[gorf]

I've been using corn cob and ground walnut shells to clean my brass. Do any of you use anything else?

[Frohickey]

Wet or dry?

For dry, corn cob and walnut with some car polish and a little water.
For wet, Birchwood-Casey Brass Case Cleaner Concentrate.

[Chainsaw]

I have used white vinegar for extremely dirty milsurp brass. Soak about 300 .223 in a 5 quart ice cream pail for 30 minutes stirring once in the while. Rinse with soft water and dry on the woodstove or oven. Then tumble.

[Standing Wolf]

I've been known to soak extremely dirty brass in hot water and dish washing soap for an hour or two, then rinse it well, let it dry, and tumble it. I've used corn meal in tumblers, but walnut shells seem to do a better job more quickly.

[gorf]

Thanks for the replies. I can try soaking those really dirty ones before I tumble them.:)

[Patriot]

For real dirty brass I throw in about 10 gun cleaning patches while cleaning.

They seem to "soak up" the dirt and make the media last longer.

[Chainsaw]

Patriot, good Point. I have used paper toweling as well with the media to keep it clean.

A friend just uses toilet paper in his tumbler-no media. Says it works good for cleaning the brass. He claims yet another cleaning use for T Paper:D

[W.Va.Glassman]

Also add new or used fabric softener sheets.They collect dust and grime,and take some of the static out of the bowel.

[444]

The best tumbling media I have used is Lyman Tuffnutt (or something like that). It is just another nut shell product with some type of polishing agent added at the factory. It ihas been my experience that my brass gets cleaned much faster and comes out better looking since I began using that media.
I have tried a lot of different stuff over the years, mostly additives and this stuff beats them all.
I use the paper towel in the media trick. The towel seems to come out dirty. I never decided it it makes my media last longer or not.

[rick458]

I have heard a little liquid FLITZ works well too the Dillon Rapid Polish does real well also you put it in for 15 min before the cases when using new media:)

[W.Va.Glassman]

At the place I retired from,I made a tumbler used oil dry to clean brass slow but free.I used this setup for over 20+ years no one asked what it was.Ay home I use vibatory cleaners set up with corncob walnut&pecan.

[duncan]

Pet stores around here are now selling finely ground corn cob media and crushed walnut shells.

Several drops of Flitz and 4 hours and it's better looking than any factory brass.

And that is about it. Tried wet and it was just a mess.

Suggest the Berry's tumblers for value. For bulk, Dillon has some nice ones.

[Gewehr98]

Also add new or used fabric softener sheets.They collect dust and grime,and take some of the static out of the bowel.

Dryer sheets in the bowel could be uncomfortable, at best. :D


I do use the dryer sheets in my tumbler BOWL to help keep the corncob and crushed walnut media clean. Which, by the way, gets purchased in bulk at the local pet store, much cheaper than from the gun stores.

If I have brass that's gotten considerably darker than I like, or is just plain ugly, I'll use the white vinegar routine myself. However, I speed things up a smidgen by adding a couple teaspoons of Clorox to the mix. I think it makes a weak hydrochloric acid solution, hence the bright gold brass once it's pulled out. But no ammonia! Never!

[triggertime]

Static in the bowel is dangerous in a gaseous environment. A little seepage and its another case of spontaneous human combustion.

[41 Redhawk]

Dry rice works very well to take the nasty dirt off. It doesn't polish like corn cob or walnut but it does make them clean.

[dfrog]

I use a mixture of corn cob and ground walnut shells; about 65% CC and 35% GW. Works pretty good for me.

[LAH]

We also use rice. It's a very good cleaner. Our tumblers run mostly 24/7 cleaning brass for resale. I like rice because it's cheap and will clean a lot of brass before it gets too dirty. I do admit I'm tempted to try vinegar though. For polishing we still us corn cob and Midway Polish. We have found by cleaning your brass well with rice first the more expensive corn cob will last so much longer before becoming loaded up.