Yesterday I was out at the range popping some caps and noticed that the melting snow had uncovered a pocket full of misc brass. So I got home and let it dry out and later was going to tumble it to clean it up. Then I thought I didn't want all this grit getting in my media and eventually going down the bore of my rifles so I dumped the corn cob out and put in a quart of hot water and a good squeeze of Dawn Ultra dish detergent. Turned it on and forgot about it. A couple hours later I decided it was time to have a look. To my surprise it was very clean inside and out. It all went from badly tarnished to very little tarnish and no more carbon or gritty dirt inside. I was going to spring for a rotary tumbler, but my Hornady vibratory tumbler works pretty good too. While it would never work with the stainless pins it does work wonders on years old muddy nasty range brass before you polish it in media.
Tried an experiment in case cleaning and to my surprise it worked pretty good.
- Thread starter Paddyd
- Start date
I do not wet tumble; I have cleaned cases that would not clean up with a weak of tumbling. For the worst of cases I use vinegar for 15 minutes once for the life of the case.
I can remove years or patina in 15 minutes with vinegar. I do not wet tumble in my tumbles that are design to be used dry. If I did I would seal the top of the tumbler from the bottom housing. I would not want to get my motor wet.
F. Guffey
I can remove years or patina in 15 minutes with vinegar. I do not wet tumble in my tumbles that are design to be used dry. If I did I would seal the top of the tumbler from the bottom housing. I would not want to get my motor wet.
F. Guffey
The way the bowl is shaped in my tumbler there is no way for it to leak as long as you do not fill the water over halfway to the top of the cone in the center. The water does not slosh around. More like an aggressive vibration of the cases under the water. I ran it for two hours this way with zero issues.
snert
Silver $$ Contributor
I buy powdered citric acid, add white vin, boiling water to cover brass (careful) and some dish soap, in a 5 gallon mud tub and a big wooden paddle and I clean thousands of nasty range brass at a time. Shake out in a beach towel, toss onto cookie sheets, into the oven at 175 for 20 min, all nice and clean.
Where do you find powdered citric acid? I bet it's way cheaper than store bought case cleaning solution.
snert
Silver $$ Contributor
I googled it and found it at some "pharma" company in the midwest. It was cheap, bought by the pound, and i got enough that I have not had to re-look for it. There is no label anymore, as I moved it into ziplocks...so it did not look like a package of white powdery substance...
snert
Silver $$ Contributor
http://www.bulkapothecary.com/raw-ingredients/other-ingredients-and-chemicals/citric-acid/
There ya go...found it again first try
I can't understand all the furor over cleaning methods. I've tried them all over the last 40+ years and I now use a Frankford Arsenal rotary tumbler. Yesterday I filled it with 500 or so .223/5.56 cases that looked like they had been stored under a manure pile for a decade. Tossed in 1.5 oz of RCBS ultrasonic cleaning solution I had left over after my playing around with the U/S cleaner, turned the timer to 3 hours, and went to lunch with my wife.
When done I poured the mess through an old tee shirt to separate liquid and crud from brass and pins, rinsed with hot water well, then dumped the mess in my RCBS rotary media separator. A couple of minutes later all the pins were removed. The brass was layed out on a big bath towel to dry and sort. Actual "Hands On" for the project was maybe 15 minutes total. Rest of the time was spend letting the machine do the work.
In the end my brass looked better (inside, outside, and primer pockets too) than brand new factory brass. Shinier too.
If I had to reload immediately I'd just anneal like I do with every reload cycle now. Case would be dry in about 4 seconds.
I'm all done with "witches brews", dry and dusty corncob, and vibrators. Expect to dump all that equipment at a swap meet in the next month or two.
When done I poured the mess through an old tee shirt to separate liquid and crud from brass and pins, rinsed with hot water well, then dumped the mess in my RCBS rotary media separator. A couple of minutes later all the pins were removed. The brass was layed out on a big bath towel to dry and sort. Actual "Hands On" for the project was maybe 15 minutes total. Rest of the time was spend letting the machine do the work.
In the end my brass looked better (inside, outside, and primer pockets too) than brand new factory brass. Shinier too.
If I had to reload immediately I'd just anneal like I do with every reload cycle now. Case would be dry in about 4 seconds.
I'm all done with "witches brews", dry and dusty corncob, and vibrators. Expect to dump all that equipment at a swap meet in the next month or two.
I too am using the Frankford Arsenal rotary tumbler with steel media; however, I use it with the Frankford's Quick-N-EZ Brass Polish. After 3, to sometimes 4 1/2, hours of tumbling, my brass always looks amazing. and the primer pockets come out better than new. Attached is a pic of what my brass looks like when I'm done.
The rotary tumbler is the best investment I ever made!
Attachments
I agree, but at this moment in time I can't afford the rotary tumbler. Maybe next year. I did use some of that lemishine (citric acid)and dish soap today and it took out damned near all the carbon from some very dirty .308 cases. So, for my 3 bucks I'd say I did OK. Also, for any who use citric acid which is in all the case cleaning solutions, rinse them in a baking soda solution to neutralize the acid before you call it quits.
Brians356
Silver $$ Contributor
An old trick while traveling, from simpler times, was to put dirty laundry in a closed container in the trunk of your car, with soap and water. A couple of hours on the road for agitation. I bet it would work great for brass, too.
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