Brass Shining Made Easy!

Very pretty.

I don't wet tumble, but near the start of the reloading process, I do soak my brass in a weak acid solution prior to preparing and sizing the brass after which it is dry tumbled to remove the resizing lubricant.

The active ingredient in lime juice that is giving you that shine is citric acid. In fact, any weak acid can be used to tumble brass - the Hornady Handbook, 4th Edition, suggests vinegar. In addition to citric acid, lime juice contains sugars and proteins. See the link to the nutrition facts for line juice label, below. Unless carefully and thoroughly washed with a surfactant (i.e. detergent, dispersant) after tumbling the sugars will remain on the surface of the brass and promote future tarnishing.

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/fruits-and-fruit-juices/1943/2

You can avoid the sugars by using citric acid crystals (bought in bulk) or in combination with other surfactants (under the brand name Lemi-Shine), oxalic acid (under the brand name Barkeeper's Friend) or acetic acid (in the form of white vinegar).

Removing the pins on the equation would certainly reduce the work involved on my process. Of course primer pockets wouldn't get the love, or the insides of cases, but Ive never been one to desire clean shiny parts that I can't see anyway so I may move toward this method. Thanks for posting the results.

I have a very good luck with a small amount of New Finish Car Wax added to the Walnut media..... I absolutely quit using Brasso based on advice received here, and they were right, it works very well

Jars of citric acid are available at you local Wally World in the canning section. It just the citric acid you are after. Some people use Lemishine but again it''s the citric acid.
I Like to use Armour All wash and wax. It leaves a slight lube on the cases and helps prevent tarnishing. (Your favorite brand of car wash and wax will most likely work fine)
I have found that 4 ounces of lime juice and 1 1/2 ounces of Tequila and 2 ice cubes work well when I am cleaning cases.
The cases come out shiny and so do I.

My wet cleaning solution is a 9mm case of citric acid powder and about 1 1/2 oz of wash and wax.

I've found the NuCar Finish with the walnut tumbling media to be pretty good and the brass stays untarnished for several years at least. I do dilute the NuCar stuff with odor free mineral oil. The mineral oil has the side benefit of tamping down dust from media. I find that resizing handgun brass such as the 9mm after doing so also seems to be easier so I suspect it lubes it a bit.

I use Turtle wax chrome polish in both walnut and corn cob, it's always worked well for me, and cheap enough.

For wet tumbling, your idea sounds good, Joshua!

I don't really care how shiny the brass gets as long as the debris is removed.

Years ago when I was poor I used to soak the dirty brass in hot water with some dish detergent and then thoroughly rinse and dry in the oven. no tumbling at all. ugly but very functional brass. later I discovered that putting a hand full of dirty brass in a sock, tying the end over and putting it in with my laundry worked better and was easier.

Like most reloaders, I accepted the ugly cases for decades because I was unaware of a reasonable alternative. To clean them I would agitate them in a jar/can/tub with water & dish detergent (later Dawn).

Man, some of those scrounged 7,92x57 became really fugly.

I eventually acquired my first vibrating case cleaner (VCC) and the cases started looking better.

Then I discovered ways to brighten the brass, starting with phosphoric acid and ending with dry citric acid. I would treat them and dry them before tossing them in the VCC.

It appears to me that wet tumbling with ss pins (F.A.R.T.) & ArmorAll Wash&Wax may have completed my journey and provides close to new-looking brass that is slow to tarnish.

I really like my BRIGHT brass cases.

I've not tried wet tumbling yet, but I'm interested. What equipment/hardware do you guys use?

ilbob said:

I don't really care how shiny the brass gets as long as the debris is removed.

Years ago when I was poor I used to soak the dirty brass in hot water with some dish detergent and then thoroughly rinse and dry in the oven. no tumbling at all. ugly but very functional brass. later I discovered that putting a hand full of dirty brass in a sock, tying the end over and putting it in with my laundry worked better and was easier.

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I would do this but my wife would kill me if she caught me doing this. She about had a stroke from including my inclusion of boresnakes in the laundry--one brown and tan one fell out of the laundry when she was moving the clothes to the drier and she thought it was an actual snake in the laundry. Her scream resonated for blocks. That ended that.

Legionnaire said:

I've not tried wet tumbling yet, but I'm interested. What equipment/hardware do you guys use?

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Many of us here use a F.A.R.T. like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Platinum-Ser...=8-1&keywords=franklin+arsenal+rotary+tumbler

I have heard good things about the harbor Freight tumblers.

http://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result?q=tumbler

Based on some of the reviews though there are a few rotten ones.

There are hundreds of ways. I use the Vinegar with hot water salt and then baking soda to kill any ugly that happens later.
After they dry I tumble with corn cob. I buy the cob in bags of 50 lbs for about $26.00. That last a long time and cleans a lot of brass.
I never used to worry about how clean they were. Now after so many years of poor politics I stored ammo long term. That is when I figured cleaner was better. The insides shine as bright as the outsides. I could be wrong but I must assume clean would last longer. But then I like things that shine.

ilbob said:

I don't really care how shiny the brass gets as long as the debris is removed.

Years ago when I was poor I used to soak the dirty brass in hot water with some dish detergent and then thoroughly rinse and dry in the oven. no tumbling at all. ugly but very functional brass. later I discovered that putting a hand full of dirty brass in a sock, tying the end over and putting it in with my laundry worked better and was easier.

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When I first started reloading I did some pretty cheap stuff too. My cleaning method was to take old (cleaned) Chinese food quart containers, fill 2/3 with brass, add diluted simple green then shake vigorously, rinse, size, reshake in container with some brass polish then dump on a towel/Terry cloth and manually roll them around followed by a day of air drying in my garage. This process worked very well actually for nearly two years, but you can't do it much in the way of bulk. Once my shooting started producing more brass than I could readily clean/prep I needed a new process. This is when i finally bought a large tumbler. Now I use the tumbler and Brass Brite beads. (Ceramic) Tumbling in the beads with a simple green and hot water or dish soap and hot water mix has been working well every since. The ceramic media is fantastic, it really does a good job. I now have both a Frankford Arsenal and Harbor Freight (Chicago Electric) vibratory tumbler. Honestly the Chicago Electric has worked just as well as the Frankford, albeit a little louder during operation. After reading all these posts about citric acid and vinegar and such, I may have to try a stage with that included and see if it makes a difference. The cases that have always been mine currently come out very clean and free of tarnish, but sometimes I'll get some old range brass that has a lot of tarnish from the get go and while still coming out very clean, it can be a bit dull in the shine department.

I've used lemon juice when I ran out of Lemi-Shine. Even used it as a presoak . Not very cost efficient when Lemon prices rise bud not bad when they're down. Subject of Lemon juice pops up every now and then when some one else tries it.

I switched to AAW&W for brass being stored. Does not clean as fast but stored cases don't tarnish.

I like shiny brass. Many people will tell you it's not necessary, but technically neither is washing your car. It will still drive.

Three steps for me - deprime, wash, polish.

1. Deprime using the Harvey Deprimer. The dirtiest reloading step for me. Check cases as I go for damage. Hands need a *good* wash afterwards - don't eat or drink while doing this. I don't want that crap all over my turret press, in my lungs or my bloodstream.
2. Wash the cases with a Harbor Freight ultrasonic cleaner with a drop of Dawn and a dash of Lemi-shine. A little goes a long way. Usually run it for 2 cycles, and give them a few stirs during each cycle. Rinse them under hot water in a colander. Dry them out by rubbing in a towel. Some remnant water will remain in some cases, generally a gentle blow through the primer hole clears anything being held inside by surface tension. For me using the ultrasonic is a critical step I wouldn't skip - given how much crap comes out of the cases when depriming, I want that stuff out of the cases before putting them into a dusty tumbler process.
3. Polish the cases in a Harbor Freight vibratory tumbler with HF walnut media and a cap of Nu Finish, and some torn up USED dryer sheets if they're available. Run the tumbler for a few minutes to distribute the car polish BEFORE adding brass, otherwise you will get cases with clumped media inside of them. Run from anywhere from 2 to 8 hours depending on whether the cases are decent to start with, or range pickup. The garage is a good place to keep the tumbler because of noise. When done strain the media out through a colander (it's good to use over and over). Again give the cases a rubdown in a towel to remove any remaining dust, and check each primer pocket for stuck media. Biggest thing I've found to keep the dust down is to winnow the walnut media when new - basically take a bunch of the stuff outside on a breezy day, and pour it from bucket to bucket letting the breeze winnow the dust out. The difference this makes to dust on the cases after vibratory tumbling is amazing.

At this point they're as clean and shiny as I can make them. I usually deprime as part of my post-range cleanup, but will do the wash & polish step in batches when I have enough dirty brass to make it worth my while - do the ultrasonic in the evening, and tumble the next day. If I had a wet tumbler with SS pins, that would combine the wash and polish into a single step - but I already had the ultrasonic for cleaning parts, and it was a lot cheaper for me to just add on the vibratory tumbler and media than the wet tumbler and pins.

Wow! That sounds like a lot of work. And Time.
But then I did say there are many ways to do this.
I still use the Vinegar, salt and a few drops of dish soap. With Hot water in a clear bottle I can see what they look like and when they are done enough. This all takes about 15 minutes at the most. Shake and rinse until the soap suds stop. Then I rinse with a spoon of baking soda to kill any acids left.
Sometimes I just let them dry over night or sometimes I blow them dry with an air hose. Then tumble in my Dillon for about 2 to 4 hours. I pretty much so use any metal polish that does not have ammonia in it. Ammonia will harden that brass. I use corn cob for a very smooth shiny finish that walnut cannot match.
The picture shows a batch that I did and I am very happy with how they turn out. I use Unique and that always leaves a blacken inside to the cases. Yes, I have used other powders but always end up back with Unique for accuracy.
These .45 Colt cases are now ready to be loaded and I can trust them for long term.

I tried the pin-free wet technique on some 45lc and I'm impressed. I may switch to this style as it's a lot easier for me to manage without the pins, and I don't have to worry about an errant pin going rogue and messing up my process later somehow. I guess the pins only really help achieve the clean insides and primer pockets which I'm not super interested in. I could see caked mud still remaining inside a stubborn case though, with nothing to get inside and clean it. I'm still thinking about a run in the dry tumbler first before sizing and then finish in wet tumbler to get the shine and protective coating.

Joshua M. Smith said:

Before I had a tumbler of any sort, I threw brass into a sock, tied off the sock, and threw it into the washing machine.

Gotta be careful doing this because of the lead factor.

Regards,

Josh

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Is wet tumbling better for less lead exposure than dry vibratory cleaning (and the dust it creates)?

This. Unfinished and paint thinner. Shines them up and no dusty residue. Lovely black film on the side of the tumbler though. Haven't figured out how to get that off yet. Maybe more paint thinner?

boom boom said:

I've found the NuCar Finish with the walnut tumbling media to be pretty good and the brass stays untarnished for several years at least. I do dilute the NuCar stuff with odor free mineral oil. The mineral oil has the side benefit of tamping down dust from media. I find that resizing handgun brass such as the 9mm after doing so also seems to be easier so I suspect it lubes it a bit.

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Wildfire said:

Wow! That sounds like a lot of work. And Time.

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Not much difference... 16 mins in the ultrasonic, I can see you're depriming before cleaning as well, and usually just 2 hours in the vibrating tumbler? I was just verbose in describing the process.

I have bags of brass cleaned over a year ago that look like they were just pulled from the tumbler.

The Ultra Sonic cleaners really work nice, but most of use do not have one. We use what we have.
As I said there are at the very least hundreds of ways to clean brass.
I may invest in a sonic cleaner but would likely not use it for just cleaning brass. I do way too many things to let one sit idle for very long.
I have brass that has been in storage for many years sealed. It has sort of lost some shine but an hour or so in the tumbler and it comes right back.
There is really only a few wrong ways to clean brass. Most are OK and work good.