Badly tarnished brass

[Jim]

Forgive me for bringing a question not relative to cast boolits to this room, but I find the most knowledgable hang out here.
I found a lot of very badly tarnished brass at the club range the other day. I brought it home, put it in the tumbler and let it run for more than 24 hours. Some cleaned up to a usable level, but most did not. OK, that ain't workin'.
How can I get the tarnish off this brass? I'm one of the world's worst for picking up brass and I can't leave a case laying there if it ain't crushed beyond use.

Thanks guys!

[Calamity Jake]

Iosso Case Cleaner from Midway or Midsouth does a real good job, just follow the directions. It's reusable over and over.

[Sundogg1911]

I put a cap full of Hoppes solvent in with my crushed walnut for cleaning brass, then I use dillon rapid polis in corn cob. This usually does the trick for really ugly brass. If it's not too bad I skip the first step.

[Powderpacker]

Probably the last resort is "NEVER-DULL" wadding polish. I've never found a case it wouldn't clean up but it requires that each case be cleaned individually with a lot of rubbing. You'll have to decide if it's worth the effort .

[Goatlips]

One of those idiots on TV hawks a cleaner called "KABOOM". My wife used it to take the chrome off the fixtures in the shower, (unintentionally). [smilie=1: I sprayed some on my Black Powder brass in conjunction with my usual Dawn soaking - works like magic. :mrgreen:

Goatlips

[pumpguy]

I found a pile of 9mm that had sat outside for about a year. I tumbled them for a few hours in rouge treated walnut hulls. They are still brown, but, they are smooth and I have loaded them about 5 times with no ill effects. I really only tumble things clean so they don't wear on my dies. I don't care how shiny they are if they work.

[Jim]

Jake,
I checked out the Iosso stuff. Midway has it for $28 and some change/gallon. Just out of curiosity, I went to the Iosso site. $119 !! Tidy profit margin, ya' think!?

Goatlips,
I thought about that kaboom stuff. I just can't bring myself to respond to that flippin' loudmouth and give him $20 for a quart of his horse pee.

[Calamity Jake]

Jim, that Iosso is a little expensive, but that gal will last 2 yrs, or longer.

[imashooter2]

50% store brand vinegar, 50% boiling water. Some folks add a little squirt of dish soap, I don't bother. Cover deprimed brass with solution, swirl occasionally. In an hour your heavily tarnished brass will be clean. Rinse twice in clear water, set out to dry. Save solution in an old milk jug for reuse.

[freddyp]

Try "Jasco Prep & Prime" available at your local Ace hardware store. It's very inexpensive and will save you alot of tumbler time. I just take my brass and throw in a few cap fulls of the liquid, in a separate bucket. After five minutes I rinse the brass with cool tap water and drain, twice. Set the brass in a towel and dry them off. Set out in the sun until the primer pockets are dry and then tumble them to the desired shine.

[44woody]

Jim if you use never dull get a lee case trimer that goes in a drill and use it it will only take you a few sec to clean a case up that way when I hurt my back I did many thousands that way just so I could be occopied :castmine: 44Woody

[felix]

Vinegar tends to take out the zinc first, and makes the brass too coppery for my taste. The best product I have found that is slow enough not to cause damage is a swimming pool product for cleaning filters. The "ph" is high enough to keep the leaching more commensurate with the cartridge brass composition. The trick is to stir continually, keeping the brass from sitting in one spot. About a 100 rounds at at time, for about a minute in cool water, not hot. Hot makes the reaction far too fast. Rinse very well, and then seperate those which are still "dirty" for another run. ... felix

[jonk]

I would personally say that if clean, it wouldn't matter if tarnished- just keep reloading and tumbling and they'll eventually clean up, or else you'll lose them, or wear out the case, or whatever.

That said, to get things shiny, if I must (and I do sometimes get the hankering to do so) walnut media WITH rouge and a spoonful of mineral spirits (I find it works better than any polish- it removes the leftover grease from my cast bullets!) left 4-6 hours leaves everything shiny yellowy white.

[felix]

The principle behind the swimming pool chemicals is not to shine the underlining metals, but only eliminate the crud. Shine is not the objective in this situation, but grease be gone is, and putting the ph of the base metal back into proper range so that it can be shined if so desired. ... felix

[Shiloh]

I use muriatic acid, a diluted hydrochloric acid for cleaning concrete, brick, stone and tile. Got mine from Ace Hardware.

I use a PLASTIC 2 1/2 gallon bucket. Don't Use a Metal Bucket !! Fill the bucket with the brass and water to cover brass, warm water speeds it up a little. Add just a few cap fulls of the acid to the mix. Swish it around with a broom or paint stick, and right before your eyes the tarnish dis-appears!! :-D

Some pieces may have a pinkish hue but it tumbles off.

It doesn't take long and probably shouldn't sit for a long time. Rinse well, dry on a towel. and tumble as usual. A hot summer sun dries it in a few hours by turning the drying brass.

Been doing this for years and have had no problems. I have 9mm, .38, and .30-06 brass that his been loaded multiple after this treatment with no problems.

A quart of acid lasts a long time and doesn't go bad.

Shiloh :castmine:

[Hud]

Here's another recipe that some may want to play with:

1oz laundry det
1 cup lemon juice
1 qt white vinegar
h2o to make 1 gal

Not as fast as Shiloh's but has worked for me

Hud

[Ohio Rusty]

I have some 38's that were in storage and got a green coating on them. I tried running them thru the rock tumbler with walnut media but thet just turned the green tarnish to black. I tried a little lighter fluid (Naptha) on a rag and the shells came out nice and clean and took all the tarnish off instantly. Might be something to consider for those stubborn empties.
Ohio Rusty

[USARO4]

Birchwood-Casey brass case cleaner. It comes as a concentrate in a 16oz bottle, makes 4 gal of cleaning solution. I'm still using the first quart I made up 4 years ago. Dunk the brass in the solution, wait 3 minutes, rinse with cold water, presto, clean brass. It even cleans black powder tarnished brass. You still have to tumble after cleaning to get it shiney. I think I paid about $10 for it.

[Jim]

Felix,
What's this magic "swimming pool chemical" you speak of?

[bigborefan]

I'm surprised that no one brought up ceramic media with a cleaning agent that can be bought with the media. I've heard nothing but good things about ceramic media so I broke down and bought some. I'll never go back to the normal cleaning medias. Two hours in a tumbler and the brass looks better than new, inside and out. My reloads look fantastic. Anyone who uses this method knows what I mean.

[No_1]

Where did you get it at. Give us details of media size and the rest of the clues so we can do it too.

R.


I'm surprised that no one brought up ceramic media with a cleaning agent that can be bought with the media. I've heard nothing but good things about ceramic media so I broke down and bought some. I'll never go back to the normal cleaning medias. Two hours in a tumbler and the brass looks better than new, inside and out. My reloads look fantastic. Anyone who uses this method knows what I mean.

[Cimarron Red]

I agree with Bigborefan. I've been using ceramic media for six or seven years, and the cases look better than new, even BP cases which I shoot mostly.

[bigborefan]

No 1, There are a few places that sell the ceramic media but at the present only Buffalo Arms is the only one that comes to mind at the moment. I'll do a check later and post other places. The ceramic media comes in usually 6-8 lb amounts which is perfect for my Thumlers tumbler. The media is kind of pricey at about $40 but it lasts forever. I don't think it wears out. Usually, you can buy it by itself but is usually a better buy with the cleaning agent that they sell as a kit. I shoot blackpowder cartridges and used every other type of media out there with poor results. I read threads on BPCR forums where these guys raved about the ceramic media for cleaning cases and decided to give it a try. It's almost too good to be true. Cases look perfect with no spots or tarnish anywhere. Even the primer pockets look like new. The media is made of ceramic and are cylindrical and about 1/8" in diameter and about 3/16" in lenght. When used with a teaspoon of the cleaner it comes with, majic happens.

[felix]

Filter and Cartridge Cleaner..............Sun Products


http://cgi.ebay.com/Sun-Filter-Cleaner_W0QQitemZ120145862193QQcmdZViewItem


Several capfulls into a plastic one gallon bucket (jug with top sliced off). Use cool water to cover cases, 100-150 30-06 size cases. Twirl cases for about 3 minutes, and then rinse throughly after straining out the cleaner solution from the cases.

felix

[Cimarron Red]

I use the ceramic media from Dave Maurer. No web site but his phone number is:

517-669-9801 or email dkittydave@aol.com

Dave's easy to deal with. I just phone him to order his cleaning solution or his bore cleaning patches, and he sends them immediately. Then I send him a check.

[Petander]

Rhubarb works quite good. We grow it so there´s a good supply.


If I leave a full tumbler overnight with some cut rhubarb leaves, most of the brass looks very nice the next morning. Even the stuff that has been outside for a year or two looks much better - and after a couple of reloads / tumblings that ugly brass has the same shine as the rest. I use this for mixed pistol brass like 45 ACP. After a long tumbling like this I don´t need to tumble for more than an hour or so the next time.


Lamp oil works too, just throw in some small rags dipped in lamp oil. The rags get very dirty so they obviously clean the media a little too. But I prefer rhubarb for really dark brass.


My media is about 50/50 walnut and rice.

[Jim]

RICE? Now, that got my attention! Never heard of that. That ceramic media is something I'm going to check out. As I said in my first post, some of the brass I pick up is really bad. But if it ain't crushed beyond use, I just can't walk away from it.
Rice, huh? That really works?

[Lloyd Smale]

Never was one that need cases to look like new or better. I clean them because they will wear on your dies and dont worry about how shinny they are. If I find cases that are that tarnished i just dont pick them up. Brass for most cartidges is realitively cheap and if there that bad i just toss them. If treated walnut doesnt clean them they go in the scrap bucket. Maybe a hard to find case is worth the extra bother but ive got more important things to do then take extra time to wash cases.

[EDK]

You can get the ceramic media from SAGEBRUSH PRODUCTS (that's where I got mine--first class people to deal with) or CABELAS' or BUFFALO ARMS or SHILOH SHARPS or BIGLUBE.COM(who had it priced super cheap and there was some discussion awhile back about his product.) among others.

I got some really nasty looking .44 magnums off e--- before their ban and several hours in the ceramic and sagebrush chemical made them look better than new stuff. Give it a run and then wash with water, let dry and tumble in corn cob grit or walnut grit. I use the same procedure with black powder empties from my SHILOH SHARPS BIG FIFTY.

:castmine:

[Cimarron Red]

Of course, no one needs to have shiny cases, but shooting such cases makes it much easier to spot problems developing with your brass, such as excessive stretching and signs of case separation and slight splits in case mouths. Also, ceramic media cleans the primer pockets (obviously of de-capped cases,) and it cleans the inside of the cases. This is important to me because I shoot many long range and mid-range BP loads. With BP, inadequately cleaned cases can build up a deposit in the neck area which can result in increased neck tension -- not a good condition because it can cause inconsistent 'bullet pulls,' an accuracy killer. And, shooters' preferences being what they are, some guys -- me among them -- gain a measure of confidence from shootiing clean and shiny cases.

[Jim]

Call it vanity, obsession, or keeping up with "the Joneses" at the range. Call it what you want. I like my brass to look like it just came out the box and then some. When I get my brass the way I like it, the only way you'll know that some is older is by the NATO head stamp. I've got 5 rds. of .45 ACP dated "33" and they are mirror finish.