Tarnished brass

[wantmoresmiths]

Occasionally I will pick up some range brass that is badly tarnished. When I tumble and polish this brass the dirt is removed but the tarnish is still there. Does anyone have a good method for removing the tarnish?

 

[exnodak]

Tarnished Brass

I have picked up and used lots of tarnished brass. If it is worth salvaging, I first decap (not size) it with my universal decapping die. Then I wash it in the old NRA solution. That consists of mixing together one pint of water, one cup of white vinegar, one tablespoon of salt and one teaspoon of dish detergent. Wash for ten minutes, agitating occasionally, then rinse thoroughly. The badly tarnished brass will come out with a soft, reddish brown color. I remove the soft tarnish with very fine steel wool. I chuck a Lee lock stud in a drill and spin the case, holding it to the steel wool. After that, I tumble for as long as necessary to finish the job. It is some extra work, but I have the time and enjoy doing it, because my brass comes out extremely bright and clean.

 

[Dale53]

I have a large Dillon Vibratory Tumbler. I use Dillon's case polisher. A cap full or two of polish and one to two hours tumbling time and the brass looks like new, again.

Dale53

 

[Alk8944]

Run the polisher longer, sometimes as long as 24 hours. If this doesn't do it and the tarnish bothers you then throw it away. There are very few that don't come clean after this long!

 

[sheriffoconee]

the cast boolit boys are using a product called Lemi-shine that is available at WalMart and other grocery stores as a hard water additive for your dishwasher
Read about it here
Lemi- shine convert - Cast Boolits

 

[mtime7]

+1 on lemi shine

 

[H Richard]

All other things being equal, tarnished brass reloads and shoots as good as any other brass.

 

[GypsmJim]

All other things being equal, tarnished brass reloads and shoots as good as any other brass.

Yup, my guns are polished and pretty, but once they are loaded I can't even see what's inside them!

I use Lee tumble lube and don't attempt to clean them off after loading, so actually my boolits look worse than my brass.

 

[shovelwrench]

Yup, my guns are polished and pretty, but once they are loaded I can't even see what's inside them!

I use Lee tumble lube and don't attempt to clean them off after loading, so actually my boolits look worse than my brass.

+1

I clean em by, tumbling, loading them and shooting, tumbling, loading them and shooting...............


Wait, that does'nt work either....

I just keep shootin em.

 

[Fishslayer]

Vibratory tumbler. (Mines Cabela's, but just about any brand is OK)
Lizard litter (crushed walnut shels) from the pet store.
Nu Finish

Good to go.

For super shiny use the corn cob media & whatever polish strikes yer fancy.

Brass pr0n...