When I was young I used brasso on my 270 cases, and then learned better, but I don't think it shortened their life much, I used and used and used those cases.

I also have used vinagar and salt, it will clean off bad tarnish, but the cases will corrode again real quick if you don't get some wax on them. I like to tumble cases after a vinagar and salt treatment with a little floor wax added to the media.

Ya'll need to quit wasting your time and find my thread about making a brass tumbler from an old ice cream maker. Youll never go back to cleaning by hand..

There are two ways to clean things, remove dirt & remove metal.

Soap and water can do wonders. RCBS makes the only case tumbler than can do that. I like mine a lot. Of course you really should wash any cartridges used with blackpowder but even if that isn't true that RCBS tumbler is nice.

A normal tumbler grinds the dirt off. Just simple abrasion. Nothing wrong with that if it works. I've found, however, that quite often it does. Soap & water seems to do a better job usually.

The abrasion tumbling or any chemical cleans by removing the outer layer of metal. Silver polish, for example, removes a very minute layer of silver oxide from the surface. The new surface looks silvery. Metal is removed here.

Chemical cleaners and, to a much less extent, abrasion tumbling just removes the outer layer of metal. People use silver cleaner for decades without removing much metal.

Personally I don't think much about case cleaning. Oh the cases look nicer but they don't work any better. I also wouldn't be too concerned about using chemicals to clean cases. I perfer soap & water but I doubt that chemicals will do that much hard.

The best brass cleaning solution that I have ever seen and has probably ever been produced is IOSSO case cleaner.
IOSSO started as a company that made clening supplies that were non-abrasive for the brass trim on luxury yachts.
Since then they have moved into the gun business.
All you have to do is dump your brass into a plastic bucket, pour IOSSO over them until it just covers the top, and let them sit for about 30 minutes.
Afterwards, simply take them to the sink and wash the cases off. If water runs off them dirty, put them back in the bucket and let them set for awhile longer. When the water runs off clear, simply rinse the cases off and let them dry. Here is the best part if you are cheap like me, after you are done, just put the cleaner back in the bottle and reuse it as long as it is not too dirty.
There is absolutely no scrubbing required, just wipe them off.
If you have a tumbler, and you want to see your reflection in your brass, tumble the cleaned cases in walnut shell and use IOSSO Case-Brite. Just a little 'glug' into the shell and your cases come out looking better than when they left the factory.
My biggest test for the cleaner itself, to show my customers is that i had an old 50BMG case that was a dark laquered-looking green color, basically it had 60 years of tarnish and oxidation on it.
I filled a bucket with just a little IOSSO cleaner so that it went about 2 inches up the shell.
I let it sit in the bucket for 30 minutes and took it out and the green had literally melted away. I DID NOT SCRUB it at all, I simply washed the case off and dried it.
The best part is, it does not contain any harsh chemicals like ammonia, so it will not affect the integrity of your case.
Sound too good to be true? Try it and see for yourself, I promise you will be amazed.

If you would like any additional information on IOSSO products, feel free to contact me:
ShopCartRacing@aol.com

-Spencer