If you want the brass to look like new you'll have to get a wet tumbler with s/s pins. But for a media tumbler using walnut and corn cob just add some polish to it, I use NuFinish, just make sure what ever you use doesn't have ammonia in it..
brass tumbling question....
- Thread starter saxsaxsax
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i also use the standard FrankArse tumbler and use a timer with 2 different batches of media. 1 for cleaning, one for polishing. 4hrs to clean my brass, then usually another 2 with my polishing media. I also polish them again after reloading their just sitting around... mine as well have them shiny right! lol
coldestcanuck
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Brasso is not particularly good for cartridge brass. I believe it contains ammonia which will affect ductility.
I hate to be a naysayer here but stainless pin tumbling will NOT give you the brightest possible brass (I have one so I'm not just blowing smoke). The brass WILL be extremely clean inside and out but the stainless pins (especially new ones) create thousands of tiny microscratches on the brass which prevents a truly blazing shine.
While compounds like Nu-Finish will give you more of a shine than SS tumbling the best results I have obtained (and I've tried most of them) is a two step process. First I do an initial tumble clean for an hour or two with Lyman green treated corncob to remove most of the powder residue, etc. Then I tumble again for another two hours with a mixture of a dash of jeweller's rouge (jewelry polish) and paint thinner (about a teaspoon) in finely ground corn cob media. The cases come out not just clean but almost mirror reflective. My brass cases are so shiny that they are hard to distinguish from nickel cases.
A lot of people will say it`s not worth the effort and they may well be right. However, I figure if I can`t be the best shot (and I seldom am) I`m at least going to have the prettiest reloads on the line (and I usually do). And nice, shiny smooth cases can only improve cartridge feeding.
While compounds like Nu-Finish will give you more of a shine than SS tumbling the best results I have obtained (and I've tried most of them) is a two step process. First I do an initial tumble clean for an hour or two with Lyman green treated corncob to remove most of the powder residue, etc. Then I tumble again for another two hours with a mixture of a dash of jeweller's rouge (jewelry polish) and paint thinner (about a teaspoon) in finely ground corn cob media. The cases come out not just clean but almost mirror reflective. My brass cases are so shiny that they are hard to distinguish from nickel cases.
A lot of people will say it`s not worth the effort and they may well be right. However, I figure if I can`t be the best shot (and I seldom am) I`m at least going to have the prettiest reloads on the line (and I usually do). And nice, shiny smooth cases can only improve cartridge feeding.
Yep, ammonia fumes can also kill primers as well.
http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com...t-store-brass-and-ammo-near-ammonia-solvents/
pictures are more than thousand words. there are a couple pictures here which showed ss tumbling with amazing results(at least to me). could you please post your before and after pictures for your special method and let everyone else be the judge of that? What intrigued me is your comment about cannot distinguish brass vs nickel after cleanning. Given Nickel is silver in color, under the reflection of the light, it should ALWAYS be darker, especially the inside, compared to brass. So, I am curious to see how you can make them looked the same.
Brasso is fine to add to your tumbling media. The amount of ammonia is very small relative to the quantity of media and brass filling your tumbler. Other similar metal polishes like Flitz, Autosol, Peek, etc. will also work well.
That said, I have recently gone over to wet tumbling with SS pins. Advantages are as follows:
1. Cleaner handling of brass. Walnut shell and/or corncob can get brass shiny, but they still have a film on them that turns your fingers black when you handle them.
2. No airborne lead from separating brass and media.
3. Less media spillage. No matter how careful I am with walnut/corncob media, the particles seem to get everywhere. The few stainless pins that get spilled are easily picked up with a magnet.
The disadvantage is that cases need to be dried after tumbling. I mitigate this by using a food dehydrator to dry cases in about a couple hours.
That said, I have recently gone over to wet tumbling with SS pins. Advantages are as follows:
1. Cleaner handling of brass. Walnut shell and/or corncob can get brass shiny, but they still have a film on them that turns your fingers black when you handle them.
2. No airborne lead from separating brass and media.
3. Less media spillage. No matter how careful I am with walnut/corncob media, the particles seem to get everywhere. The few stainless pins that get spilled are easily picked up with a magnet.
The disadvantage is that cases need to be dried after tumbling. I mitigate this by using a food dehydrator to dry cases in about a couple hours.
This 9mm brass is after about 5 hours in 100% walnut with some auto polish.
If you want inside the case / primer pockets clean as well, then wet/SS is the way to go.
After loading, they go back in for a few minutes to remove any sweat/oils that causes tarnish especially to the copper plating (yes, I'm THAT OCD about it..LOL).
If you want inside the case / primer pockets clean as well, then wet/SS is the way to go.
After loading, they go back in for a few minutes to remove any sweat/oils that causes tarnish especially to the copper plating (yes, I'm THAT OCD about it..LOL).
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