Cleaning Pistol Brass

[Tamitch]

Opinions on the best way to clean 100 to 150 pistol cases at a time?

[Vann]

A gallon of water and some citrus acid in a bucket will do it. How clean do you want them? Shiny clean or just clean?

[jeepyj]

If it's brass (yellow) I use a old rock tumbler with a cap full of lemi-shine and a cap full of carwash soap I use blue coral. Tumble for a couple hours you'll love the results

[michael.birdsley]

Get a Tupperware bowl or a old margarine container. Add some lemon juice aka citric acid, some dish soap, and fill with warm water untill it cover all the brass. I stir with my hands about every ten minutes for a half hour. And they come out clean and shiny. Some times a little bit of crud is left in primer pockets but, it works good for what I want it to do.

[OS OK]

Opinions on the best way to clean 100 to 150 pistol cases at a time?

I have a vibratory unit and a tumbler w/stainless steel pins…now, they will both do the job for you but I prefer my tumble method even though it takes more time and work. Why? Because I'm an old fart and set in my ways…but…when I find a tool that really does a superior job at something…well…I glum onto it. Another reason is that when you de-prime on a universal de-prime die before you clean…the tumble method not only cleans those cases to look new inside and out, primer pockets included but they even clean the the primer 'flash holes'. I think that they should be given attention too. Why? ( you ask a lot of questions!) Because no matter how much attention you put on sizing, priming, belling, powder fill, seating and crimping the entire 'next sequence of events'…interior and exterior ballistics is fully dependent on how well you light that round off.
Now there's your answer from an old fart…old school born n bread…like I said, I'm set in my ways…sometimes even carry things a little too far…but you asked "best way to clean"…you opened this can o worms…so there you have it.
There's other ways too but I ain't got no experience with that other stuff! Of course you could just carry them around in your overalls for a week like my Poppa James used to do…he said that they looked pretty good when they came out of the washing machine! You don't want to know what my Nanny James 'ooopinion' was!

"Good Presidents are mighty hard to come by…they are scarce as hens teeth!"

[paul h]

Best as in cleanest, cheapest, fastest, least labor?

I used to individually clean cases with a rag and a dab of polish and spun them with the drill press using a tapered rod, cheap but slow and labor intensive.

I got a vibratory cleaner, makes them fairly clean but noisy and still some labor sorting out the media. Not that expensive, under $100 but you'll be buying additional media.

I'm planning to build a liquid tumbler from a 5 gal bucket and need to get 10#'s of ss media. Get's cases the cleanest and about the same labor as a tumbler. If you're not handy, cash outlay is going to be well over $100 and could hit over $200 for a larger unit and media. But, you're consumeable cost is way down compared to getting media for a tumbler.

[bangerjim]

For only that small amount.....a rag and a little elbo grease!

For no elbo grease, I use vib tumbler, walnut shells, and a teaspoon of BonAmi powdered cleaner. dirty brass is clean in 15 minutes! Rinse in water and citric acid if you want more shine. Not bright and shiny like some insist on, but I have never seen ANY difference in accuracy of dirty brass (even REAL DIRTY) vs. bright shiny brass!

Brass cleaning is purely a personal thing and the amount of time & energy one wishes to waste on it.

banger

[Bayou52]

SS wet tumbling produces these results every time. Brass like jewelry.

Pics say it all:

http://i1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg578/Bayou413/IMG_20150611_111556_zpsvmsnexwm.jpg (http://s1244.photobucket.com/user/Bayou413/media/IMG_20150611_111556_zpsvmsnexwm.jpg.html)



http://i1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg578/Bayou413/IMG_20150514_131144_zps9lgzf4t9.jpg (http://s1244.photobucket.com/user/Bayou413/media/IMG_20150514_131144_zps9lgzf4t9.jpg.html)



Happy tumbling -


Bayou52

[DerekP Houston]

I use a tumbler with walnut and brass cleaner it came with. I've done lemi-shine before and had good success just make sure you dry them after.

[Sam Casey]

SS needles & pins sounds pretty new school hi-tech to this "OF". Unless they are covered with dirt & mud, I just load them and shoot them. My pistol reloads are light for paper punching only; use commercial for defense.

[OS OK]

DerekP Houston…are you any kin to that Great General Sam Houston down thar? I have a 'brass stuffin buddie out here Sam Houston and son Sam who are decendants. We'all look back at that Great Man with loving kindness. I grew up there back in the 50's and Sam Houston was a big to do in our school history books!


When Houston was challenged to a duel by David Burrnett who was five foot one, Houston, who was well over six feet, said that "he did not fight downhill."

[mozeppa]

i am a sam houston decendant. my uncle did all the geneology .

all the way back to before talahina houston....real name was tiana rogers.

my dad passed 2 years ago thanksgiving week...and is buried near tiana in fort gibson national cemetery, oklahoma.
she and some of my other family lived in the south east (not sure where but maybe georgia.) a

and she stayed with them for a while after she separated/divorced sam houston when he went to texas. she married again to a whisky runner ...
then died of pneumonia.

p.s my grand father was named sam ....as was my father.

[will52100]

For large batches I've got a Thumbler's tumbler, and it works wonderfully with stainless steel media. It's a bit large and cumbersome for small batches though. I bought a Harbor Freight rock tumbler for less than 40$ with a 20% off coupon and use it for 50-100 rounds of pistol ammo with a handful of SS media. Works well and is handy. With the SS media and wet tumbling, deprime first for clean primer pockets.

[OS OK]

i am a sam houston decendant. my uncle did all the geneology .

all the way back to before talahina houston....real name was tiana rogers.

my dad passed 2 years ago thanksgiving week...and is buried near tiana in fort gibson national cemetery, oklahoma.
she and some of my other family lived in the south east (not sure where but maybe georgia.) a

and she stayed with them for a while after she separated/divorced sam houston when he went to texas. she married again to a whisky runner ...
then died of pneumonia.

p.s my grand father was named sam ....as was my father.

Glad to meet ya Pard…can't wait to tell my friend Sam about this…small world, huh?
I really wish we could go dig our favorite Heroes up from the graves…they certainly would have plenty of advice about how we should handle those tyrants in DC…actually I think they would be waaay past the polite talking points!

"Register to vote…we need the largest voter turn out in History in 2016…clean house in 2016…after they are out…we prosecute one and all!"

[Sam Casey]

My first batch ever tumbled; after 2 hours in my new Lyman tumbler with Lyman's walnut media makes the brass shine like new .....BUT
Learned not mix 38, 41 & 223 in same batch as the case unite into each other. Should I be concerned about the layer of red powder inside cases??? Easy enough to clean out pistol cases with steel wool on old brass brush on drill, I assume the 223 have a red lining as well?? Should I be mixing something with Lyman shell media?

[bluelund79]

Sam, put a used dryer sheet cut into a couple pieces in with the media and brass, it'll cut down on the dust

[MtGun44]

Vibrating cleaner with ground corncob and a capful of NuFinish car wax in
it.
Walnut hulls are more expensive, some folks are allergic to the dust from it,
and corncob cleans quicker.

[chutesnreloads]

Sssshhhhh.......sometimes I don't clean 'em at all.......

[DerekP Houston]

DerekP Houston…are you any kin to that Great General Sam Houston down thar? I have a 'brass stuffin buddie out here Sam Houston and son Sam who are decendants. We'all look back at that Great Man with loving kindness. I grew up there back in the 50's and Sam Houston was a big to do in our school history books!


When Houston was challenged to a duel by David Burrnett who was five foot one, Houston, who was well over six feet, said that "he did not fight downhill."

Unfortunately no relation my last name is the P not the Houston ;). I've been by the statue here many times and it was part of our school program.

On Topic: I use the cabelas cheap vibratory tumbler, and just got a Dillon media separator ordered for christmas. Tired of shaking the damn media over and bucket and making a mess.

[Dakooz]

Good thread here. Learn something new here every day. (ex. NuFinish car wax, dryer sheets)

[dragon813gt]

All I use is a vibratory cleaner. Well I guess that's a lie because I do use a cement mixer for large batches. But I use fine walnut media and nu-finish. Turn it on, come back some time later, separate media and you're done. I don't need brass that looks like it's new.

[JeffG]

I use a Lyman 1500 vibratory cleaner with their green corn cob media. Zero complaints, works well, no dust. Like you say, need to not mix brass where one can get inside the other like 9mm and 45 colt.

[John Boy]

OK, pictures on thread so sparkling clean brass so I wont add mine with the same results...
But here's the fastest way to dry all your wet brass ... In Under 2 Minutes! ;)

http://www.theopenrange.net/forum/index.php?topic=7653.msg56565

[wingspar]

I resize and de-prime then put in a sock and run them thru the washer and dryer. I only do 50 to 100 at a time so as not to put to much unbalance on the dryer. They don’t come out looking like brass tumbled with steel pins, but it works.

I do see a Frankford Arsenal Platinum Series Rotary Case Tumbler in my future.

[1_Ogre]

I use a tumber and if I want them real shiney I'll throw in a cap full of "New Polish". Best tumbler I've seen so far is made by Hornady and I've had it for decades. The tub is starting to crack but duct tape covers them up but it keeps going. I fill the tumber about 2/3 with brass and top off with walnut media from Harbor Freight (about 25lb for about $22, about a lifetime supply) and let them run over night or 24hr, all according as to when I remember they are tumbling. It's a quiet tumbler and runs cool. I'll be in the shop working and forget it's even running.

[David2011]

Good thread here. Learn something new here every day. (ex. NuFinish car wax, dryer sheets)

The product is NuFinish Car Polish. It's not a wax but it does help polish the brass and keep it bright for a long time. Dryer sheets are not only good for suppressing dust but they get rid of the static cling in powder measures and plastic funnels or anything plastic that attracts powder kernels.

David