Best way to clean brass?

Caboose

Caboose

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I'm just getting into bullet packing and I'm wondering what's the best way to clean your brass? A vibrating bowl style, or a rotating drum style? Seems the vibratory bowl can hold more cases, but with the drum you can use a liquid cleaning media if you like. I won't be loading large volumes of ammo, I just want the quickest cleanest way of doing things.
 
I use a bowl and have done for what seems forever, just wish those with the little door were about then so I didnt have to unbolt the butterfly nut holding the lid down every time!
I tend to save brass up and do lots of different ones at the same time, I throw the odd inert from the demo shelf in to clean them up!
 
tumblers

Vibratory are a lot cheaper. Any time you save with a rotary tumber & liqiuid cleaners will be lost drying the brass & removing residue. If you tumble your brass regularly so the crud and discoloration doesn't build up an hour or so in the tumber should do the trick.
 
I use a Hornady and find it does a great job. Cleaning speed depends on what you media is and how dirty your cases are. If you don't like dicking around with those wing-nuts, just replace them with fixture knobs. I use the pentagon ones from Lee Valley (item S).

(E) 8)
 
Had a top rate tumber only it took ages & the removal of the wing-nuts to remove the top & then see the brass was still not clean, so shifted to a fiberator put time to be 30 or 45 minutes rather then 4 or more hrs.

The same crushed wallnuts out of the tumbler was put into the viberator, so in reality I am using old media & cut the time dramatically.
 
geologist said:
How do you get the dust out and off of your cases when they come out of a vibratory cleaner?
Click to expand...

I keep a couple of old hand towels in my reloading bench. After separating the cases from the media I just throw them all on a towel and roll them around with my hand for a bit. It really works well to take the rouge off the cases if you are using media treated with it.
 
geologist said:
How do you get the dust out and off of your cases when they come out of a vibratory cleaner?
Click to expand...
being brass the only problem is when the mediaa sticks in the flash hole. The brass should come out shiny enough on corn after a prep with rouge to make everything slide clear, I always de cap first and then use a big safety pin prior to primnng to push the lot clear. I shake the media out by seiving through a colander!
 
I use the vibratory bowl type. I got a deal on a Hornady M-2 that has given me great service. A great way to save money is to go to your local pet store and purchase the largest sack of lizard tank bedding/media. Its crushed walnut, the same as what you'd buy from RCBS, Lyman, etc...at a fraction of the cost. I picked up a 20lb sack from the local Pet City for about $8 when they had a sale on. This will last me for ages.

I use an old hand colander to sift out the brass, but I expect I'll be picking up the rotary style sifter/bucket combo now offered by Midway, Winchester, RCBS, etc... for around $40-$50. You just dump in the brass after its been tumbled. Close the lid on the basket and just turn the handle causing the brass to be tumbled about inside the basket colander and the loose media to fall into the matching bucket where it may be recovered and dumped back into your tumbler for later use. I tried a friend's and it works great. Very few cases had any media left inside of them!
 
I use a Berry's Tumbler. Excellent. The see-thru top sure helps.

I do find that corn cob is a little slow. I expect walnut to be faster.
 
A vibrating bowl is definatly the way to go. Do yourself a favour and buy a big one right off,because you will grow into it faster than you think. I've had a big Dillon for years and I love it. Don't remember what I paid but I'm sure glad I got it. Forget the wet stuff it's time consuming and a mess, but some companies do make bowls that can be used either way. Walnut is by far superior, I only use corn cob if I have to. As for dust, I made a tray out of 1/4 " hardware mesh and I just pour the media through it into a bucket in front of a fan to separate the brass from most of the media, then dump the brass upside down and check the flash hole. Quick, simple and effective. I don't like pretreated media because of the film it leaves but Dillon rapid polish seems to work pretty good. I have some size 12/20 ground walnut shells 50 lbs.-$50. if you are interested, but unfortunately I can't ship. Lower mainland B.C. only. Mitch
 
I was reading about a fellow that uses small pieces of stainless steel ("bits" he called them) in a wet solution. Anyone know what he was talking about?
 
X-man, like the lizard tank bedding idea! I'll try that next. Bought the Lyman Turbo Tumbler a few years ago. Thought it was way toobig for what I needed but boy do I like it now! I can toss in a big coffee can full of 9mm brass and in 2 hours they are clean. I use walnut with a bit of Brasso brass cleaner dripped into the mix. This keeps the dust down and no film on the brass. Concidered buying the RCBS separator, but for $8 at Walmart found a cat litter pan with a strainer insert. Just dump the contents into the pan, lift and shake the insert, works great. I'd say buy one bigger than you need, you'll grow into it. Xray
 
for quick separation, try the Lyman 1200 with auto-flo, the older Lyman can even be converted. Pull a plug on the bottom side of the bowl, and media gets separated automatically.
 
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