Cleaning Brass - help!

You generally don't need to clean resizing dies, especially carbide ones, other than maybe after extracting a stuck case or somehow getting some sort of crud in them. If you load cast bullets, you may get some lube buildup in your seating and crimp dies that may need to be removed from time to time.

The main functional purpose for cleaning brass is to remove any grit from the outside that could scratch the sizing die, although well-tumbled brass certainly looks nice.

I would be hesitant to run brass through the washer and dryer due to the risk of lead contamination.
 
florin79 said:
Hey guys, i just assembled my dillon 650xl and started to clean some brass before i start loading.

How do you guys clean your brass? I have the Dillon CV-2001 Vibratory Case Cleaner using corn cob media with dillon rapid polish. I left the cases in the case cleaner for over an hour, cases look clean, but don't look shiny polished like the reloads I buy from Canadian BDX, or any other factory reloader.

Does anyone know of a more efficient way to get the brass super shiny?
I saw (somewhere) on the web of this guy putting a bunch of brass in socks then throwing them in the washer, then in the dryer. anything wrong in doing that?

thanks for any replies!

florin
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Try using "Basso" I never tried it on any of my weapons, but I know it works well as instrument polish, and that stuff needs to be shiny :) You can find it at Sobey's :cool:
 
florin79 said:
i don't know, i just know that i want shiny brass like GOLD baby GOLD!! i'm going to try and put them in the washing machine.
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Sure. And then try polishing by hand like one poster suggested.

You WILL end up doing what the majority of the posters said: leaving them in the tumbler longer.

But don't let me stop you from having fun.....;)
 
florin79 said:
20 round mags!? wow :( that must have been nice.

they had tumblers 40 years ago?
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it's called a LYMAN- i got my first one when i got my savage 99 new back in 71- it was big and orange and held about 1k 0f 38 specls- we parted ways last year, and i replaced it with a lyman 2500- and ALWAYS walnut media- moreover, if you go in lapidaty( rock cleaning) they also use them in there, but those ones are messy and use ROATATION to clean- and it takes DAYS
 
lol :rockOn: Yep, or he can kiss my old brass :D. that was too funny! thanks!

sorry gentlemen, age is in the heart of the beholder :)
 
I know its been mentioned before but I just put my brass in my RCBS vibrating tumbler, add RCBS walnut media, a cap full of Nufinish liquid car polish turn it on, go to work, the come home to find shiney brass in my tumbler.

I resize, and deprime and then manually clean the primer pockets with a RCBS Case Prep station.

I'm thinking of trying out an RCBS Sidewinder or a Thumbler tumbler with water, cleaner and ceramic media to see if that helps clean the primer pockets if I deprime first.
 
I did not read the whole thread & not sure if anyone had mentioned this, but sometimes guys get a little too Crazy with the polish & it will leave residue.
 
ya know, i think i messed up there with the polish. I think I added too much polish and now it looks like there's residue on the brass :(
 
I use this method for cleaning and it works great.
First I remove the old primers.
Then I put the brass into a "natural" acid bath. 1/4 cup of concintrated Real Lemon Juice to 2 cups water in a big plastic container ( an old peanut butter or mayo jar is perfect). I let this stand ( giving the mixture a few good shakings ) for about 48 hours.
I then drain the mixture and do a couple of clear water washes to get rid of the lemon juice. I give one wash with just a drop or two of Sunlight dish soap and give this a good shaking. It usually takes a couple of washes to clear the soap. Use cold water to cut down on the suds!
I lay out the brass to air dry over night. You can also give the casings a blast of air if you have a compressor. This is a bit time consuming.
Then its into the tumbler ( I use the walnut shell media ) for about 12 hours.
The casings come out pretty close to factory shiney!
Hope this helps.
 
thanks for all the ideas guys! now, all i need is small primers :( finally got all the pieces to the puzzle, and no primers!

only have large primers, but many of the brass that I find at the range is small primer.
i try to collect all my casings after every 50 rounds, but can never get them all! every time i shoot 40cal, there are 3 other people shooting 45acp, and vise versa :( lol
 
Super shiny brass is a sign of OCD, IMHO. ;):D I tumble, but do not need my brass to hurt my eyes when I look at it. It's good for the dies when brass is clean, but to have to have it soooooo shiny......well, if that's what floats your boat, fly at it! Regards, Eagleye
 
I scored 5 G of 9mm brass a few weeks back and took about 4 nights with two machines going 3-4 hours a run. I using 2/3 corn cob to a 1/3 walnut with a Basso, Dillon and Birchwood concoction as it needs a shock once in a while, with a 15 min no case shake.
I still tent to keep an eye on the inside more then the outer case with a LED light randomly after separating for the crud thing. I’ve never tried the dyer sheet but it’s a good tip especially if I happen to over shock it.

Driller
 
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