Best method to clean brass

[oremike]

Where does one get Lemmeshine? I've looked locally here in Vancouver.

I buy citric acid in bulk from Wal-mart. I order it on-line and have it shipped to my house.

Robot or human?

 

[whiskeybill]

I am thinking of getting a wet tumbler too. I have concern about getting a SS pins stuck to the bottle
neck cases? Can you clean effectively without the SS pins? How do you make sure no SS pins are
left in the cases?

The wet tumbler kits have a release magnet for getting the majority of the pins off the cases. As I said in my post, my method is to put the wet cases in dry walnut media, run the vibratory tumbler to dry and polish the cases. Once dry, any pins left in the cases come out with the walnut media in the separator. Works for me.

 

[oremike]

I am thinking of getting a wet tumbler too. I have concern about getting a SS pins stuck to the bottle
neck cases? Can you clean effectively without the SS pins? How do you make sure no SS pins are
left in the cases?

I don't use the SS pins or chips, just a 2.2 lee dipper of citric acid, a squirt of Dawn Dish soap and hot water. I have a 12 lb tumblers tumbler and let it run for 3 hours.

 

[HighlandLofts]

I've been thinking of getting a wet tumbler as well. With rifle brass I deprime run through ultra sonic then size and another quick bath to get lube off. Can you run newly sized brass in the tumbler or will you mess up the rim/neck area?

I have never had a problem tumbling with resized brass.
But I really don't need to tumble resized brass either.
I deprime then tumble before resizing. It gets the brass super clean so you don't get any crude in your resizing die.
I make my own spray lube,
ten parts red Container of dry gas
One part Liquid lanolin.
It doesn't take much to lube the cases for resizing.
After I get the cases all reloaded if there is any lube on the finished product I just wipe with a paper towel.
I have carbide dies for handgun reloading,
I will occasionally give that brass a small squirt of spray lube.
The home made spray lube is a lot cheaper to make then buying Hornady OneShot
As with any spray lube you need to give it time for the achohol to evaporate other wise you will get a stuck case.
As with any resizing always have a stuck case remover on hand.
You don't need the brass as clean as wet tumbling gets it, but if you do tumble your brass why not get it as clean as it can get.
Your resizing die with Thank You.

Once you see the cruddy black contaminated water you dump out and you see the results of wet tumbling you will never go back to dry tumbling.
Dry tumbling doesn't remove all of this contaminated crude and the dust from dry tumbling has to be toxic.

 

[DizzyJ]

I like to tumble using crushed hopes and dreams. It's a rather aggressive mixture so don't tumble for long or it'll wear out the brass (or anything else you throw into the mix).

 

[Goodknight]

I like to tumble using crushed hopes and dreams. It's a rather aggressive mixture so don't tumble for long or it'll wear out the brass (or anything else you throw into the mix).

Crack me up. Thx for good chuckle!

 

[deadeye]

Being two years new to reloading the Frankford Arsenal ss pin tumbler is the only system I've used. And have always liked the results.
I know this to one of several methods available to clean brass. (Sonic, shell media…)

Question1
Knowing ss media is a relatively new cleaning method Is there a time tested preferred method I'm not aware of.
Question 2
What are pros and cons of each system?

My current process is once back from range a quick 45 minute clean in tumbler with hot water and dish detergent. Pull, dry, deprime, size then back in tumbler for final 45 minute tumble using hot water, dish soap and cream of tartar.

Save a step and get a universal decapper and only wash once. The wet tumble is the best as far as I am concerned, and you already have it. There are several threads on this very subject in this discussion area also.

 

[Goodknight]

I am thinking of getting a wet tumbler too. I have concern about getting a SS pins stuck to the bottle
neck cases? Can you clean effectively without the SS pins? How do you make sure no SS pins are
left in the cases?

The narrowest neck I clean is the .223. I dump brass and pins directly into my Dillion media separator then use water spray to rinse cleaner and pins off. Then close separator and tumble till remainder of pins are expelled. Invariably a few (very few) pins remain and these are collected when brass is dry and being inspected and resized.
It is important that that dissimilar cases are not tumbled together. .380 and 9mm nest in 45. 45acp nest in 10mm and so on. I share this info for the newb reloaders like myself.

Check Dillon for seperator and corresponding tub. Other manufacturers sell a similar system.

 

[PiratePast40]

I am thinking of getting a wet tumbler too. I have concern about getting a SS pins stuck to the bottle
neck cases? Can you clean effectively without the SS pins? How do you make sure no SS pins are
left in the cases?

I use a separator similar to this one: https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1016393425?pid=757242. There are other brands out there as well. Every once in awhile, find a pin or two in the bottom of the box of processed brass but not very often. I believe not overloading it is the key.

 

[Goodknight]

Ok so I'm getting the consensus that most of us are fans of ss media.
Question? Time tumbling in ss media.
If brass is tumbled for too long will it diminish integrity of cases?

 

[deadeye]

It is important that that dissimilar cases are not tumbled together. .380 and 9mm nest in 45. 45acp nest in 10mm and so on. I share this info for the newb reloaders like myself.

Check Dillon for seperator and corresponding tub. Other manufacturers sell a similar system.

huh?.............. backards don't confuse the new You should see what will nest in bmg

 

[deadeye]

Ok so I'm getting the consensus that most of us are fans of ss media.
Question? Time tumbling in ss media.
If brass is tumbled for too long will it diminish integrity of cases?

Time depends on load and how clean it is, range pickup is usually fairly new and clean but woods pickup not so much. I usually tumble for around 3 hrs in a 12# rubber rock tumbler barrel and it is fine. Sometimes older tarnished stuff will take longer to get back to shiny as new but only if you care if it is pretty, usually there isn't many mixed in so I don't bother. Tumbling too long really wont change integrity or at least any you could decern unless you're a scientist and have the equipment to test it along with a government grant to pay for it all....... Pretty sure this was discussed in another thread on the same subject of this one.

EDIT: I'll leave this link here....... https://www.northwestfirearms.com/threads/brass-cleaning.379570/post-2998386

 

[PiratePast40]

Ok so I'm getting the consensus that most of us are fans of ss media.
Question? Time tumbling in ss media.
If brass is tumbled for too long will it diminish integrity of cases?

60 to 90 minutes is all I've ever used and everything comes out fine. I believe you're more likely to damage the brass with cleaning chemicals like ammonia than soap and water. Pretty sure that mild concentrations of citric will also not harm the brass.

A tip about soap or detergent use. if at the end of the wash cycle, you don't have any suds left, you probably didn't use enough soap or you have hard water. Increasing the soap concentration and/or adding a rinse agent will help the process. Too much soap is a waste of material and doesn't help with the cleaning. You just want a little bit of suds left at the end of the cycle.

 

[Cerberus Group]

Where does one get Lemmeshine? I've looked locally here in Vancouver.

...or find citric acid online...same thing

 

[Goodknight]

huh?.............. backards don't confuse the new You should see what will nest in bmg

My bad… 10mm nests in 45acp

 

[bpyycpyy]

Like many have said before, the Frankford Arsenal Wet Tumbler with SS media pins does the best job (including the inside and primer pockets). I've tried Ultrasonic cleaner but that just doesn't do a very good job on the primer pockets compared to the wet tumbling with SS pins.

My procedure is:

1. Dry tumble for about 30 minutes to remove most powder/debris before decapping/sizing (don't want that crud in my dies)
2. Decap/size brass.
3. Into the wet tumbler with hot tap water, about a 9mm case full of Lemmishine (don't measure, just sprinkle a bit in), a capful of brass cleaning solution for ultrasonic cleaner and a tiny squirt of Dawn (just enough to make suds) for about 60-90 minutes.
4. Rinse well with hot water after draining tumbler.
5. Dump it all in the Frankford Arsenal media separator half filled with water (this will remove pretty much all the SS media pins as you spin it).
6. Shake off excess water and then place on silicone cooking pad on sheet pan and put into the oven at 200F for about 30 minutes, shake brass and then another 20 minutes (time could probably be less). If you air dry, the brass will be fine but they will just have spots on them.

Brass will come out dry and any media pins that might be left over will fall out/away from brass. I've never had any issues with SS pins sticking in the primer flash holes. Like someone mentioned on an earlier post, you can't combine brass that the opening will fit over another in the mix (same with dry tumbling) or they will couple themselves or block opening to prevent good internal cleaning. Be aware that the SS media pins are magnetic (at least I think from most suppliers) and you can get a special magnetic tool to gather them up but I found it not very useful. The SS pins do have a mind of their own and like to find their way all over the counter, sink & floor if you're not careful with them. The above procedure will result in very shiny brass initially but it will slightly diminish over time.

 

[Goodknight]

Like many have said before, the Frankford Arsenal Wet Tumbler with SS media pins does the best job (including the inside and primer pockets). I've tried Ultrasonic cleaner but that just doesn't do a very good job on the primer pockets compared to the wet tumbling with SS pins.

My procedure is:

1. Dry tumble for about 30 minutes to remove most powder/debris before decapping/sizing (don't want that crud in my dies)
2. Decap/size brass.
3. Into the wet tumbler with hot tap water, about a 9mm case full of Lemmishine (don't measure, just sprinkle a bit in), a capful of brass cleaning solution for ultrasonic cleaner and a tiny squirt of Dawn (just enough to make suds) for about 60-90 minutes.
4. Rinse well with hot water after draining tumbler.
5. Dump it all in the Frankford Arsenal media separator half filled with water (this will remove pretty much all the SS media pins as you spin it).
6. Shake off excess water and then place on silicone cooking pad on sheet pan and put into the oven at 200F for about 30 minutes, shake brass and then another 20 minutes (time could probably be less). If you air dry, the brass will be fine but they will just have spots on them.

Brass will come out dry and any media pins that might be left over will fall out/away from brass. I've never had any issues with SS pins sticking in the primer flash holes. Like someone mentioned on an earlier post, you can't combine brass that the opening will fit over another in the mix (same with dry tumbling) or they will couple themselves or block opening to prevent good internal cleaning. Be aware that the SS media pins are magnetic (at least I think from most suppliers) and you can get a special magnetic tool to gather them up but I found it not very useful. The SS pins do have a mind of their own and like to find their way all over the counter, sink & floor if you're not careful with them. The above procedure will result in very shiny brass initially but it will slightly diminish over time.

Well written clear and concise. For the most part identical to my process.

 

[Goodknight]

Save a step and get a universal decapper and only wash once. The wet tumble is the best as far as I am concerned, and you already have it. There are several threads on this very subject in this discussion area also.

Agree but since I got the Lee AAP, the convenance of the one step deprime and size has changed my process. Since tumbling, rinsing and drying is a fairly quick process. Especially if I'm doing rifle brass and want lube removed in final tumble.

 

[gtivan]

to clean brass? you method works.
to polish brass and make it pretty?

i have used a vibratory tumbler with walnut or corncob for years. it did okay.

i now use the FA wet tumbler with ss. Shinier and less tumble time. A bit more work to get ss pins out of primer pockets. I also usually process all my brass in the winter so throw it in the oven (very low heat) or over a vent to dry quicker.

with either corncob or ss, i always made sure each case was tipped upside down and shook once to get anything hanging in the bottom of the case to come out. also inspect primer pockets at that time. have more issues with ss sticking than corncob or walnut media. but it does happen.

 

[Member 5605]

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