Cleaning Brass - help!

Ultrasonic cleaning has them shiny as new INSIDE and out in about 10 minutes including primer pockets.

Just make yourself a drying rack with a bunch of nails through a chunk of plywood.

I find I can dry my wet brass quickly by dumping it into a large covered container 1/3 filled with pet store corn cob. Then shake the mixture up by hand for 2-3 min. You may have to pick some dry media out of the brass here and there but the brass will be dry and leaving the cob open to the air between uses keeps it perpetually dry enough to do the job whenever needed.
 
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

You gotta tumble for 4 hours man.
 
I tumble them overnight and then wipe them off with a rag - they look really nice that way.

When I have old or very tarnished brass I throw them in a bucket with Vinegar (several cups) and a bunch of salt. It creates a mild acid that shines the brass up a bit. I then wash the brass with a bit of dishsoap, air dry on a towel and then tumble. Always remove the primers with a decapping die BEFORE tumbling, if you can, to clean out the primer pockets.

I'm intrigued by the brasso and nuFinish ideas, I might try those as well...

Cheers,
John
 
Hmm... This got me thinking... Anyone used muriatic acid? Can be bought at swimming pool supply store and it's basically 30% hydrochloric acid.

Dilute it properly maybe 1 part acid 20 parts water and tarnish should vanish in a jiffy!?!? It does to pennies. I never tried... Maybe I should, but I hate opening up that bottle. It smokes when reacting to air!
 
Maybe I should try the ultrasonic thingy. Attaching a speaker to the bottom of a bucket, some vinegar then downloading some Michael Jackson should get the cleaning time down to couple minutes.


Driller
 
Anything beyond clean is for pride. I take great pride in the appearance of my reloads. I too like it brilliant.
First I use a universal deprimer, inspect, and into the tumbler it goes.
I mix walnut hull (Lizard Bedding at Petco) with cob 50/50, and add Nu Finish car polish. It runs over night and except for the very worst tarnished, it is prettier than new. Even the badly tarnished is shiny, and clean.
An added plus is that the Nu Finish polished brass resists dulling and finger prints for a long time.
Ever so often I use a fine kitchen strainer to sift the dried media (OUTDOORS) to allow the dangerous lead dust to escape. A couple spoons full of mineral spirits will recharge your media and help clean primer crud.
 
I tumble 4-5 hours with a capfull of nufinish in walnut media ( lizard litter ) half a dryer sheet cut into 1 inch squares. Stay clear of Brasso, the ammonia will make your brass brittle.
 
I tumble 4-5 hours with a capfull of nufinish in walnut media ( lizard litter ) half a dryer sheet cut into 1 inch squares. Stay clear of Brasso, the ammonia will make your brass brittle.

You should have put a smiley face at the end of your statement.
The Brasso brittle thing has been proven to be bunk.
There is some threads on here somewhere to that effect.
Possibly if brass was left imersed in Brasso for an extended period of time.
 
Gold Brass

Florin,

From another Calgarian dude,

Lyman 2500 tumbler + bedrock supply plastic media (Four 1 lb bags in tumbler) for 2-3 hours. Then resize, trim and remove primers, 2-3 capfulls of BRASSO + 2-3 hours in the tumbler and kazaam! Like gold baby!

The only beeatch is, you will spend a little time removing the wedged in plastic media on the inside of the cases if you are loading 223 or 22-250. As for 9mm, 45ACP No problem at all.

Later,
8675-30-9


:cool:
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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