Tarnished brass after Ultra Sonic Cleaning

[PJ/AIR/FIRE]

Not sure if this is something that has been posted earlier. Been doing Ultra Sonic Cleaning now for over a year and had great results. Heard that a Citranox cleaner works great with minimal time, 15 minutes @ water-citranox mix solution around 180 -190 degrees.

Tried it out and the time frame was around 15-20 min of cleaning time. Brass came out very clean. No carbon in the primer pockets and minimal inside. My concern is that this brass has a tarnished look to it. Will this affect the brass in performance, life, and acurracy?

Sorry dont have any pics to post at the moment. Any help would be great.

Thanks

 

[fguffey]

I do not know, when my cleaning process fails me I will consider trying another method.

For years I have used vinegar and nothing, no NRA salt add added + what ever, just vinegar for the worst of cases cases if dirty and tarnished tumbling would require 2 + days, to reduce time cleaning and hours of operation on the tumbler, I use vinegar and nothing for a maximum of 15 minutes for the life of the case and if I decided to agitate the cleaning process the time could be cut in half. Before vinegar there was M&M, back in the 50s B&M listed a cleaning process, 2% H2S03, time was a factor, clean in the solution, maximum 5 minutes, rinse in hot water, then rinse again, and then the cases turned black, just the perfect color for storage.

My thinking? If vinegar at 4% can can be used on a salad and can be used to to store beets and hot peppers it can not be all bad, so I use vinegar to reduce tumbling for the worst of cases., then I tumble with walnut and or corn cob media and again 'nothing'.

And I find it saves time for loading a small number of cases as in 20, I make spinners, when finished in less time than it takes to tumble, I load, to test case necks I do not hesitate to put extra effort in the neck when spinning, if the neck holds my opinion, they are good to go. care must be taken when spinning a case that splits, when the case turns and is chewing on the hand, stopping the case from turning is never fast enough to suit you.

F. Guffey

 

[PJ/AIR/FIRE]

Thanks for the reply. Does your brass become tarnished at all? If so how did it perform?

 

[CatShooter]

... <snip> My concern is that this brass has a tarnished look to it. Will this affect the brass in performance, life, and accuracy?<snip>

Thanks

No harm at all... go ahead and load them.

Meow

 

[bronco_buster]

After I use the ultrasonic, I throw the cases in a tumbler with brasso overnight. They come out like new.

 

[Fat Albert]

With fired brass I pop the primers, clean the necks and shoulders with superfine steel wool and vibrate for 2-3hrs with Walmart ground walnut shells (pet dept).

 

[bozo699]

I have a couple of tumblers, one for molly and the other for cleaning cases. I have thought of buying a ultrasonic cleaner but just have never gotten to it, I have cleaned 99% of all my cases for the last twenty years with 0000 steel wool, 50 cases a power screwdriver, a piece of steel wool and 5 minutes and it is far shinier than new, I also wrap steel wool around a brush and put it on my rcbs power prep center and shine the inside of the necks.
Wayne.

 

[PJ/AIR/FIRE]

Just want to thank everyone who has responded so far. I think that I need to adjust the amount of Citranox to water solution. I have used a tumbler in the past and thought I was cleaning my brass until I started using my ultra sonic cleaner. No comparison.

So I will proceed and see how the brass shoots and adjust the cleaner solution.

 

[37Lincoln1]

After I use the ultrasonic, I throw the cases in a tumbler with brasso overnight. They come out like new.

I'm not sure about using Brasso, it contains ammonia which is not good for brass.

 

[pbot]

What dilution are you using? I use Citranox in my ultrasonic at a ratio of 75 parts water to 1 part Citranox, and the brass comes out clean and shiny. I also don't heat my water much. I just set the thermostat at 30°C and let it run for half an hour.