Page 2 of 4
Re: Cleaning Brass
Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2022 9:55 am
by dromia
I find wet cleaning a needless carry on unless your vanity makes you want as new looking cases.
Dry tumbling/vibrating is fine for the smokeless cases.
I do use wet cleaning for my BP cases my medium of preference for that is ceramic, however for the smaller cases like the 32-20 I do have to use the pins as the ceramic is too large to fit inside the cases effectively. I dread using the pins as they are just a full blown fiddly feck on which unfortunately means that I shoot my 32-20 a lot less than I would like to.
Re: Cleaning Brass
Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2022 12:12 pm
by flamoudi
Ive had a tiny bit of pin media that hid in a case and got into the action of my rifle. Put me right off! Nice to have clean shiny brass before annealing though.
Re: Cleaning Brass
Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2022 12:31 pm
by Alpha1
bradaz11 wrote: ↑Thu Jun 02, 2022 8:30 am
chuck in deprimed brass and pins. fill almost to the top with water (i use hot out the tap, not out the kettle). squirt of washing up liquid, pinch of citric acid (i'll send you some with the tumbler so you can see with and without and decide if it's worth it or not) put lid on the drum, stick on base and turn on. I adjust speed for how much brass is in the drum. If you go too fast the cases are held to the wall and don't really move, too slow and they don't clean. basically turn it up until it goes quiet, then step down one. and leave it to run. when the timer runs out, look at the brass and decide if you want another go or if it's good to go. if water isn't bubbly at the end, you may need more fairy next time.
when done, empty drum into the separator. close it up and give it a few very gentle spins to clear the bulk of the pins, then go a bit faster and for a minute or so, then all the pins should be out.
depending on how soapy the brass is, I may rinse it now, or sometimes I just empty it in a bowl of water and then pull it back out to dry. some say this defeats the object of the acid, but nothing stopping you putting it in the dunk bowl too.
pull out the brass and dry. I use a food dehydrator sold for drying brass. some people throw them in the oven after dinner, some just leave them on a towel and drip dry.
then pour the dirty water out through a sieve(test first, some plastic mesh ones will let the pins through) or an old tea towel to get the pins out the bucket, chuck back in the drum to store. the pins are stainless and I've never seen any corrosion on them so you don't need to worry about them being damp. they are also magnetic, so you can pick up any dropped ones quick with a magnet tool
I use something like this, but not really sure on the search term, pretty sure I paid half that.
https://www.zoro.co.uk/shop/hand-tools/ ... ZT1002225X
I have a magnetic pick up tool I use for removing swarf from the lathe. If they are magnetic they are not pure stainless steel.
Re: Cleaning Brass
Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2022 5:13 pm
by bradaz11
They're just not 316, but they are definitely a stainless flavour of some sort
Re: Cleaning Brass
Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2022 9:23 pm
by 1066
This is how I tumble my brass:
[youtube]
https://youtu.be/bcyAkj-LzA8[/youtube]
Re: Cleaning Brass
Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2022 10:04 pm
by Pete
Re: Cleaning Brass
Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2022 10:39 pm
by Alpha1
Thanks for that an interesting read. The Company I work for designs and builds Chemical plants all over the World. I am up to speed with materials of construction but thanks any way.
Re: Cleaning Brass
Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2022 10:55 pm
by Alpha1
Thanks for sharing. I was having a discussion at work with a fellow shooter and mentioned I had bought a Rotary tumbler after describing it to him he laughed and said come on follow me Dave I have some thing to show you.
We left the building and went into the Technical Development Area were the laboratories are. He ushered me into a side room and pointed to an Industrial size Rotary tumbler its bigger than the one in the You tube link.
Only issue is I don't think the Company would be impressed if I filled it with brass cartridge cases.
Yes I know double post
Re: Cleaning Brass
Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2022 8:38 am
by channel12
The question is why the obsession with very shiny brass, the manufacturers of ammunition for the military don't bother producing shiny brass cartridges.
It seems we have forgotten the reasons why we clean our cases before reloading which is to remove any surface dirt/grit which would possibly damage our reloading die.
As somebody once said on the subject of wet stainless steel pin cleaning "the rifle doesn't care if the brass is very shiny" and considering some of us have scraped surface corrosion off old milsurp and shot it without issues they had a point.
Me, I dry tumble with walnut nut media, but my Snider cases just get warm soapy water in a washing up bowl.
Re: Cleaning Brass
Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2022 9:30 am
by ukrifleman
I de-prime the cases, then place the brass in an ultrasonic cleaner with warm water and bi-carbonate of soda.
It normally takes about 20-30 mins to clean a batch of cases if they are not too heavily tarnished.
ukrifleman