Brass Juice Case Wash (Test Results)

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dredd

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NOTE:

This Topic has only one purpose.

To share MY Test Results of one particular product as it pertains to the manufacturer’s claims.

There is no need to discuss how clean brass needs to be to reload it.

There is no need to discuss other methods or equipment used to clean brass.

There is no need to discuss other cleaning products or personal recipes.


BRASS JUICE CASE WASH by The Reloading Station / Texas Brass Co.

The Manufacturer claims:

No Stainless Steel Media Required

Designed for use with sonic cleaner and rotary tumblers

Removes fouling, tarnish and oxidation from brass cases

Cleans cases inside and out including primer pockets


“INCLUDING PRIMER POCKETS”

That is the claim that got my attention since I tumble with stainless pins and my primer pockets are spotless after tumbling for 3 hours.


RESULTS: The Primer Pockets did NOT clean up after 3 hours of tumbling.


The process that I used:

Thumler’s Model “B” Rotary Tumbler.

1 Gallon Distilled Water (Per Instructions).

2 Ounces of Case Wash (Per instructions).

126 Brass Cases, .308 Win.

Per Thumler’s Chart, I run 120 Cases with 5/lbs of Pins.

The cases were mixed manufacturers.

Some were once fired, twice fired (previously cleaned with pins) and some range pick-up brass.


After one hour of tumbling, the exterior of the cases looked like jewelry, but the inside & primer pockets showed minimal cleaning.

After two hours…. Not much improvement on the pockets or interior.

After three hours…. Looked the same as they did after two hours.


I stopped after three hours.

That’s as long as I tumble with Pins.


I have a friend that is supposed to test the product in his Ultrasonic Unit, but he hasn’t had a chance yet.

Before & After


Pre-Tumble 1.jpg After Tumbling 2.jpg
 
Interesting
I use a home made cleaning solution I got off the web.
I rise the brass, then use then soak in the solution. Let dry, then decap, then resoak if the pockets are bad.

I only mention this as the homemade solution does a better job than what you have in the pics.

I’ve thought about a tumbler, but I’m not trying to win awards for having the most shine, I just want clean usable ammo.

My thought is if power is out it’s nice to know how to clean without a tumbler.

All that aside, based on your results I’ll stay with what I’m doing!
 
Thanks for the review and I think I will continue with what I'm doing also. Not using pins but it's coming out better than that.
 
I did the same test with Brass Juice. I had the same results after 3 Hr. the primer pockets were still dirty but the crud was Loose. the next batch was 5 hours . Pockets were a Lot better but Not perfect. The product was a Lot better than most
 
NOTE:

This Topic has only one purpose.

To share MY Test Results of one particular product as it pertains to the manufacturer’s claims.

There is no need to discuss how clean brass needs to be to reload it.

There is no need to discuss other methods or equipment used to clean brass.

There is no need to discuss other cleaning products or personal recipes.


BRASS JUICE CASE WASH by The Reloading Station / Texas Brass Co.

The Manufacturer claims:

No Stainless Steel Media Required

Designed for use with sonic cleaner and rotary tumblers

Removes fouling, tarnish and oxidation from brass cases

Cleans cases inside and out including primer pockets


“INCLUDING PRIMER POCKETS”

That is the claim that got my attention since I tumble with stainless pins and my primer pockets are spotless after tumbling for 3 hours.


RESULTS: The Primer Pockets did NOT clean up after 3 hours of tumbling.


The process that I used:

Thumler’s Model “B” Rotary Tumbler.

1 Gallon Distilled Water (Per Instructions).

2 Ounces of Case Wash (Per instructions).

126 Brass Cases, .308 Win.

Per Thumler’s Chart, I run 120 Cases with 5/lbs of Pins.

The cases were mixed manufacturers.

Some were once fired, twice fired (previously cleaned with pins) and some range pick-up brass.


After one hour of tumbling, the exterior of the cases looked like jewelry, but the inside & primer pockets showed minimal cleaning.

After two hours…. Not much improvement on the pockets or interior.

After three hours…. Looked the same as they did after two hours.


I stopped after three hours.

That’s as long as I tumble with Pins.


I have a friend that is supposed to test the product in his Ultrasonic Unit, but he hasn’t had a chance yet.

Before & After


View attachment 823560 View attachment 823561
Thanks for the review. If it doesnt clean the inside and the primer pockets you might as well just tumble in corn cob which will clean the outside of the case and you dont have to worry about drying it.
 
An interesting followup would be - dry some in convection oven at say 200F for 2.5 hrs and see if there is a lot of discoloration. Then a separate batch left to air dry (or however you dry w/o heat) and half left in open box, half in ziplock bag, wait 30 days and see if either shows discoloration.

Reason I say that is I found different solutions used in the US when I was messing with it, they all came out looking great, but oven drying or leaving in an open container after a while really browned, and others stayed looking pretty good for a long time. So that would be another point of interest if the cases did/did not discolor rapidly.

oh....and would you like to know what I use, how I do it, or what level of bright/shiny is acceptable to me????
 
Interesting
I use a home made cleaning solution I got off the web.
I rise the brass, then use then soak in the solution. Let dry, then decap, then resoak if the pockets are bad.

I only mention this as the homemade solution does a better job than what you have in the pics.

I’ve thought about a tumbler, but I’m not trying to win awards for having the most shine, I just want clean usable ammo.

My thought is if power is out it’s nice to know how to clean without a tumbler.

All that aside, based on your results I’ll stay with what I’m doing!
i would be interested n that recipe if you would like to share it.
 
My results using Brass Juice on pistol brass are basically the same as yours. No real improvement over what I already use, don't see any need to spend the extra money on Brass Juice. I don't deprime before I tumble, but did for the Brass Juice experiment.

As a side note, I got a small bottle of their case lube as well. Other than the fresh minty smell, it offers no improvement over the Hornady one shot that I typically use. Hope this didn't ruin the spirit of your thread, if so I will be happy to delete the extra comment.
 
My results using Brass Juice on pistol brass are basically the same as yours. No real improvement over what I already use, don't see any need to spend the extra money on Brass Juice. I don't deprime before I tumble, but did for the Brass Juice experiment.

As a side note, I got a small bottle of their case lube as well. Other than the fresh minty smell, it offers no improvement over the Hornady one shot that I typically use. Hope this didn't ruin the spirit of your thread, if so I will be happy to delete the extra comment.

The Thread Spirit was not impacted by your post, but thanks for asking. :)

You stayed on topic and I think your added info is helpful since it is the same manufacturer.

Thanks for looking.
 
Dredd. Thanks for the post. Have you considered using the juice with pins and shortening the time? I'm curious.
 
The "juice" is supposed to be reusable, so I did save it.

I do plan on throwing it in with my pins the next time I tumble some brass.
It will be interesting to see how it impacts the time required.
 
Thanks for posting your results.

I've experimented a little with different home mixes that I've found on line with similar results. I've found in my case that most any mix will get the brass perfectly clean enough for reloading, but if you want completely clean primer pockets and case interiors in 1 1/2 to 2 hours, you need to use pins or something similar.

Dave
 
Might not be totally wasted $. He got to do a little project/experiment and knows firsthand how it performs vs relying on others to say good/bad.

And if it works well once the pins are added back to the mix, might be a benefit there...or at least can use it up that way so not complete waste :)
 
Thanks for posting your results.
Encourage your friend to give it a go in the ultrasonic. Curious as to how that will turn out.
 
You might compare the MSDS materials to other known good cleaners. There is no real magic with chemistry.
You either have an acid or a detergent.
PS
Remington primers produce an ash that is much easier to remove than other primers.
 
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