Could this be the Holly Grail of Cartridge cleaning ?

[njl]

Most of the low end car waxes are a combination of wax and a mild abrasive...so it's kind of like adding pure wax and a bit of flitz to the media. 9mm done with turtle wax resizes easier than 9mm done without...but get a little lanolin on the brass before resizing, and they resize like they're not there.

[Timg]

have only cleaned a handfull. so far they still look good, no after effects from the cleaner (yet).

have loaded a few and they run just fine so far. hope to make it to the range today or tomorrow and see if there are any feed problems. going to try them on an HK and Ed Brown.

[BillD]

not worried about shine just want to get the cartridges clean without wasting a bunch of time. appreciate all the helpful comments; thats why I posted my results so I could get some input from the vets of reloading. of course I dont want to damage them. I put 150 45's in the ultrasonic for 5 min. rinse well, tumble around on a big towel for 1 min. and they are dry and clean. saves 1 hour 54 minutes compared to corn cob. If i had time to waste I guess I wouldnt have bought a progress press either. I prefer spending my time shooting rather than cleaning and reloading.

look forward to some assesment by the chemists of the board.

I can put about 1500-1800 cases in my big Harbor Freight tumbler, go to bed, get up the next morning and they are clean.

The tumbler is running, just like the ceiling fans, refrigerator, etc, etc.....

I would be interested in knowing where you got 231 and powder at 40% off though.

Edited September 1, 2010 by BillD

[_kensbrass]

hi guys, I'm Ken from kensbrass.com. I thought that your comments on this string were interesting enough to comment on. As one of you know, I polish a lot of brass. Without intending to disrespect any of your methods, I would like to comment on some of your ideas.

My first thought is about the guy who wants to clean and wash his brass. Most metals were found oxidized and they will end up being oxidized when were done with them. Water is one of things that will speed up that process. Watch your exposure time, make sure it contains no chemicals like chlorine and dry it as soon as possible. Spending that much time with your brass is a personal choice and I try not to judge so light a candle, put on some romantic music and make an evening out of it.

Ammonia is VERY dangerous to brass. ANY exposure to it could be huge trouble. Its called 'season cracking' and its no joke. Do the research. I see hundreds of example of this every month which is made even more common with broadcast-ed ideas of cleaning brass using ammonia based cleaning compounds.

Keep your brass clean, and DRY. Use walnut, fine grained like 40mil or smaller. The smaller size cleans longer. No compound is really needed but once in a while you can add some if you want your media to last longer or work faster. Don't turn your brass pink with acids. That would then be a piece of copper not a piece of brass. Copper is not as strong as brass. I would not use polish every time, just as needed.

I wash my walnut media using a pillow case in my washing machine. I do this when it begins to get dark from use. I have been using the same 50 gallons of walnut over the last 4yrs and counting. Last year, 2009, I polished near 65 tons and to date polished just under 30 tons this year in my converted cement mixer.

I don't use corn cob because it gets stuck in the flash holes of the pieces and I end up loosing media. It works I just don't use it. I just don't like my flash hole(s) plugged.

Sorry so long. Just wanted to get a few points out there. K

[njl]

Interesting. Walnut media can be effectively washed and dried and reused? And you do this in your clothes washer? Not a dedicated one for media cleaning? I don't even want to guess how long I'd be in the dog house if I did that.

I just put a tumbler's worth of walnut in the garbage tonight. It's done probably somewhere in the rough neighborhood of 10-20k rounds of brass. It was getting kind of dark and the 5G bucket I keep it in had a fine black powder buildup on the inside. I tumbled a batch of .45 brass tonight in Grainger corn cob media. It's my first time using this media. It seems very static clingy, perhaps a bit worse than the Harbor Freight walnut I'd been using...and I did notice that even though the corn cob media is tiny, it did like to stick in the flash holes. It's small enough though that I figure the decapper will either take care of it, or it's just so small, it won't be an issue even if it is left behind. The corn cob did seem to do a great job on the brass. It's too cold out there to sort it tonight, but the handfuls I sifted through looked great.

[noylj]

Personally, cleaning brass is not a priority and not something worth worrying about.

As long as the brass isn't damaged, have fun.

To me, it is right up there with "clean" powders.

[Got Juice?]

I use X-fine glass beads in my lyman turbo 2500. Clean as a whistle in under 20 minutes. Wear a mask when separating. Glass dust is not something to inhale.

[_kensbrass]

Interesting. Walnut media can be effectively washed and dried and reused? And you do this in your clothes washer? Not a dedicated one for media cleaning? I don't even want to guess how long I'd be in the dog house if I did that.

I just put a tumbler's worth of walnut in the garbage tonight. It's done probably somewhere in the rough neighborhood of 10-20k rounds of brass. It was getting kind of dark and the 5G bucket I keep it in had a fine black powder buildup on the inside. I tumbled a batch of .45 brass tonight in Grainger corn cob media. It's my first time using this media. It seems very static clingy, perhaps a bit worse than the Harbor Freight walnut I'd been using...and I did notice that even though the corn cob media is tiny, it did like to stick in the flash holes. It's small enough though that I figure the decapper will either take care of it, or it's just so small, it won't be an issue even if it is left behind. The corn cob did seem to do a great job on the brass. It's too cold out there to sort it tonight, but the handfuls I sifted through looked great.

Cob is a fine medium njl. And others use cob and are quite happy with it. I just do a lot of brass and that little bit of loss adds up for me. Cob is better than other abrasive things one could use. When you said the static properties were maddening you made me chuckle. So true. Really what ever you use is ok as long as your not abrading or destructing the metal. I have heard of so many different things people have been using. I have heard of all kinds of things people polish with, eg., baking soda, gypsum (ground up dry wall), aluminum oxide, carborator cleaning solution (also the dipping solution), and brake cleaner are the most common inventive home remedies that I would not use for one reason or the other. I'm not sure about the glass beads. Most metals are 3-5 on the Mohs hardness scale, (http://www.amfed.org/t_mohs.htm ). I wonder if these beads he is talking about are just glass or are they softer than glass?

You know, the gentle man below who suggested that shinny brass is not that important is correct. Brass is the weakest part of your lead delivery system. Damaging your brass just to get them perfect or shinny and weakening the structural integrity and longevity of the case wall and brass alloy makes no sense. Stains on your used brass typically don't affect the brass's purpose. But keeping your brass 'clean' and dry will contribute to your brass's longevity and reliability as opposed to not. I have to clean the brass to inspect what I sell.

One gentleman in this forum mentioned using wax on his brass. I don't see the harm regarding the case's metal and I don't know if there would be long term affects if stored. I would wonder if the wax affected the loaded round's powder during storage in warmer climates, etc. I have experimented with wax as a preservative on personal use brass as well but have not made any conclusions as of yet. I would imagine that excessive wax may cause problems during loading or extraction or breach cleanliness but I don't know that definitively. I would like to know if others have used wax to any long term success. Ken

[Got Juice?]

I'm not sure about the glass beads. Most metals are 3-5 on the Mohs hardness scale, (http://www.amfed.org/t_mohs.htm ). I wonder if these beads he is talking about are just glass or are they softer than glass?

This is what I am currently using Ken. And it is cheap cheap cheap, and washable and reusable.

http://www.kramerindustriesonline.com/blasting-media/glass-beads.htm

[njl]

I'm not sure about the glass beads. Most metals are 3-5 on the Mohs hardness scale, (http://www.amfed.org/t_mohs.htm ). I wonder if these beads he is talking about are just glass or are they softer than glass?

This is what I am currently using Ken. And it is cheap cheap cheap, and washable and reusable.

http://www.kramerindustriesonline.com/blasting-media/glass-beads.htm

What do you use? #3 or #4? The others all look tiny.

[CHA-LEE]

I wonder what the EPA would think about people washing their lead coated walnut in conventional washing machines........

It makes me cringe thinking that someone might be doing that in my neighborhood which would effectively contaminate our water

[M ammo]

I went with the Stainless steel media and the wet drum, it cleans inside and out.

I size my rifle brass, trim it, and put it in the drum,, with dawn, and the lem-I-fresh, let it run 4 hours,

And it's done, no need to chamfer cases, as the tumbling smoothes them out too,

Primer pockets and the inside of the case,, shinny,, keep your corn cob,,, I still have some,, and don't see myself using it,, let them dry over night,, and good to go,, I have used it on some range brass, that C/C would never have shined up,, and in most cases (pun intended) you can't tell it from the other brass, when its done,, and in the case that it is not as shiny,, no mater it is still clean and re-loadable.

[Got Juice?]

I'm not sure about the glass beads. Most metals are 3-5 on the Mohs hardness scale, (http://www.amfed.org/t_mohs.htm ). I wonder if these beads he is talking about are just glass or are they softer than glass?

This is what I am currently using Ken. And it is cheap cheap cheap, and washable and reusable.

http://www.kramerindustriesonline.com/blasting-media/glass-beads.htm

What do you use? #3 or #4? The others all look tiny.

#5 Does the best overall job on brass. I have some #10 I use on Starline Nickle brass.

I like the results it gives, and being reusable and washable is a real plus. I am still working on the 50lb bag I bought last year. IIRC it was 34 bucks, and I am about half done the bag. Keep in mind I am also tumbling AA 12 gauge cases, .270 cases, .40 cases, 38 super, etc.

When the media fouls the static cling causes the residue particles to stick on the tumbler sides. Then I remove the media from the tumbler, and wipe the tumbler down, pour the used media into a cheesecloth sack, and wash with hot ware and sudsy ammonia. Rinse the bag with clear water and hang on the clothsline to dry.

Easy.

I clean my media probably every 1000 rounds of shotshell, 6500 pistol.

[_kensbrass]

I'm not sure about the glass beads. Most metals are 3-5 on the Mohs hardness scale, (http://www.amfed.org/t_mohs.htm ). I wonder if these beads he is talking about are just glass or are they softer than glass?

This is what I am currently using Ken. And it is cheap cheap cheap, and washable and reusable.

http://www.kramerindustriesonline.com/blasting-media/glass-beads.htm

What do you use? #3 or #4? The others all look tiny.

Do they work well? I may have to try them. which size are you using?

[sdwilliams]

Nice results, but why the hurry? And as far getting the inside of the case clean, it's just not necessary. Hell, cleaning really isn't necessary....Put them in the tumbler and mow the yard, go to Lowe's or Home Depot, get back, take them out, put them in a ziploc bag, suck the air out, put on the shelf...start over.

Nice, shiny brass doesn't make the bullet fly any straighter....When you clean the brass, all you kind of need to do is remove the tarnish on the outside, to make loading easier, but even that isn't necessary most of the time.

Or do you just like showing your brass off?

When I first started Grumpy, I wanted it clean AND shiney... like brand new shiney, and yes, I got razzed about it, righfully so. Fast forward a few months and I only care if it's clean. I'll typically build up half of a 5 gallon bucket then sort and tumble. I'm in a condo and reload in the garage. I can hear the tumbler, but it's not to the point of annoying, not to me anyway.

I keep plenty of clean brass ready to go at all times but when the tumbler is running, so am I. May be errands, may be running during the day if I opt to work from home. I never sit around and wait, for much of anything, but that's another story.

I can appreciate the creative approach you're taking Timg but for me personally, the complete drying of the brass would be a pain in my butt. Too the uncertainty of the impact of the various chemicals on the brass.... There are plenty of other enherent risks with the proven processes that we have to safeguard against so I opt not to add to it by being too 'experimental'; I'll save that for tweaking loads, etc. Last thing I want is to get to the line and my gun fail or go bang in an undesirable way. I have enough challenges already!

Good luck, be safe.

Sherry

[Got Juice?]

I'm not sure about the glass beads. Most metals are 3-5 on the Mohs hardness scale, (http://www.amfed.org/t_mohs.htm ). I wonder if these beads he is talking about are just glass or are they softer than glass?

This is what I am currently using Ken. And it is cheap cheap cheap, and washable and reusable.

http://www.kramerindustriesonline.com/blasting-media/glass-beads.htm

What do you use? #3 or #4? The others all look tiny.

Do they work well? I may have to try them. which size are you using?

Extremely well. #5 gets used for aggressive cleaning when the brass is very dirty/oxidized (older range brass) and #10 for polishing up the nickle brass or when the real brass is not too fouled.

I love the glass. It really highlights any cracks in the neck on .357 sig or any issues with separation in progress on the .40 brass. I have some 'marked' cases that are on their 20th reload so it would seem that the glass is not weakening the brass at all.

I really like 20 minutes from dirty as sin to clean as a whistle! One thing to remember, do not decap before tumbling in glass media. while the glass only incurs a mild micropolish on the inside and outside of the case, it does funny things ot the primer pockets.

I have no use for walnut or corncob any more. I gave it all to my buddies to use. Quite a few have switched to glass now as well. Shorter cleaning times, and media life being the best benefits.