Help me, i got ugly brass

[sheepdog]

No matter how much I tumble in walnut or if I presoak in lemon juice I can't get my brass to look new.

[1Shirt]

As long as it is clean, I am satisfied with brass that doesn't look like factory. Shiny doesn't reduce group size as far as I know.
1Shirt!:coffeecom

[mike in co]

No matter how much I tumble in walnut or if I presoak in lemon juice I can't get my brass to look new.


parden my french...but DUH!!!!!!!!!!

walnut for cleaning very dirty brass..

CORNCOB for POLISHING!

( add a little nufinish car polish and it shines!)


mike in co

[StarMetal]

No matter how much I tumble in walnut or if I presoak in lemon juice I can't get my brass to look new.

The solution I heard is lemon juice, white vinegar, and touch of dishsoap. Don't let them soak real long and agitate them every once in a while. I clean mine that way, then toss them in the vibrator after they are dry to polish them up.

You can look up brass cleaning solutions to get the measured recipes on google.

[AZ-Stew]

Walnut with a little Iosso case polish will make brass look like new. I'd guess most other polishes will produce the same results. Without the polish, you'll get a dull brass finish, but the cases will be clean.

Corn cob will work, too. I just don't want to deal with two types of media and two tumbling (vibrating) operations, one for cleaning and one for polishing, nor the expense of a second tumbling machine to ease the process. This is probably a good process for a commercial operation, but not necessary for most handloaders. A single machine with walnut and polish works fine.

Regards,

Stew

[1hole]

Clean cases are useful. Purty cases are...well, purty. ??

[mike in co]

Walnut with a little Iosso case polish will make brass look like new. I'd guess most other polishes will produce the same results. Without the polish, you'll get a dull brass finish, but the cases will be clean.

Corn cob will work, too. I just don't want to deal with two types of media and two tumbling (vibrating) operations, one for cleaning and one for polishing, nor the expense of a second tumbling machine to ease the process. This is probably a good process for a commercial operation, but not necessary for most handloaders. A single machine with walnut and polish works fine.

Regards,

Stew

actually i use no walnut!
i only use corncob......

walnut is really about dirty, not just once fired cases.
some of mine come of the ground, during winter, and still only corncob

mike in co

[August]

I use Walnut with some of that Orange container car polish that doesn't have any ammonia in it. Nu-Finish, I think it's called.

If you want really spiffy looking brass, get some dillon polish and put it in your Walnut media.

I always take grief from somebody at cowboy shoots because my brass looks new. On the other hand, people find it quickly on the ground and I get it all back.

For me, corn cob media takes too long. YMMV, as does other's, clearly.

[canyon-ghost]

The guys I shoot with tell me that walnut contains "too much of that old black stuff" and prefer corncob. That's just what I've been told.

[AZ-Stew]

Do you have, by any chance, the chemical composition of "that old black stuff"? Just curious.

Regards,

Stew

[AZ-Stew]

actually i use no walnut!
i only use corncob......

walnut is really about dirty, not just once fired cases.
some of mine come of the ground, during winter, and still only corncob

mike in co

Mike,

The reason I pointed him toward walnut and polish is that he says he already has the walnut. I have some corncob, too, but as August says, I, too, find it slow. Each to his own, I guess. They both work.

Regards,

Stew

[mike in co]

Mike,

The reason I pointed him toward walnut and polish is that he says he already has the walnut. I have some corncob, too, but as August says, I, too, find it slow. Each to his own, I guess. They both work.

Regards,

Stew
define slow.
i run two dillon large tumblers, aprox 5 lbs of corn cob, 1000 pcs of brass in each and run them on a timer for one hour and done. during the winter i ocacassionaly run 223 for 2 hours(outside range dirt and mud).

i see guys saying over night and such...just burning up the maching and the electric bill.

mike in co

[AZ-Stew]

Maybe it depends on the brand (design) of the tumbler. Mine runs overnight, but it's not a Dillon. Don't recall the brand off hand. I know when I used a Thumbler's Tumbler the corn cob ran slower than walnut. I haven't tried corn cob in the vibratory machine. A long time ago I bought a container of corn cob that is about half the size of a 55 gal drum from some vendor in Shotgun News. It's one of those cardboard shipping drums that has the metal bottom, upper rim and lid. I'm not even sure where it is after the last move. I'll have to see if I can find it and run a test versus walnut in the vibrator. Maybe that makes a difference. If I have to buy a Dillon to get 1 hour service, I think I'll pass. What I have works, and I'm not in a hurry. Do you use a polish with your cob, or is it just dry? Maybe I should use more/less media with my cases. I haven't experimented with case versus media volume. As I said, I'm not in a hurry, so the experimentation isn't worth my time.

Regards,

Stew

[mtgrs737]

I don't care for walnut media because of the dust, wlanut dust irratates my nose and sinuses. I think it is faster on removing heavy tarnish but the dust when sifting the cases out in my Midway meida seperator is awful. It is so bad that I now place the wand of the vaccum cleaner as close to the sifter to suck up the dust when I pour it from the tumble to the sifter and it works pretty good. I usually clean my brass before loading in corncobb media which can get a little dusty too but doesn't seem to bother me much. Corncobb with a little Midway brass polish works well for me.

[mike in co]

Maybe it depends on the brand (design) of the tumbler. Mine runs overnight, but it's not a Dillon. Don't recall the brand off hand. I know when I used a Thumbler's Tumbler the corn cob ran slower than walnut. I haven't tried corn cob in the vibratory machine. A long time ago I bought a container of corn cob that is about half the size of a 55 gal drum from some vendor in Shotgun News. It's one of those cardboard shipping drums that has the metal bottom, upper rim and lid. I'm not even sure where it is after the last move. I'll have to see if I can find it and run a test versus walnut in the vibrator. Maybe that makes a difference. If I have to buy a Dillon to get 1 hour service, I think I'll pass. What I have works, and I'm not in a hurry. Do you use a polish with your cob, or is it just dry? Maybe I should use more/less media with my cases. I haven't experimented with case versus media volume. As I said, I'm not in a hurry, so the experimentation isn't worth my time.

Regards,

Stew
i made i one hour timer form parts at home depot...0 to 60 min.

first batch with new fresh corncob no polish, but second batch an on get a little polish with each load..it keeps the dust down also.

in a vibrator tiype tumbler...one hour works well in four different sized machines.

i have a rcbs sidewinder...BUT it is used only for moly coating bullets...

i do thousands and thousands each month, i get aprox one month per batch.

mike in co

[August]

I'm sure this is widely known, but on the chance someone doesn't....

I cut up used dryer sheets after I finish the laundry. I cut them into four pieces and put them in the tumbler. The seem to gather up most of the dust. I discard them after each session. I seem to have more dirty laundry than dirty cartridge cases, so I always have dryer sheet around for the next tumbling session.

I always take care to empty my tumbler outside with the wind at my back, too.

Huh... more dirty laundry than dirty cartridge cases... there's something really not right about that....

[montana_charlie]

Clean cases are useful. Purty cases are...well, purty. ??
If your cases have enough 'age' on them to need annealing, pretty ones allow you to see the color change to 'blue'.
CM

[Hardcast416taylor]

I always used corncob for years, before I was politely told by other shooting amigos that walnut was better. So, for several years I used walnut media and put up with the dust and the redness of adding rouge to it and the nasal irration I put up with when seperating the brass out. I finally used the walnut media for a good purpose, I filled my shooting sand bags with it! I went back to corncob with various polishing agents added. I have settled on medium grit sized cob and Nu-finish car polish. There are other size grit cob available as nobody has pointed out to use. Do I care if my brass will shine like new, not really. I use 2 tumblers, a Super sized dillion for the big amounts of pistol cases. A Midway smaller tumbler does the smaller batches of rifle brass. I tumble, or vibrate if you will, for about 2 hours on either tumbler then seperate the cases out using a kitty litter box scoop. Both tumblers are more than a few years old and going strong.Robert

[Suo Gan]

I second that adding the dryer sheets cut the dust 99%.

[sheepdog]

Reason I like them shiny is I use low recoil loadings and dry brass semes to give me feed issues vs nice bright brass.

[dsmjon]

IMO, there is more than one side to a piece of brass. I like for the insides to be clean as well, even though I know such a thin layer of carbon isn't going to hurt anything, it's just my preference. I also take pride in my work. Obviously, a group of 20 going through a single hole is more prideful than a shiny case with a lead top, but I like for my work to be seen as to reflect the amount of time and detail I put toward each round loaded.

[JRW]

if you want really clean brass, get ceramic. No comparison to any of the above.

[mike in co]

if you want really clean brass, get ceramic. No comparison to any of the above.

does ceramic give a smooth bright shinny surface ?

mike in co

[nvbirdman]

I use the old NRA formula of vinegar and salt. Soak for about twenty minutes, agitating a few times, then rinse in clear water and throw them in my tumbler w/walnut for about an hour.
You will be amazed.

[August]

does ceramic give a smooth bright shinny surface ?

Yup, outside AND inside !

Some detergents dull the surface, I've found. The one that produces "new brass" is the RCBS sidewinder detergent. I've gotten bright brass with the low sudsing, laundry detergent from Costco also.

When I've tried Murphy's or Windex, I've gotten a film on the surface of the brass as a result.

Ceramic is really nice. I only use it for black powder stuff because of the increased amount of work associated with the process, however.

[sheepdog]

Do ceramic require more time or something? Assuming it can be reused if washed out and dried.

[JRW]

Do ceramic require more time or something? Assuming it can be reused if washed out and dried.

contact Steve Rhoades via azsharpshooters.com for the ceramic kits. You will receive the ceramic media and liquid solution needed for about 50 bucks. follow the instructions and you should have brass that looks like you used simichrome polish on the stuff. there are some smaller sizes that will do the small bottleneck cases like the 223 etc.

[Bob.]

I use the old NRA formula of vinegar and salt. Soak for about twenty minutes, agitating a few times, then rinse in clear water and throw them in my tumbler w/walnut for about an hour.
You will be amazed.

Thats how I clean brass if it's really tarnished and dirty.
I let it soak untill it starts to change color, wash/rinse dry then tumble in cob.
Looks like new and cuts tumbling time in 1/2 or more .

Bob

[sheepdog]

contact Steve Rhoades via azsharpshooters.com for the ceramic kits. You will receive the ceramic media and liquid solution needed for about 50 bucks. follow the instructions and you should have brass that looks like you used simichrome polish on the stuff. there are some smaller sizes that will do the small bottleneck cases like the 223 etc.

I was thinking about buying the ceramic kit at harbor freight, same thing?

[montana_charlie]

I was thinking about buying the ceramic kit at harbor freight, same thing?
Didn't know they had a ceramic kit.
Post a link to the kit so we can read it's description.

What kinds (calibers) of cases do you want to use ceramic on...and do you have a rotary tumbler?
CM

[JRW]

I was thinking about buying the ceramic kit at harbor freight, same thing?


Didn't know they had a ceramic kit.
Post a link to the kit so we can read it's description.

What kinds (calibers) of cases do you want to use ceramic on...and do you have a rotary tumbler?
CM

the ceramic can be used in a vibratory tumbler, but is best in a rotary tumbler. there are two different kits, one for each application.

[housedad]

if it ain't too much brass, then Tarn-X will make it look good no matter what.