This was posted on another forum, with no real consensus, so I thought I'd put it to the most opinionated shooting forum on the net!

There seems to be 3 schools of thought on using Brasso to polsh cases:

1) Brasso can weaken cases and shoudl not be used under any circumstances. If you use Brasso on cases the ammonaia in it will attack your cases, and your cases will fail, probably blowng up your gun, and the sky wll fall on our heads.

2) Nothing wrong with using Brasso on cases. I've been doing it for 20 years. I just squirt a little into my media while tumbling, and 'viola' nice shiny casses. I'm going to wear out the case by shooting long before Brasso has a chance to do anythng nasty to it. Too many alarmists reloading these days

3) I've never really thought about it..The tumbler usually gets the cases clean enough for me.

I fall into category #3

Gatehouse - #1 is correct. Brasso should not be used on cartridge cases. The stuff is great for doorknobs, very bad for firearms. There are plenty of brass cleaners designed specifically for firearms, Brasso ain't one of them. The best that I have used is Dillon�s Rapid Polish. It is non-ammonia based and works either on a rag or with tumbler media.

[ 06-20-2003, 19:43: Message edited by: Zero Drift ]

Ammonia leeches the zinc out of the brass making it brittle and subject to failure. Any product containing ammonia can affect brass adversely and that includes most bore cleaners which also contain ammonia. The question is over what period of time will this action take place? Bottom line is that ammonia is NOT good for brass, but then neither is going 100 mph on the interstate good for your health and pocketbook. In either case you might get away with it for a while but why take the chance? In any case, it's not a recommend action.

In all honesty, I used Brasso for over 30 years as a case cleaning agent without any ill effects.
Most of my shooting is at the range and on woodchuck so I expend a lot of ammo yearly.
I used to place the case in a Lee shellholder and spin it in my drill. The cases came out like a new penny, and I never lost one from it in firing. I no longer use it because I finally grew tired
of having to wash my hands so often. It does get messy. I now use a Lyman Turbo tumbler
which doesn't even come close to cleaning as well. I've read negative articles on using Brasso, and had friends tell me it would ruin my cases. Somehow it never did. Maybe I was lucky. Maybe it's just an old wives tale that won't die. I honestly don't know. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

Bob338 is right if I remember my inorganic chem class right. NH3, ammonia, will complex with zinc. This complexing will effectively pull zinc atoms out of the metal's matrix. This will leave the surface of the cartridge having the same properties of pure copper. This sounds like it would be really bad, but I have doubts on whether or not these effects would affect enough of the bulk material to have any real overall effects on strength. I don't think I would risk it though just to have pretty brass. I'll stick to the non-ammonia polishes.

Anvil

I'm kinda a number 3 man myself. They give no extra points for pretty brass at a shooting match. When I was in the marines, I used enough Brasso to float a battle ship and I can't remember a brass door knob failure nor a belt buckle falling apart from over use of Brasso. Anyone who lets their cases sit around enough to be adversly effected by the affects of Brasso isn't shooting enough.

NO NO NO NO NO. It's a chemical thing...

I'm #3. I tried soaking brass in some carburator cleaner and "something" red leached out. I don't know what, I stopped immediately and I've never had a problem with that brass. But I do wonder. Any suggestions?

My experiences mirror Cal Sibley's. I have used brasso on cases at least as long as he has and have never had any problems with case life. The case cracks and splits I've had in my life clearly had nothing to do with brasso.

I don't doubt all the chemical mumbo jumbo talk about Brasso and brass...but in the real world it's irrelevent. High pressure loadings will destroy cases LONG before brasso ever thought about it.

Not to worry.

Unless I'm using different brass than the rest of the world, your #2 option is the real one.

[ 06-21-2003, 20:58: Message edited by: Pecos45 ]

I use Nevr-dull,a lee shell holder and drill.For the number of cases I load the speed is ok.Always wondered if the can has ammonia in it but I suppose it has.The neat thing about using it is if there is a crack in the case it really stands out using this stuff because the black goop that forms stays in the crack-acts like a dye penetrant.Have had very few cases fail-neck cracks - in the time Ive used this method.It is dirty though.

Gatehouse,

I vote for #2, except that I have been doing it longer than 20 years! Never have had a problem. Of the past few years, I have saved all my spent primers and put them in quart jars. I have 2 jars completely full of primers that were used to fire all those rounds loaded in cases that were tumbled in media containing some Brasso! I wonder how many spent primers are in each quart jar??????BCB

I'm with Cal and Pecos. I had been using Brasso on all of my cases for a couple of years before anyone ever told me what it was doing to my brass. Got a tumbler now and for the life of me I can not tell a difference in the life of my brass and I have never (knocking on wood) blown a gun up either way.

I've used Brasso before to polish and de-gung some loaded ammo, then fired it with no ill effects, even though I agree that it is not a good idea. Basically, use it on the outside surfaces only, then remove all of it from the case immediately!

A small cotton rag impregnated with a brass cleaner (ammonia based)and an old sock. An easy way to be productive between rounds, and when you get home, you're ready to size those beautiful cases.

Turtle wax (or whatever's the least expensive when I need more).