9mm brass polishing question

[Palazzo]

I have just purchased a Hornady Lock n Load AP and am starting my foray into reloading.  So far I have de-primed 500 cases, washed the cases in hot water and Dawn dish soap, thoroughly dried and they are currently in the vibratory tumbler with corn cob media and two cap fulls of Midsouth Shooters Metallic Cartridge Cleaner.  My question is after I remove the brass and separate it from the media, do I need to wet wash it down again?  

 

Thanks,

-Jeff

[GrumpyOne]

No. 

 

You could even skip the whole washing of the brass and just tumble in corn cob, before de-priming. I've been doing this way for many years, as well as countless others. 

 

 

[X5SigChris]

Like @GrumpyOne said, you don’t have to wash or deprime. When I was reloading (got out of it now due to personal reasons) I just dry tumbled while I was at work. The brass came out fine and clean. Never had an issue with the primer pockets or anything like that. Clean enough I could see any major imperfections like cracks. 
 

by all means though, your not hurting anything from what I’m aware of. Just adding a little time. 

[IHAVEGAS]

A friend sells a lot of processed brass, I asked how he got it so new looking and he said he dry tumbles but adds a wee bit of Nu Finish car polish to the media. That works well for me with one caution, I tumble media only for an hour + - after adding the Nu Finish to make sure there are no wet clumps. 

 

Another friend says you never need to clean brass and he seems to get by with it. 

[Sinister4]

I tumble with corn cob and some nu finish as well, fill that bugger up, turn it on go to sleep, lol  looks like new brass in the morning.................

[Ben53]

I deprime with the Lee APP; extremely fast and easy.  Then the cases go into a FART w/SS media with Armor All Wash-N-Wax and some LemiShine; they come out looking like new most of the time.  Then they go into my progressive press.  I do this to cut down/ eliminate any dirt and primer residue fouling.  It keeps the press clean and cuts down somewhat on maintenance.  Just my personal preference and doesn't seem to really add any real time to my reloading operation.  I have enough brass that I do this in batches and always have some clean brass ready for reloading when I want or need it.

[X5SigChris]

16 minutes ago, Ben53 said:

Then the cases go into a FART w/SS media

I’m not sure if I’m mad at myself for understanding what FART meant or if I’m mad because I didn’t think of this 

[GrumpyOne]

45 minutes ago, X5SigChris said:

I’m not sure if I’m mad at myself for understanding what FART meant or if I’m mad because I didn’t think of this 

Doesn't it take "Special High Intensity Training" to use the FART? 

[Sarge]

54 minutes ago, GrumpyOne said:

Doesn't it take "Special High Intensity Training" to use the FART? 

[X5SigChris]

1 hour ago, GrumpyOne said:

Doesn't it take "Special High Intensity Training" to use the FART? 

Hahahaha. So much training to use. Lol

[Johnny_Chimpo]

17 hours ago, Palazzo said:

I have just purchased a Hornady Lock n Load AP and am starting my foray into reloading.  So far I have de-primed 500 cases, washed the cases in hot water and Dawn dish soap, thoroughly dried and they are currently in the vibratory tumbler with corn cob media and two cap fulls of Midsouth Shooters Metallic Cartridge Cleaner.  My question is after I remove the brass and separate it from the media, do I need to wet wash it down again?  

 

Thanks,

-Jeff

 

You're doing too much work

 

Toss your vibratory tumbler and corn cob away.

 

Buy yourself one of these: https://www.harborfreight.com/dual-drum-rotary-rock-tumbler-67632.html

 

Put up to 200 9 mm cases in each drum.  Fill each drum with hot tap water.  Add about 4 - 6 squirts of dish soap, any brand will do.  Close them up and let them tumble for about 1 - 2 hrs.  Drain and rinse.  Throw all the cases in a baking tray and dry at 240 F for 30 min.

 

Don't worry about shine.  Don't worry about water spots.  Don't worry about anything but clean cases.  And you will get cases miles cleaner than any corn cob media could ever do.

 

And whatever you do, do NOT use stainless steel pins.  PITA for no useful gain.

 

 

Edited March 1, 2022 by Johnny_Chimpo

[Poseidon215]

I used to use a tumbler with corn cob/walnut media, some concoction of nu finish or brass cleaner/polish. It ended up being way more work and very dirty/dusty.

 

Do yourself a favor go get the frankford Platinum tumbler. Dont use the stainless media. Just add hot water and Dawn dish soap and turn the timer to 2 hours. When its done you will be amazed at the nasty water that comes out but your brass will look fantastic. Then I just lay them out on a towel and let them dry or setup a fan to dry them quicker. 

 

This works just as well for any caliber even rifle. 

[CC3D]

On 3/1/2022 at 4:03 PM, Johnny_Chimpo said:

And whatever you do, do NOT use stainless steel pins.  PITA for no useful gain.

 

I don't 100% agree with this.. Pins clean the inside of cases. Just soap and water cant get in there as good to get the crud out of range pickup brass. 

[Johnny_Chimpo]

4 hours ago, CC3D said:

 

I don't 100% agree with this.. Pins clean the inside of cases. Just soap and water cant get in there as good to get the crud out of range pickup brass. 

 

I have never, ever had a case that did not come out clean of debris and dirt on the inside.  Ever.

 

So, agree or disagree, I'm still not bothering with pins.

[jrguar]

Pretty much what everyone else is saying.. Corn Cob and any decent polishing product for brass .. then set it and forget it for a while .....

 

[OpenshooterMclass4lyfe]

No

[Skytrooper]

I have been using corn cob and a slash of Nu Finish. Works very nicely

[OpenshooterMclass4lyfe]

I use the Franklin armory wet tumbler.   Lil bit of dawn dish soap a .40 caliber case full of lemishine and an hour and a half later and they’re shiny like new.   

[lgh]

4 hours ago, Skytrooper said:

I have been using corn cob and a slash of Nu Finish. Works very nicely

 

 

Same here. If the brass is really dirt, I first tumble it in walnut media.

 

Just a reminder if you are new at this. There is lead in all the media dust so tumble outside and stay upwind.

[hiflyer51]

I put 2 1/2 gallons of 9mm cases in a mini cement mixer. I use 1 1/2 gallons on water with 3 oz of Brass Juice. Tumble for 1 1/2 hours. Rinse. Then dry them[Franklin Armory brass dryer]. They come out looking like new.

[Blackstone45]

I wet tumble only. One pass with just water and steel pins to remove most of the gunk, then 1 hour with detergent and some citric acid. Rinse and leave to dry. I deprime with a hand deprimer while I watch TV.

[racerba]

I used to dry tumble and no - don't need to wash them down again...no need to wash them in the first place.  

I wet tumble now and the difference is that wet tumbling comes out shinier...but needs spray lube.  

I'm thinking about dry tumbling with the Dillon Lube (What I used when I dry tumbled) after the wet tumbling process.  the spray lubes works but it's not uniform.  

[Leezway]

On 3/1/2022 at 12:01 PM, Ben53 said:

I deprime with the Lee APP; extremely fast and easy.  Then the cases go into a FART w/SS media with Armor All Wash-N-Wax and some LemiShine; they come out looking like new most of the time.  Then they go into my progressive press.  I do this to cut down/ eliminate any dirt and primer residue fouling.  It keeps the press clean and cuts down somewhat on maintenance.  Just my personal preference and doesn't seem to really add any real time to my reloading operation.  I have enough brass that I do this in batches and always have some clean brass ready for reloading when I want or need it.

@Ben53 I gotta say this is exactly! what I have been doing for a couple years now and it has proven to be most effective for me…. never a real concern about it not being cleaned enough before it goes thru the progressive…I do agree that it absolutely doesn’t take up any additional time…. I’m fortunate that I have a range buddy I shoot together weekly and he helps me run small steel matches at our club and obviously we are always there at the end cleaning up so we end up with a ton of brass, We split it all up and he too has the exact setup, process and passion and between the two of us we accumulate enough that we sort out unwanted head-stamped brass and give away to others…. You don’t realize how much surplus you can build up and don’t have to worry about not having any ready to go….

[Ben53]

I hear ya, Leezway!  With the primer/powder shortages I've been doing more brass prep than actual shooting and have a decent stock built up now.  If only primer prices would get back to something resembling what we had before.  Hard to believe some of the ridiculous prices we've seen advertised by scammers/profiteers, isn't it???

 

[Leezway]

Absolutely! these prices are starting to climb up again….. I don’t know exactly how high it reached in your neck of the woods but locally it was being sold in sleeves because it’s too expensive to get bricks and didn’t matter what brand or type… spp, spm, srp, lrp, lpp…. If you are quick to the draw you can score some online but very few and far between for a “decent” price that is. I am fortunate that I have been acquiring bits and pieces and it has paid off, but now as my luck would have it, I’m sidelined awaiting surgery tomorrow and be in rehab for a few weeks.. kinda sucks with all this time off I can’t (I should say the Mrs won’t let me) go downstairs and load… I can’t be mad, I see her point as it’s my 3rd time…Lol.