How do you clean your brass?

hhhmmmm, never thought of using a cement mixer. just so happens that I have one of those sitting around not doing anything. How much media do you think that thing would take.
 
The RCBS media seperator is awesome! I used collanders, etc for 20 years spilling media all over the shop floor. Was at Sportsmans Warehouse in OKC during their closing sale, and bought the RCBS. I can put a hundred rounds in there, and have it seperated in about 30 seconds with no mess. Best $35 I ever spent.
BTW I also use car wax with the media. Heard about the nu-finish, but only had some turtle wax swirl and scratch remover. Tried it, and it works great!
 
We use a Rotary tumbler with the brass media.
It's pretty quiet & very fast.
Jeff cleaned more than 1500 9mm cases in about 2.5 hours.
Water, cascade and cream of tartar with the small brass media.
It gets it super shiny, like new brass, and no dust.


So how do you separate the "media" and the brass??
 
I use 2 Berry's tumblers, one filled 50/50 corncob and walnut. The other just corncob. I also use Nufinish and a dab of mineral spirits with a couple of dryer sheets. The sheets grab some of the dirt and extend media life.
Dirty brass goes in the 50/50 and after an hour or two goes to the plain corncob. I leave the 50/50 till it gets black. The plain lasts much longer. I use the Berrry's separator also, much like the RCBS, keeps it all enclosed. I like the clear lid on the Berry's, let's you see what's going on. The Berry's has a 3 year warranty on the motor and lifetime on the plastics.
 
Dillon separator for me after tumbling for 30-45 minutes in walnut. Seems to work so far.

I need to add some polish to the mix to see if it's worth it
 
For very dirty brass, i.e. full of mud and sand, I first wash the brass in VERY hot water and some detergent. Then rinse with very hot water. I then spread brass on cookie sheets and dry in oven at 200F for ca. 30-45 min. Then I tumble to further clean and polish.

K
 
For very dirty brass, i.e. full of mud and sand, I first wash the brass in VERY hot water and some detergent. Then rinse with very hot water. I then spread brass on cookie sheets and dry in oven at 200F for ca. 30-45 min. Then I tumble to further clean and polish.

K
 
For very dirty brass, i.e. full of mud and sand, I first wash the brass in VERY hot water and some detergent. Then rinse with very hot water. I then spread brass on cookie sheets and dry in oven at 200F for ca. 30-45 min. Then I tumble to further clean and polish.

K
 
For very dirty brass, i.e. full of mud and sand, I first wash the brass in VERY hot water and some detergent. Then rinse with very hot water. I then spread brass on cookie sheets and dry in oven at 200F for ca. 30-45 min. Then I tumble to further clean and polish.

K


 
For very dirty brass, i.e. full of mud and sand, I first wash the brass in VERY hot water and some detergent. Then rinse with very hot water. I then spread brass on cookie sheets and dry in oven at 200F for ca. 30-45 min. Then I tumble to further clean and polish.

K




Working on your post count? :D
 
I've got an older Lyman 3200 with Auto-Flo feature, I've had to replace the motor 3 times :angry: the last 2 motors well sucked is about the nicest thing I can come up with to say, yeah I'm not real happy with them.

Range pick-up brass goes to the universal decapper die then spends about 30 minutes in a bath of apple cider vinagar, take out rinse VERY well, put it in a bath with baking soda to netralize the vinagar acid, throw into the walnut media until it's as clean as I'd like then size, trim and back into the tumbler to get rid of all the case lube and into baggies until I'm ready to load.

I'm looking at a different kind of brass cleaning as well I'm pretty sure the Lyman is going into the trash! I like the looks of the rotary type and the ultrasonic just don't know how well they work? I've been told they work AWESOME just haven't seen one work in person yet. Later,

Kirk
 
I have an ultrasonic cleaner that I've used, but it was a disappointment. I didn't have any solvent, so I mixed water and some liquid brass polish, but it SUCKED. Maybe an appropriate solvent would work, but tumbling is how I do it. I use the ultrasonic full of motor oil to clean small gun parts quickly and effectively (motor oil has awesome detergents in it).
 
Grainger carries corn cob blasting media real cheap in bulk. I think it was 40 lbs for $10?
 
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