cleaning cases quickly, not sure were this thread should go

[Oklahoma Rebel]

I usually put my cases in a plastic wide mouth jug with gasoline, and shake for a while, then air dry. does anyone know a better way, I don't like soap and water because I usually want to reload the same day, so dry time must be short. any ideas will be appreciate. thanks! Travis

[dverna]

You are joking....right?

Don Verna

[PbHurler]

Um, maybe one of these?


Or maybe some of this


Or possibly some of these:

http://www.sinclairintl.com/reloadin...prod32625.aspx


Or a combination of all of the above; but yeah, NIX the gasoline

[country gent]

CLeaning cases isnt a big thing and isnt hard to do. I have seen "spinners made up using a electric motor to turn them while a coarse cloth fine steel wool or such is held against them. Vibrators and tumblers using walnut or corn cob treated medias works well to clean inside and out sides of cases and primer pockets. Tumblers are now being used to wet clean with stainless steel pins soap and water or ceramics with solvents. Ultra sonic cleaers are also available to clean cases. There are alot of choices available. The spinners are slow, each case has to be handles and are caliber specific but do a fair job. The rotary tumblers with corn cob or walnut shells do a nice job finish with a new look shine and run unattended. With clean treated media 2-3 hours run time will produce nice looking cases. Thisis unattended run time. Vibratorys may be slightly faster and may be quieter. The wet cleans with stainless pins or ceramics is faster and a slightly nicer finish but there is drying time to consider. The ultra sonics I havent used yet but they do clean well and quickly. But there is also draining drying times to consider. I use a vibratory bowl polisher to clean brass with corn cob media this is treated with Iosso brass polish and some alchlol, maybe some nu finish car polish if its handy. 2 hours makes brass acceptable to load 4-5 hours makes new looking brass. If you want the primer pockets cleaned with this then you need to decap before cleaning. A rotary tumbler does basically the ame thing and can be made at home. I have seen poly drum cement and mortor mixers ue=sed for cleaners with corn cobs and some use them with soap water and stainless piins. Tese will clean several thousand cases at a time in a few hours. Take some time decide on your needs and volumne then look around at whats available. A small rock polisher will easily do 40-50 pistol cases at a time. A vibratory bowl type polisher have capacities from 100-150 rifle cases up to 1000 or more. The ultra sonics Im not familiar with enough to comment. Another route is Iosso and birchwood casey make a concentrated wet cleaner you soak brass in and rinse then dry. Theres alot of options out there. Decide on noise level, time spent, volumne, and how clean bright you want your cases.

[Yodogsandman]

A case tumbler will be much cleaner and safer. I normally use corn cob media treated with a polishing liquid. Throw the cases in, tumble for a few hours (while you do something else) then dump into a separator and they're done. No water and no drying time.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Frankford-Ar...4AAOSw1ZBUvZOz

https://www.amazon.com/Frankford-Ars...er+Tumbler+Kit

[NavyVet1959]

Besides the fact that there is a chance that the gasoline itself could leave a residue that you would not want on the cases and the possibility of there being a fire hazard, there are certain things that gasoline will not dissolve, but water and soap will.

[vintagesportsman]

Fella who taught me how to reload used carbeurator cleaner. I did not keep that practice, though too much case neck lube can be cleaned out well with some brake/carb cleaner and a q-tip. I run a Lyman Turbo Vibratory cleaner, Takes an hour and my brass is clean, a few dabs of brasso in the mix and it looks brand new.

[ghh3rd]

Check out citric acid cleaning on this site ... I tried it and it works, although I still prefer to tumble.

Edit- just remembered you didn't want to wait for them to dry,,,, sorry.

[RogerDat]

Dry tumble with corn cob media for polish, use crushed walnut for less shine and more degrundging . Crushed walnut is sold in pet supply stores as lizard litter or lizard bedding for half the cost that sporting goods stores sell it for.

This vibrating polisher is USA manufacture and I have used it to do many 1000's of cases. Like 5 gallon buckets of 223. Still runs great. On sale right now and comes with a sifter to get the brass back out, corncob and some polish. Add a 5 gallon bucket from Home Depot to sift the media into and you are golden.

http://www.cabelas.com/product/shoot...F104661180.uts

I really did a lot of checking around before buying that unit. Well worth the price in in my opinion so I recommend it. There may be more expensive ones that are better but at $59 with the media and sifter pan it is an excellent deal. I just realized I have run that about 7 out of every 10 weekends for at least a couple of years. I have at least 11k of brass I know I ran through it at least once, some more times than that because I can go downstairs and see it in the storage bins.

For cases with a lot of tarnish, or crud a bit of citric acid (canning supply in local grocery and hardware store) also known as pickling salt. in a plastic coffee can or plastic bucket with some water will really clean that off. It also passivates the brass which gives it more resistance to future tarnishing. Probably worth it if you are going to store the brass for future reloading needs.

[reddog81]

I'd just use more gasoline....

In all seriousness, based upon all the cases you reload(your sig line) should be easily cleaned with a damp rag. If the inside of the case has a bunch of build you could use a bore brush.

[John Boy]

http://sassnet.com/forums/index.php?...9895&p=2986915

[runfiverun]

before I got the pin tumbler and even still now.
I wash the cases in citric acid and hot water.
gallon jug with a lid like 5-6 minutes of shaking.
then toss them in the tumbler with some nu-finish.
an hour and a half later they are clean and dry.

[Yodogsandman]

I use corn cob blast media, cheaper and just as good. Just be sure to store it in a mouse proof container and not the original bag...ask me how I know!

https://www.zoro.com/econoline-blast...40/i/G2165387/

[2manygunz]

Fella who taught me how to reload used carbeurator cleaner. I did not keep that practice, though too much case neck lube can be cleaned out well with some brake/carb cleaner and a q-tip. I run a Lyman Turbo Vibratory cleaner, Takes an hour and my brass is clean, a few dabs of brasso in the mix and it looks brand new.

Though it has been a while since I wore the uniform, we used Brasso extensively in the army. Back then, at least, It had a pretty good portion of ammonia as a component. I seem to recall warnings that ammonia will make cases brittle, causing splits on firing or resizing. Just my 2 cents

[Hick]

I toss them in a plastic jug and shake with hot water, drain, then throw them in my wife's clothes dryer (on a tray-- not tumbled!). The're dry in an hour. That's ALL I ever do (and yes-- my cases are not a shiny as everyone else's-- but they reload fine)

[17nut]

I think the fastest way is the Lee way.
Do nothing and let the grime build.

Oh and by the way i oven dry my SS tumbled cases, less than 45min:

[mozeppa]

you could dry them by sticking a lit match to them.
they'll be dry in less than a minute.

really, don't do that.

[GrayTech]

Citric acid wash and oven dry is your simplest solution.

[NavyVet1959]

If the brass are mine and were caught in the tarp that I lay on the ground, there's a good chance I won't even clean them.

If I'm picking up brass that has been in the dirt / mud, I'll wash them with water and Joy dishwashing detergent. I'll then take a towel, grab the ends, and make a sort of hammock from it with some of the brass in the middle. I will then alternate raising one hand and then the next so that the brass tumbles from one end to the other. This dries off most of the exterior and allows a lot of the interior water to also come out. To get them absolutely dry, I spread them out and have a squirrel cage type fan blow on them. If I really needed to speed it up, I guess I could use an oven, but if I'm in that much of a hurry, I'm probably not going to be using brass that came out of the mud in the first place.

[country gent]

Several friends I know who wet clean thier cases use an old foof dehydrator to dry cases. low heat and soft airflow over cases gets them dry in a short time and can run unatteded. Noy sure how many cases they put on a tray or the rotatio if there is any, but it works for them.