best way to clean dirty brass?

[Ridge_Runner]

have alot of brass fired in AR's, walnut media takes days and the necks are still dirty, whats the best fastest way to clean them? My long range stuff is usually cleaned by hand since its normally 50 pcs. or less, but I have hundreds of 6.5 Creed, 6.5 Grendel and 6mm ARC.
Thanks all

 

[JD338]

I have a Frankfort Arsenal wet tumbler with stainless steel pins. It will make the dirtiest of brass look like new inside and out.

JD338

 

[Chuck R]

I decap first, then use a Thumler's Tumbler; tumbling with SS pins, water, 1/4 tsp amount of Lemi Shine and a capful of ArmorAll car wash soap. I then dry them using a re-purposed jerky dehydrator.

After sizing I remove the lube using a vibratory cleaner and corncob media. I then expand my case necks using Redding Imperial dry case neck lube and an expander mandrel leaving the dry lube in the case neck to prevent cold welding of the bullet to the brass.

 

[michsteve]

I use some nu finish car polish you squeeze some into your media and it does a great job for dry style polishing.

 

[Ralt71]

I have a Frankfort Arsenal wet tumbler with stainless steel pins. It will make the dirtiest of brass look like new inside and out.

JD338

This is the same thing I do, I also have an UltraSonic that I use for specific cleanings. In most cases I don't need the U.S. after getting wet tumbled. My FA is the Lite version which is better for me, i don't typically clean 100 or more pieces at once.

 

[TackDriver284]

Last month I bought the Frankford Arsenal Lite, cleaned about 300 pieces of .45 brass, comes with the pin separator and dryer. Less of a mess with SS pins with this kit. I like it. You should be able to clean 300 pieces of .223 brass in one go, but i would do 200 at a time for a more efficient clean. Used 2 TS of Dawn and 1 TS of Lemishine on my first batch, plain works. Deprimed all brass with a decapping die.

 

[sako2]

I have a Frankfort Arsenal wet tumbler with stainless steel pins. It will make the dirtiest of brass look like new inside and out.

JD338

THIS ^^^^^^^^^^^

 

[RL338]

Wet stainless in a Harbor Freight tumbler with a bit of Dawn and Lemishine.

 

[jimbires]

I've never tried it , but I've read that a " krazy Kloth " will just about wipe the brass case clean with zero effort .

 

[pmelancon1984]

After shooting and verifying that all calibers are sorted I wet tumble with dawn, lemi shine, ss pins and water in a cement mixer. This is for when I have a lot to clean.

If my volume is down or if some of the above aren’t cleaned to my liking I wet tumble again with the same ingredients but in a rock tumbler.

Deprime and resize, wet tumble again to get all lube off from inside and outside using same ingredients only in the rock tumbler.

Complete case preparations.

Dry tumble only if I feel they need more shine and polish.

Prime and load, repeat.

It’s a lot of steps but I always have brass ahead of me, but my dies never see range sand or dirt, etc and everything is clean throughout all steps that I’m handling brass. I don’t care how long it takes me overall. I want top quality product that performs as good as I can get it and it looks good.

Tumbling times above for me id say probably 2-3 hours each cleaning time period as described above. I like clean brass even though it don’t shoot better but its what I want.

 

[wvbuckbuster]

I have found that using the tumbler with corn cob media make sure to put enough of the polishing media in it when first using and to refresh each time with some more. If case necks are extremely dirty, I put some of the polish on a rag and twist the rag around the necks a couple times before throwing in the tumbler. Another trick is not to let the brass get to tarnished so it doesn't take as long to clean. Did know a guy who filled up his tumbler with Brasso and brass then forgot to turn it off before leaving on vacation. When he came back that brass was so shinny it's hurt your eyes

 

[clearwater]

Prepping a bunch of old WW2 once fired brass with corrosive primers.

I washed in dawn, rinsed

Deprimed and reamed and uniformed primer pockets to get out the crimp and the primer residue.

Soaked in vinegar for a few minutes and rinsed to brighten them up and get rid of remaining residue

Sized, trimmed then tumbled in walnut

Deburred flash holes which also knocked out any media.

They look like new and shoot well in father in laws National Match Garand

 

[Chuck R]

I've never tried it , but I've read that a " krazy Kloth " will just about wipe the brass case clean with zero effort .

It does, I use it on the brass cases for my BPCR blow tubes and to clean expander mandrels.

Just gets a little time consuming when it comes to hundreds of cases

 

[BobinNC]

I use rice in my Berry's 400 Vibratory Tumbler. Not just any white rice, but Nishiki Premium Sushi Rice. I buy it 15 lbs at a time on Amazon. One tumbler load will clean about 1,000 cases. I then throw it away, and add a new batch. The Nishiki Medium grain rice is large enough to not get stuck in flash holes.

It won't make your brass shiny, but it will make them very clean. And no peening of the necks like when you use steel pins, and no dust like you get from corn cob media.

 

[6PPC]

I also use vinegar for clean brass. I also put 1 spoon of salt ( NaCl 2) for one liter of vinegar

 

[grry10]

I have a Frankfort Arsenal wet tumbler with stainless steel pins. It will make the dirtiest of brass look like new inside and out.

JD338

What are you using to separate your brass from the SS pins when you're done tumbling?

 

[JD338]

What are you using to separate your brass from the SS pins when you're done tumbling?

The Frankfort Arsenal media tumbler.

JD338

 

[TackDriver284]

The Frankfort Arsenal media tumbler.

JD338

It does make it easier separating the SS pins from brass, also I spread out a large towel first, it helps recover a few SS pins that get loose. I use a clip magnet that I use for filed papers that I stick to my magnet chalkboard, to recover spilled SS pins from the towel back to the SS pin jar.

 

[RL338]

I also use a small magnet to gather up the few that get away when rinsing the brass off in the sink.

 

[Joec7651]

If it’s very dirty brass. Put it in the parts strainer, and swish it in a gallon of can of carb cleaner for about 20 seconds. Rinse it with water very well. New looking brass. Will be spotless.