I have recently started reloading from used factory loads in my 30-06. I have saved every case over the last 20 years or so, and notice that much of the brass is pretty tarnished on the outside of the case necks. I have tumbled a number of cases in both corn cob, and walnut husk medium, usually for an hour or so. I have noticed that the neck portions frequently stay tarnished. Any suggestions on how to fix this situation?

Wet tumble with Stainless Steel pin and globs for one hour in hour water and a few drops of Dawn.
Brass will come out looking like it was just made.

You have to add the liquid (thick) brass cleaner from Midway, and others. Do not use Brasso or anything else that has ammonia in it.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
You have to add the liquid (thick) brass cleaner from Midway, and others. Do not use Brasso or anything else that has ammonia in it.

And more than an hour in the tumbler.

Shooting is a lot more fun than worrying about non-issues.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
Do not use Brasso or anything else that has ammonia in it.

That's an old wives tale. I've used Brasso for years and it's not done anything to my brass except clean it.

You can always just spin the cases by hand with steel wool around the neck area. Looks great and takes just a short time to do 100 cases.

Zeke

I use walnut hulls with RCBS cleaner I think, but you can probably just leave the case in over night or longer and get them clean, just not shiney..They don't have to be shiny..Cleaner will make the shine.

I use Brasso on rag but I do not load a lot of shells.They come shiny ..I did read that you do not want your shells real shiny and slippery because they move more in chamber and not stick to walls ..

Only what i read ..

Thank you for the answers. I tried spinning the necks in steel wool, and it worked.

Here's some 45-120 shot with black powder and left to rot:


And here they are after 3 x 3 hours with SS pins:


Need i say more?

quote:

Originally posted by The Dane:
Here's some 45-120 shot with black powder and left to rot:


And here they are after 3 x 3 hours with SS pins:


Need i say more?

WOW...Real nice....Years ago wayback I would run out and buy that but cost are awful now and I hardly reload now do to cost and sadly most I know have stopped reloading and only little calibers like 22 hornet /218 super bee etc..

So I use Brasso on rag cheap mans way of doing it ..Sad I would like shoot weekly like I did in 60s but it is just to expensive my buddy called and said Jim they want 33 dollars without tax for can of 3031 ..The haz shipping cost is ruining reloading and black powder muzz shooting and local stores are marking powder way up ...

In this scenario, I would like to use method I use for brass from hunts. I mean brass fallen to the mud or whatever.

Rinse in tap water, then put to ultrasonic for prewash. It will remove abrasive substances etc. I don't like anything like this in my reloading dies. Rinse in tap water, let it dry.

Lube, Deprime, resize, trim, debbur, preclean primer pocket mechanically (remove the worst residues).

Put to rotary tumbler with stainless steel media, dishwashing liquid and citric acid. 90 minutes is enough for the most scenarios.

Result: Like new inside/outside clean brass.

Jiri

I turned a caliber specific caliber tapered spuds. Chuck them in a drill motor held in a vise. Push the mouth of the case on the spud and clean with steel wool or an abrasive pad. I vibrate first with walnut shell.

Dave

As Ray said run them in the tumbler overnight.

Mark

have to appreciate all the feedback. Those 45/120 shells look like a lost cause before tumbling. After, they look like new. I will definitely be able to recondition all of that old brass that I have saved. Thanks again.

Grace dog, get a pack of Scotch Brite pads or Steel Wool next time your at the super market (or Kitchen).
Just a quick rotate of the case neck with the Scotch Brite between your trigger finger and thumb, and the tarnish will be gone.

As some others have suggested, I to recently purchased a rotary wet tumbler, that came with some stainless steel pins.
I can see my conventional vibratory tumbler (Lyman) and the Walnut media, being sold off in the future.
The only down side (apart from having to rinse and dry the cases afterwards) is that you can over do this cleaning process.
The fist lot of cases I polishes were 500 ish 9mmx19 Luger cases, and I run them for 2 hours. When I was draining the water (and Citric Acid and liquid soap) from the drum, I seen a lot of very fine Brass metal flakes, reflecting in the sun light.
So since then, I only run them for 1 hour, before finishing and rinsing them off.

Hope that helps

Doh!
Homer

I now wet tumble with stainless steel media, dish washing soap and LemiShine (citric acid)

When the cases are not that dirty I just wash the cases with dish soap and LemiShine and stir by hand in a plastic bucket.

Homemade Firearm Cleaners & Lubricants

http://www.frfrogspad.com/homemade.htm

Chemical Case Cleaning Solutions

While tumbling cases in an abrasive media provides the best finish, extremely dirty cases can be decapped first (using a non-sizing die) and then washed in one of the following solutions. The final rinse in soapy water helps prevent tarnishing. All of these methods were approved by Frankford Arsenal and will not weaken your brass.


A 5 percent solution of citric acid (available from your drugstore) and warm water for about 10 minutes. If your water is very hard increase the amount of citric acid. You can add some Dawn™ or Cascade™ dishwasher liquid soap (which does not contain ammonia--be careful some do), 409, or Awsome to the solution for extra grease cutting ability. Follow with a rinse in hot soapy water (Ivory™ works well) and allow to dry. Don't overuse the citric acid or the brass may discolor.


A solution of 1 quart of white vinegar and 2 tablespoons of salt. Soak with some agitation for 15 to 20 minutes and follow with a rinse of soapy hot water and allow to dry.


A solution of 1 quart of water, 1 cup white vinegar, 1/2 cup lemon juice, 1/4 cup laundry or dishwashing detergent, 1/8 cup salt. Soak with some agitation for 15 to 20 minutes and follow with a rinse of soapy hot water and allow to dry. This may leave brass with a slight pinkish cast which will disappear with a short tumble in media.


Military arsenals use a heated 4 percent sulfuric acid dip with a little potassium dichromate added. The solution is heated until bubbles rise slowly without it boiling and the cases are dipped into it for 4 -5 minutes using a basket of copper screening or plastic. A final rinse using plain hot water is followed by hot water with Ivory™ soap in it and the cases are left to drain and dry. Because of the use of heated sulfuric acid this method is probably impractical for home use but is given here to show what can be safely used.


Cases which have been fired several times and which show signs of carbon build up internally can be rinsed in straight paint & varnish makers (P&VM) naphtha available at any paint store. Decap, soak for 5 - 10 minutes, drain, allow to air dry and then tumble as usual. Cases will be sparkling clean inside and out but not any shinier.

Those shells look fine but I would hesitate to load them very hot if at all..that kind of damage looks pretty deep to me..but hey I'm just looking at a picture.

I use a Harbor Freight ultra sonic cleaner. Hot tap water drop of dish soap and 2-3 teaspoons of Lemi-Shine. Three long cycles cleans everything. Rinse, blot dry and place in a 170 degree oven on a cookie sheet. Convection oven even faster. In an hour you have clean dry cases ready to reload. So simple!

I believe its a good idea that cases should not be bright and shiny as they do not grip the chamber walls as someone said earlier on this thread..I have read that in a number of gun rags including some benchresters, therefore I must give credence to those old boys, they do shoot a lot..My therory on that is it can't hurt..

I don't worry much about that, my cases never come out that shiny. I just wanted to get the brownish corroded look off of the case necks. Spinning them in steel works good enough. I don't really want to invest in a wet tumbler, as I'd rather spend my money on that new Model 70 that I have my eyes on.

I know this will sound pretty downmarket to the purists but I try to save a little money by reloading, so leave out some of the expensive equipment.

After resizing and cleaning the primer pockets, I wash the lubricant and some of the crud off by rattling the cases around in a jar of Shellite (white gasoline) for a little while and then give them a few hours for it to evaporate.

Is this likely to have any dangerous consequences?

Gracedog, I'm probably "way out in left field here" but, is it possible that you're seeing the annealing coloration? Most of the time the cases clean"fairly" uniformly, unless extremely tarnished. memtb

No, I don't think it is from annealing, as the brass is from factory loads that don't have annealing marks, I do understand what you're referring to, though.

I've seen factory ammo with cases that appears to have been annealed.

Gee sproulman sympathise with us down under where most of the Hodgdon powder is actually made now, if we convert your US$33 to NZ$ we get about $45 but the cheapest we can get a pound tin of powder by buying online is $65 plus freight. Buy it from a retail store and a tin can be up to $90-$100. All our pricing does include 15% tax though.

Would like to see how those cases cleaned up inside Dane?

Krazy Kloth from Sinclair, or Amazon.

here

I'm getting arthritis in my hands. cleaning the lube off of cases after sizing really kills me for a day or so afterwards.. especially if I'm doing several hundred cases at a time which I usually do.

I don't care how shiny they get, but I do want all the lube removed, so they go into either the Harbor Freight vibratory or my Thumler's tumbler for a couple hours to scrub off the sizing lube.. If they get shiny as a result... great... if not.. i'm okay with that too.. just as long as the lube is gone...

The downside to this is, your media loads pretty quickly and needs replacing sooner.

One more vote for SS media. When used with Lemi Shine nothing works better.

I've picked up brass in the desert that was black. One hour in the Thumlers Tumbler and it sparkles like jewelry. Nothing less.

That is typically a story told by Lee-Enfield shooters.
It is a pretty poor theory to count on using the case walls for a brake to protect the bolt and receiver. If your action is so sorry if might be damaged by a slick case you do not have much of an action.

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
I believe its a good idea that cases should not be bright and shiny as they do not grip the chamber walls as someone said earlier on this thread..I have read that in a number of gun rags including some benchresters, therefore I must give credence to those old boys, they do shoot a lot..My therory on that is it can't hurt..

I won't argue that, its just past on stuff I read, and like I said, it sure can't hurt, but what you say makes since..

[QUOTE]Originally posted by wallace:
That is typically a story told by Lee-Enfield shooters.
It is a pretty poor theory to count on using the case walls for a brake to protect the bolt and receiver. If your action is so sorry if might be damaged by a slick case you do not have much of an action.

[QUOTE]
Actually it has nothing to do with a shabby or weak action. The whole design is for the brass case to expand and grip the chamber walls. This is why steel cases have never been a success.

OK, so now we all need to take our new "shiny" brass out and let it corrode
for awhile so it will grip the side of the chambers. sheeeeeeeesh!

Unless the chamber has been lubricated or too polished, the brass WILL grip.

quote:

Originally posted by eagle27:
Gee sproulman sympathise with us down under where most of the Hodgdon powder is actually made now, if we convert your US$33 to NZ$ we get about $45 but the cheapest we can get a pound tin of powder by buying online is $65 plus freight. Buy it from a retail store and a tin can be up to $90-$100. All our pricing does include 15% tax though.

Would like to see how those cases cleaned up inside Dane?

WOW thats something on prices ..I have powder that still has price on cans $8.95 cents a can ..

If your cases just need to be clean then a tumbler works just fine even if a bit of tarnish is left.

I use walnut media with a tablespoon of BonAmi cleaning powder and three caps full of mineral spirits for tarnished cases.

I always clean cases before sizing in a tumbler with walnut for 30 minutes. Saves scratching a die.

After sizing I use the walnut with mineral spirits and BonAmi for an hour or two to remove lube and give a nice final polish before loading.

Wet media will really polish the cases and even clean the primer pockets but it is expensive and messy and you still have to dry the cases afterwards (easily done in a tumbler with corn or walnut) and the rifle won't shoot any better but the cases will be pretty.

Jerry Liles

Its like me I do not load much at all and I have tumbler from 1970 lyman ..For me BRASSO on rag before sizing is fine then a little GOOF OFF to get rid of the case lube afterwards is way I do it but if I had lots of cases I would use the walnut shells with Brasso poured into media ...

Its sad I use to shoot 50 shells a week back in 70s everything was cheap people would not even pick up their emptys they were on ground or laying on tables a box of 20 shells was 1.95 to 2.95 remingtons .....

quote:

Originally posted by DannoBoone:
OK, so now we all need to take our new "shiny" brass out and let it corrode
for awhile so it will grip the side of the chambers. sheeeeeeeesh!

Unless the chamber has been lubricated or too polished, the brass WILL grip.

There are 2 sides to this experts say they will slip if to shiny others like you say no...Top bench rest shooter says they will SLIP if too shiny others say no...If the shell moves even a little could that be a big thing to benchrest shooter on groups?Throw in 5 little things like that and to benchrest shooter they would say YES it does matter...I think they feel if you have 5 little things that happen it could lead to 1 boo boo on improving your groups...

only saying........

I run mine through the vib cleaner and brush the inside of the necks before I shove them in my dies, then finish in the vib cleaner to take the lube off. throw a few small pieces of dryer sheets to absorb some of the lube and trash. You can buy polish to mix with Medea if you want to make them real shiny. I just go for clean.