What do you use to clean brass?

[Tinman]

I currently use a Hornady Sonic cleaner and a Lyman 2500 pro magnum turbo tumbler with crushed walnut shells. Does a decent job. I have been thinking about changing to a wet SS media tumbler. Any suggestions or advice for what works for you? Thanks.

 

[togmaster]

I use the Frankford Arsenal tumbler with SS pins. A dash of lemishine and a squirt of dawn and the brass always looks like new.

 

[dsdmmat]

Same as above

 

[Carlos Hathcock]

Commercial ultrasonic with heat, simple green, Lemi-Shine.

 

[dwa12479]

I usually let all the cases soak inna solution of water, blue Dawn, and lemishine powder for a day or 2. Let it all dry out rwally good, and then into Frankford tumbler with walnut shell media. I go to the pet store and buy lizard cage bedding. Its the exact same shit as "tumbling media", but at 1/3 the price.

 

[Uninformed and Compliant]

Wet tumbler with lemishine and a single drop of low foam soap.
No pins, generally, unless it's range brass that's got crud all over it.

If you do use pins, you'll need a way to separate them from the brass, later.

 

[Acer-m14]

LOL .. USN .. how to polish brass ..

cotton wad type lol

https://www.amazon.com/Brasso-Metal-Polish-Wadding-Pack/dp/B00BE27CYK/ref=asc_df_B00BE27CYK/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=507755833368&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17662791785294320349&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9005580&hvtargid=pla-470407070528&psc=1

 

[fresch]

I'll go ask the wife.

Some red tumbler/vibratory thing with walnut chips.

 

[repete]

In the past I've used walnut media and corn cob, then I started doing both with the cob as a polish, I also tried SS pins and had good results most of the time but damn it's a PIA to separate. I also think I used to much soap, it would be a dark sticky foaming mess. Now I'm going to try the sonic cleaner.

 

[Darth]

I use the Frankford Arsenal tumbler with SS pins. A dash of lemishine and a squirt of dawn and the brass always looks like new.

Same. After decapping with a universal decapper so the primer pockets get clean too.

 

[Jmac00]

Turtle Wax and a toothbrush, works great. but it takes a few minutes to do a couple thousand cases

 

[thughes]

I use the Frankford Arsenal tumbler with SS pins. A dash of lemishine and a squirt of dawn and the brass always looks like new.

FTW! Never going back to anything else.

 

[Acer-m14]

corn cob and and a dab nu finish car wax .. in a vibrating tumbler

is what i actually use ..

 

[Mosinitis]

Corn cob with a table spoon of mineral spirits mixed in. Can be recharged with the same a few times before discarding this media.
Walnut shell works well but too dusty for indoor use.
Not a fan of SS pins, there are problems with their use, despite its popularity.

 

[speerchucker]

I couldn't buy one big enough so I made a my own stainless steel pin tumbler not familiar with the so-called problems been running it now for more than 14 years .

 

[Mosinitis]

Not going to rehash the whole pins debate. If you love it use it by all means, but lets not pretend there are no downsides to this method.

 

[Xae289]

Walnut media dry tumble with a drop of Nu Polish and a couple of cut-up dryer sheets thrown in. I get good results, but don't like the dust. Dryer sheets help some, but I still separate the brass from the media outside so I don't get a bunch of toxic dust kicked up inside the house.

 

[speerchucker]

Not going to rehash the whole pins debate. If you love it use it by all means, but lets not pretend there are no downsides to this method.

I am not going to rehash it either but I also use this for rifle brass to clean cases inside and out primer pockets clean I'm still yet to see a problem with it best part about it no dust the whole process is a lot cleaner

 

[Xae289]

Corn cob with a table spoon of mineral spirits mixed in. Can be recharged with the same a few times before discarding this media.
Walnut shell works well but too dusty for indoor use.
Not a fan of SS pins, there are problems with their use, despite its popularity.

Do you use any particular grit or brand of corn cob? If it's less dusty than walnut, I'd love to switch.

 

[Uninformed and Compliant]

Not going to rehash the whole pins debate. If you love it use it by all means, but lets not pretend there are no downsides to this method.

Yep. All about trade-offs and give-a-sh*t. Generally, wet tumble without pins produces fine results aside from the pockets, to which "who gives a sh*t". Pins make the process faster, however, and also scrubs the insides and pockets, but then you need to separate them when done.

Pins also suck with small mouth bottlenecks (223), as the separation becomes non-trivial. Leaving a pin inside the case would be bad, and you'll generally end up having to manually shake out various log-jams.

 

[Mosinitis]

Do you use any particular grit or brand of corn cob? If it's less dusty than walnut, I'd love to switch.

I will look it up and post later. Good question. The coarser the grit, the less dust, but it has to be fine enough to easily slip in and out of the case mouth. There are large bags of corn cob from PETCO. These will work well for most pistol cases, but bad for .223 rifle brass. Some of the particles will get stuck inside and hard to get them out.

 

[Mosinitis]

Do you use any particular grit or brand of corn cob? If it's less dusty than walnut, I'd love to switch.

I bought a 50lb bag of grit-o'cobs #1420 from this company about 12 years ago. Used up about a half. Don't know what their price is today, but it was a very good deal counting delivery.

Engineered Products - The Andersons Plant Nutrient Group

andersonsplantnutrient.com

 

[Shoots100]

I clean brass with untreated corn cobb media for an 1/2 hour, empty that media and them then add some Dillon polish treated media and run it for an hour.
Been doing it that way for decades and while other methods might get brass as clean as surgical instruments, I don't want to mess with water or the weight of S/S pins.
SJC

 

[meketrefe]

have used several methods for 33 years.
last 20 years hot water and a splash of simple green in the sonic wash or just a container and a few shakes of a lambs tail.
rinse with hot water and a bit of baking soda.
nothing else is needed no matter what the salesman says.
casually I may use the tumbler with 22lr cases as media for the magnum cases or copper wire sprinkles for the smaller cases.
copper wire is not an issue unlike the stainless steel latest fashion should a piece go down the bore accidentally.
is not a matter of if, but when.

 

[Uninformed and Compliant]

unlike the stainless steel latest fashion should a piece go down the bore accidentally.

Hey, hey, hey now.
Stop hating on the poor-man's Dragon Fire!

 

[Xae289]

I bought a 50lb bag of grit-o'cobs #1420 from this company about 12 years ago. Used up about a half. Don't know what their price is today, but it was a very good deal counting delivery.

Engineered Products - The Andersons Plant Nutrient Group

andersonsplantnutrient.com

Thanks for your tips. I got a 15 lbs bag to try it out and it worked great. There's some dust, but it's nothing compared to walnut. No dusty film on to the brass. The corn cob/mineral spirits combo got the brass cleaner than any walnut/chemical combo I've tried. Half the batch was 10x fired .44 Spl cases, the other half was only 1x fired, and the old stuff looked almost as good as the new.

 

[Mosinitis]

Thanks for your tips. I got a 15 lbs bag to try it out and it worked great. There's some dust, but it's nothing compared to walnut. No dusty film on to the brass. The corn cob/mineral spirits combo got the brass cleaner than any walnut/chemical combo I've tried. Half the batch was 10x fired .44 Spl cases, the other half was only 1x fired, and the old stuff looked almost as good as the new.

When I get occasional heavily tarnished case that corn cob can't clean, I just go over it with 000 steel wool.

 

[Keyzard]

Thanks for your tips. I got a 15 lbs bag to try it out and it worked great. There's some dust, but it's nothing compared to walnut. No dusty film on to the brass. The corn cob/mineral spirits combo got the brass cleaner than any walnut/chemical combo I've tried. Half the batch was 10x fired .44 Spl cases, the other half was only 1x fired, and the old stuff looked almost as good as the new.

Where did you order it from? Was it available directly from that site?

 

[Xae289]

Where did you order it from? Was it available directly from that site?

No, I didn't find any way to order it direct.

I got a 15 lbs bag off Amazon for $40. The 10 lbs bag was like $1 less, so I just got 15. Next time I'll just get a 50 lbs bag since it's the best value.
14/20 Mesh (#2) Corn Cob Media Abrasive, All-natural and Biodegradable (15 lbs) https://a.co/d/gGz13lr

 

[1911guy]

Not needed. Just dust them off unless you drop them in mud.