Hello Guys Anyone have a quick ways of cleaning large amounts of brass I have a tumbler now and it take a good 4 hours to clean most brass ammo like new but it does work good just wondering if you guys know a differway that works as well
How new/clean is your media? If it is not new/clean you can put in a little liquid brasso in it without any brass in and let it run a while. It will speed up your efforts. It works for me, but new media works also. Keep your tumbler just about full, but don't overload it. When the brass rolls over itself through the media that should be good.
Posts: 428 | Location: Michigan USA | Registered: 14 September 2002
With large amounts of tarnished and dirty brass I use white vinegar and salt. The ratio is 1 quart vinegar to 2 tablespoons of salt. Put as much vinegar in the container as you need to cover all your brass. I use a plastic bucket. Stir it occasionally and in about 30 minutes or less it will be pretty clean but a bit dull. Rinse very thoroughly with water. I then dump the damp cases into media and in about another 30 minutes it's nice and polished.
Posts: 1261 | Location: Placerville, CA, US of A | Registered: 07 January 2001
Well, years ago when I was a bachelor cop shooting lots of PPC, I'd load my ghetto apartment bathtub full of .38 Spl. A couple good squirts of Ivory liquid, let the hot water fill in for a few minutes and I'd be standing on the side of the tub stirring it all with a plastic kitchen broom. The racket really pissed off the downstairs neighbors.
The moral (if there is one) is that tumblers ARE the fast way compared to how we used to do it! Count your blessings!
Redial
Posts: 1121 | Location: Florence, MT USA | Registered: 30 April 2002
I used to first use the walnut, then empty and replace with the corn cob mix. Some time back I accidentally dumped the last of the corn cob mix into a tumbler of walnut mix. Well, I let her rip anyway and was pleasantly surprised to find the brass nicely cleaned and polished 1/2 later. I don't bother with liquid polishes as this works quite well for me and, besides,I don't need to squint when I look at my brass.
I also keep a can of "NevR Dull" on hand. It's a Kapoc-like material with a polishing formula that does a real nice job on touching-up whatever stray piece of brass needs it.
[ 11-28-2002, 23:03: Message edited by: Borealis Bob ]
Posts: 733 | Location: N. Illinois | Registered: 21 July 2002
For me it's walnut media for fastest cleaning. Then to really super charge it a few drops of "flitz" metal polish with ea. load.--for me the less brass in the tumbler the more action and the faster the cleaning.
Posts: 2002 | Location: central wi | Registered: 13 September 2002
I dont clean a lot of brass at one time-max 100 cases-but I find using the Lee casing holder on a drill and nevr dull does a real nice job with little effort.Can easily find defects after because leaves a black mark in cracks.
I use corn media - and when it started getting old I added a 1/2 cup of "Orange Glo All purpose cleaner " and some lemon juice to it .I was too lazy tod go out and buy Brasso . Well the media absorbed the liquid - now my cleaning time has halved .
A friend added RICE to his media and swears by it .
For bulk cleaning or badly tarnished brass I first through it in a bucket of vinegar , salt and detergent .
I use super fresh treated corn cob media to clean super fast,then I use untreated corn cob media to remove all traces of cleaning chemicals left over from the previous step.Finally I squirt them each with a blast of compressed air.
Posts: 11651 | Location: Montreal | Registered: 07 November 2002
If you polish with walnut media, go to your local Pets Mart and ask for bird or reptile cage litter. Its crushed wanut shells and comes in 5 and 25 Lb bags. $4.98 5 Lb and $15. for 25. Half of what the reloading supply houses charge.
Looks like I am in the minority here. I use Birchwood-Casey liquid case cleaner. Four minutes in the liquid, then put the cases the oven(175-200 degrees) or in dryer on a rack. Have done up to 250 45acp cases or about 100 .270 cases at a time. Could have probably done a few more. I live in a apartment. My tumbler sounds like it has a diesel engine attached to it. Faster than tumbling and quieter also. There is more info about the Birchwood-Casey Case Cleaner here: http://www.realguns.com/archives/033.htm
I had once read (on this board I think) that adding Brasso was bad because it contained ammonia which was then transferred to the chamber and barrel and then would cause pitting. Is their any truth to this?
Posts: 129 | Location: colorado | Registered: 27 February 2002
