Low cost brass cleaning - round one

[Bmi48219]

The idea came to me the other day as I was picking up my spent brass at the range. The range officers know I reload, assign me in an end stall and sweep ALL the brass into a pile behind me. My brass is easily identified, way dirtier than all the recently once fired stuff. While I am not easily embarrassed, (actually a brass cleaning system is on my wish list) I decided I should do something to enhance my range image.
Today I put a used .30 caliber bore brush in my cordless drill. I pushed a grungy .30 carbine brass over it and ran the drill for 15 seconds while holding a piece of 0000 steel wool on the brass. Sadly the result didn't look like a new brass, but it did look a lot cleaner. Considering the brass had been lying in a coffee can for 10 years with a bunch of its peers, it really doesn't look too bad. Especially since I want to buy a case trimmer. I may try a coarser grade of wool next. Or some polishing compound.

The pic on right is dirty brass mounted on brush, middle one is brush in drill, one on left is "cleaned" brass on brush. In all 3 pics the piece of brass laying on bench furthest from drill chuck has also been "cleaned"
Did 40 pieces in 15 minutes, blew them off w/ compressed air. The brush even cleaned the inside most of the way down to the primer pocket.


164207164208164209

[petroid]

Try this. Take your (preferably deprimed) dirty brass and put in in a big bowl of hot water. Add some dish soap and some vinegar or lemon juice. Run your hands through, mixing and turning the bras over and over for five or ten minutes, then let sit for 30 minutes to an hour. Drain and rinse thoroughly, then lay out on an old towel to dry. It helps to agitate the brass so that no water droplets are left to make spots as they dry. Not perfect but cleans up nasty brass pretty good. Or use an old pillow case with dirty brass inside. Tie the end up tight and run through the clothes washer and dryer. Best to do without the Mrs. around.

[DerekP Houston]

I was going to suggest SS pins and a tumbler, but then noticed the "low cost" cleaning. I'd go for the washing machine first try as it seems the least amount of labor. Lemishine and dawn soap cleaned up my first few batches fine before I got a tumbler.

[Outer Rondacker]

I use an empty powder jug and just swish it around for three mins. Oh put in dawn lemon juice and hot water. I do this for small batches.

[petroid]

Find an old ink jet printer. Doesn't have to work. Make sure it has a sheet metal base plate and metal brackets for the paper rollers. Strip it down to the frame and paper rollers. Wire the power supply up to the motor turning the paper roller. Get a cheap jug from the dollar store with a wide mouth watertight screw on lid. Instant rotary tumbler

[bassnbuck]

For dirt cheap clean brass a dab of lemishine on a rag. Rub brass and dry on clean rag. Try it once,works great.

[Ole Joe Clarke]

I use the citric acid wash, it's cheap. We used to wash our empty shot shells in the washing machine and run them through the dryer, with the wife's blessing. I might try that with some brass.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

[s1120]

I use a 35 buck wet tumbler from HF, with water, a splash of dish soap, and a cap of lemon juice. Cheap, and gets them nice and shiny!!

[reddog81]

5 gallon bucket, soap (optional), hot water, rinse, repeat. It takes under 5 minutes and is just as functional as buying the most high end tumbler and spending crazy amounts of money on media and SS pins.

To dry I lay out the brass on a towel in the basement. If you want the to spend an additional 5 minutes rolling the brass around on the towel you can actually clean up the cases pretty well.

[Bonz]

Frankford Arsenal Rotary Tumbler for $164.99 at Amazon - uses water, Dawn dish detergent and Lemishine to wash 8 pounds of brass in 3 hours
https://youtu.be/-CK252BJn_4

[OS OK]

Frankford Arsenal Rotary Tumbler for $164.99 at Amazon - uses water, Dawn dish detergent and Lemishine to wash 8 pounds of brass in 3 hours


https://youtu.be/-CK252BJn_4

One of my loading pards bought one and the timer went out on the second batch…they sent him another 'complete' unit without question…hows that for customer service?

[mdi]

Yep, BTDT. Before I got a tumbler I had been reloading for mebbe 12 years and I used a hardwood dowel, tapered, for a "mandrel" to clean my brass whenever I wanted some "BBQ Ammo". Shove a case on the mandrel/dowel and use some steel wool. Sometimes the nekkid brass would tarnish in a few days so I tried some "Pledge" spray on the steel wool, just enough to leave a very light film of polish on the brass. Worked for me...

My first encounter with reloaders was at a Police Range and two fellers that I saw each time I went there were shooting "brown" ammo in their 1911s. Getting closer and finally getting up courage to ask, they told me they reloaded their own ammo and just wiped the cases. Whatever they were doing worked as their targets (a few magazines worth fired at each target) usually showed one hole about 2" @50'. Tumbling ammo to get a shine wasn't considered important back then, I guess...:mrgreen: :mrgreen:

[Bonz]

One of my loading pards bought one and the timer went out on the second batch…they sent him another 'complete' unit without question…hows that for customer service?

I bought mine over a year ago because of a hernia surgery. My commercial tumbler weighs about 65 pounds loaded with 16 pounds of brass, water, ss pins, etc. So I bought the Frankford Arsenal Rotary Tumbler so that I could keep washing & reloading while waiting to heal up. Honestly, its so much easier to wash brass with, does as good of a job as my commercial unit and is so much lighter, I would never get rid of it. If it quit working tomorrow, I would order another one within minutes. No plans on getting rid of my commercial rotary tumbler but honestly don't know if I would ever use it again.

[OS OK]

PS…saw that movie on YT…a Harbor Freight 'router speed control' @ $19.99 ought to slow them down…if that's an issue…prolly quieter that way too.

[Don Fischer]

The idea came to me the other day as I was picking up my spent brass at the range. The range officers know I reload, assign me in an end stall and sweep ALL the brass into a pile behind me. My brass is easily identified, way dirtier than all the recently once fired stuff. While I am not easily embarrassed, (actually a brass cleaning system is on my wish list) I decided I should do something to enhance my range image.
Today I put a used .30 caliber bore brush in my cordless drill. I pushed a grungy .30 carbine brass over it and ran the drill for 15 seconds while holding a piece of 0000 steel wool on the brass. Sadly the result didn't look like a new brass, but it did look a lot cleaner. Considering the brass had been lying in a coffee can for 10 years with a bunch of its peers, it really doesn't look too bad. Especially since I want to buy a case trimmer. I may try a coarser grade of wool next. Or some polishing compound.

The pic on right is dirty brass mounted on brush, middle one is brush in drill, one on left is "cleaned" brass on brush. In all 3 pics the piece of brass laying on bench furthest from drill chuck has also been "cleaned"
Did 40 pieces in 15 minutes, blew them off w/ compressed air. The brush even cleaned the inside most of the way down to the primer pocket.


164207164208164209

I did it that way years ago, my brass looked new. I used a worn brush for inside the neck and wrapped some 0000 around it, had to fit fairly tight. Then in my other hand I wrapped 0000 all around the case. If I squeezed a bit the case stopped turning and the brush cleaned inside the neck. Lighten up the grip and the brush inside the neck caught and spun the case in your hand. But it sure was a slow process! Now I have a vibrator tumbler from Midway. Throw case's in and leave it several hours. They don't look new but they are clean! For me, the point of the process is simply to clean them!

[3006guns]

Try some white (fine) or green (medium) Scotchbrite instead of the 0000 wool. Polishes much faster.

[Pardini]

I've always just used crushed walnut from the pet store, 30 years. Always got clean shines brass. Wet tumbling just seems like a lot more work. ......But......I was at the the beekeepers store and saw some citric acid powder in a baggie. Thought why not. Got home and added just a dash to some water and soaked, no agitation, some old BP range pick ups. Wow I was amazed how clean and shiney they got in 5 minutes.

[dverna]

The idea came to me the other day as I was picking up my spent brass at the range. The range officers know I reload, assign me in an end stall and sweep ALL the brass into a pile behind me. My brass is easily identified, way dirtier than all the recently once fired stuff. While I am not easily embarrassed, (actually a brass cleaning system is on my wish list) I decided I should do something to enhance my range image.
Today I put a used .30 caliber bore brush in my cordless drill. I pushed a grungy .30 carbine brass over it and ran the drill for 15 seconds while holding a piece of 0000 steel wool on the brass. Sadly the result didn't look like a new brass, but it did look a lot cleaner. Considering the brass had been lying in a coffee can for 10 years with a bunch of its peers, it really doesn't look too bad. Especially since I want to buy a case trimmer. I may try a coarser grade of wool next. Or some polishing compound.

The pic on right is dirty brass mounted on brush, middle one is brush in drill, one on left is "cleaned" brass on brush. In all 3 pics the piece of brass laying on bench furthest from drill chuck has also been "cleaned"
Did 40 pieces in 15 minutes, blew them off w/ compressed air. The brush even cleaned the inside most of the way down to the primer pocket.


164207164208164209

My time is worth a lot. Will not waste it cleaning 160 cases an hour. Many better options posted above

[MUSTANG]

Your on the track of how I cleaned brass for years when I was a young Marine with little cash. Lee could be your answer to current cleaning needs and near term requirements for trimming brass.


You might consider buying a Lee Case Trimmer and Lock Stud (http://www.midwayusa.com/product/476992/lee-case-trimmer-cutter-and-lock-stud). this gives you the Stud to go in your drill.

http://media.midwayusa.com/productimages/120x90/primary/476/476992.jpg


Then buy the Lee Case & Shellholder for .30 Carbine (or other cases you reload for). http://www.midwayusa.com/product/251723/lee-case-length-gage-and-shellholder-30-carbine . This gives you the case head/Shell holder you need to cinch the Case down while you polish the brass case with 0000 steel wool, or other appropriate brass cleaning material. I still use this for my 50BMG applications as it is much more rapid than 5 or 6 cases in a tumbler at a time.

http://media.midwayusa.com/productimages/120x90/primary/334/334667.jpg

This low tech/low cost solution might be your best option for now.

[RP]

I see a lot of post on cleaning with lemon juice and soap and just laying on a towel to dry, I wet clean my brass during the winter I shake it off good and toss it in the walnut vibe cleaner to dry it. But during the summer or really just shiny days try laying it out in the sun on a towel. Warning the brass gets real hot so don't just grab a handful odd how something that is reflecting so much light will retain so much of the heat.

[Bullwolf]

I've been washing my de-primed cases in hot water, dish soap, and lemon juice for a while now instead of tumbling my dirty range brass. I have a couple of lemon tree's, so I gave it a try after reading the citric acid case cleaning sticky.

Lately I've been using citric acid canning powder, instead of lemon juice.

A teaspoon of citric acid powder, and a few drops of Dawn dish soap added to hot water makes some of the cleanest brass I've ever seen. I do this all in a plastic container, and agitate the brass using a plastic slotted spoon, that was probably previously intended for use as a salad mixing spoon.

I don't clean brass in a metal container, or use any type of metal mixing implements when cleaning brass using citric acid.

I've also been using an inexpensive Lee universal de-priming die before washing my brass to get the primer pockets clean as well. An added benefit is that doing so keeps range dust, and dirty primer residue off the ram of my nicer reloading press.

You don't have to clean your brass this well, but its kind of fun to.

I load lots in the Winter time. If I happen to be in a hurry to dry my cases, I will put them on a large bath towel, and make a pocket of sorts out of the towel, and then heat the brass up using an electric hair (blow) dryer. I've found that cases will dry very quickly when using this method. It's a big help when the sun isn't out.

I also add a cap full of automotive wax (Meguiar's Carnauba, or Nu-finish) to my tumbler media, and my cleaned brass stays slick and shiny for a long time. My tumbling media stays clean for a longer time as well now that I've been washing my dirty brass, instead of trying to tumble it clean.



- Bullwolf

[VinceG]

Any citric acid cleaner or warm water and vinegar works for me. Soak it overnight. Dry it in the oven or on a in the sun and it is good to go. Tumble if you want an extra shine.

[lightload]

All suggestions are excellent. A quickie method for me is to lay cases(like 150-200 9mm)on an old bath towel loaded with a long spray of charcoal lighter fluid and roll them around to remove dust or dirt. You can hit the cases with a shot of fluid for good measure. Then I dump the cases on a another cleaner towel and roll them around. Now I'm ready to reload.

In my example I omitted cleaning primer pockets because the cases have not been sized or deprimed. My purpose was to clean them up for general principle and to protect the resize die surface. If I'm loading a large batch, I'll avoid quickie steps and do it right--primer pockets and all.

[country gent]

Never dull wadding cloth used to be very popular for hand cleaning cases. I have used it before spinning cases on a mandrel, It does work good and cases are bright. I perfer my dillon vibratory with ground corn cobs treated with Iosso case polish. a cap full is all thats needed so a can lasts awhile. I use fine corn cobs for blasting as the grit is finer and dosnt plug flash holes. A soft flannel or cotton cloth impregnated with polish should do well also, just dont let the mandrel grab it and wrap you up.

[jaysouth]

To keep lead salts out of my tumbler medium and to protect the grandson that processes the brass, I dump dirty brass in a five gallon bucket with hot water, dawn and white vinegar. After soaking and drying, industrious grandson then decaps and tumbles it in lizard litter, walnut shells with a drop of turtle wax. By not putting range dirt and lead salts in the hopper and adding a dryer sheet to the tumbler with each batch, I can make the litter last for years with occasional topping off, and avoid breathing lead and dust when separating brass from the walnut shells.