Polishing brass for reloading.

[MarkAlann]

I know people have used all kinds of things to polish their brass. Things like brasso, car waxes, and other chemicals. Then you read about some chemicals weaking the brass. Being retired from 40 years in the jewelry industry my first thought is to use jewelers rouge. Even Harbor Freight sell it, though bench jewelers would use purer stuff for gold, platinum, silver etc. Different compounds for different metals. It comes in a bar, I scrap off some of the compound into my tumbler with corn cob or walnut shell, tumble or vibratory, doesn't matter. Half an hour later nice and shiny. Good enough for a shell, maybe not your wedding band. DO NOT polish you wife's jewelry like this.

[RBHarter]

This is why I long for an affordable ultrasonic cleaner with a tub about 4×8×48 so that a stock could be dismounted and the whole gun dropped in . It would be a nice brass washer and Ms jewelry too .

[MarkAlann]

I've never seen a 48 inch long ultrasonic cleaner. I can't imagine one that size being affordable.

[jlhog]

I wet tumble using the Frankford Arsenal brass cleaning solution and stainless media. I like the way the brass comes out.

[Ohio3Wheels]

I d a little bit of every thing. I have Hornady's small ultrasonic for quick cleaning, a tumbler and a buzz bucket for both wet and dry. About the only thing that get the pins and wet are my straight wall black powder cases. Last time I did any bottle neck cases (223) with the pins it took me longer to get the pins out of the cases than it did to tumble them.

You do not want Brasso or any ammonia contains cleaner/polish around you brass cases.

Make smoke and Merry Christmas,

[RBHarter]

It would have to be a custom piece or a home build . I found several kits but got bogged down with frequency , through transmission , and materials suitable for the tube/pan . Ultimately I just scrubbed the whole thing and left it on an "if I ever see something close" list . There are actually a lot of non-arms related brands available large enough to accommodate a 7.5" large frame revolver of long slide 1911 type with just the grips removed . Even HF has one under $100 .

I'm between cleaners at the moment and I think Ms would beat me if I used a pillow case in the washer .

[GasGuzzler]

Last time I did any bottle neck cases (223) with the pins it took me longer to get the pins out of the cases than it did to tumble them.

That's why I wet tumble WITHOUT pins.

Boiling water
Dish soap (very little)
Lemi-Shine (very very little).

[JohnnyEnfield]

This is the basic process I follow:



It works well and is easy and inexpensive.

[mr surveyor]

yep, my late mentor taught me in 2011 to use either vinegar or lemon juice, cut with hot water, and a squirt of Dawn ... and give the cases a couple of hours soak and occasional swirl. Having been a surveyor from back in the "drawing table and ink days", I immediately remembered having a small ultrasonic cleaner (for cleaning ink pens and parts) stashed back since going to cad drawing in 1992 and decided to give it a try. It worked o.k., but even better if the brass was presoaked in a plastic coffee can for an hour or so before being zapped in the old, small, ultrasonic cleaner. Then 7-8 years ago I was introduced to "Lemi-Shine" and/or plain old canning type citric acid (of which is 95% of the ingredients of Lemi-Shine). It don't take much Lemi-Shine or Dawn in hot water, using plain old plastic coffee cans for soaking and an occasional shaking .... but, you may still want to give the primer pockets a bit of "scraping" with a primer pocket tool about mid-way. I still finish with the old ultrasonic tub for a few minutes and end up getting more crud out - but it works good.

I have noticed that most of the "bottom feeder" brass (9mm and 45 auto) that I deal with comes out really clean, but rifle and bottle necked may still be a bit "dingy" on the inside.

When it comes to adding the mix of water and the "stuff", I make that up in a separate coffee can before pouring it onto the brass - mainly to make sure the Lemi-Shine granules are well saturated and diluted so they won't taint the brass.

After many "cycles" the brass may not come out "show room shiny", but it still comes out clean.


jd

[mikld]

I have used a couple dozen different tumbling media (well maybe not 24, but a lot!). I won't use rouge, even though jewelers rouge is very fine, it is still an abrasive and may be carried on to dies,etc., and really not necessary for fine/shiny finishes. I have found the key to getting glossy shiny brass is time, just run the tumbler until I get the finish I want. Brasso and like cleaners may containm ammonia which can weaken brass. Many other chemicals added to media is for a post tumbling coating and some auto wax polishes will add to shine. After a few years experimenting with media I settled on dry corn cob blast media 14-20 as my all around media. My experiments with wet tumbling didn't impress me. If I want shiny brass, I tumble it longer (I only use shiny, polished brass for my 45 ACP and 30-06 handloads because they are much easier to find in the dirt, rocks, grass, etc., at the "range" where I shoot). I have a HF rotary with custom drums and a Lyman wobbler which can easily be run while I'm doing something else...