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Brass CLEANING

I absolutely hate wiping tumbling media residue off my cases and am looking for an alternative method to clean cases. i have been pondering the idea of using a sonic cleaner with a solution. looking for some pros and cons of a liquid cleaning method.
 
Where can you buy the pins the cheapest or are they the same everywhere? I have some norma brass that was tumbled in the pins and it is spotless.
 
jonbearman said:
Where can you buy the pins the cheapest or are they the same everywhere? I have some norma brass that was tumbled in the pins and it is spotless.

I just saw Cabelas is carrying Frankford Arsenal pins. Where is the best buy on pins?
 
Few years ago I bought a cheap ultra sonic cleaner from Harbor Freight. Tried the home made solutions described in articles on AccurateShooter.com and they worked fine, just a lot of steps that take time. Then I discovered the TurboSonic liquid that Lyman sells. It's fast, easy and all I do is rinse in distilled water with a bit of baking soda added. It cleans the inside and the primer pockets like brand new. Just my 2c.
Mike
 
can you explain the statement..wiping media reidue off cases....

i use gruond corn cob and nufinish car polish...no issues( no it does not clean primer pockets)
 
I just did 260 Remington .223 once-fired, sized and deprimed cases in my Thumler's tumbler with 5 lbs of stainless pins, a few squirts of liquid dish soap and 1/2 teaspoon of LemiShine dishwasher detergent. I filled it about 80 percent full with water and let it run for 2 and 1/2 hours. They came out great. Shiny inside and out, even the primer pockets. I had sized them with Imperial wax and that totally emulsified.

I keep the pins in the coffee holding portion of a large percolator. This makes rinsing them and draining them easy. My Cabela's media separator made rinsing the brass and getting the pins out easy. I spread the brass on a towel on the floor, which has radiant heat, and a few days later they were dry. Today I inspected and primed them all. There was not a trace of water in them and no stuck pins either.

I really like this method. It helps that I have a drain in the floor and a spigot in the room where I do this.
 
i vibrate tumble with corncob and dilion adtive or nu car lolish in the orange bottle. i do not have residue left on the brass to clean off.
 
Also, I got an e-mail ad from Sinclair's today that was pushing a new case cleaning chemical that works with ultrasonic, or just soaking for a longer period of time. Check their website.
 
Bought stainless media from these folks.

http://www.buffaloarms.com/Stainless_Steel_Media_it-164066.aspx?CAT=3889
 
Plain crushed walnut media will remove residue and make them a little shinier .i use stainless steel pins also will look like new brass out of bag just a small hassle messing will water drying in oven takes a little longer figuring in the clean up does a great job though
 
OneHole,
Have you tried a dryer sheet (cut up in ~3" squares) in the tumbler? This works pretty well reducing the dust & residue. Not 100% but worth a test run.
Dean
 
I bought one of the early Hornady ultrasonic cleaners, 480 seconds max. clean time and no heater. It doesn't clean the primer pockets very much at all and it leaves a dull residue on the brass after rinsing/drying. I'm using either Lyman or Hornady u/s cleaner conc. and have run the batchs of brass numerous times trying to get the primer pockets clean. I also tried hot/warm water. The only thing I haven't tried that comes to mind is distilled water, we don't have hard, or any mineral problems, any suggestions ? A few posts back someone suggested using a chrome cleaner for polishing brass. Keep in mind that if it has ammonia in it that it will chemically attack the brass making it hard/brittle.
 
I've used both ultrasonic and stainless....and used a very expensive ultra cleaner to boot...still prefer stainless. one caveat, I only tumble with stainless for about 10 minutes. this gets the cases clean but not the primer pockets. I also only clean 70 cases at a time. the case mouths are not damaged this way.

Another caveat, be careful what cleaners you use. I have found anything with citric/acidic cleaners will destroy the powder causing failures to fire and/or vertical issues. lemishine and dawn dish cleaner caused this problem. I use a pH-neutral cleaner...problem solved.
 
scotharr said:

Another caveat, be careful what cleaners you use. I have found anything with citric/acidic cleaners will destroy the powder causing failures to fire and/or vertical issues. lemishine and dawn dish cleaner caused this problem. I use a pH-neutral cleaner...problem solved.
[br]
WTF??? Do you have any evidence to support this contention? My cases are tumbled with stainless pins, Lemishine, Lemishine Rinse and Ajax Lemon detergent, then rinsed in hot water. I do not have vertical issues in .308 Win, 6BR, .284 Shehane or .300 WSM. I've won matches with rounds assembled several months prior from cases cleaned that way. If you are rinsing your cases after tumbling and seeing the issues you describe, look somewhere else for the cause.
 
I just got a tumbler and some stainless steel pins.

Question: Can I tumble brass with the pins DRY, or does it only work wet (and with whatever chemicals)?
 
Steve Blair said:
scotharr said:

Another caveat, be careful what cleaners you use. I have found anything with citric/acidic cleaners will destroy the powder causing failures to fire and/or vertical issues. lemishine and dawn dish cleaner caused this problem. I use a pH-neutral cleaner...problem solved.
[br]
WTF??? Do you have any evidence to support this contention? My cases are tumbled with stainless pins, Lemishine, Lemishine Rinse and Ajax Lemon detergent, then rinsed in hot water. I do not have vertical issues in .308 Win, 6BR, .284 Shehane or .300 WSM. I've won matches with rounds assembled several months prior from cases cleaned that way. If you are rinsing your cases after tumbling and seeing the issues you describe, look somewhere else for the cause.


I agree. I have used the steel pins for a couple years. No problems what so ever. I did 4,000 223, 100 ppc, 200 30br, 6.5x47L, and multiple others. I sure don't know where 'ell the idea that it will cause problems. Nothing else comes close cleaning and shinning the brass inside and out. I have done it all, corncob, walnut, ultra sonic, and with additives.
 

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