Cleaning brass.

bakerboy

bakerboy

New member
I have resisted buying a tumbler for a while, but it may be time to do so. Recently, left some shot cases in my truck for a week, and they are pretty nasty looking. Do I need a tumbler, or what chemical will clean these up?
 
By "shot cases" I'm assuming you are referring to "fired" brass, and not "shotshell" hulls.

You do need a tumbler, IMHO. I use corn cob media. Some guys use walnut media. Either is readily available. Any name-brand tumbler will be OK. I bought a Hornady and it does a good job.
 
tumblers make reloading much easier.clean brass is better on your dies.when you resize your brass all you have do is put back in tumbler and clean about 30 min.get the case lube off and cleans the primmer pocket.
 
Want to do it on the cheap? Get a Lee case trimmer for your cartridge. I cleaned cases for a lot of years by just putting the trimmer in a drill press and spinning the case with some steel wool. About six bucks and you can trim your cases at the same time. I finally buckled under and bought a case tumbler.

Midway and Cabela's both have the whole kit on sale once in a while. I bought Cabela's kit and it does a great job.
 
And some come with a rotary separator to get the media out of the shells---well worth it.

However, I still go through my rifle brass with a toothpick to make sure there's not kernels of media left in the flash hole.
 
+1 on the cabelas tumbler. Inexpensive and comes with brass polishing compound, 2 lbs corncob media, tumbler and sifting pan. All you need is a 3-5 gal bucket to set the pan on to sift the media.

Cabelas tumbler kit

I used to use the lee primer pocket cleaner, but just got the RCBS hand pocket cleaner and like it a lot better. I use the lee trimmer in a drill to trim, debur, and hold the case while I clean off the case lube with a towel.

lee case trimmer
 
you can go to a pet store and buy crushed walnut shells. It's some kind of bird bedding I think. 25lbs for 14.00 add some liqud car polish it works great.
 
Walnut shells are the best for cleaning, and corn cob is the best for polishing, you need clean brass, shiny is nice but not necessary.

One of the key things to do with your brass is to drop it in the tumbler as soon as possible after it's fired, it will clean up much easier when it's fresh.
 


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