no tumbler yet how to home clean brass

[762shooter]

When shooting from a bolt action at the range my brass doesn't get very dirty, just some carbon on the case neck. In the past I've cleaned this with steel wool. A shot of penetrating oil on a rag twisted around the case neck a few times also works. Mostly I just clean the necks on a brass wire wheel spun in my drill press, fast and does a good job.

If the brass is picked up off the ground I now use a tumbler.

 

[sarge]

Bucket, hot water, vinegar, rubber gloves,beer and colander, towel.

 

[Shibby!]

If you have a treadmill a tumbler could be had for relatively cheap...

I "bought" a free treadmill off Kijiji. Complaint that it didn't work. It was supposed to be a belt. When I showed up the belt was fine. I took it anyways (you can't back out on free), and within 1.5 hours of working on it I had it fixed. 1000$ treadmill used one year.

I then bought some bearings, key rod, and next think you know I had a stainless tumbler, speed adjustable for 48$ worth of materials and 50$ of stainless media. Works damn well. .308 likes 2mph (km? Yet to be confirmed) and 2.5 hours. Comes out spotless and VERY shiny. More so then my new Lapua brass.

Total set-up so far is $98 as mentioned for the tumbler and media, and $35 for the separator (which works very well). So far using a temp "hopper" but I might keep doing what I'm doing because it's free (2.78liter cranberry juice jug).

Laugh if you want, but I'm happy with my ghetto set-up.

For those non-believers. This was 2 hours so if you see a primer pocket there may be a tiny bit of remnants. 2.5hrs solved that issue. (No flash, just crappy Iphone 4 under kitchen lights)

 

[Mr Freeze]

Here's a pic of a tumbler I made with an orbital sander. Has a similar one fpr almost 20 years, left it behind when I moved. this one is about 4 years old. Even if you buy a new sander, it'll cost you about $20. I used an empty paint gallon I had, but you can buy one for about $3.

I built the same thing but with a large coffee can and a crappy sander I've had for 20 years. I bubba'd mine up with an upside down funnel in the bottom held in with a long bolt and wing nut. Seems to get the media rolling around better. I also added a dimmer switch as I found it didn't need to run wide open to clean properly. Top it off with a crappy old electrical timer and it's a two hour polisher.

Cost... a few bucks for corncob media from a pet store.

 

[Papaclaude]

I built the same thing but with a large coffee can and a crappy sander I've had for 20 years. I bubba'd mine up with an upside down funnel in the bottom held in with a long bolt and wing nut. Seems to get the media rolling around better. I also added a dimmer switch as I found it didn't need to run wide open to clean properly. Top it off with a crappy old electrical timer and it's a two hour polisher.

Cost... a few bucks for corncob media from a pet store.

Never thought of the timer - I have a bunch of them kicking around - great idea. The dimmer, I'm not so sure about, though, they can be hard on motors unless designed for that, no? And as far as the cost of the sander, if this had been spring, I would have suggested to the OP to look at garage sales - I've seen tons of them for $2-5.

 

[Gootch]

Never cleaned my brass. Shiny brass only gives my position away when I cycle the next round.

 

[vviking]

Never cleaned my brass. Shiny brass only gives my position away when I cycle the next round.

Pity.
The first one miss?.

Edit: Razz added ... humour.

 

[Freyr_255]

Well, easy way is if you use a cordless drill and Lee trimmer(or any trimmer for that matter) just run a scouring pad(scotchbrite) over the case while it's spinning after you trim/chamfer it. About 1 second and the outside is polished. Cost $3 per half dozen pads.

 

[Ganderite]

Depends on how much brass you have. For a small amount, Spend about $50 or so for a Lyman vibrating cleaner.

For larger amounts I use one of those 40 gallon concrete mixers.

 

[porpoise]

Tumbling or excessive cleaning of brass is unmanly. I rinse lube off full length sized brass i used to use soap but this r quired an extra rinse to get the soap off i now find my rcbs lube so water soluble it rinses off real easy. I still have to rinse neck sized smaller than 30 cal or the powder sometimes backs up in the measure from sticking in the neck although i dont think bullets should be lubed in the neck i get lazy with 30 cal

 

[boombag13]

thanks for all the info guys, i'm not looking to make the brass look brand new just clean enuf to reload, pls keep the ideas coming! right now i think im gona go with hot water, vinegar, dishsoap & hand tumble in laundry sink then let soak overnight b4 rinse, what do u guys think?

 

[hk33ka1]

I wouldn't bother letting them soak too long. I'd rinse and let them dry overnight so you could shoot sooner. The brass won't get any cleaner sitting, so might as well be drying.