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Thread: Nice and shiny

  1. #1
    Boolit Buddy DeanoBeanCounter's Avatar
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    Nice and shiny

    Question for people who like there brass shiny and clean. How do you do it? I don't know if this has been asked before but here it is. Range brass is usually the hardest to clean up.
    Thanks
    Dean

  2. #2
    Boolit Master AnthonyB's Avatar
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    Any brand of tumbler, I like the Frankford Arsenal but the Rebel 17 is maybe better. Stainless steel pins or chips, Dawn dishwashing soap and/or car wash and wax and a very little Lemi-Shine.
    Tony

  3. #3
    Boolit Grand Master

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    A couple hours in walnut with a couple tablespoons of liquid car wax has always been shiny enough to suit me. The wet cleaners with media will produce the brightest and cleanest… sometimes so clean you have to tumble in walnut or cob so that the expanders don’t gall and stick.
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  4. #4
    Boolit Master Bad Ass Wallace's Avatar
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    I use a Lyman wet tumbler with stainless steel pins. Add pins, soap, a 1/2 teaspoon of Citric Acid, and water. Cleans the case back to new both internally and externally. Now I can see any flaws/cracks etc.!

    Hold Still Varmint; while I plugs Yer!

  5. #5
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    I'm a old school, dry media guy.

    Range brass gets washed in soap & water, a bore brush run through the neck,
    then dried out on a towel until I get around to running the tumbler.
    I put them in it with corn cob media and some automotive polish, then let it run over night.

    Then they get a rinse in lacquer if I have any, or gasoline if I don't to rinse any abrasives off before they go through the dies.
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  6. #6
    Boolit Master RKJ's Avatar
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    I use a HF dual rock tumbler and stainless steel pins, Dawn dish washing liquid and about 1/2 of a medicine cup of lemon juice. I de-prime first, run them for about 2 hours (+/-) then dry them in front of a box fan overnight. They look like new inside and out (including primer pockets).

    I forgot to mention rinsing them with tap water (we have a well so that might make a difference over city water)
    Last edited by RKJ; 06-22-2022 at 07:20 AM. Reason: add another step

  7. #7
    Boolit Master
    Mal Paso's Avatar
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    I wet tumble with stainless pins, RO Water and a few squirts of Dawn dish detergent. Reverse Osmosis water just eliminates the need for anti calcium additives. The brass is clean inside and out and I don't have to buy and dispose of tumbling media.
    Mal

    Mal Paso means Bad Pass, just so you know.

  8. #8
    Boolit Buddy varmintpopper's Avatar
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    https://imgur.com/zJPSPa4

    This a homemade tumbler that can make jewlery like finish on cases using stainless steel pins.

  9. #9
    Boolit Master

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    1.) lemon concentrate, water, a two-hour soak with 15-minute interval vibration gets 'em pretty clean.
    2.) dry
    3.) a couple hour walnut media tumble and auto wax like imashooter2.

    Reload, box, store, and when you are ready to shoot them again, the brass will be tarnished...no big deal.
    If it was easy, anybody could do it.

  10. #10
    Boolit Master

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    I use the Lyman turbo Tumbler with SS pins.
    1/4 teaspoon citric acid and a few drops of dawn soap.
    Tumble for a couple of hours.
    I always deprime first.
    Rinse well a few times with clean water.
    I air dry on a dark towel in the sun in the summer.
    Dry in the old dehydrator in the winter.
    I roll them in an old bath towel first if I am going to use the dehydrator to get the excess water off.

  11. #11
    Boolit Grand Master bedbugbilly's Avatar
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    I use SS pins, a little powdered citric acid, a bit of lemon shine liquid soap and a tumbler wit hot water - shines 'em right up.

  12. #12
    Boolit Buddy


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    Rebel 17 with SS pins, dawn and lemishine. The amount of lemishine depends on your water hardness, for my treated well water, a 9mm case full does it.

  13. #13
    Boolit Grand Master

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    I use a lyman vibratory cleaner with corn cobs every batch it gets a cap full of nu finish polish and a cupful of iosso polish and 4 ounces of alcohol added and ran for 15 mins to distribute. I Then add the brass to it and run until cleaned and shiny. new media is a little slower until it gets completely treated.
    Most of my brass is B;lack powder loaded so it is put in a water jug as fired. The water has some lemon shine and a small amount of dawn dish soap added. it may soak up to a day in this if at a match. Rinded several times and dried it cleans and shines up pretty quick.

    My corn cob is I think 20-40 grit which is small enough to pass thru the flash holes sold for basting. Im on my 3rd 50 lb bag.
    I have tried several mediums from rice did good but almost 100% plugged flash holes. Walnut hulls with different treatments not as bright a finish but faster on dirty stained brass. Baking soda added to different medias. Very nice shine but slow and dusty.

    One I have thought to test in corn cob is tooth paste as an additive. reasoning is it is meant as a mild fine polish

  14. #14
    Boolit Grand Master

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    There are two reasons I don't use wet tumbling to clean cases .

    1.) My reloading out building has no plumbing ... I must walk to the house and use our kitchen sink for filling , emptying and rinseing and I need to not leave a mess ... the wife doesn't like me mucking up her nice clean sink , counter top and floor ... she's funny about that !

    2.) After cleaning in water , getting them out , rinsing them all off and cleaning the sink , counter top and kitchen floor ... then I have to get every drop of water dried up from every case and every nook , cranny , deep recess and primer pocket ... a drop of moisture inside a case or primer pocket causes bad things ... they all must be perfectly bone dry before reloading .

    So... because of the above two reasons I , after 50 years of trial and error , have settled on a Dry vibrator filled with Crushed Walnut shell treated with polishing rouge as sold by Midway .
    It's not dusty , the polishing media puts a nice clean and shine on them and leaves a protectant finish that stops them from tarnishing , the Midway media is economical to change often , and doesn't require any additives . Additives are made to extend the life a little , but the truth is , changing the media for a new batch is probably cheaper than buying additives that don't extend the life all that much . The Walnut Polishing media is the right size ...very important ... and the polishing agent lasts a long time .

    Adding stuff like Nu-Finish car wax to tumbling media just loads it up faster and when the media get loaded up it stops cleaning and polishing . Be careful how much liquid you add to dry media ...when it gets damp it stops working properly . I made the cap full of Nu-Finish mistake when I started dry polishing in a vibrator ... the media got to where it wouldn't vibrate correctly ...it was damp and waxy ... so watch how much stuff you add to the dry media .
    Gary
    Last edited by gwpercle; 06-22-2022 at 12:12 PM.
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  15. #15
    Boolit Master
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    I use treated walnut media. Does the trick quickly with little fuss.
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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check