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Best way to clean brass


tangleridge slim

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Been cleaning brass with corncob media for years looking to make a change to wet tumbling could use some info

Thanks 

What tumbler and what size and type of pins

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Was the same way, tried a lot of concoctions, potions, and brand name stuff and I found I like the following: 

glug of Dawn dish soap

1/4 tsp citric acid used in canning (far cheaper than Lemi-shine)

Stainless Steel pins as tumbling media

hot water. 
 

let tumble for at least half an hour.  
get a very fine mesh strainer to dump the water out and not lose all your pins. 
buy a media separator magnet to get the pins out.  The 304 SS is magnetic.   

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Hot water, 1/4 cup of Strat-O-Sheen (Rio Grande Products), a squirt of Dawn and a small squirt of Lemi Shine rinse agent and tumble for a few hours. Drain and rinse thoroughly, no separating.

Comes out like jewelry

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I use a Frankford Arsenal Platinum Series Rotary Tumbler.

 

I use a healthy dose of Dawn dishwashing liquid and a short pour of LimiShine - no pins.

 

200 38 Special cases are covered with about three inches of hot water over the top of the cases and then tumble for 2 - 2 1/2 hours.

 

Rinse well and put on two trays of an old food dehydrator for about an hour.

 

Clean enough for me and I've yet to have problems with reloading.

 

With the FA tumbler, I have one end marked and that's always the side I remove the end cap from.  When installing the end cap prior to cleaning, I put a little Dawn dishwashing liquid on both sides to ensure a good seal.  Doing this, I don't have to crank down on the end cap and it also removes easier.  When done, I put the sifting cap loosely in place and allow to air dry.

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At Comin at Cha, @Chas B. Wolfson, SASS #11104 and I discovered we both use @Yul Lose's advice, wet tumble no pins, carwash detergent and Strato-sheen. Thanks again Yul!

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I just use crushed walnut and a cap full of ISSO brass polish and the brass i've been using for a long time still turns out looking like new. I've been cleaning, loading, and shooting about 15k cases for a dozen years or so. Obviously It's not all the same as I lose some and gain others. I am finally tossing the fired cases into the bucket for the last time. I am going to melt it down for another project and I will replace it with new stuff that i've had stored.

 

JEL 

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I use a Rebel 17.  It's pretty big so about every other match I throw 700 or so pieces of brass in there, fill it up about half way with water, add a little less than a tablespoon of lemishine and a tablespoon of Armor All Wash and Wax.  Let it run for 3 hours or so then rinse well and dry.

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So I have a question, I’m currently a dry tumbler. I separate my cases by caliber so that I don’t get that 38 Special wedged in a 45 acp that sticks tight with corncob. 
 

With wet tumbling with no pins is it necessary to separate the cases by size??

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26 minutes ago, Seth Bradford said:

So I have a question, I’m currently a dry tumbler. I separate my cases by caliber so that I don’t get that 38 Special wedged in a 45 acp that sticks tight with corncob. 
 

With wet tumbling with no pins is it necessary to separate the cases by size??

YES!!! If you mix calibers the cases will wedge together.

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Frankford Arsenal Rotary Tumbler (FART) works well for me.  Good capacity and built-in timer.  I use Armor-All Wash-n-Wax as I think it leaves a bit of protection against tarnishing.  For media I like Southern Shine.  I've been using one package for years now, and thousands of cartridges, and still going strong.  For a separator, I like the Frankford Arsenal Platinum separator; it works fine and I've had zero problems with it.  

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Spray with Scrubbing Bubbles, let sit in a pan for 5 minutes.

Rinse

Wet tumble with dawn and steel pins for 30 minutes

 

Looks like new

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Frankfort Arsenal tumbler with pins, a couple of capfuls of carwash and wax.

Tumble for a couple of hours, rinse and spin in a rotary case separator.

If its sunny outside, I put brass in the sun to dry.If not ,I put the brass on cookie sheets and put them in the toaster oven that I use when I powder coat cast bullets.

2 hours at 150 degrees works really well

 

 

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as to separating brass:  44 and 45 can be done together as can 9mm and 38/357

 

use Rebel tumbler

 

use cheapest wash and wax at Wally World--leaves a coating that keeps the cases from tarnishing  Also a ½ oz of Lemi-shine or citrus powder

 

use SS Chips;  they are much smaller and do a much better job than the pins. Look like metal chips for lack of a better word

I am just a satisfied customer;  here is their contact link (yea, it's on Facebook but that's the only place I've found them):  https://www.facebook.com/southernshinemedia/

 

use a strainer to get most water out while hanging on to brass/chips.  Then into an RCBS separator to get brass and chips separated--and yes, I use water in it as I do this step

 

 

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4 hours ago, Seth Bradford said:

So I have a question, I’m currently a dry tumbler. I separate my cases by caliber so that I don’t get that 38 Special wedged in a 45 acp that sticks tight with corncob. 
 

With wet tumbling with no pins is it necessary to separate the cases by size??

Okay, you will eventually get a case stuck inside another. Use a kinetic bullet puller to pop them apart.

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I wash my black powder brass in a mix of hot water & Dawn after decapping, then dry and toss 'em my vibratory cleaner & dry meda like always.  They may not come out looking like new, but they're clean and fully functional.  

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I have been using a wet tumbler and it gives awesome results with dawn and lemi shine. I am thinking of shelving it though. I don’t like the stainless media and I also don’t like waiting for the cases to dry. I’m going back to my Midway branded vibratory and walnut media. 

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15 hours ago, The Original Lumpy Gritz said:

Wet, deprime first.

Do you find that this makes that much of a difference?

I don't deprime and, other than not cleaning the primer pockets, it doesn't seem to matter.

The only cases I deprime first are my BPCR cases.

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7 hours ago, Vail Vigilante said:

I have been using a wet tumbler and it gives awesome results with dawn and lemi shine. I am thinking of shelving it though. I don’t like the stainless media and I also don’t like waiting for the cases to dry. I’m going back to my Midway branded vibratory and walnut media. 

Try using it without the stainless pins.  Works for a lot of us.

 

As for drying, that's just something you have to deal with.  As I said above, I use an older food dehydrator.  They're dry in an hour.

 

I don't miss having to deal with media and media dust.

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I ran into a problem with not depriming first.  I had some brass that I won in a drawing from a supplier on MeWe.  It was wet tumbled but not deprimed.  I had a lot of cases, like 10% that the primers were really hard to get out like they were rusted into the primer pocket.  I also found some cases that had rust inside them where they didn't get dry. 

My process is to deprime on my RCBS single stage with a lee decapping die and a 3D printed case pusher.  The pusher pushes the case out after depriming so I don't have to handle the case twice.  Makes the process very quick.  I then wet tumble in a Frankfort Arsenal tumbler using 2 tablespoons of Armorall car wash and wax and 1/4 tsp of lemishine.  I use the stainless pins.  I use the screen inserts to rinse the cases several times then dump into a spin media separater.  Once I spin out the water and pins I put them into a food dehydrator I bought at a yard sale for $5.  My brass looks new and shiny and the wash and wax makes them go through the loader like they are lubed.  It also protects them from tarnishing.   Other advantages of wet tumbling is in does not produce any dust like a dry tumbler and by depriming and cleaning the primer pockets my reloading machine stays very clean. 

I try to eliminate any problems with my guns or ammo so if I mess up on a stage it is on me.  I have been using this process for a couple of years and it works great.

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1 hour ago, The Rainmaker, SASS #11631 said:

Do you find that this makes that much of a difference?

I don't deprime and, other than not cleaning the primer pockets, it doesn't seem to matter.

The only cases I deprime first are my BPCR cases.

Yes, stops corrosion in the primer pocket.

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For drying my wet tumbled brass, if there's any sun at all, I place the brass on a cookie sheet and cover it with an old glass microwave tray.  The tray acts like a magnifying glass and can really heat up the brass for drying.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Easiest way to clean brass is to dry tumble. Add polish of choice, toss in brass, dryer sheet and let it run. Separate media with rotary cage and you're done. I usually use walnut media, but sometimes add some corncob. A dollop of NuFinish car polish is pretty inexpensive. If not shiny enough to your liking, let 'er run some more. No rinsing, no drying, no de-capping.

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