Polishing Dark Heavily Tarnished Range Brass?

[JDBraddy]

I've been getting a lot of dark, heavily tarnished range brass lately, and in some cases have left it to tumble overnight using plane walnut shell, and it cleans it ok, but doesn't get it shiney as new the way I've seen some shooters get it. What do some of you use to get it that way? I've tried Dillon's rapid polish, and that does OK, but it's kind of expensive for the quantity you get, and doesn't do as good a job as I've seen others do.

[Canuck63]

I've been getting a lot of dark, heavily tarnished range brass lately, and in some cases have left it to tumble overnight using plane walnut shell, and it cleans it ok, but doesn't get it shiney as new the way I've seen some shooters get it. What do some of you use to get it that way? I've tried Dillon's rapid polish, and that does OK, but it's kind of expensive for the quantity you get, and doesn't do as good a job as I've seen others do.

Hi JD,

a few days ago a bud gave me a bunch of (ab)used 45APC cases to clean (he doesn't own a tumbler yet!) and they were dirty,tarnished and all sort of things.I put them into my Vortex with corcob and a few dollops of brass polish last nite only to find them as shiny as gold this morning...the fact that the headstamps weren't readable anymore,the rims were in an awful state and that many cases had cracks is a different story though!It goes to show that heavily tarnished cases can be cleaned and that even morons love 1911s !

You could use finely ground pumica,used as birds litter,or mix it with your fave media,but make sure that you blow your cases with compressed air afterwards,since it's quite abrasive and could easily damage your dies!

HTH

Cheers

Manu

[dajarrel]

for REALLY badly tarnished brass, I would tumble in walnut first. Walnut is more abrasive than corncob and really cleans well. After they were clean, if I didn't like the matte surface, I would polish them as I regularly do with corncob and a quality polish.

FWIW

dj

[LPatterson]

When I clean range pickup brass I use a couple of caps of Mineral Spirits in walnut(lizard litter) for an hour first then corncob & some Nu Finish for another hour.

[DrKyle1]

First off to give you an answer to your question ... I would tumble the cases in crushed corn cobb w/ some flitz or other metal polishing compound. Remember a little bit goes a long way. Second, I would pass on the range brass if you had to pick it up yourself (or tell my buddy the same) and check ebay for prices! I look at the time it takes, the hassle of sorting etc, besides the achy back from bending over!

[ihatepickles]

Walnut's good for cleaning cases but it doesn't polish as well. Corncob polishes better.

Polishes and such added to the media helps but I don't care if my cases gleam so I don't use 'em. The real reason to have shiny cases is to make inspection easier, dirty cases mask cracks and such.

[bompa]

You could try soaking the grungy brass in Orange Kool aid,the kind that you need to add sugar to if you are going to drink it..The package makes a half gallon,mix it in a plastic bucket and soak the brass till it is clean enough for you..Rinse in clean water,hot works best, and then let it dry,air or in oven at low heat..Do this when the wife is not home..

When dry polish the brass to how you like it in the tumbler..

[kevin c]

This stuff works wonders, but is a bit pricey:

http://www.iosso.com/MivaStore/merchant.mv...ode=GunCleaning

[Carlos]

Well I have not used Kool Aid, but for really dark stained brass, I just tumble, then soak it in either lemmon juice, orange juice (when the stuff in the fridge starts to go bad before we drink it, its still good for cleaning) or vinegar.

A trip or two through the sizing die helps too.

[nvmichael]

Plain White Vinegar. Works well.

[adiksaputok]

brasso brass cleaner tumble it with walnut media for 5hrs

[Ron Brooks]

Well, I'm sure this isn't what you wanted to hear, but I would tumble them in plain ground walnut to be sure they wwere clean, then just go ahead and reload them. Running them through the reloading process and then shooting them will do a lot toward getting the patina off them. You'll be surprised how much more they will polish up afterwards.

Ron

Edited August 7, 2007 by Ron Brooks

[anachronism]

Ground walnut will clean the brass, but not polish it. In fact it will leave a matte finish to the brass for the first couple of uses, until the sharp edges get knocked down a bit on the media. Even then you won't get a brilliant polish on your brass with walnut, but it will be purty. My older media, Lizard Litter, as mentioned above won't polish cases until after about 3 uses. I always use Dillons case polish, to at least protect the brass from tarnish while in storage (I process a lot of brass). TRy corn cob if you want a brilliant shine, Nu-Finish car polish does work well, but I don't recommend Brasso since it contains ammonia, which causes brass to harden prematurely, leading to cracking. FWIW, you could probably get decent results with almost any liquid car polish, or even try s squirt of fine buffing compound for really dark brass.

[WesC]

Corn cob and Flitz. Two to three hours has cleaned the dirtiest brass I have. I suppose it its really bad overnight would do it. Seems like overkill to me though. Flitz made all the difference.

[wsimpso1]

+1 on Walnut for cleaning and corn cob for polish.

+1 for shooting it even if it looks dark but is clean and smooth.

I would be careful about adding any abrasive that can cut or polish steel. Some of it will go down your bore...

A little jeweler's rouge in your tumbling media can make for good cleaning and a bright polish. If you can not find it directly, it is the active agent for metal polishing. You specifically want the stuff for brass/gold/silver. It comes in tubes or sticks. I have a stick for applying it to cotton ploishing wheels, and just shave some into the media when I have a rough looking batch.

Be warned though, you can get the cases so clean that they can brown sitting around. To keep my brass from corroding again, my media gets a capfull of automotive antifreeze. The corrosion inhibitors and seal lubricants that are in antifreeze work nicely on brass cases.

Billski