Why polish brass?

[the_ursus]

Nearly all the brass I use is stained and dull. Other than being nice to look at, is there a reason(s) to polish that I'm missing?

[218bee]

No, but keeping brass clean benefits your reloading dies by not scratching them.

[Calamity Jake]

No, but keeping brass clean benefits your reloading dies by not scratching them.

And fire arms

Clean is good, lightly tarnished, I could care less.

[sundog]

I would think that brass from Poland would..., uh, never mind...

[Wally]

Polished/clean brass is much easier to inspect for defects and cracks...I also believe that clean brass is less apt to corrode and get weakened by tarnish. Dirty brass cannot do a gun any good either.

[bohokii]

to me polishing is just a side benefit from cleaning them cause that is my real intent

[awaveritt]

i would think that brass from poland would..., uh, never mind...

lol !!!

[Shiloh]

Easier on dies, chambers and extracts easier, they show up better on the ground when looking for them, easier to inspect, And they look pretty!!:wink:

Shiloh

[mike in co]

clean is perfectly acceptable.

i clean in corn cob ...so polish is a side benefit.

looks better, in my opinion.

mike in co

(no dirt in dies and chambers is a good thing, as other have said)

[mike in co]

cause it matches my polish mn-44


mike in co

[StarMetal]

One reason to polish your brass that nobody has mentioned is to show pride in your hobby. When you go to those car shows tell me how many cars you see that aren't spiffed up and shiny as all get out? It doesn't give them more horsepower so why shine those cars up? Pride my friends.

Joe

[Jim]

I clean my brass for the same reason I clean my guns.

[felix]

Beauty is skin deep. What's important is the underlining strength of the metal. ... felix

[DLCTEX]

Star Metal beat me to it, pride of workmanship. If I'm going prarie dog hunting quanity takes precedent over pride so I spend my time loading and don't wait for pretty. Which reminds me, I used the last of my R-12 loading 22-250 a couple days before Christmas. Guess I'll have to go back to 3031. R-12 isn't produced any more is it? I really liked it with the 55 gr. bullets Bullshop Jr. swaged with lr brass. I'm about of those too.

[docone31]

I do it as a discipline.
It is not "Drill Seargent Shine", it is more of a discipline on a finished product.
Same weight projectile, same primers, same charge, same assembly of components, etc.
Mainly, I tumble to visibly see the potential defects, and get the crud out.
I am not that good a shot, but , I like to have predictable on my end.

[462]

StarMetal has it right. In fact, once I discovered the attributes of Mother's Mag Polish...

[Char-Gar]

I agree 100% that clean is important (for the reasons stated) but shiney is not important. I started reloading long before it became popular to polish cases. The mark of a handloader was dull, tarnished brass. Guys with shiney brass were shooting factory loads and were probably a one box a year shooter. Guys with tranished brass were serious riflemen and shooters. It those days it was a matter of pride to have dull brass.

Shiney brass is a little easier to find in the dirt and weeds, but that is about it for shiney.

[1hole]

" Other than being nice to look at, is there a reason(s) to polish that I'm missing? "

Clean counts, shine don't. And it doesn't last very long anyway.

I've never found it at all difficult to see cracks and splits on un-polished brass. ??

Polishing rifle cases actually shines over any incepient head seperation stretch ring and that ain't a good thing to hide.

[jcwit]

And it doesn't last very long anyway.



Depends on what you use to polish your brass. I've got cases that have been tumbled years ago and are just as shiney now as when I put them away.

[tubb_ooh_lard]

hey dale i seen you was loading for a 22/250 ive been loading for it about 5 years now and ive had my best results using varget with nearly as good results using h380 and win 760 although with ball powders i use a magum primer my savage mdl 12 shoots about 2 1/4 inches at 200 yd using a 50 gr nosler bt and 39.5 grains of varget chrono's at about 3800

[wistlepig1]

Clean is good, shinny is pride in our craft!

22-250, 50 gr Vmax, 35.0 grs of ball Accurate #68 (cold weather) Chrono @3800 fps, 32.0 in 90+ weather, Colorado Prairie Dogs don't thinks its funny at all!!! Longest shot with this load from my Savage , a measured 440 yds, never discout luck. Non windy day [smilie=w:

[Recluse]

Star Metal beat me to it, pride of workmanship.

At the end of the day, that is exactly what it is for me. Same as pride in the boolits I cast.

Of course, the wife and daughter tell me they prefer shiny like-new looking brass for the rounds they shoot. Best to keep them happy, eh? :)

:coffee:

[Hardcast416taylor]

As a personal rule, of my own, I throw the brass that was just fired into a tumbler first and then start cleaning the guns that were fired. Robert

[Mark]

As mentioned, clean is good. Shine is for you. I read of some fellows leaving their brass in the tumbler for 8 hours. That seems rather excessive. My poor, neglected brass rarely sees the inside of the tumbler for more than an hour.
Mark

[1hole]

[QUOTE=jcwit; Depends on what you use to polish your brass. I've got cases that have been tumbled years ago and are just as shiney now as when I put them away.[/QUOTE]

Faster tarnishing sorta depends on the humidity in your area more than the polish used.

[Oldtimer]

I add a tablespoon or two of Brasso to my tumbler media. Cases come out clean, and polished. Does'nt take long either. Bob

[DLCTEX]

Brasso contains ammonia which is reportedly bad for brass, but others have used it for years and report no ill effects. I use New Finish car polish for an additive.

[RP]

How you store your clean brass also helps or hurts the shine. I keep mine in plastic shoe boxes they are not air tight but if i but some in baggies to keep seperate they stay shiny loneger. I use neufinsih polish and brasso and some new stuff I found from kit for scatch removal no wax. all works good but the neufinish is the best so far.

[jcwit]

Brasso contains ammonia which is reportedly bad for brass, but others have used it for years and report no ill effects. I use New Finish car polish for an additive.

Not recommending Brasso at all in fact I recommend against using it, however I think why most get by using it is the fact the ammonia evaporates out of the media leaving only the solid polishing agents. Not the same thing as polishing your brass when in the military.

[dk17hmr]

You are suppose to clean brass?....dang another thing I need to buy.

[jcwit]

Thats right, if its not one thing its another! Never ending.

[frankmako]

cleaned brass just works better in the reloading dies and the gun.

[montana_charlie]

If you ever anneal cases, polished brass shows the color change more clearly.
Blue is the color to look for, and tarnished brass only shows purples, browns, and various shades of red.

CM

[thenaaks]

Depends on what you use to polish your brass. I've got cases that have been tumbled years ago and are just as shiney now as when I put them away.

i think he meant after shooting it. and you're right, it gets pretty dirty after one firing. but it feels good to pull shiny brass out of the tumbler. but i used to shine pennies with steel wool when i worked at KFC in high school, so go figure

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

Same reason most of us are attracted to women on the basis of their looks, then get into how good a cook/housekeeper they are.

Rich

[rob45]

If you ever anneal cases, polished brass shows the color change more clearly.
Blue is the color to look for, and tarnished brass only shows purples, browns, and various shades of red.

CM

I'm gonna have to agree with montana_charlie on this one.

Some of us polish the brass simply because it looks good.
Others do it to protect the dies.
Some case defects are more easily noticed after polishing, while others are better noticed while the cases are "dirty". (I like to inspect both before and after polishing.)

But the one thing that most definitely holds true is the color change when annealing brass. Not everyone is in a situation that mandates annealing of brass, but for those of us who are, we must quickly learn the "ins and outs" of the process to have it be of any benefit.

Certainly there are many methods used to accomplish annealing of our brass, but every one of them is based upon the premise of applying enough heat (in a quick manner) without overdoing it.

1. If we do not reach the point of annealing, we have accomplished nothing except wasting time (and a little bit of fuel for the torch).
2. If we take it too far, then the case is probably ruined for that particular application, as it will forever remain too soft- it is now beyond the point of getting hardened since the zinc has been "cooked out".
3. If we reach the point in the happy middle where we see that brilliant blue on the case, then we have reached annealing nirvana.

The polish is needed to be able to see the blue. If you're annealing dull/spotty brass and you're able to see the blue, then you're most certainly blessed with better observation skills than the rest of us.

Some people like to use the temperature indicators (tempilaq, tempilstick, etc.) to get a feel for what torch adjustment, time under flame, etc. But who wants to mark every single case? The end result is that the correct temp indicator simply reinforces the fact that a case properly annealed will have the bluish color change.
Even those who use the annealing machines need to have a means of calibration before running the entire batch, and if it (the annealing machine) is set up properly, every case will show that color change.

I'm not saying that I polish every single piece of brass I own, because I don't. It simply depends upon the application.
But any brass destined to be annealed gets polished before doing so.

Good point, CM. Thanks.

[exile]

I polish my brass to save wear and tear on my dies and guns, but also because my wife and other people have been known to look at my reloads and say "these look better than factory ammo", so in my opinion that wins over non-shooters and non-reloaders to something that people can be pretty hostile about. Every little bit helps I guess.

exile

[Wayne Smith]

I was reloading for 30 years and never polished my brass. Then I started loading BP and needed to clean, so I bought a Lyman polisher and ceramic media for that. Since I had the big container I got some walnut media to dry the cleaned brass.

It's an addiction, I tell 'ya! I'm now addicted to shiny brass. Almost everything goes into the tumbler after I shoot it.

[Dframe]

I started out just to clean it thoroughly. Didn't want crud in my dies and chambers. Still do it for that reason though I admit I like it shined up a bit.

[jonk]

I could give a whit whether it's shiny or not. I tumble it to remove lube after sizing. Before sizing I dunk it in a deep fry basket in boiling water to rinse off the range dirt and soot.

[Mk42gunner]

I loaded a lot of brass over the years before I bought a tumbler, or a universal case trimmer for that matter; (a Lee case trimmer and an electirc drill still does a good job for small batches).

Now that things have slowed down, and I am back to using a single stage press; I like to prep my cases in stages. I ususally decap, tumble with plain walnut to clean the cases, then resize the cases and store in an ammo can until I get ready to load.

Robert