brass cleaning

[stumpjumper]

what does everyone put in there tumbler for a cleaner. i`ve got lymans case polish and, i dont think it does all that great. i read on here someone used car polish (new car polish) i bought a bottle of it and it smells like brasso. so im thinking that would not be a good choice. i use to buy midways polish and it did a better job then the lyman.

[docone31]

I use walnut media, and rice mixed in.
In my opinion, I would rather have burnished brass, than shiney brass. When brass is commercially tumbled, it is in a liquid media with burnishing compound. I am reluctant to use liquid additives to my media. It produces oxides inside the case if it is not extremely dry.
My cases come out pretty clean. At least clean enough for me.
To really shine em, a person might try a rotary tumbler, rather than vibratory.
Is it worth it?

[beagle]

I agree. I use straight walnut shells (actually lizzard cage litter from Wally World).

I want no chemical additives to my tumbling as I ruined a bunch of brass like that one time./beagle

[Fleataxi]

I use lizzard media too - and I add 2 TBS of a commercial non-sudsing detergent I get from Dollar store that's similar to carpet/rug shampoo. I add a dryer sheet, and the brass comes out nice and shiny.

I'm sure most of you know not to use anything containing Amonia on your shooting brass.

Fleataxi

[warf73]

I use walnut media with red jewlers dust in it, then tumble it in straight in corn cob media.
If I have really nasty brass I use walnut media with 3 fulls caps of Hoppies, the run the brass threw the walnut jewlers media then corn cob.

I have a bad fedish about really shinny brass, its a must.

[44man]

I tried a lot of the stuff you buy just for the tumbler and the first few times the brass came out nice. Then the stuff started to get sticky and quit cleaning as fast as straight walnut so I had to add more. All of it seemed to shorten the life of the walnut.
I don't add anything anymore and as the media wears I just leave the brass in longer until I need to change the stuff.

[Lloyd Smale]

im with 44man. Ive tried about everything and all it did was shorten the life of the media and maybe make it slightly quicker to clean brass. I dont care if it takes one hour or two for my brass to clean. I use alot of walnut pet litter but the corn cob stuff is alot cheaper. My only complaint with the corncob i buy in bulk is it to big of a grind and plugs up rifle cases. So i keep two tumblers with corncob for the handguns and one with walnut for the rifles.

[Newtire]

I put a capful or 2 of lacquer thinner into the walnut media I get from Petco (lizard bedding). It more or less does away with the sticky stuff. I'm not so sure how safe this is but my garage is well ventilated..Sure makes the brass shiny though. This was what it said to do in the instructions from Midway years ago when I bought my tumbler.

[bruce drake]

+1 for the lizard litter.

+1 for the dryer sheets.

I use the litter because I can buy 40# of the stuff for the same cost that the lyman walnut media costs.

trhe Dryer sheets takes the junk out of the media and extends the media's lifecycle.

Bruce

Bruce

[epj]

I usually use a two step process, walnut first, followed by corncob with a little Dillon Rapid polish added. Truthfully, the second step is unnecessary, but it does make the brass a bit more shiney. The walnut alone is sufficient to clean, but i just like shiney "boolits". :drinks:I use dryer sheets in both stages. It keeps the media clean longer and holds down the dust.

[10-x]

+1 for 44Man 's process.......way back I used to wash the cases in "Case Brite", dry them, them into the tumbler......took to long but like new cartridges....................now just into the vibrating cleaner......use walnut shell media that a dealer sells at the local show.........I'll have to try the dryer sheets. [/SIZE]

[James C. Snodgrass]

Walnut with Midway polish it does a good job. If they are filthy I add a little mineral spirits or acetone that seems to take the funk off quick .

[missionary5155]

Would there be any advantage to slicing the dryer sheets ? I was thinking of running them through the shreader...

[Fleataxi]

Missionary: Nope, whole sheets work best - if they shred, they'll just be harder to remove from the media.

A friend gave me a nice big green RCBS Media Seperator, makes it easy to seperate media from brass - no more picking stuck media out of primer pockets with a toothpick!

I normally tumble then de-prime, but I got some brass for free that had already been deprimed, but looked like crap! After tumbling, looked like brand new, but I spent almost 2 hours picking media out.

Fleataxi

[TGM]

I use either corn cob or walnut media what eveer costs less at the time I need to resupply. As to getting the media out of the primer holes, I use a brass cleaning jag that fits into the pocket to push the media piece out. It's quick and easy.


TGM

[870TC]

I use ground corn cob, from the feed mill and a couple of cap fulls of Iosso. Works better than any other polish, short of brasso which is bad for cases.

[montana_charlie]

The walnut alone is sufficient to clean, but i just like shiney "boolits".
Cast bullets in a tumbler?
CM

[JesterGrin_1]

I have walnut shells and use Castrol Super Clean added. It cleans well. :)

[Newtire]

Now I've gotta try those dryer sheets. They work like magic for repelling yellow jackets too!

[Jim]

Crushed walnut media and 8 hours in the tumbler. Comes out lookin' like brand new brass.

[Meatco1]

If I have a really bad batch of dirty brass (old Military), I will first run them through a Ultrasonic using a Citranox mix as the cleaner. Talk about clean, they come out looking brighter than new brass (both inside & out), and the primer pockets come out looking like they have been never been fired .

However, for everyday use, I use a tumbler filled with walnut media, and toss in a capfull of Midways case cleaner. The outside of the case looks fine, although the primer pocket & case interior still have black powder residue clinging.

Richard

[Big Fella]

Get some of the corn cob media they use for sandblasting. Super fine and is so small it won't get plugged up in the flash holes. I put two capfuls of minerial spirits in to help with the cleaning. I think a 50 pound bag cost me $32.

[Echo]

Walnut shells or ground corn cobs. whatever is at hand. Then about a half teaspoon of rouge, vibrate for 20 minutes to circulate, then add about 2-3 tablespoons of mineral spirits to keep the dust down and add another cleaning element, vibe for another 20 minutes to circulate, and I'm good to go, and go, and go... Works great, even when it looks like it shouldn't.