Fastest,easiest,shiniest brass cleaning set up.

Hello
I’m currently using the Frankford wet brass cleaning tumbler, minis the pins.
I deprime,tumble for 3 hrs and dry.
Then resize,tumble for 3 hrs and dry.

Is there a faster set up?
I like shiny brass when it’s complete. 🙄
Ideally I would like to clean and dry in one step.. lol
I use a vibratory bowl and walnut media....
Turn it on in the morning turn it off when I come home from work.
There are countless methods and claims that on is better than the other.
Rob
 
FA wet tumbler w pins.
Dawn dish detergent and hot water.
Tumble for about 2hrs.
Empty dirty water, rinse/refill and maybe another hr of tumbling.
Rinse and dry.
Seems to work well for me.
 
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I use a vibratory bowl and walnut media....
Turn it on in the morning turn it off when I come home from work.
There are countless methods and claims that on is better than the other.
Rob
I still mostly use this. I also have ultrasonic and wet cleaners. They get used for different situations. The ultrasonic mostly is used for gun parts these days (last carb I rebuilt too, come to think of it) and the wet tumbler I mostly use for bulk brass/range brass cleaning. I have three vibratory tumblers (two Lyman and and a Princess Auto chinesium one). Currently using "lizard litter" with a cap full of car wax. Works well. Yes, you will have to pick it out of primer pockets. But choosing the size of your media goes a long way to preventing this. Next batch of media I'll choose a more course material. Time wise, I toss them in and go do something else. Depending on how bad they were to start, usually a couple of hours cleans up most brass. Easy? We'll, easy would be having someone else do it, but my kids are grown and my grandson shows no interest. I can't afford to hire it out, so it's back to me and the machinery. It doesn't take up too much time. - dan
 
RCBS Vibratory Case Cleaner. I mix equal parts of walnut and corn cob media together. Press the rocker-switch and the machine does all the work, for clean and shinny brass. There is never a rush for me to have them complete ASAP.
 
I've been using the FA wet tumbler for close to ten years.
Here is the way I do it, deprime and resize in one step, in the tumbler, a bit of laundry soap, a pinch of lemmishine, HOT soft water 2/3 full, a small amount of ss pins, about 100 grams.
Tumble for one hour, rinse and separate pins, dump the whole load on a piece of old carpet, let dry overnight, next morning brass is dry and looks like it just came from the store, clean inside and out including primer pockets.
Don't your sizing dies get absolutely filthy doing this? I've considered this process many times but don't want to deal with gunked up sizing dies.
 
Don't your sizing dies get absolutely filthy doing this? I've considered this process many times but don't want to deal with gunked up sizing dies.
Not at all, I use STP oil treatment on a RCBS pad for resizing brass. Inside of dies are easy to clean with a rag stuck on the end of a screwdriver.
This STP stuff also works great for case conversion , say 30-06 to 8mm Mauser.
To get the lubricant off in the tumbler I use a bit of Laundry detergent instead of Dawn.
 
I use a inexpensive cement mixer like this one. It's about $300 and will do a bucket of brass in about an hour and a half.

images


I bucket of brass
1 bucket of cold water
Pre rinse for about 10-15 minutes, drain and use hose to rinse off

Then one bucket of hot water
2TBSP citric acid
Squirt of Dawn

Tumble for 45-60 minutes

Drain, rinse, drain then onto the drying racks to bake in the sun. I have dehydrators if the sun isn't cooperating. Brass gets pretty darn shiny. :)
 
Don't your sizing dies get absolutely filthy doing this? I've considered this process many times but don't want to deal with gunked up sizing dies.

Thats why I run my brass through for an hour initially, gets the brass clean enough that it can be lubed / resized / deprimed and then it gets another clean after to remove the lube and gets the rest of the dirt off.

Dirty press (especially a progressive - causes wear and hassle) and scratched dies are not for me. Others may feel differently and that is OK.
 
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