Cleaning brass

[Noz]

I've been doing some remodeling on the loading area in my house. Tuesday I found some of my old ceramic media so to consolidate I put it with my steel pins in the Thumlers Tumbler.  Then I found about of 100 rounds of 38 brass that were very old and corroded. I threw them in the tumbler as well.  When I finished for the day I thought "what the heck" and added water detergent and lemishine to the tumbler and started it.
I remembered it this afternoon.  The area in which my tumbler runs isolated from the rest of the house and the noise was not audible..

It is really clean but almost black in color.  I thought of running it thru the vibrator with walnut but decide that the point was to clean it. I'll worry about the shine next time.

[Dick Dastardly]

Howdy Noz,

I first knock out the primers.  Then, I tumble for three hours with SS pins and DD Tumbling soap and water (Ivory flakes will work).  Then, I drain and separate the brass, drain and rinse the pins and do the same with the brass.  Next, I return the brass to the tumbler and pour in the Cermaic Porcelain media.  I pour in another batch of tumbling mix and run the batch for 3 hours.  Then, I separate the brass from the batch and rinse it with clean water.  Next I tumble the CP media for a few minutes with clean water.  I return the CP media to a mesh bag.  The CP media can get dirty and leave your brass clean but dingy looking unless you keep the CP media clean.

I like to air dry my sparkling clean brass in the sun, or behind my computer fan.  I use a mesh onion bag for this.

DD-MDA

[will52100]

I've pretty much settled on SS media, but with my  black powder cases I have to tumble twice, once about 3 hours or so and drain and rinse, then refill with water/lemishine/dawn soap and another 2-3 hours, depending on how cruddy they are.  I occasionally pick up 45 act's off the range that have turned black from weather and this will clean them as well.  In my experience the ceramic media does a quicker job, but likes to bind up and stick in cases so I've pretty much stoped using it.  Also I deprime before tumbling, cases clean inside and out.

[Coffinmaker]

OH.   MY.    GOSH!!  I must be doing something really ........ WRONG!!

I dump all my fired brass, 12Ga, Pistol (sometimes) Rifle (always) in a soak of warm water and vinegar for 20 - 30 minutes.  Dry em (either in the Sun or the Oven, then 30 - 40 minutes in Lizard Litter.  DONE!!  Brass is clean, looks fine, loads fine, shoots fine.  Whole weekend of shooting ..... done in 90 minutes. 

Am I really doing something wrong??

Coffinmaker
(Who is NOT obsessive compulsive about his BRASS)

[Dick Dastardly]

Howdy Coffinmaker,

It's partly about your image.  You know, like your costume, cart and guns.  Sparkling flashy ammo gets more oohs and aahas.  Never doubt your power of appearance.  Why, with shiny enough ammo the Knock Downs will simply fall faster, you'll have less misses and your empties will be easier to find.

DD-MDA

[Ben Beam]

I found a recipe online for a solution as follows:
1 cup water
1/4 cup white vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp fish soap (edit: dish soap may be substituted)

Add to ultrasonic cleaner with brass. Tried it and my brass came out quite shiny after about 8 minutes. Gotta rinse and dry well, but easy and cheap.

[Bunk Stagnerg]

what kid of soap does a fish use? Around here lately it has been so dry fish carry a bucket of water to have a place to swim.
OK Coffinmaker top this!!
yr' Obt' Svt'
Bunk

[Noz]

Yeah, Bunk. I too have never felt the need to wash a fish.



Ah, yes. With the edit it makes sense.

[Ben Beam]

 

[Coffinmaker]

Well, Ya'll don't go drinkin at plain water.  'Cause you know what fish DO innit. 

Coffinmaker

PS:  I think Bunk got me   

[Yakima Red]

I found that if you don't shoot all that well, it is important to at least look good while you are doing it. Shiny brass and an excellent costume make up for being slower than snot.

I'm not fast, I'm not slow. Just half-fast.

[Dick Dastardly]

Right on Red!  In this game, and it is a game, style points count.  Why, I even have an award for best dressed shooter from a Midwest regional match.  If you can't confuse 'em with facts, baffle 'em with bullshit.  Clean your brass boys.  You'll feel so much better that you'll certainly shoot your best.

DD-MDA

[Bunk Stagnerg]

Now back on thread
Does APP stain brass like Gun Powder does? My .45 CS brass used in either rifle or revolver are stained  almost all the way back to the case head. My load is the DD special  that is 1.3 c/c FFFg powder and either a 200 grain BL bullet (rifle) or same powder charge with a card wad and the 175 BL (revolver). the wad is cut from tablet backing and gives me a little compression with that slightly shorter bullet. My process is  to decap then soak overnight in water with a non-fish soap (dawn) then shake and wash till the water is clear then dry. When they get really rough looking they will get 4 to 5  hours in the tumbler and ceramic  media lemi-shine, TSP and water.
YR' Obt' Svt'
Bunk

[Lucky R. K.]

I think the secret is to get the brass into some soapy water as soon as you can after the stage. There is a lot of nasty residue created when black powder burns and it will immediately start to corrode the brass.

I carry a Tide detergent bottle on my gun cart with some water and a few drops of dish detergent. I go straight from the unloading table and put the brass in the bottle.  When I get home I pour off the water, blot the excess water off the brass and put it in the tumbler wet.  I add two caps of mineral spirits to the walnut media and let it tumble about twelve hours.  Always comes out shiny.

Lucky

[Coffinmaker]

OK Bunk!!  Here goes.

YES!!  APP Stains yer brass just like real BP.  Doesn't matter how quick you get it into water.  It Stains.  There.  Done.  Ah, not quite.

I don't bother with a water soak.  At all.  None.  Zip.  Nada.  Doesn't help.  Toss all my brass inna bag and bring it home just the way it came out of the gun or offa ground.

Get it home, dump it inna shop sink with some warm water and about 25% VINEGAR.  Soak 15 - 30 minutes.  Rinse thoroughly then dry.
Toss it in wid da Lizzard Litter and buzz it for 30 - 45 minutes.  Separate ... Done.  98% of the stain is gone.  Simple, quick and doesn't interrupt my Red Ale.

Coffinmaker

[Dick Dastardly]

I used to put my match brass into a jug with soap and water at the match.  Worked great.  Then, I started putting my match brass into a bag dry.  Worked great also as long as I got around to tumbling it in the next day or so.  My usual routine.  Rotary tumbler with DD Tumbling Soap and pins first, then CP media.  That's the routine I've settled on.  My brass and thus my cartridges look very new and professional.

Point is, clean brass is friendlier to load, shoot and enjoy in our sport.

Hold center!

DD-MDA

[Bunk Stagnerg]

Personally the play is knock  the primers out first as soon as I get home then wash in hot soapy water and  dry. I had a bad experience with some brass that was left wet and dirty for a few days (my fault) and the top of the primer came of leaving the rest of the primer stuck in the pocket. Not all, but some, fortunately these were .45 Colt cases but I can't risk losing any .45 Cowboy Special cases.
With this treatment they reload nicely and when they get really bad they get the ceramic tumble for a few hours. I tried the SS pins and found them to be a monster problem to work with. The cases are only sized about 1/8" down just enough to round them up otherwise they are left fire formed and work in both rifle and revolver so there is not much working of the brass.
Yr' Obt' Svt'
Bunk 

[Dick Dastardly]

Computer drying works good.  Put clean wet brass in an onion bag, shake it out, hang it in back of the computer fan.  Nice dry brass.

DD-MDA

[Noz]

I went to steel pins because I was tired of digging the ceramic pieces out of my 44-40 cases.  I'm not shooting 44-40 except as a back up anymore so I'm going back to ceramic.

[Ranch 13]

If you pretense the cases in a jug of water and a scoop of oxyclean, those cases will be pretty clean, then into the tumbler with ceramic (most folks use way to much ceramic, it doesn't require much more than a cup full) a tablespoon of Lemishine and about 2 drops of dawn dish soap, and just enough water to cover the cases, in about 2 hours it'll be hard to tell those brass aren't brand new.