Cleaning Cases

[jacman]

I am new to this forum and to reloading. I have reloaded a couple hundred 40 with another member here who has showed me the process with a single stage press. Tonight I bought a RCBS case cleaner and corn media. My question is, do you have to add polish to the media or is it just fine dry? Thanks for any advice.

 

[john traveler]

Corn cob or granulated walnut shells will clean, but it cleans and polishes much faster if you add polish.

There are brass polish additives you can buy, but if you run out, just add about one tablespoon of automotive turtle wax car polish. Run tumbler empty of brass about 20 minutes to thoroughly mix the polish, then add brass.

 

[Dragon88]

Nu Finish car polish is inexpensive and works very well. Running the media dry will work but you will get much better results if you add a little polish.

 

[Bruce51]

You can even use Kit Scratch out available for a couple of dollars at Walmart. I put in two capfuls and it works great. Nufinish works great as well. Shiney brass in about an hour with corn cob.

Bruce

 

[HEAD0001]

I know some guys like it. All I know is I have been reloading for over 40 years. I have never used anything but walnut shells. And no polish, and my cases come out very well as far as I am concerned. But that does not mean my way is the best way. However it has worked for me. Tom.

 

[max]

I add a bit of Turtle Wax as it not only really shines and cleans the cases, it also keeps the dust down.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I use a 50/50 mix of corncob and crushed walnut media but very rarely add anything. I use to add Lyman polish when I could find it cheap but the others mentioned above will work fine too. If you leave the brass in for long enough it will come out clean and shinny without any additives.

Just a note, when your media starts to get dirty cut up a USED dryer sheet and add it to the next brass tumble. Dryer sheets clean up the media quite well and extends it's life.

 

[SMSgt]

I found crushed walnut works better than corncob (which also gets the job done), and adding a few drops of Kit liquid car wax really speeds up the cleaning, leaves the cases nice and slick, plus cuts the dust. The crushed walnuts are available at Petco and the like, come in a huge bagfull, and is only about $12-15.

On a sidenote: dryer softner sheets are great at removing bugs from windshields and bumpers. Works wonders on those pesky FL lovebugs!

 

[JohnnieB]

Welcome to the forum.

I've used both corn and walnut media, with and without polish.
Dry walnut cleans quicker than dry corn, but dry corn shines better. (Sort of like courser/finer sandpaper I supose)
With polish, they'll both shine about the same, but walnut is quicker.

What I've settled on is washing my fired brass to get rid of most of the primer/powder residue, tumble dry them in a fine mesh bag and then viberate them in walnut media with a little NuFinish and mineral spirits added.

My wife's a shooter too, but she still gets after me if I don't put some old towels in the clothes drier along with the bags of brass to keep the noise down.

It may be just my imagination, but I think adding polish to the tumbling media make the cases slide in and out of the carbide sizing dies easier.

Whatever works best for you, is the "right" way to do it.
John

 

[carelesslove]

jacman, carelesslove, here!

As you see from the responses from your post, there are a lot of ways to clean your brass.

You should take note that there is a clear cut difference between cleaning and polishing. Regular old corn cob media will clean just fine. This gets the grime, bullet lube, and powder residue off your cases.

To make them really shine, polish them with clean media, with some type of polish added. NuFinish (automotive cleaner) works quick and is cheap, but the real trick is to keep you polishing media separate from your cleaning media. To see the difference, just pour your cleaning media out of your tumbler and look at the gunk stuck to the walls. This will contaminate your polishing media and reduce its' effectiveness. Also, cleaning should take 30 minutes to an hour. Polishing takes a lot longer.

Clean ammo just looks better. Remember to scrape out your primer pockets - your primers will seat more consistently.

-carelesslove

 

[Azcat300]

I have had good luck with the corn cob media and a little shot of Flitz media conditioner.

 

[socal s&w]

Nu-Finish mixed with a little mineral spirits to thin, works well as others have stated.

I too think that the resizing goes easier with the wax on.

 

[Harrison]

Highly polished shell cases don't shoot any better than clean ones. The idea of a tumbler is to clean the cases and get as much old powder/primer residue off as possible. Plain walnut and/or corn cob media will get your brass clean.

I don't like adding various polising stuff to my media. Something about possibly introducing an abrasive to my chambers and bore.

 

[thearborbarber]

How much nu finish car polish are you adding to the media?

 

[TAROMAN]

Washing mashine. No kidding, it's made for washing. I use Tide.

 

[socal s&w]

In a Lyman 1200 machine, I use about two capfuls of the mineral spirits/polish mixture.
Let it run for a few minutes to allow absorbtion into the mix, then add the brass.
Vibrate for about 1.5-2 hours and your brass will look like brand new, shiny. Some don't like that, I do.
It really does help in the resizing die.

 

[JohnnieB]

Washing mashine. No kidding, it's made for washing. I use Tide.

I wash mine by hand.

I fill a gallon sized glass jar about half full of cases, fill it to about 2/3s full with the old NRA solution and shake for a minute or so, let set for a while and shake again.
Rinse with tap water, put into mesh bags and into the clothes drier.

I use D-Lead for the detergent in the washing solution.

Every have any brass get stuck under the agitator, or do you have one of the tumble type washers?

John