Removing sand and grit from range pickups

[The Scandinavian]

Hi

The question is in the title really: Does anyone have any tips or tricks for getting sand out from inside range pickups?

I've got a load of 9mm brass that I intend to reload that came from a very sandy range. I've tried shaking it up in a bucket with dish-washing liquid and water, then rinsing many times, but there's still grit there in some of the cases.

It feels like there are too many to blow them out individually with an air compressor.

What do you folks do?

Thanks in advance

"T.S."

 

[rustymaggot]

my mothers a silversmith and she uses amonia in soapy water to clean silver between different polishing compounds. maybe try that. after that the last wash might get all the sand. just a guess tho. are they deprimed yet? i would assume that would help a little for flow with washing them. maybe shake em in water inside a 2 liter soda bottle to wash em good.

 

[Lloyd Smale]

I guess you could put them in your tumbler with soapy water

 

[gwalchmai]

I would avoid ammonia. It leaches the copper out of brass in high concentrations. Probably not an issue at the dilution you're thinking of, but there are better solutions.

White vinegar, for one, will work well. Soak your brass in a bucket of half vinegar, half hot water for 30 minutes, then rinse well. Try to keep the cases agitated to keep the crud in solution as much as possible.

I bought a wire wastepaper basket at "Everything's a Dollar" (for a dollar), and use it to "dip rinse" my brass after washing it. It helps keep the crud from getting back in the cases.

 

[Smokey Joe]

Get rid of the sand!

Scandinavian--A vibratory tumbler is the simplest way to clean up free range brass. You load it with the brass in question, with walnut medium, turn it on, and walk away for a couple of hours. When you come back the brass is clean.

Vibratory tumblers can be had from most dealers in reloading equipment and supplies. They are not expensive. Since the medium used is dry, there is no problem with drying out the cases after cleaning, nor with chemical reactions. I used to wash my brass but gave it up completely after getting a vibratory tumbler.

Ground corncob medium in the tumbler is better for polishing the brass if you want it even shinier, but it takes longer to remove dirt from the cases.

Both ground corncob and ground walnut can be had (at least here in the States) at pet supply stores for cheaper than other places. Apparently people put either one in the bottom of lizard or snake cages.

I get enough range pickup brass that if a given case doesn't "come clean" after 2-3 hours in the tumbler, I put it in my scrap bucket to sell as scrap metal. That's unusual--most of the cases clean up nicely.

The most surprising thing I ever found in a range pickup case was a large spider, but it came right out while I was checking the brass at home!

 

[ocabj]

Find a bird supply store. They should carry tons of bedding type media including walnut. I get crushed walnut shells from a local bird supply store for $8 per 25 lbs.

 

[ReloaderFred]

I use an 8" x 11" cake pan and made a screen that fits inside it from 1/4" mesh construction wire. I put a small amount of brass in the wire mesh and shake it back and forth to remove the sand and debris. It works great and keeps the mess to a minumum.

Our range is built on sand dunes, so I'm familiar with the sand problem. The method I use works great and no sand gets into my tumbling media.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[Carl N. Brown]

I shoot black powder cartridge with a Broomhandle Mauser:
7.62x25mm S&B brass, 1.0cc of PyroP, .312 H&R Mag JHP bullets.
I recover my brass for reloading, up to fifty at a time.
- decap the primer
- drop the brass in 2 qt container hot water with white vinegar and soap
- soak for five minutes, agitate, drain and replace with hot water
- take a pistol cleaning rod with cotton patch and pump water through
the casings until the water squirts out the primer hole more or less clear
- swab the primer pocket with a Q-tip
- wipe the casing down with a soapy wash rag, rinse in hot water
- set the casings on the window sill to air dry
If there was any range sand or dirt in the casings, its gone.

 

[The Scandinavian]

Thanks for the replies folks.

The brass isn't deprimed yet - it's so full of sand that I don't want to run it through my sizing die yet.

Normally I just re-use my own brass which I pick up straight away, so it doesn't really get a chance to get much sand in it. Usually then I just wash it with water and dishwashing detergent.

This time I visited the range however, I just couldn't resist the huge quantity of decent quality brass just abandoned there getting trodden into the sand.

ReloaderFred's suggestion sounds like the first step I should take - then washing, depriming, then I actually have some kitty-litter to try for the polishing stage (never bothered with that before ;-) )

Thanks!

"T.S."

 

[Carl N. Brown]

I don't want to run it through my sizing die yet
I cannot blame you for that.
I use a Lee primer punch and base (and a mallet)
to decap range pickups that may be contaminated.

 

[Hazzard]

I agree with staying away from ammonia on brass. It will become brittle in short order as the copper is leached out. For cleaning sand out of range brass, try to find and old "bingo ball". You know, one of those things they spin the bingo thingies in. Take a coffee can and cut notches in either side that you can place the shaft of the ball in. fill the can with water and a couple squirts of lime-away. Put the brass in the ball, insert ball shaft in notches, and turn slowly. The sand will be washed out and fall to the bottom of the can. And any corrosion is cleaned off by the lime-away. Place on towel and air dry. Works for me.

 

[Smokey Joe]

Polishing

Sandman--

then I actually have some kitty-litter to try for the polishing stage

The "standard wisdom" is, DON'T USE KITTY LITTER FOR POLISHING!!!!! 1. It breaks down to a very fine dust which gets all over everything, and which still has to be cleaned out of your cases. It will not all dump out. 2. The fine dust is actually rock (clay) particles, which are so fine that they'd take close to forever to clean/polish your brass.

I repeat my suggestion to use a vibratory tumbler and corncob or walnut clean/polish medium. These do a fine job with a minimum of mess and cleanup. My tumbler gets brass nice and clean, no muss, no fuss, no bother. It works on all but the very dirtiest of the cases, the ones with dried mud caked on the inside or in the extractor rim.

 

[pete f]

I made a frame out of scrap 1x6 about 18 inches square and then put hardware cloth on the bottom. Hardware cloth is that window screen on steroids with 1/4 inch openings and fairly heavy mess. I dump all found brass in to it and then hose the brass out in the back yard. With a stiff spray the stuff will get almost all of the crud out of the brass, I usually use my hand stir the stuff up, then I let it dry on a old towel over night and then run it in the tumbler. I do it that way to keep the sand and gravel out of the media and eventually the dies, one scratched all carbide die can make it worth the extra effort.

 

[Sheldon]

Sand is tough to get out of the cases completely. It is small enough to get into the flash hole of the case and sit inside of the primers. I don't see getting all of it out, if all the cases have been sitting buried in sand. I would use the Dillon sifter or something like it to roll the cases around enough to at least get as much of the sand out as possible.

 

[toecutter]

More sandy range tips

The range I work at has something worse than sand, the range is built on a land fill, and the dust has a very fine and acrid texture. I regularly liberate large quantities of brass from the range since the only people interested in it are the local reloaders, and another fellow who scraps it all.

The best solutions I've found are to start out with a big sifter. Most often I simply use the media/brass sifter that came with my tumbler. This does a good job of removing all of the loose material. Next I wash it in a mixture of water, vinegar, and soap. This takes off all the oil from the brass and allows even more of the debris to come loose. I normally put this in a 5 gal bucket and shake it for about 5 minutes.

After that, I throw it in the sifter again, while washing all the material with water (gets off the soap and vinegar which if left on can make things green). This usually removes the bulk of the crap.

The most important thing you can do is make sure you get all the oil off the cases, this oil is most often what is trapping the dirt on the cases. A good bath in a water-based cleaner is ideal to strip the oil and liberate the dirt.

 

[nvshooter]

Hot water, Dawn dishwashing liquid and a whole lotta shakin' goin' on!

 

[Dave R]

Why a vibratory tumber, and not a rotary tumbler? I've put a lot of range pickup brass through my rotaty tumber, and it cleans up real nice.

I use a tablespoon of car polish in the media for that extra gleam...