell tons of this stuff and probably should want to know themselves what will happen if a .223 round screaming out of the barrel at four thousand feet per second hits a stainless steel pin. They always promise to get with their engineers and get me an answer. It has not happened yet. Makes me think that maybe they don't want to answer this one.

So.......... I have a ton of money invested in this operation and it does beautiful work. I have a system in place to (hopefully) save me from having one make it all the way into the loaded round. So, I will soldier on with this method of cleaning. But, it is something to think about when making this decision.

 

[ChillyDog]

How much Nu Shine do you use?

I use and I'm guessing about a table spoon added to the walnut shell media every 3-4 batches I run. I add it before the cases and let the tumbler run to incorporate it so there is no lumps. Then add the brass.

 

[md8232]

I heard about a product called Brass Juice. Tried it in a FART without pins.
Just water & Brass Juice. Very happy with it. I've deprimed and cleaned
a 5 gallon bucket of 9mm and it works.

 

[PapaWheelie]

I'm a wet tumbler and will never go back to dry. I picked up a counter top oven for $8.00 at a resale shop and dry my brass in that - the same oven I use to bake the powder coat finish on my fishing jigs.
The stainless steel pins aren't the trouble I anticipated but magnets are your friend. A bunch of magnets.

 

[76Y40]

If the wife isn't around I turn on the oven up to a couple hundred degrees, lay the brass out on a cookie sheet, put it in the oven and turn the oven off. Repeat if necessary.

If the wife is home. . . .I lay the brass out on paper towels on the tailgate of my truck and let the sun and breeze dry it.

Both methods work although you'll likely to get yelled at less using the second method if the wife comes home unexpectedly. Good luck.

Jeff
SWCA #1457

I always wondered about your wife's peanut butter cookies.