Cleaning mud/silt off brass

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digitalblue

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GTA unfortunately
I've been getting into semi-autos (Pistols and rifles) lately and brass cleaning has become a bit of a challenge.

I shoot at outdoor ranges and the brass inevitably ends up in the mud. Most of the time I get away with just wet tumbling with a bit of soap (no stainless pins) for 2 hours to loosen any caked on crud. I then load the tumbled brass into a strainer basket and repeatedly dip it into a bucket of water; any residual dirt ends up in the bottom of the bucket and the brass is almost completely clean.

One of the outdoor ranges I frequent has a clay-like silt which seems to cling to everything. Even after repeating my usual process several times, there is always a very fine coating of silt on the cases that I can't seem to remove. I'm not super picky about the brass being spotless but I don't like the idea of all that abrasive crap going into my guns.

Any suggestions on how to deal with this?
 
It's a paint in the ass for starters.
But, totally worth it. Maybe it's the cheap guy in me but I get pretty giddy when I go through my range on a quiet evening and pickup over 1000 pieces, for free. :)


The way I've been doing it is simple. Let it soak in a bucket of water for a day or two, then dump it all out and I'll actually use my media separator as a sort of tumbler. I'll fill the bottom half with water and the basket with dirty brass. Churn it all around for about 5 minutes then repeat.
I'll throw it all in my stainless pin wet tumbler after and it looks like new.

It's time consuming, but the price is right and I enjoy that aspect of the hobby.
 
I soak it all in hot water with a cup of vinegar and a shot of dish detergent. Let it sit for 10 minutes, then strain and rinse. From there it goes into my SS pin wet tumbler.
 
I just tested BBs in my wet tumbler and the result was great!!!
Plus I used the dish washer solid pouch ( the one that looks like candy, just opened it and got half of the it)

Ah, my wet tumbler is my son’s small rock tumbler picked up for $3.
Works perfectly the first time. 30mins

Hope this helps
 
I use a large plastic container with a screw on lid (previously held mayonnaise): brass and water in, lid on tight and a several seconds of shaking has proved satisfactory at removing the bulk of mud... the ultrasonic or walnut tumbler do the remainder of the cleaning. My range is probably has a higher silt and sand content though so results may vary.
 
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