How to get outdoor range brass clean (of dirt, etc)?

[ghh3rd]

All of my brass so far has been picked up at an indoor range. A friend gave me a 1 gallon bag full of .40's that he picked up for me an an outdoor range. They came with a liberal sprinkling of sand and dirt.

It seems that a even a grain of sand sticking to a case could havoc with reloading. How is it normally removed? I was envisioning using my air compressor, but that seems tedious.

I was wondering what the normal process is for brass picked up outdoors. Does tumbling remove any dirt/sand that may be in brass?

Thanks,


Randy

[Marlin Hunter]

Hot water and dawn dish soap (I also add a little superclean). let sit till cool, then dump water. refill bucket with water and dump. do several times until no more foam is seen when filling bucket. lay brass on it's side on flat surface (ground or aluminum pan). you can also put the wet brass in the oven on warm (130F) for a couple hours to dry. after they are dry, tumble.

[Cloudpeak]

I have an eight inch kitchen sieve (strainer). I fill the sieve up about 1/3 full with handgun brass (9mm, 45 or 38), place the slotted lid of my Lyman tumbler over it, invert and shake the dickens out of it. The gravel and dirt fall out and then the brass goes into the tumbler.

[Shiloh]

I soak it a in a 2.5 gallon bucket with some dish soap. Rinse liberally, then rinse in my tumbling media sifter. Dry well before tumbling.

If it is tarnished, I add a couple of teaspoonfuls of muriatic acid to the first soak.
It cleans up and polishes like new.

SHiloh

[blaser.306]

What kind of friend would "give" you dirty brass ?:kidding:

[d_striker]

All of my brass so far has been picked up at an indoor range. A friend gave me a 1 gallon bag full of .40's that he picked up for me an an outdoor range. They came with a liberal sprinkling of sand and dirt.

It seems that a even a grain of sand sticking to a case could havoc with reloading. How is it normally removed? I was envisioning using my air compressor, but that seems tedious.

I was wondering what the normal process is for brass picked up outdoors. Does tumbling remove any dirt/sand that may be in brass?

Thanks,


Randy

yes tumbling is the easisest/best method IMO.

[herb101]

deprime with a non sizeing die and tumble.

[Wayne Smith]

I have ceramic media with my tumbler for BPCR, I'd just use that.

[mike in co]

tumbling...seperated brass....

use walnut to remove crud, use ground corn cob to polish, add nufinish car polish if you like.


DO NOT tumble mixed caliber brass...9/40/45

mike in co
THE COLORADO BRASS COMPANY

[Rockydog]

tumbling...seperated brass....


DO NOT tumble mixed caliber brass...9/40/45

mike in co
THE COLORADO BRASS COMPANY

Wish someone had clued me in on that. First time I tumbled a bunch of mixed caliber range brass I ended up with cases inside of cases. Of course the inside cases were not polished but even worse, media had worked it's way into the gap between the cases and tightly locked them together. Talk about a PIA to separate! RD

[markinalpine]

I was depriming range pickup .45 AP cases with a Lee Universal Depriming die. As I was raising one up, the cutest lil' wolf jumping spider lived up to its name and scared the bejeebers out of me.

Mark :coffeecom

[evan price]

I get lots of bulk range brass. Some of it is just dusty or sandy, that cleans up nice in the tumbler. This time of year I get a lot of stuff that's muddy, even some that's been stepped on and pushed into the mud.

You have to get the mud plug out of the casing. If you let it dry it shrinks and they can be shaken out. Otherwise it's tedious work with a plastic stick. Caked on mud I fill my kitchen sink with hot water and a squirt of Dawn (when SWMBO is at work!). Then dump in the brass and agitate with a paint stick. Let it sit a bit to soak, a half hour or so. Stir again, then I use an old plastic colander I got for free on the other side of the kitchen sink, turn the water on cool, and then dump brass in the colander by the handful. Shake it around under the running water to remove loose dirt and stuff, then shake out of the water to remove extra water, then dump onto an old towel on the counter. When the towel is full, put another towel on top and roll around the brass to remove more water. Then set up a small desk fan to blow across the brass to dry the water while I go to bed. When I wake up, the dry brass goes in the tumbler. I let it tumble depending on how tarnished or dirty it is, sometimes 24 hours. I use walnut and Nu-Finish with some used dryer sheets torn into 1/4's to trap the dirt. Get brass shinier than new.

As far as spiders- them buggers love to habitate in brass that got lost in the weeds, don't they? I've had to pick spider nests out of brass before, often with a highly p*ssed-off occupant inside.

[Beekeeper]

I use phosphoric acid to clean range brass,Diluted of course.
I buy swimming pool PH reducer which is phosphoric acid an mix 1 teaspoon to a pint of water and then use about 1/4 pint of the liquid to a 2 gallon bucket of water.
stir the brass and let it sit for a few minutes, repeat until it starts to come clean and then rinse a couple of times and let dry in the sun.
Once dry tumble with lizard litter and a tablespoon of Bon-Ami and you get bright ,shiney ,look like new cases.


Jim

[felix]

Beekeeper, check that out further. Phosphates, et.al., are no-no's in water because of the possible nutrient value to nasties making the pool more cloudy without chlorates included at the same time (a day or two apart). The chemical used in pools is TYPICALLY sodium bisulfate OR hydrochloric acid to lower the ph. ... felix

[GabbyM]

A front load clothes washing machine will make short work of dirty case lean up. Makes one awful racket but never chipped the enamel on wifes machine. The one I have now has a stainless steel drum. Can't guarantee the enamel on the cheep junk they sell anymore. Dry brass in oven at 150 or so degrees.

I've not used that washing method since buying a vibratory tumbler. If their's a lot of dirt I leave the lid off allowing the wind to carry off dust. Suppose you could use a fan if the wind wasn't blowing. Then you can further clean your walnut hulls buy pouring them from one bucket to the another outside in a breeze. Like old time farmers separating chaff from grain. Calmer the wind the higher you hold the bucket.

I like to finish brass in corn cob media with Dillon brass polish added. Don't use polish with ammonia and whatever els that's bad for the brass.

[Whitespider]

Soak the brass in a solution of white vinegar and table salt (2 Tbl spoons salt to 1 Qt Vinegar).
Soak over night, rinse thoroughly, let dry and tumble as normal.
Vinegar will not weaken brass, removes oxidation and corrosion, removes/dissolves embedded lime and other minerals, dissolves carbon residue and does a darn good job of removing stains.... and kills spiders! De-prime first if possible for clean primer pockets.

[cabezaverde]

Soak the brass in a solution of white vinegar and table salt (2 Tbl spoons salt to 1 Qt Vinegar).
Soak over night, rinse thoroughly, let dry and tumble as normal.
Vinegar will not weaken brass, removes oxidation and corrosion, removes/dissolves embedded lime and other minerals, dissolves carbon residue and does a darn good job of removing stains.... and kills spiders! De-prime first if possible for clean primer pockets.

I have used this formula with a squirt of dish soap added. Agitate the brass a couple of times over 15 minutes, rinse, dry tumble.

If left overnight, you would need sun glasses.

[GabbyM]

I have used this formula with a squirt of dish soap added. Agitate the brass a couple of times over 15 minutes, rinse, dry tumble.

If left overnight, you would need sun glasses.

I'm no chemist but dish soap is alkaline and vinegar is acid. So while I may be missing something wouldn't they counter act one another.

Vinegar and salt sounds like a good idea. I've 5K 9mm and 45 cases here to clean up so I may give it a try on a handful. Can't figure out what the salt is supposed to do though.

[Whitespider]

GabbyM,
I don't know what the salt is for either.
I was given that solution mix several years ago by an old shooter/gun guy, he told me it was recommended by an armory or some such.
Darn stuff works so good I always toss the salt in, just like he told me. Why mess with what works?
I do believe you're correct about the soap though, I think that would be counter productive.

post script Don't throw the solution away, it can be used over, and over, and over... seemingly forever. But don't store it in a metal can (like a coffee can), it will eventually eat through (because of the salt??), use a plastic or glass container. The stuff turns a pretty blueish color over time.

[mauser1959]

The salt in the above solution should ionize out to a product of a strong acid and a strong base ie HCl and NaOH, that will give you a hydrochloric acid in solution without making the solution to acidic. Interestingly enough the old dish soaps (such dawn) used to contain phosphates, those cause a different kind of cleaning solution; phosphates were eliminated in clothes soaps years ago , and now some hand dish soaps, but are probably the most effective cleaning product on the market for dirts and grimes; those phosphates are still in most dishwasher liquids, though in Oregon they are going to be outlawed.

Hopes that makes sense, as I am about to fall asleep.

[GabbyM]

Cool
sodium chloride plus vinegar. Sort of like pickle juice.

[odoh]

I have ceramic media with my tumbler for BPCR, I'd just use that.

Would that be cat litter?

[XWrench3]

i have an old metal strainer that came with on OLD pan that i use for this. i simply put all the brass in it, and shake the heck out of it for a few minutes. the overwhelming majority of the sand just falls out the bottom. if it is damp, it is best to let it sit a day or two first, so any moisture evaporites first. i would think any old collander would do, but the larger the better. the one up side to my metal one is that the holes are large enough for 22 rimfire cases to go through, so if some of them get mixed in, it is no big deal. actually, i take this shooting with me, as where i shoot is almost entirely sand. might as well leave it there, than drag it home with me. if there is anything left, a few hours in the tumbler will certainly remove the rest.

[Hafast]

A friend gave me a gallon bucket full of 45 ACP brass that he had carried in the bed of his pickup for several years. Vety dirty and stained. I soaked it in orange Kool Aid mixed at double strength. I stirred it every 30 minutes or so for about 5 hours. Came out very clean and most of the stains were gone.

[mauser1959]

Would that be cat litter?

NO , cat litter is Montmorillonite clay, a type of bentonite clay. Ceramic medium is a clay that has been baked to a high enough temperature that it becomes completely different, if I remember right most of the ceramic medium is actually made out of zirconium silicate.

http://therockshed.com/grit2.html

http://www.acelapidary.com/grits&.htm#Tiny%20Ceramic%20Media

[HeavyMetal]

Rice and comet are the best I've found so far for cleaning very dirty brass.

Standard short grain rice and do not use it on rifle calibers of less that .30 cal. you'll never get it out of the case's!

I've used this on most range found pistol brass, which can be very dirty. The real trick is to not get the rice wet!

Follow it up with ground walnut shell and turtle wax rubbing compound! Pour fresh walnut shell in the tumbler start it up and then add a goodly amount of the rubbing compound ( liquid of course!) give the mess 20 minutes or so to get absorbed by the walnut shell than add cases and run it for 2 hours!

Nothing wet nothing drying and works very well.

[mooman76]

There are some very good ways to clean brass here so I just want to add that when I was picking up brass out in the desert and it was very dirty I carried an old plastic bucket that I drilled holes in the bottom. It wouldn't get the brass clean but I could get rid of allot of excess dirt so your tumble media or whatever you use to clean brass didn't get as much dirt in it.

[Beekeeper]

OK Felix you made me go look!
Have the container sitting in front of me and it is " sodium bisulfate" sorry about that.
Now where did I come up with " phosphoric acid"?
I do know it works great for cleaning range brass as I just finished cleaning 4000 .223 that I got from a recycler.


Jim

[mauser1959]

Sodium Bisulfate might be a good addtion as it is an acidic salt.

[JRR]

I obtained a used water bed vibrator motor. Duct taped it to the side of a 5 gallon plastic bucket. A large colander from a pasta pot suspended from the lid of the bucket. Filled the bucket with colander installed with a water, vinegar solution. Put the cases or other small parts in the colander and turn on the motor. A couple hours later and beautiful cleaned cases ready to go. No media stuck in the primer pockets.

I use this method with different solutions for de-greasing bicycle parts and chains, and many other small parts.

Jeff