Best way to clean REALLY dirty brass?

[Dframe]

I picked up a quantity of brass at the gun show this weekend. After getting it home and inspecting it, I found it was possibly the dirtiest batch I'd ever seen. It's 44 special and all of the cases are filthy, MANY have deep tarnish and most have black rings around the mouth. Suggestions for cleaning? I'll most likely toss the whole lot into the rotary with some corn cob and brass polish but I don't think it will take off the stains and tarnish. Anyone got a real good product or procedure for this sort of thing?

[cbrick]

This will answer your question.

Citric Acid Brass Cleaning (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=83572&highlight=citric+acid)

Rick

[jwmprock]

The stainless pins in the Thumler Tumbler are THE best. You'll be amazed.

[Dframe]

Thanks for the help guys. I love this place!

[lead chucker]

E-web midway usa youtube

[376Steyr]

For getting "gunk" off cases, I like radiator flush detergent. It doesn't do anything with the tarnish, but it rips off soot, bullet lube, and dirt.

[GRUMPA]

Yeah the stainless pins are what I use and in all honesty the other family members cant tell the difference from new and old stuff. But it does a good whollup to the wallet but it's something with good care, that you purchase only once.

[UtopiaTexasG19]

You can go on Ebay and type in "Citric Acid" and buy it from one pound up to a 55 gallon drum! :)

[cgm]

You may be surprised that corn cob and your tumbler is all you need. Mine has never failed to clean and shine the dirtiest of brass. Just leave the tumbler on for an hour or two.

[williamwaco]

You can go on Ebay and type in "Citric Acid" and buy it from one pound up to a 55 gallon drum! :)



You can also buy it from any "home brew" store where they sell brewing supplies.

[bumpo628]

I have found that crushed walnut in a regular tumbler works pretty well to get the deep tarnish off. Try that before buying a rotary tumbler and going with the stainless media.

[MtGun44]

Lemishine near the dishwasher soap is an easy source of citric acid. This is only useful
for extremely tarnished 'brown' brass.

Otherwise, corn cob, FINE, with a capful of NuFinish car wax will make brass so nice you
won't believe it.

Bill

[1Shirt]

All suggestions made are good and probably work well. However before using them suggest in addition you put the dirty brass in a gal jug with a lot of dishwashing liquid and super hot water. Shake the jug a bit and leave it overnight. In the am dump them out in a collender to drain, and rinse a couple of times with hot water. THEN use what has been suggested. I would go with a tumbler and crushed walnut shells. The big thing is that the large majority of the super curd will be gone before you start tumbling and going for polish. Good luck.
1Shirt!:coffeecom

[runfiverun]

i use the lemishine and hot water bumped up with a bit of lemon juice.
it pulls the gunk out right quick and is good for the brass.
it helps if you de-prime first.
a touch of the new finish [car wax] in the corn cob keeps the brass easy to clean.
and makes the car look supernice too.
those stainless pins clean the brass just like new [or better], but they are expensive.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I really like Citric acid for tarnish,
But if they are "gunked up" with a sooty mix of boolit lube and burnt powder,
I wash them with hot water/dish soap solution first.
Jon

[25ring]

Either ceramic media for the straight walled cases or SS pins for the bottleneck cases.I've been using these for a number of years and won't ever go back to walnut or corn cob.Cases are like new inside and out,also the primer pockets.An added bonus is there is no residue on the cases to scratch your dies.FWIW--Mike.

[ku4hx]

Boiled my last ultra dirty cases in soapy water in the propane fish fryer I used to smelt alloy. Stirred the pot a few times and poured it off a time or two and repeated. After that I let 'em air dry for a week or so then used my "vibratory brass polisher" (not really a tumbler) to do the final polishing.

Any that still looked bad went to the scrap bucket.

[Dframe]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I ran them through my rotary with corn cob and some dillon rapid polish. It took off about 90% of the crud. Still have a few with tarnish or stains. Gonna pick up some citric acid today to treat those. Thanks again for all your help.

[Sonnypie]

Cleaned in SS Media, Lemi Shine, Dawn dish soap.

Before:
http://home.earthlink.net/~pie/Sonny's/P9070029.JPG

After:
http://home.earthlink.net/~pie/Sonny's/P9130032.JPG


And one reason why I clean first, check later:

Range pick-up that was in the dried mud:

http://home.earthlink.net/~pie/Sonny's/P9190191.JPG :holysheep

Now you other guys, show and tell time. :popcorn:

[Old Caster]

Measure your bullets or brass before and after using Stainless Steel with a quality mic. When something is corroded and you wear away the corrosion, it is smaller. I had some .308 168 match bullets that became black and or green from getting wet and I just ran them in corn cob with Dillon polish and picked out the ones that looked good about every 2 hours and the worst ones stayed in all night for a total of about 16 hours. The sizes definitely varied. It was even possible to catch one that was too small when seating them while loading and yes the accuracy was ruined.

[zuke]

Measure your bullets or brass before and after using Stainless Steel with a quality mic. When something is corroded and you wear away the corrosion, it is smaller. I had some .308 168 match bullets that became black and or green from getting wet and I just ran them in corn cob with Dillon polish and picked out the ones that looked good about every 2 hours and the worst ones stayed in all night for a total of about 16 hours. The sizes definitely varied. It was even possible to catch one that was too small when seating them while loading and yes the accuracy was ruined.

That would have been forming bullet's in my book,if I kept them at all.
SS medis IS the best bar none.
Expensive,yes but as all the RCBS vs LEE guy's say "ya get what you pay for"

:coffeecom

[Rokkit Syinss]

Lemishine with a squirt of Palmolive dish liquid in a cheap Harbor Freight ultrasonic for four 480 second cycles turned nasty old brown military brass that sat in a can for 16 years into nice shiny brass. Some spotting after air drying but a quick run in the vibratory tumbler loaded half corn cob and half white rice fixed that.

[Sonnypie]

half corn cob and half white rice fixed that.

It's what's for dinner.... [smilie=l:

First time I heard of using rice as a media, or media enhancer. Does it work good?

[MikeS]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF5B6DkxXH8

After watching this video about cleaning brass, I thought I would give it a try. I had a couple hundred cases (45ACP & 45LC), after a trip to the range, and when I got home, my mother was leaving for the evening, so I had the house to myself, and put the decapped brass into a cloth bag that closes with a zipper, and put the bag of brass, along with a few towels into the washing machine, and let it run thru a normal cycle, and I was amazed how clean the cases were when the machine was done! Easily cleaner than running them in my tumbler for a few hours, and as he shows in the video, even most of the primer pockets were clean! Give this a try, but follow his advice, and make sure no females are around! :)

[rollo tommasi]

after many years and tests and money and time burned for do it....
you need one normal tumbler, i have the 747 from smart reloader, the liquid from dillon is super..and one good corn crob..
save time, the final results is insuperable.

[rollo tommasi]

if you broke the washer machine , just call one technic cost 50$+ one divorce....better to buy one good corn crob....but if you have idea to divorce do it...

[Moonman]

MAGNETIC Stainless Steel Media Pins .041/.042 dia x .252/.255 in length. Dawn Dishwashing soap, Lemi-Shine Rinse agent and a Thumblers Tumbler Model "B" 15 pound, High Speed 3000 RPM Motor Speed, 40 RPM Drum Speed works incredibly well.

Buffalo Arms is where I purchased my tumbler, and I purchased my media from "MARK" the person who started this wonderful and great working craze.

Zuke can get you "Marks" contact info.[smilie=l:

[zuke]

Anyone wanting Mark's contact info send me a PM.
He doesn't want his contact info on ANY public forum.
He's set in his way's,but a hellofaguy to talk to.I've spoken to him for hour's at a time on his shooting background.

[Rokkit Syinss]

It's what's for dinner.... [smilie=l:

First time I heard of using rice as a media, or media enhancer. Does it work good?

About 20 years ago when rice was dirt cheap and corncob media wasn't I tried it. Worked just fine and got the brass shinier than normal media. The drawback is bridging in narrow necked cases and if you think picking corncob from flash holes is a pain.....

One big plus to rice is using it to tumble dry brass, it doesn't turn to snot like corncob or walnut does.

[Sonnypie]

Well, I remember my last Cell Phone, and drying it out after I waded in with it on my side while boating.
The Daughter said to put it in a baggie with rice. It worked, dried it out and it worked again.
But it didn't work the next time I got it wet.
So now I have a refurbed Military phone. :mrgreen:

I just rack my cases and set in front of a 20" box fan on low to dry them.

We always used corn cob. Later we used walnut shell.

Now you've got me wonderin about Tapioca.... :confused: :lol:

[Blackwater]

Being descended from a long line of old Scots, I'm a sucker for a real deal, and these are often accompanied by caveats, like dirty, or even dirt filled brass. Best way I've found to deal with this is to soak it overnight fully submerged in highly soapy water. Warm water if possible. It seems to enhance the penetration ability of dirt filled cases. The long overnight soak lets it penetrate down into stubborn dirt, like gumbo, hard clay mixes, etc. When I say "soap" here, I mean real soap - the lye/fat type, which is getting harder to find. I usually just use the brown liquid hand soap, but that may in fact be more of a detergent now? The soap has fats in it that tend to dissolve and lift other fats and oils from the brass, and dissolve them from the dirt, so that the dirt is more easily poured/washed out of the cases. There's very little reqired of you except the waiting time for the soap and water to work here.

The next step is pouring the whole mess out into some sort of strainer that will let the dirt pass through while catching the brass. Then, while still wet and soapy, agitate and spray with a garden hose while in the strainer, getting all the dirt out and washing the soap out as well. One of the RCBS or other brands of media separators helps here, I think.

Soap leaves a "soap scum" on the brass from the fats in it. When the brass is pretty clean, as it should be now, put it back into a soak with water and DETERGENT, like your wife's dishwashing liquid. Don't be stingy with it, either. Let soak a 2nd time for at least an hour or two, and repeat the process. This should leave 99% of your brass ready to tumble polish. Inspect them, and any that have dirt set up like concrete in them should be set aside, and only you can decide whether it's worth the trouble to try to salvage these cases. There shouldn't be many at all, though.

Just be sure to get all the grit out of the cases before you tumble them. It doesn't take much grit/sand in your media to cause problems.

Hope this helps a bit.

[snuffy]

The ultimate for busting tarnish is the ultra sonic cleaner. When used with Hornady one shot case cleaner, it removes everything, carbon grease, and stains. It's basically just acidic acid with a bit of detergent.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/711474/hornady-one-shot-sonic-clean-ultrasonic-case-cleaning-solution-1-quart

OR you could duplicate that with limishine and dawn.

http://photos.imageevent.com/jptowns/bullets/websize/P9120095.JPG

http://photos.imageevent.com/jptowns/bullets/websize/P9120096.JPG

[Lizard333]

SS media with Limon shine and dawn. NOTHING is better. Expensive. Yes. But why pay for tumbling media mor than once in a lifetime. Plus it cleans your primer pockets without getting media stuck in them. This stuff makes your brass look like brand new. Worth the money.

[GRUMPA]

And now you know why I bit the bollit and bought one.

[Arnie]

http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1513345&page=1

[max range]

SS media, Thumler's tumbler, lemon shine, dawn = best. I have had three vibratory tumblers and used rice, walnut, corn cob, lizard litter and various combinations thereof. They will do a very good job but they will not clean primer pockets and the insides of the cases.

Plus I grow weary of resupplying my media and car wax or whatever secret sauce I choose for the moment because the prices keep creeping up. So I sold my vibratory machines, sold what was left of my media bags to defer the cost of the SS pins.

Pins are superior in results and cost. < which is why I cast and reload.

[snuffy]

First, it's not necessary to clean primer pockets. Second, it's not necessary to get the inside of the cases clean. Third, any of the liquid processes, well you have to make sure they're dry.

Lots of negatives when I can dump some cases in a vibratory cleaner, have them out and reloading in 2 hours.

Tumbling time and drying time for the water based rolling tumblers can be days, unless you force dry them in an oven. I laugh when they say put them out in the sun for a day.:-P Here in Wisconsin, that would be MAYBE 50 days out of a year, where it was both above 70 degrees, and it didn't rain at least once! :razz:[smilie=b:

As for getting media stuck in primer flash holes, get some 20/40 grit corn cob.

http://www.drillspot.com/products/521055/econoline_526040g-40_40_lbs_blast_media

40 pound bag for $26.93, ships free.

[Lizard333]

First, it's not necessary to clean primer pockets. Second, it's not necessary to get the inside of the cases clean. Third, any of the liquid processes, well you have to make sure they're dry.

Lots of negatives when I can dump some cases in a vibratory cleaner, have them out and reloading in 2 hours.

Tumbling time and drying time for the water based rolling tumblers can be days, unless you force dry them in an oven. I laugh when they say put them out in the sun for a day.:-P Here in Wisconsin, that would be MAYBE 50 days out of a year, where it was both above 70 degrees, and it didn't rain at least once! :razz:[smilie=b:

As for getting media stuck in primer flash holes, get some 20/40 grit corn cob.

http://www.drillspot.com/products/521055/econoline_526040g-40_40_lbs_blast_media

40 pound bag for $26.93, ships free.

I am going to have to disagree on this one. Lyman, RCBS, and Lee just to name a few have devoted. Numerous products devotes solely to cleaning primer products. So your saying they make these products for those of use that are just waiting our time. I think not.

Second, cleaning brass in a liquid solution has one extra step from your tumbling in media. Drying the brass. You can simply pour the brass on a towel and dry it. Done. His is MUCH easier than checking every single piece of brass and checking grid stuck media in the primer holes.

Be it as I have done it both ways, I feel it hard for you to comment on something you haven't done. I was going through 50 to 60$ a year on media not including polishing compounds. That brought my total to close to 100$ a year. The SS media is 250. Easily paid for in two and half years. The only thing I go through is maybe on bottle of lemi shine and a bottle of dish soap. 10$.

I could never get my brass half as clean as I do now.

You have your way. Good. You like it. Good. The OP wanted the best way to clean dirty brass. Your way simply isn't.

[3006guns]

If you can't find any of the mentioned "de-tarnishers", go to the store and get a bottle of ordinary lemon juice. Mix it half and half with HOT water and add a pinch of salt. Dunk the cases and keep an eye on them until you see a noticeable difference. The really dark ones will take on a pink hue as the copper in the brass is revealed. You might have to "encourage" some of the stains off by rubbing with your finger. Take 'em out, rinse under cold water, dry and put in your tumbler.

If all else REALLY fails, use just about any cheap soda with "citric acid" listed as an ingredient. The orange and lemon sodas have the most. Just soak and treat as above.

Don't drink the soda afterwards.............:)

[Rokkit Syinss]

First, it's not necessary to clean primer pockets.

I heard that once...






...about half an hour before the guy's M1 blew up and the back of the receiver took out his eye. The cause? A high primer due to uncleaned primer pockets and a slam fire in sitting rapid.

[snuffy]

I am going to have to disagree on this one. Lyman, RCBS, and Lee just to name a few have devoted. Numerous products devotes solely to cleaning primer products. So your saying they make these products for those of use that are just waiting our time. I think not.

First, I did not say my way was best. Just good enough and quicker. Second, point to a test where cleaned primer pockets were more accurate than uncleaned. Whether in rifle or handgun. Third, the carbon inside a case is of no bother to a loads accuracy. In smokeless powder loads, it does NOT "build up", nor does it affect the performance one bit.

[/QUOTE]I was going through 50 to 60$ a year on media not including polishing compounds. That brought my total to close to 100$ a year. [/QUOTE]

Tumbler media just does not wear out. It does get dirty, but there are many ways to combat this. Used dryer sheets take a lot of crud out of, or off the chunks of media, so do cut up paper towels. media additives/polish last a lot longer than you think. I don't add any until it stops polishing, sometimes not even then if all I'm doing is cleaning the cases.

If you read my earlier post, I said I've used my US cleaner to clean brass. The ONLY reason for that was the brown tarnish that does not come off in a vibrator. It too does not affect load performance, it is just unsightly. Then I stick them in an oven @ 250 to boil the water off. Total time around 6 hours, and a lot more energy costs.

A 40 pound bag of drillsspot 20/40 media should last a person at least 3-4 years. To explain, the 20/40 grit is VERY fine. it WILL NOT get caught in primer flash holes, and because it's finer, it polishes faster. 3 years into under 30 bucks, means less than 10 bucks a year.

[MikeS]

Personally I like to clean my primer pockets, if for no other reason than that it makes it easier to seat a new primer, and it seats fully. I see lots of progressive presses that will size/deprime in one station, then prime in the next. How do you clean your primer pockets in an operation like that? Having said that, uncleaned primer pockets must work, if they didn't, then the progressive presses would have some way of cleaning the pocket before it's primed. If I ever do get a progressive press, I'm still going to preprocess my brass the way I do now. I deprime using a universal de-priming die, then clean the brass (either using a vibratory tumbler, or washing the brass in the washing machine, or both). Then when the brass is done, I could run it thru the progressive press, and it's de-priming pin could be used to remove any corn cob stuck in the flash hole. At the moment I'm using a turret press, and take the pre-processed brass (and pre-primed) and then it goes from being a case to being a fully loaded cartridge before it leaves the press.

Somebody mentioned that the Hornady liquid cleaner uses acidic acid, I wonder if I could use photographic stop bath, it's just acidic acid with an indicator in it to show when it's no longer acid (neutralized by the photographic developer). I could water it down some, and add in some detergent (I wonder if using D-Lead hand cleaner would help any?).

[snuffy]

I see lots of progressive presses that will size/deprime in one station, then prime in the next. How do you clean your primer pockets in an operation like that?

Mike, the answer is--- you don't. That is exactly my point in my rant above, when loading auto handgun brass on my 650, I don't clean a single primer pocket. I have never cleaned pockets in handgun brass, even when doing them on a single stage press, long before getting a lee turret, then the dillon. Pre-prepping brass for a progressive press is like carrying an anchor while running a marathon.

Rifle is a different story, if I'm doing a match reload, or hunting rounds, I'll clean the primer pockets. Often, I'm using a primer pocket uniformer to really get to the bottom of things. I use a RCBS case prep center for that and inside-outside chamfering and uniforming flash holes.

Run-of-the-mill rifle does not get the PP cleaned, especially if they're running through the dillon. People have done side-by-side tests trying to see an improvement in consistency between cleaned pockets and uncleaned. There wasn't any. As long as the flash hole wasn't blocked by tumbler media.

I did a test once to determine if a chunk of tumbler media in a flash hole would make a difference. Thoughts of most said it wouldn't. Like when tumbling lube-sized cases to remove the lube, with the normal corncob 14/40 grit. Some of the media ends up stuck in the flash hole. I purposely sorted 50 cases with and 50 without then loaded them with an established accurate load. .223 with a 60 v-max Hornady, wc-844.

Running them over my pact chrono AND on a target @ 100 yds, showed almost double group size, and increases in ES.

http://photos.imageevent.com/jptowns/arrow/websize/plugged%20.223-2.jpg

[montana_charlie]

First, I did not say my way was best. Just good enough and quicker.
Does it strike you as odd that 26 people have replied to the thread, and you are the only one that thinks truly 'clean' brass is wasted effort?

CM

[snuffy]

Does it strike you as odd that 26 people have replied to the thread, and you are the only one that thinks truly 'clean' brass is wasted effort?

So, because some people are OCD with their brass, everybody that isn't is flawed?

What about those that have never even tumbled brass at all? Some of their brass is so dirty that it can't be found on the ground if dropped. But they shoot good groups and kill game.

If you use the wrong solution, you can leach the zinc from the brass, leading to weak cases. Pink brass is an indication the zinc is gone. When I first got my US cleaner, I got some shooters choice aqua clean.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/311703/shooters-choice-aqua-clean-firearm-action-cleaner-degreaser-gallon-liquid

I used it to clean some .223 brass. I posted some pics on a forum, a guy chimed in that the aqua clean would destroy brass, leaching the zinc out. I stopped using it for brass, it's remarkable how well it cleans gun parts though. I confirmed the brass eating properties by soaking some junk 30-06 brass in the solution for several weeks. It came out as pink as a baby girls bonnet! It also crushed way easier than UN-soaked brass!

There's no safety issue here, just personal opinion and experience. Dirty, un tumbled cases are not safer than cases that have been fussed over for hours. That's my final answer Regis, I won't waste any more time on this one.

[John Boy]

Either ceramic media for the straight walled cases or SS pins for the bottleneck cases2mm ceramic triangles, Strat-O-Sheen burnishing solution and small squirt of Dawn will spotlessly clean 220 Swift bottlenecks up to 50-70 straight walls. Why buy 2 different medias when only one will do both types of brass?

And don't exclude these 2mm or 3mm triangles as an excellent cleaning media compared to the SS pins...
I forgot and left 20 black powder spent 45-70 cases in the box for over a year. Put them in the rotary tumbler with the above media and burnishing solution - ran the tumbler for 6 hours. I defy any to tell the difference between these cases and new ones: primer holes, inside and outsides of the brass. In fact, they are brighter than new cases.

[fredj338]

Does it strike you as odd that 26 people have replied to the thread, and you are the only one that thinks truly 'clean' brass is wasted effort?

CM

I like clean brass, super shiney doesn't impress me but if someone else wants to agonize over it, fine with me. I typically just tumble in walnut/corn cob mix w/ NuFinish until clean & some shine, maybe 2-3hrs. For really dirty stuff, Lemishine does a great job then follow up in the tumbler for shiney brass.