Brass Cleaning Question

[Justin Holder]

Say you wanted to use both a dry tumbler and an ultrasonic cleaner to get your brass extra clean and shiny.

My idea is to use one method first after depriming, then resize the brass and then use the other method to remove the case lube and give the brass a final shine before reloading.

My question is which should come first the tumbler or the sonic cleaner?

 

[Shmackey]

First the soup. Then the corn.

 

[kingmt]

My momma always made me wash up before I got any corn also.

You could just try a wet tumble also. I don't know if you can get any more shinny then that.

 

[rondog]

Just like the rest of us, you'll concoct many ideas and theories, try many things, experience many frustrations, until you find and settle on what works best for YOU and your little corner of the world. There's probably more different ways to clean and polish cases than there are ways to refinish rifle stocks, and everybody's idea of satisfactory results are different.

The absolute best way that I've heard of so far, but haven't tried, is to tumble them wet with tiny stainless steel pins, but this requires an expensive rotary rock tumbler and sounds like a rather large PITA to do. But the photos I've seen of the results are outstanding! http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com/

 

[Justin Holder]

Now that I think about it the first round of cleaning probably should be with the ultrasonic cleaner. I guess I answered my own question.

 

[LBEE]

Stainless Pins Brass cleaning

I Have a SS brass cleaner with a High speed Thumers Tumbler & it works great. I like having the Brass look as new with the primer pockets & inside the case as clean as the outside. I did learn before I bought mine that a person wants the High speed tumbler, if your not careful you will order the slow speed one.

I did some shopping around and got my whole set up for just under $200
well worth it cleans Brass in Half the time & a lot cleaner.

 

[jcwit]

The absolute best way that I've heard of so far, but haven't tried, is to tumble them wet with tiny stainless steel pins, but this requires an expensive rotary rock tumbler and sounds like a rather large PITA to do. But the photos I've seen of the results are outstanding! http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com/
__________________

You can also use the rotary rock tumbler from Harbor Freight. Granted its not in the same class quality wise as Thumblers Tumbler but it doesn't cost near as much either, and the drum goes around just like the other.

 

[amlevin]

I de-prime, trim/size all my .223 brass in one operation on my XL650. I use a universal de-priming die and sizing is done in the Dillon RT1200. From there all the brass goes into the tumbler with soap, water, water softener, and Stainless Pins. When cleaned and dried, they go through the loading process. I use a Lee Collet Die in Station 1 to expand the case mouth which was not expanded during the sizing process. This way the brass in not overworked and I only have ONE cleaning process with no need to remove lube from finished rounds.

As for the Stainless Pin media, no more dust, no more buying 40# bags to make the Corn Cob/walnut shell media "cheap", and for that matter, not having to buy media or polish again.

 

[MrBorland]

ok, I'll go against the grain. I'd tumble first, then drop them in an ultrasonic cleaner. Despite the "shine", tumbled isn't necessarily "clean", as the crud is largely replaced by media residue. Want a little data? Check out the pics below. It's cleaning solution from my ultrasonic cleaner. On the left is some cleaning solution itself. In the middle is cleaning solution from brass that was previously ultrasonically cleaned. On the right is cleaning solution from brass that was previously tumbled. Same number of brass in each case, same loads.

I also kept track of the crud by weight. Turns out tumbled brass gained weight after being tumbled. It amounted to about 3-4 grains of "crud" per 50 rounds. I posted the details of my experiment on another forum.

 

[popper]

Why use both? U-S them to get the junk off, size and U-S them to clean PP and lube. Spend the other time and $ for a small fan or hair drier, or just use the oven at low temp. If you want prett - shoe shine em.

 

[amlevin]

MrBorland-

Have you conducted your "experiment" using the Stainless Steel Pin media? I think you'd find the results totally different. No media residue, and the soap/water solution is rinsed away along with the "crud" from the case.