Brass Cleaning....teach me the process...pro’s and can’s

[6.5-300 BEE]

And to that I replied: "Federal FMM ammo dies not have carbon (or graphite) in the necks.

 

[Shane Lindsey]

Dishrag and some Dawn to clean off the lube...Then wipe dry with a clean rag.

Brush the inside of neck once I finish the chamfer...

 

[misterc01]

I use Frankford Arsenal vibratory tumbler. modified with a small funnel for better avalanche effect, plus walnut media from the pet store - snake/reptile department. I add a little Nu Finish and run until it all looks clean and shiny - about 2-3 hours. I also deprime before tumbling. A little work with my RCBS neck brush, then lube and size the brass. I finish up with a Harbor Freight Ultrasonic cleaner bath using with hot water, Lemi-Shine (1 tsp) and a drop of Dawn dishwashing liquid soap. I use four, eight-minute cycles. Result: nice shiny, sized brass, ready for priming, powdering and bulleting. I have not ended up with any rose-colored brass, or other anomalies. The brass looks pretty much like new out-of-the -box manufacturers brass. So far works fine for me, and at a relatively low cost.

 

[foul bore]

I deprime first. sonic clean for 2 cycles, size trim ect. then use vibratory tumbler with corn cob media. use distilled water in sonic cleaner, rinse with the same. takes a little time but no effort

 

[iclick]

What do folks think about sonic? Seems easier....

Seems like drop them in sonic machine for an hour.....Pull the basket. Drop in tray, heat in oven for like 20 min at 170 deg.

I have vibrators, wet tumblers and a Ultra Sonic. The sonic is the quickest at less than an hour. Many times it only takes 1 25 minute cycle. Rinse the basket under running water and then I spread them in my dehydrator for an hour or so. Clean and ready to prime and go. Cleans inside and out with primer pockets like new. I also use it to clean metal gun parts, tools and even carburetor parts etc. I do use the tumbler to HBN coat all my bullets but not for brass anymore. I will use the vibrator to clean up brass fresh from the annealer sometimes. Be sure that you use the better cleaning solutions as the home made remedies I got off the net often changed the color of the brass. I like the Franklin brass cleaner and the Lyman metal cleaner.

 

[Mram10us]

I have a sonic cleaner that just sits. 2 vibratory cleaners with walnut shells I use 10% of the time. I use my franklin arsenal platinum ss tumbler all the time. Makes brass consistently clean every time

 

[Mc Fraser]

I use ss pins and wet tumbler. I have to say they look like new, not a single spot on the inside and outside.
By mistake, I bought a bottle of Frankford solution to clean ss pins. I was shocked at how much dirt was on my pins. I had to clean them 3 x 2.5hrs. Until someone can back up a theory that rifles shoot better without cleaning brass with ss pins I will not stop cleaning my brass.

 

[ronstone09]

So, I have a Midway model 1292 that I bought in about 1995, we'll say! It has served me well. It was recalled and they replaced the motor about 20 years ago. Well, today old reliable stopped mid cycle and smelled like an electrical fire! It seems ok, but I'm worried that it will catch fire. So, I need something new. I could just go buy another one, but they are loud, only clean the outside and removing media can be a pain.

So, if I wanted something better, what processes are better? How is sonic? Dry in oven ok on keep warm? Faster would be good too!

Are SS pins better? Why? Seems like they get wedged in cases. How can I be 100% sure no pins are left in cases?

Also which process has the reputation for screwing with neck tension due to brass being too clean?

Last, a corn cob tumbler is $62. I gotta call $150 my upper limit.

I used to use corn cob for my polishing and switched to white rice at the recommendation of another shooter but it seems to me that the corn cob does a better job in less time so I will be switching back !

 

[dartem]

I have the F.A.R.T. (Frankford Arsenal Rotary Tumbler), two Berry's vibratory tumblers and the big Dillon vibratory...
Small batches I use one of the Berry's. Really big batches, the Dillon. I very seldom use the FART cause it's a PITA with the rinsing and drying. I have a food dehydrator I dry the cases in that I wet tumbled. If you go with the wet process, I suggest car wash/wax as the soap and no more than a 9mm case full of LemiShine. The cases will look better than new, but.......to me, a PITA. YMMV.
Regards,
Mike

 

[Pete H]

I switched to a heated ultrasonic cleaner, and I use distilled water and Hornady one shot cleaner. I use compressed air on each case after rinsing them out. I I want to reload the same day I use a toaster oven to make sure its dry, other wise I let it sit over night.
since I switched, I do not have to clean primer pockets as much as I did with the shaker and tumbler, and have to deal with the messy media that seems to get all over the place.
I only do 50 pieces at a time and run it 3 or 4 cycles (8 min cycles) I have a small low end model, but it works awesome...

 

[Ronald W Schaefer]

I have a Lyman 1200 Turbo vibratory tumbler I bought in 1988 and its still goin' strong. My technique is really simple. I use a little splash of Brasso and crushed walnut media. Dump the brass in, cover with media, add the splash of Brasso, turn it on and walk away. It cleans inside and out so shiny its almost white in about 4 hours. You do have to be sure you pour the tumbling media out of the cases and ensure there are no granules in the primer flash hole. I dump the polished brass onto a large plastic strainer over the media bucket and handle the polished brass with some flight gloves I still have from fighter pilot days to keep oils on my hands off the shiny brass--great tactile sense while still protecting the brass. One guy chided me for using Brasso during polishing on here (I think) once as it could potentially thin the necks after some number of polishings, but I found it ups the efficacy of the media tenfold and after a quarter million rounds of polished brass never noticed any negative effects.

 

[eshorebwhntr]

I too use a combo of wet and dry tumbling. My process involves very little hand cleaning or prep of primer pockets or necks which is what I was going for.

I pop the primers. Wet tumble an hour or so. Dry over night. Then lube and resize. Dry tumble, usually overnight. Not necessary just how it works out. Then prime, charge, load.

I hate the process of manually cleaning the pockets or necks.

I've had very good luck with this in many guns as I reload for a lot of friends and family. I've worked many loads that produce single digit ES with this method which is what I go for. If it just looked pretty and shot like schitt I wouldn't do it. Other processes will work just as well. This is just what has worked for me.

Pro's

For me it produces consistently prepped brass that makes consistently precise and accurate ammo with little 'hand' work.

Con's

I've accumulated this equipment over years of getting into reloading and trying stuff that interests me. To jump into my setup would cost you a few hundred $. It would also require drying steps like ovens or dehydrator that I don't use to complete 'all in one day' or session. I typically don't care about that. I shoot, and others that I shoot with, on weekends. Most of the time I don't need more ammo until 'next weekend'. So I deprime/wet tumble day 1, resize/dry tumble day 2, prime/charge/bullet day 3. So most situations I'm done with loaded ammo for 'next weekend' by 'Tuesday night'.

 

[SteelBanger]

I have both the Frankford dry tumbler and their wet tumbling drum. I have a significant love / hate relationship with the wet tumbler, it does a fantastic job but it requires considerably more time and effort than the dry tumbler. Rinsing and separating the pins is a PITA, then I just throw all the cases into the oven at 185 let it run for a little bit then kill the heat and come back a couple hours later to cool, dry cases. At that point I put them in a 5 gallon bucket and shake them around a little to knock any left over pins loose, then grab them a couple at a time and tap them upside down on the counter to let any remaining pins fall out. Not many come out at this point, but with 500+ cases in there you are bound to find some pins still. I did a batch of probably around 700 .223 cases this past weekend and even after all that effort to get the pins out I still knocked a pin loose when I ran one case through the sizing die.

Oh and did I mention they come out tooo clean? Like squeaky clean, meaning your lube needs to be on point or you'll be sticking cases in your sizing die all day. I never once stuck a case until I switched to wet tumbling. I also had some galling and brass deposits in my sizing die due to my poor lubing and i had to hone out the die really well ... more pain in my arse. I now throw them in the walnut media for 30 minutes or so once they're dry to get that squeak off them with that fine dust which seems to help them through the sizing die a little, then of course back into the dry media after sizing to remove the lube.

After typing all this out I can't help but wonder why the crap I still wet tumble ... I guess I'm just one of those weirdos that loves the entire process and doesn't mind the extra time and work.

 

[aushunter1]

Imo tumbelers are a waste of time, with the exception of a SS pin tumbler if you want to make them shiny which is purely an aesthetic thing.

Using an ultra sonic you can have squeaky clean brass in 9 minutes with the right cleaning agent.

I only do small batches so just have a cheap ebay jewellery cleaner, I use citric acid with a few drops of detergent & with 3 x 3 minute cycles all the carbon is removed, rinse in a bath of water with a little bicarb soda to neutralise the acid & job done, 10 minutes tops, not hours in a tumbler!!