SS pins for cleaning brass.

[Half Dog]

My 2 cents worth of response: there are several combinations of ingredients to add to the water and I’m sure each one works well. For me, the pins aren’t a problem. Cleaning is a summertime event for me. After the brass is tumbled I place them on a towel, in a small plastic kiddie pool, and in the sunshine to dry. At the end of the day the brass is dry and the pins fall out of the brass when I pick them up. I’ll run a magnet around the kiddie pool and pick up the pins that were in the brass.

[pertnear]

Spent pistol primers work really good in place of SS pins. The anvils fall out of the cups and clean the primer pockets out. They also don't get as jammed up in bottleneck cases as the SS pins do.

Run them through on their own with a bit of lemishine/dawn to clean them up initially if you like.

My 2 cents worth of response: there are several combinations of ingredients to add to the water and I’m sure each one works well. For me, the pins aren’t a problem. Cleaning is a summertime event for me. After the brass is tumbled I place them on a towel, in a small plastic kiddie pool, and in the sunshine to dry. At the end of the day the brass is dry and the pins fall out of the brass when I pick them up. I’ll run a magnet around the kiddie pool and pick up the pins that were in the brass.

These are 2 new ideas I need to try! Thanks Guys!

[stubshaft]

Thumblers tumbler, Dawn, 1/4 tsp. Citric Acid and water. Let it run for an hour or two, pat dry and put in a WARM oven to dry completely.

[TimD]

I agree with Don Verna and beemer. Dry tumbling cleans well and prepares the brass for reloading.

I was recently given several thousand 38 special cases in canvas bags that were stored in a basement since the 90's. There was some mold on the bags and a lot of dirt and some corrosion on the brass. The brass had been used for pistol training classes for several years. Any cases that were obviously corroded as evident by the white mold like spots on the inside or outside were discarded. The rest were tumbled for two hours in walnut media which removed most of the crud.

To clean them further before a final inspection I soaked them in hot water, dish soap, and some white vinegar for about 15 minutes, then agitated them at bit, drained and rinsed with hot water a few times. They were briefly shaken in a towel then left to dry overnight. The next day I found a few more corroded cases, some with splits and cracks that were not visible before and some that were stained. Most of it was clean and bright.

When I look at all of the wet tumblers, stainless media, cleaning solutions, polishes, separators, magnets, brass dryers, and other stuff being sold I think about how much money is being spent on cleaning. I think that money is better spent elsewhere.

When I started reloading I could not afford a tumbler. I would wipe the brass off and resize. When it got very dirty I would wash it with hot water, soap, and vinegar, mostly to improve the sight of it.

Now I usually tumble my brass in corn cob media with a little NuFinish car wax and mineral spirits added, or walnut media if it is very dirty, for a couple of hours. I sift the brass out of the media using an old kitchen colander then dump the brass on a towel and give it a quick wipe. I brush the inside of my rifle case necks before sizing. After sizing I might brush the primer pockets, usually not.

Clean as much as you like, but your brass does not need to look new before reloading.

[45workhorse]

Shiny brass shoots more accurately!!!!!
Flame on, I got my asbestos skivvies on!


Just joking, I like shiny brass.
Any of the above methods will work!
YMMV

[Minerat]

I just finished depriming and cleaning 630 scuzzy 40 S&W brass some were so dirty and tarnished they were black. They went into a RCBS sidewinder with a mix of water, 1/2 tsp dawn and 1 tsp/ gallon of citric acid. I use stainless chips and ran for 2 hrs. Then into some corncob media with Cabelas case polish for 1 hr to finish. They look like new and no amount of wiping or soaking would have salvaged about 75% of this batch. It was going to the scrap yard if it had not cleaned up. I'll word it differenty. I shoot more accurately with shiny brass.

[dale2242]

One thing to remember.
Shiny brass is clean brass.
Most of my brass is range pickup.
I SS wet tumble it the first time to be sure it doesn`t have defects, remove stains, and to be sure there is no dirt etc. to harm my dies.
Thereafter it gets cleaned in my vibratory tumbler with walnut shells.