Cleaning Brass

Temps

Temps

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Question about cleaning and polishing brass. I've been using a dry tumbler with walnut shells and occasionally some liquid polishing. I have great results but recently noticed some not so clean brass after tumbling. The left and right are what looks like heavy carbon or fouling, any tricks for polishing?
The center has what looks like rust or the removal of the brass layer. These were picked up from an outdoor range.

No damage to the case, no cracks and the finish is smooth to touch. Curious if there is anything I can do to bring out the finish or should I just use them
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it's cosmetic, just tarnished brass so safe to shoot.

If you do care about shiny, like new brass results then look into wet tumbling.
 
Temps said:
Question about cleaning and polishing brass. I've been using a dry tumbler with walnut shells and occasionally some liquid polishing. I have great results but recently noticed some not so clean brass after tumbling. The left and right are what looks like heavy carbon or fouling, any tricks for polishing?
The center has what looks like rust or the removal of the brass layer. These were picked up from an outdoor range.

No damage to the case, no cracks and the finish is smooth to touch. Curious if there is anything I can do to bring out the finish or should I just use them
View attachment 644174
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Try citric acid Before you tumble. I put brass in a glass bowl pour boiling water in till brass is covered then add roughly 2tsp per litre of water and stir with something non metallic, dry in oven on warm then tumble.
 
I have so much brass on the go in every stage and in every caliber, some doesn't clean up as fast as others. Run it through again. Sooner or later it will come clean. If this is a problem you should get more brass. If one piece of brass is facked, get rid of it and acquire some more. Its not worth the hassle for one lousy piece that worth a nickel.
 
If i just need to clean up a bunch of brass, I'll use the Lyman treared corn cob.
To get them really shiny, I've used the walnut shell media with the polishing compund in it.
 
Walnut shells from pet store sold as lizard bedding and NuFinish, brass/media by volume about 50/50, may be even more brass. Tumbling for 2 hours with fresh media cleans well, increasing tumbling time as media gets dirty to 4hrs before changing media.
 
As mentioned, not worth the time and effort specially when very few are coming out like that in a large batch.
 
That about of tarnish won't affect reloadability, but if you wanted it REALLY shiny and new looking, a wet tumbler can solve your woes
 
I found good old brasso (brass polish from home depot or hardware store)works well, just add a cap or two when you tumble the brass.
 
Wet cleaning c/w SS pins, couple drops of Dawn, squirt of Jet-Dry and 1/2 teaspoon Critic Acid would have the OP's brass looking OCD new. I use Wet for cleaning Pistol calibre brass, 200+ pieces, at a time.
I hate dealing with the pins, I have nightmares about loosing them down a drain, so I usually leave them out and just run for Max on timer, 3hrs.

I add a brass polish and a new drier sheet cut into 1/2" strips to remove the dust & fines from the dry media. I use Dry Media for cleaning rifle brass, less than 40 pieces.
I'm of the opinion dust & fines don't do much cleaning. When I replace the dry media, I'll run a run up drier sheet to remove the dust and fines.
 
I got into reloading last year and I spent money on a Lyman dry tumbler, RCBS Ultrasonic cleaner and a Frankford Arsenal Wet Tumbler. I tested them all several times. The best results I got with the wet tumbler with stainless steel pins. 3 hours in the tumbler, they come out amazing all the time. If anyone wants to see my tests, I filmed them, PM me and I will load them up on youtube and send you link.
 
CzyHorse said:
Wet cleaning c/w SS pins, couple drops of Dawn, squirt of Jet-Dry and 1/2 teaspoon Critic Acid would have the OP's brass looking OCD new. I use Wet for cleaning Pistol calibre brass, 200+ pieces, at a time.
I hate dealing with the pins, I have nightmares about loosing them down a drain, so I usually leave them out and just run for Max on timer, 3hrs.
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I bought a kitchen sink sized strainer and a matching sized giant tupperware. Shake, shake, shake and *most* of the pins separate themselves into the bottom container with the brass staying on the strainer. As an added layer of pin-saving I do the dump out on top of our induction stovetop. It has a ridge all the way around the edge and the smooth black surface of the stove makes it easy to locate stray pins
 
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