Observations from brass cleaning

The #1 community for Gun Owners of the Northeast

Member Benefits:

  • No ad networks!
  • Discuss all aspects of firearm ownership
  • Discuss anti-gun legislation
  • Buy, sell, and trade in the classified section
  • Chat with Local gun shops, ranges, trainers & other businesses
  • Discover free outdoor shooting areas
  • View up to date on firearm-related events
  • Share photos & video with other members
  • ...and so much more!
  • Scrounger

    Active Member
    Jul 16, 2018
    357
    Southern Maryland
    First, I don’t have any pictures so please don’t ask.

    Finally got around to cleaning brass again. For years my media of choice was fine corncob. Recently I came into a large quantity of fine walnut media and decided it was time to try it. The cleaner is the large Dillon model and the brass is once fired military 5.56, not particularly dirty. One 50 cal can cleaned with corncob. One 50 cal can cleaned with walnut.

    The first batch with corncob was cleaned for over three hours. It was clean enough to load, shoot and would have been acceptable to most people. The second batch was cleaned with walnut and after only two hours was better looking than the other batch. The walnut removed the staining from the necks better than the corncob.

    The thing that was most different was when emptying and sifting the brass. The walnut produces more dust than the corncob, that could also be from the better cleaning action. However, since the emptying and sifting is done outside of the garage it isn’t an issue for me.

    Next on the shopping list is a large cement mixer. That should speed things up.
     

    135sohc

    Ultimate Member
    Oct 27, 2013
    1,157
    The harbor freight cement mixers are not bad for the price.. I picked up the larger one on sale a few months ago and got the 25% coupon applied to it.

    $150 OTD in waldorf
     

    Melnic

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Dec 27, 2012
    15,282
    HoCo
    add 1-2 dryer sheets. It won't remove all the dust but I find helps control it over time cause the more you use the Walnut, the worse I find it gets when not using dryer sheets.
    I put them in when dumping the media back in.
     

    John from MD

    American Patriot
    MDS Supporter
    May 12, 2005
    22,733
    Socialist State of Maryland
    Spray the brass with a mix of 50/50 water and the orange citrus cleaner Home Depot sells. This will clean the brass better and the dust will go away. You only have to leave it on the brass for about 10 minutes before pouring in the media. I have been using this method since a commercial reloader told me about it over 20 years ago.
     

    ironpony

    Member
    MDS Supporter
    Jun 8, 2013
    7,191
    Davidsonville
    The property I shoot was divided due to an inheritance some years back, POPO currently uses the other half for training/qualification prep. I picked up ~2K rounds and plenty o'black brass, 50/50, I'll still shoot it but would like to look "Fabulous" when shooting haha, so is there a way to go full retard on the discoloration? only a slight interest here as some of my best rounds are black ( sorry , play on a dumb colloquialism).


    I'm mainly talking 9mm so not much of a worry.
     
    Last edited:
    I've used nothing but Walnut and I had the RCBS polishing fluid to it which helps keep the dust down. I also built a bin out of an old storage table. I cut a hole in the storage tub and put a bent piece of quarter inch mesh screen inside the pipe and put a piece of PVC ductwork in the hole. It's secured with duct tape. I connect my Shop-Vac to the piece of ductwork and then pour my polished brass into the bin and then turn on the shop back. Give the press a couple of stirs and it gets rid of about 90% of the dust
     

    hermyjoe

    Active Member
    Feb 5, 2012
    249
    riverdale md
    I have been using the stainless steel "pins" in the harbor freight rock tumbler for real dirty and blackened brass. It works really well, then I dry in an old dehydrater...super shine. I tumble with dawn dish liquid and a little lemishine for cleaning.
     

    ras_oscar

    Ultimate Member
    Apr 23, 2014
    1,666
    I use walnut pet bedding from petsmart with dryer sheets. No dust and the dryer sheet takes out a significant portion of the carbon.
     

    Melnic

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Dec 27, 2012
    15,282
    HoCo
    Spray the brass with a mix of 50/50 water and the orange citrus cleaner Home Depot sells. This will clean the brass better and the dust will go away. You only have to leave it on the brass for about 10 minutes before pouring in the media. I have been using this method since a commercial reloader told me about it over 20 years ago.

    I"m going to give this a try and report back. I did the steel pins for about a year several years ago but just found it took more time than I wanted. Produced great results but time is not something I have alot of. This sounds really efficient if it will work for me.
     

    GolfR

    Ultimate Member
    Oct 20, 2016
    1,324
    Columbia MD
    I have been using the stainless steel "pins" in the harbor freight rock tumbler for real dirty and blackened brass. It works really well, then I dry in an old dehydrater...super shine. I tumble with dawn dish liquid and a little lemishine for cleaning.

    I use the same method on the oldest of range pickups and they come out like new. One thing I have found is that using car wash with wax instead of the dawn works really well to keep the brass shinny while storing. I got a giant bottle of the Meguires car wash with wax at Costco a few years ago and haven’t even used a quarter of it between washing two cars and cleaning brass. The lemon shine does really help with the brass brightness.
     

    John from MD

    American Patriot
    MDS Supporter
    May 12, 2005
    22,733
    Socialist State of Maryland
    Many years ago, I too went through the "getting brass shiny" phase of reloading. In those days we used tumblers instead of vibrators and added red rouge which really made the cases shine. Today, I am only interested in cleaning them so they don't scratch my dies. I sure am glad someone invented the vibrating cleaner. Tumblers took a lot of time and worked slow. Hell just installing and removing the wing nuts took 15 minutes. :shocked3:

    Separating brass was another chore that took a lone time since we didn't have media separators then. Thank God for progress. :party29:
     

    teratos

    My hair is amazing
    MDS Supporter
    Patriot Picket
    Jan 22, 2009
    59,775
    Bel Air
    I have been using the stainless steel "pins" in the harbor freight rock tumbler for real dirty and blackened brass. It works really well, then I dry in an old dehydrater...super shine. I tumble with dawn dish liquid and a little lemishine for cleaning.

    I use the same method on the oldest of range pickups and they come out like new. One thing I have found is that using car wash with wax instead of the dawn works really well to keep the brass shinny while storing. I got a giant bottle of the Meguires car wash with wax at Costco a few years ago and haven’t even used a quarter of it between washing two cars and cleaning brass. The lemon shine does really help with the brass brightness.

    Ain’t nothing like wet tumbling. The car wash with wax is an awesome idea!
     

    hermyjoe

    Active Member
    Feb 5, 2012
    249
    riverdale md
    I use the same method on the oldest of range pickups and they come out like new. One thing I have found is that using car wash with wax instead of the dawn works really well to keep the brass shinny while storing. I got a giant bottle of the Meguires car wash with wax at Costco a few years ago and haven’t even used a quarter of it between washing two cars and cleaning brass. The lemon shine does really help with the brass brightness.

    I will definitely try this....thanks
     

    Pinecone

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 4, 2013
    28,175
    Many years ago, I too went through the "getting brass shiny" phase of reloading. In those days we used tumblers instead of vibrators and added red rouge which really made the cases shine. Today, I am only interested in cleaning them so they don't scratch my dies. I sure am glad someone invented the vibrating cleaner. Tumblers took a lot of time and worked slow. Hell just installing and removing the wing nuts took 15 minutes. :shocked3:

    Separating brass was another chore that took a lone time since we didn't have media separators then. Thank God for progress. :party29:

    Yeap, clean enough to load and shoot is clean enough.

    Shiny brass does not shoot any better.

    And there are those who seem to feel the super clean of the SS pins cause neck stretching (unless you lube the necks) and issues with the bullet pull,
     

    PowPow

    Where's the beef?
    Nov 22, 2012
    4,712
    Howard County
    I've used nothing but Walnut and I had the RCBS polishing fluid to it which helps keep the dust down. I also built a bin out of an old storage table. I cut a hole in the storage tub and put a bent piece of quarter inch mesh screen inside the pipe and put a piece of PVC ductwork in the hole. It's secured with duct tape. I connect my Shop-Vac to the piece of ductwork and then pour my polished brass into the bin and then turn on the shop vac. Give the press a couple of stirs and it gets rid of about 90% of the dust

    You, sir, are a genius. That's a great idea!
     

    danimalw

    Ultimate Member
    You, sir, are a genius. That's a great idea!

    Agreed!!! I. Gotta make one at the new house when I build out my room, When we designed the new house and were allocating room for x.y.z., the minister of domestic affairs asked if I really needed that much space for a gun room. One word answer, "yes"

    I use the lizard liner (ground walnut from PetSmart) and used dryer sheets cut in small pieces.
    In addition, after tumbling, I use the Hornady one shot spray lube when resizing. But since I didn't like slick cases after that step, I toss back in tumbler and the one shot acts as a polish.
     

    Users who are viewing this thread

    Latest posts

    Forum statistics

    Threads
    274,921
    Messages
    7,259,041
    Members
    33,349
    Latest member
    christian04

    Latest threads

    Top Bottom