I didn't want to hijack 1KPerDay's thread on washing brass, as my question is a bit different, so here's a new thread:
The range where I do my brass pickups has a significant 'drift' of old brass, some of it several years old. The owner has said that if I can figure out a way to pick it up and get it (relatively) clean, I can have it. This stuff runs from .22 LR up to .30-06 and everything in between, pistol included. I'd like to clean it up just enough to get the dirt out of the cases so that I can take it to the recycler.
Any suggestions on how to do this? It seems easy enough to scoop it up with a shovel or some such and give it a cursory shake or two in a strainer basket to knock the loose dirt off, but I'm thinking of putting it in the vibratory tumbler for a short time to get the dirt out of the cases.
Should that be done with the bare brass alone? Should I use some sand instead of the usual tumbling media? Am I just dreaming that this will even work at all?
When the brass/dirt is dry, the dirt comes out fairly easily, but when it is wet, it is a real mess. I've picked up some after a rain, and it is a lot of work to get those cases clean, especially bottlenecked rifle cases. It's nowhere near that much work when dry.
This is easily 75-100 pounds of brass, so I'm not sure I want to invest that much time into washing it all before I head to the scrap yard.
On a related note, has anyone ever tried to recycle steel or aluminum cases?
Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
The range where I do my brass pickups has a significant 'drift' of old brass, some of it several years old. The owner has said that if I can figure out a way to pick it up and get it (relatively) clean, I can have it. This stuff runs from .22 LR up to .30-06 and everything in between, pistol included. I'd like to clean it up just enough to get the dirt out of the cases so that I can take it to the recycler.
Any suggestions on how to do this? It seems easy enough to scoop it up with a shovel or some such and give it a cursory shake or two in a strainer basket to knock the loose dirt off, but I'm thinking of putting it in the vibratory tumbler for a short time to get the dirt out of the cases.
Should that be done with the bare brass alone? Should I use some sand instead of the usual tumbling media? Am I just dreaming that this will even work at all?
When the brass/dirt is dry, the dirt comes out fairly easily, but when it is wet, it is a real mess. I've picked up some after a rain, and it is a lot of work to get those cases clean, especially bottlenecked rifle cases. It's nowhere near that much work when dry.
This is easily 75-100 pounds of brass, so I'm not sure I want to invest that much time into washing it all before I head to the scrap yard.
On a related note, has anyone ever tried to recycle steel or aluminum cases?
Thanks in advance for your suggestions.