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Thread: I want SHINY brass

  1. #1
    Boolit Master FISH4BUGS's Avatar
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    I want SHINY brass

    I have a fair number of 5 gallon buckets of 223 brass. I was digging through them and came across 1000 deprimed 223 mixed brass in sealed zip lock bags. I must have had them for 5 years or more.
    I have no idea where or how I got them. I do a lot of horse trading so who knows?
    This brass was as shiny as new. It was mixed military. I LIKE shiny brass for my reloading. It helps me win my beauty contests with my reloads.
    So it set me to wondering as I was prepping them for reloading...........all the while marveling at how darn shiny this brass was.
    I have an RCBS Vibratory Tumbler that I have had for 30+ years. It works fine. It cleans the brass well but I can't seem to get the "new brass" shine on anything....even with new media. I get them nice and clean and sort of kind of shiny but no cigar.
    How can I get that "new Starline Brass" shine on brass using the vibratory tumbler? Is this tumbler even capable of that?
    Anyone else have any ideas? I am all ears.......
    Collector and shooter of guns and other items that require a tax stamp, Lead and brass scrounger. Never too much brass, lead or components in inventory! Always looking to win beauty contests with my reloads.

  2. #2
    Boolit Master

    Sweetpea's Avatar
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    I use mineral spirits and nufinish.
    "When you can't make them see the light, make them feel the heat." - Ronald Reagan

  3. #3
    Boolit Master

    lefty o's Avatar
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    wet tumbling with a little wash&wax added in will keep em shiny.

  4. #4
    Boolit Master
    Tom W.'s Avatar
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    Try the little green ceramic triangles from Harbour Freight.
    Tom
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    Did I ever mention that I hate to trim brass?

  5. #5
    Boolit Master Hannibal's Avatar
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    As others have said, SS pins , citric acid and car wash n' wax works REALLY well, especially if you store brass in zip lock bags.

    I know of no way achieve the same finish with a vibratory tumbler and dry media.

  6. #6
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    wet tumbling followed by a polish in a dry tumbler.
    it's like washing and waxing the old Buick.

  7. #7
    Boolit Grand Master

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    I use corncobs with iosso brass polish and nufinish added. When I bring the BPCR brass home its in a jug of dish soap water. I start the polisher add 1 cap of the iosso and about the same of nufinish and let run. I rinse the brass several times with hot tap water and soak it in hot water for 5-6 mins. Probably about 10-15 mins run time on the polisher now mixing. I work the cases for a few minutes in a towel to remove water. I then add 4 ounces of alchlol and put the cases into the lyman polisher. I normally run them for 3-4 hours and they come out really nice and shiny as good if not better than new. I use corn cobs from a supply house for blasting work, I believe they are 20-20 grit and come in a 50 lb bag.

  8. #8
    Boolit Master Boolit_Head's Avatar
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    Dry tumble in corn cob overnight with some nufinish and they will look like new.
    On every question of construction let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed.

    Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Johnson, June 12, 1823

  9. #9
    Boolit Grand Master

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    You can get a good shine with corncob, a splash of mineral spirits and a cap full of brass or car polish. The shiniest brass that I have had was with stainless media, car wash and wax and LemiShine. The corncob takes about 12 hours in my Dillon while the stainless is 2 hours. A bath in citric acid ( LemiShine ) before tumbling helps give the corncob a head start.

    There is a learning curve with the stainless media. You water quality ( hardness ) will determine the amount of LemiShine needed and some water makes water spots worse than other types. The stainless media will clean primer pockets if you deprime first where as corncob won't. Some guys use stainless chips instead of the pins and report good results.

  10. #10
    Boolit Master

    Rcmaveric's Avatar
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    I toss them in a vibratory tumbler with walnut media and few cap full of nufinish. They come out come pretty good for my taste. I have forgotten about them for a few hours and they looked about new.
    "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far."
    ~Theodore Roosevelt~

  11. #11
    Boolit Buddy
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    I switched to SS wet tumbling a year ago. Was using two vibratory tumblers with Franklin Arsenal #5 corn with a tablespoon of Midway polish with good results. But I wanted primer pockets clean. Wet tumbling as stated above really gives that (Like New Look). And keeps your dies a lot cleaner.

    Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

  12. #12
    Boolit Master

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    Nothing, I mean nothing, can match ss pin wet tumbling. I took some 60 year old m1 carbine brass to shiny new in no time.

  13. #13
    Boolit Grand Master

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    The level of clean that stainless media can get brass is actually scary. When I first started using stainless media I dug some brass out of the burn barrel at the range and tumbled it. Two hours had it cleaned up but it was not great. I changed the water and ran it for two more hours. In four hours that burned brass came out looking better than new. After seeing the results I promptly took that brass out to my shop and destroyed it. Think shop hammer and anvil. I did not want that burned annealed brass to get back into circulation. No amount of tumbling in walnut or corncob would have even come close.

    There was a very long thread about stainless tumbling on the old Snipershide Forum about stainless tumbling. Snipershide has gone through several changes but I think a search could find it. It discusses mods to the tumbler, formulas for cleaning solutions and drying the wet brass. Its very picture heavy. STM also has a web site with pictures and so does the "Big Dawg" site.

    I would post up some pictures but since Photobucket dumped me I have not learned how to post pictures on the new host site that I joined. Waiting on one of my kids or grandkids to come over!

  14. #14
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    After getting the brass shiny in a wet tumbler with sspins. You should soak the brass in a solution of car wash wax & water to coat the brass and maintain the shine

  15. #15
    Boolit Master FISH4BUGS's Avatar
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    So I take it that my quest (at least using the vibratory tumbler) is impossible?
    By the way, what is Nufinish? Never heard of it.
    Collector and shooter of guns and other items that require a tax stamp, Lead and brass scrounger. Never too much brass, lead or components in inventory! Always looking to win beauty contests with my reloads.

  16. #16
    Boolit Master


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    Fish4bugs, check out the automotive section at wallyworld, look among the car waxes. Or go to Autozone, Napa, Carquest, etc. and look in similar places.
    Micah 6:8
    He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

    "I don't have hobbies - I'm developing a robust post-apocalyptic skill set"
    I may be discharged and retired but I'm sure I did not renounce the oath that I solemnly swore!

  17. #17
    Boolit Master
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    Automotive polish that's been on the market, nearly 30 years......it's that good. Been using it as a replacement for Westley's on my vehicles, when it was discontinued.

    Winelover

  18. #18
    Boolit Grand Master

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    Quote Originally Posted by FISH4BUGS View Post
    So I take it that my quest (at least using the vibratory tumbler) is impossible?
    By the way, what is Nufinish? Never heard of it.
    Its an automotive polish. You can get a nice polish with corncob and automotive polish. It just does not quite get as shiney as stainless media and citric acid. That stuff comes out like jewelry! And it takes less tumbling time, if time is important to you.

  19. #19
    Boolit Master Boolit_Head's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by FISH4BUGS View Post
    So I take it that my quest (at least using the vibratory tumbler) is impossible?
    By the way, what is Nufinish? Never heard of it.
    Sure is. After the brass comes home it gets a hour or two spin in Walnut to get the dirt off then to the resizing die and back overnight in Corncob. Looks like new brass with nice clean primer pockets when I am done.I use this process because I shoot suppressed rifles so the brass gets extra sooty. The Nufinish will help it stay that way.
    On every question of construction let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed.

    Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Johnson, June 12, 1823

  20. #20
    Boolit Master


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    I use Wally World blue car wash and wax that comes in a gallon for $5 or so with a squirt of Dawn with 1/4 TSP of citric acid from the canning section. This is in the Frankford Armory wet tumbler w/their SS pins.

    At first brass would dull up in a few months as I was using a table spoon of the citric acid. Learned here I was using way to much citric so cut it way back and the brass remains nice and shinny after a year or more. The wax in the car wash helps keep them that way.

    I NEVER got this shinny bras with the Vib with walnut or CC even using Dillon's blue brass polish it was still not that pretty.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check