Cleaning Badly Tarnished Brass

[BNorth]

Actually, that is my question. Sugar or no Sugar. I imagine no sugar. Anyone want to chime that has done it before?

[Merlin Orr]

Go yo your corner store and buy a package of unsweetend kool-AId in the orange flavor..

Mix it up in a glass or plastic container and add your brass...

I've got some pretty bad brass that I've tumbled in corn cob media. They still came out with a bit of tarnish on them. My question about the above technique with the Kool Aid, do you add the sugar or just the Kool Aid and water? I can't imagine you'd want the sugar in there but wanted to make sure before I waste this .99 cent packet of kool aid.

Bob

If you put the sugar in while doing the brass it makes it much harder to do the rinse and the Kool Aid seems to have a bitter taste when you are through with it and drink it...

[Aircooled6racer]

Hello: You can also soak the brass in vinegar and water. About 50/50 mix should do the trick. You can also use the orange based cleaners out there as well. I don't care if the brass is tarnished as long it is free ;-). Thanks Eric

[AustinMike]

I still think clean brass overrated. It's just gonna get dirty again when ya shoot it. I run my range scraps through the tumbler just long enough to shake the dirt off. I've actually had people watching me load my mags ask me what the hell is wrong with my brass! Some of the stuff that has sat outside for who knows how long looks nasty. My guns don't seem to mind the diet of tarnished brass though.

[GentlemanJim]

I know ..it shoots just fine ,,,It just gives me a (MONK MOMENT)

The wife just came home with Kool Aid here goes

Jim

[BNorth]

I've got a few sitting in the cool aid now. We'll see how it goes.

[GentlemanJim]

Well the Kool aid seems to work..smells bad .

the very tarnished stuff (black) comes out sort of copper colored , every thing else look ok.

I will tumble some today ..se what we get

Jim

[BNorth]

Yep, I got the same results. Althought, I think I diluted my mix with too much water. It took a long time on the really bad ones.

[Merlin Orr]

So guys...Just how long did the brass have to soak to get all sparkley..?

[GentlemanJim]

I soaked about 50 rnds in a large plastic cup for 8hrs.

The mildly tarnished, cleaned up in about 2 or 3 hrs .

The black ones, quite a bit longer.

PS after use the Kool Aid has a very nasty metalic odor!!!

DO it outside or your wife will chew your a##

Jim

[AustinMike]

PS after use the Kool Aid has a very nasty metalic odor!!!

Yeah, yeah, but how does it taste?

[glock_556]

I'm gonna have to try that Kool-Aid trick. . .

[bkeeler]

HEY KOOL-AID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Edmond]

[Edmond]

Cleaning Badly Tarnished Brass

http://www.balistique-chasse.com/nature/nettoy3.html

I hope I can get this onto your side of the pond again..

http://www.dcbshooting.com/En/index.htm

Edited February 19, 2007 by Edmond

[itchy]

Okay, I'm ready to give this a try. Should I just mix according to the directions on the package? Or can you go more dilute? I'm planning to try about 1000 cases, really dirty. I guess I'd better get the family pack Kool Aid.

I have some stuff I clean hard water spots off faucets with. I'd bet that would clean up the brass too. But Kool Aid seems so much more environmentally friendly.

Itchy

[kevin c]

I just tried the vinegar technique. Fifty/fifty vinegar and warm water with the brass in a net bag in a plastic pail. 10 minutes, less with agitation, got the brass looking pretty good with an easy clean up (rinse the brass in the bag under running water, everything down the kitchen sink). A bit coppery in color and slightly dulled when dry, but easy to polish up with a short run in plain or treated media afterwards.

The powder residue doesn't come out the way it does with the Iosso treatment, but the round don't care, and, at one twentieth the cost of Iosso, neither do I.

[bompa]

Edmond does DCB have an english version of their catalog??

Wonder if they have a distrubiter on ths side of the pond ??

They list stuff that looks interesting but only looking at pictures is not much of a help..

[Miranda]

Thought I'd add my results.

I took my annoying refuse to tumble clean brass

and put them in a hot bath, about 2 qts of water, with 5 vitamin C tabs....

after 2 hours with some agitation,

the shells were mostly clean from dark brown stains.

the water was brown/green tinted.

After tumbling for about 4 hours, they are bright and shiney.

miranda

[kevin c]

... 5 vitamin C tabs...

Instead of ammo on steriods, we've got brass on vitamins. Who'da thunk?

[DEADEYE]

I tried another mixture I found on another Web site no odor and worked pretty well. I did 350 45's this way came out pretty good.

plastic icream bucket

enough hot water to cover the brass

1/4 cup lemon juice

squirt of Dawn dish soap

aggitate Brass and solution evry once in a while

Let this sit about 1-2 hours depending on the severity of the discloroation sift out the brass rinse and let dry. The brass came out sparkley clean except the primer pockets still had some gunk but what the heck the price is right and best part no smell. I imagine if you let it cook over night it would get really shiny but for my purposes it really did well as I don't have a tumbler. This is very cheap to do.

Edited April 17, 2007 by DEADEYE

[Jim M.]

I missed this discussion because I haven't read this forum in a long time. For those who come into the discussion late, maybe I can offer some help.

The orange Kool-Aid and the lemonade work because of the citric acid in them. There was an interesting article in The American Rifleman Magazine sometime around 1965, as I recall, which discussed cleaning cases with citric acid to remove the tarnish. I have been using citric acid in one or another form ever since, and I have discovered several forms of citric acid to use. By forms, I mean the product which carries the citric acid.

Citric acid works only in some kind of a liquid. When I first started reloading in 1965, I bought a used Pacific case tumbler which I used for the next 25 or 30 years, until it wore out. I then replaced it with an RCBS Sidewinder, which is a great tumbler, but cost about 10 times what I paid for the old Pacific (which was $25 in 1965). If you already have an RCBS Sidewinder, or are able to justify that cost, the RCBS works fine.

Citric acid is not anything dangerous. It is present in all citrus fruits, such as orange and lemon, which is where it gets its name. There are two ready sources for citric acid, without going to the pharmacy and getting the raised eyebrows, questions, and inflated prices for U.S.P. citric acid. First, citric acid is used in canning tomatoes. You can find it in the canning section of a well equipped grocery store. Second, citric acid (or sometimes, just plain orange juice) is used as a yeast starter in wine making. A wine-making store will have pure citric acid, although the grocery store will usually be cheaper. Don't buy too much of it. Most packages (usually glass bottles) are about 4 ounces, which, as you will see, is about a 20 year supply for the average reloader. The dry citric acid is a white powder that looks somewhat like sugar or salt, but with a finer texture. Although I haven't bought any in about 20 years, I do remember that is was very inexpensive then.

In use, fill the case tumbler about one-third full of cases. Run hot water over the cases to rinse any dirt off them, then drain the dirty water and fill the tumbler with enough hot water (just tap water, nothing fancy) deep enough to barely cover the cases. Dump in about 1 teaspoon of the dry citric acid powder, and tumble for as long as you want to. In normal use, I tumble for one-half hour to one hour, depending on how corroded the cases are. For really grungy looking corroded cases, tumble for two hours or longer. There is no disadvantage to the brass in tumbling longer; it just ties up the tumbler for longer. The American Rifleman article recommended citric acid specifically because it wasn't dangerous, and removed the tarnish without damaging the brass, even if used in stronger concentrations or left in it for a long period of time. That doesn't mean that you should use stronger concentrations than recommended here. It is just wasting the citric acid, and won't speed up the process.

I have one of the Lee powder dipper sets, and a dip of about 1cc works well, if you don't have a measuring spoon for the 1 teaspoon (or even 1/2 teaspoon for cases that aren't too cruddy looking). You can try different strengths of the citric acid until you find one that works on your cases and doesn't use too much of the powder. Don't be afraid to experiment. Citric acid as used here is about as strong as orange juice, so you aren't going to damage anything.

At one time, I tumbled the cases in hot water and a liquid dish-washing detergent first to get any dirt and powder residue off, and tumbled a second time in the citric acid to remove the tarnish. Then, I discovered by accident a liquid dish-washing detergent that has enough citric acid in it to do the job in one pass. That is called "Ajax Lemon Dish Liquid", and it combines the detergent and citric acid in one pass and shortens the time involved, because only one pass is required to both clean and remove the tarnish. If you can find the Ajax in your local grocery store, I recommend that over the separate citric acid. Since it is a liquid, about one teaspoon or 1cc is enough (or too much -- if you have suds all the way to the top of the container when you take the cases out, cut back on the amount of detergent) for the usual cases. An 18 fl. oz. bottle has been working for me for a couple of years now, and is still about half full. This is the cheapest and most convenient method of cleaning and removing tarnish that I have found, if you can find the Ajax in your area.

When you are satisfied with the look of the cases, drain the detergent or citric acid mix and rinse the cases thoroughly to get any residue off them. Then, make sure you get the cases completely dry inside before you mix them up with any that are going into your press. Water in the case will kill the primers! I use a "hi-tech" method of drying the cases. I dump them into a cardboard flat that once held a dozen cans of dog food, then put those flats on the dog house roof in the bright sun until they are hot to the touch. Then, I know they are dry! LOL. That is about as hi-tech as I want to get!

For cases that must be resized, such as the .223 or other bottleneck cases, I first lube the cases and full length resize in a single stage press. If the cases are above the prescribed length, I trim and chamfer the cases. Then I tumble them in the Ajax to remove the case lube. That avoids and setback problems or slimy ammunition after the cases are reloaded. By the way, this also removes any brass shavings from the trimming and chamfering -- another "twofer".

I reload the best ammunition I can. I am careful with primers, powder charges, and bullets. I process cases to get the best results. That means that I first run all the fired cases through a single stage press and deprime before I clean and remove tarnish as described here. Yes, that is a separate stage, but it doesn't take all that long, and then I make up the time by reloading my clean, shiny cases on a Dillon 1050!

I hope you find something in this discussion that is helpful.

Jim M.

[sargenv]

Run hot water over the cases to rinse any dirt off them, then drain the dirty water and fill the tumbler with enough hot water (just tap water, nothing fancy) deep enough to barely cover the cases.

Before you do this step you may want to find out if your tumbler can handle any kind of liquid.. though I suspect the Sidewinder is one of those tumblers that looks like a rock polishing tumbler? I know my Dillon cannot handle any kind of liquid only in the bowl.

[Jim M.]

Run hot water over the cases to rinse any dirt off them, then drain the dirty water and fill the tumbler with enough hot water (just tap water, nothing fancy) deep enough to barely cover the cases.

Before you do this step you may want to find out if your tumbler can handle any kind of liquid.. though I suspect the Sidewinder is one of those tumblers that looks like a rock polishing tumbler? I know my Dillon cannot handle any kind of liquid only in the bowl.

Right, sarge. I should have made that clear. I also have a Lyman tumbler which is one of the vibrating types. It is the largest Lyman that was made, and has now been discontinued. I still use it for tumbling some loaded ammo (.38 Special wadcutter with lead bullets, where the lube creates some problems). Walnut shells with a splash (that's a scientific unit of measurement ) of mineral spirits will clean up any bullet lube smeared on the outside of the cases. I can't clean loaded ammo in water, obviously! Since I load .38 Special one or two thousand at a time, I don't want to get into any individual cleaning of loaded cartridges.

I used the vibrating tumbler for cleaning cases for several years after my old Pacific died. After a few years, I broke down and bought the RCBS Sidewinder just because I could use liquid in it. Some reloaders won't use water for cleaning cases because they complain about problems with getting the cases dry. I do deprime the cases in a single stage press before I clean them, so I don't have as much water in them to remove. Just tumbling the cleaned cases in a Dillon or Midway media separator (I use a Midway) gets out most of the water, although the cases are still wet, obviously. If you don't have a media separator, just pour the cases from one cardboard flat to another a couple of times to get most of the water out. That's when the cardboard flats and setting the whole mess on the roof of the doghouse for a few hours comes in. The sun does the rest of the job for you.

Having used both methods of cleaning empty cases for several years, I will always use water in a case tumbler that holds liquids, rather than walnut shells or corn cob media. The Ajax Lemon dish liquid reduces the number of additives to one, and the detergent gives a good feedback of the proper amount. If there are still suds over one half filling the empty space above the water in the tumbler after tumbling, cut back on the amount of detergent.

After I posted my comment last night, I went down to the reloading room and looked at my bottle of citric acid. It is 8 ounces, rather than the 4 ounces I stated. It came from a wine making shop back about 30 years ago, when I was still making wine. That was before I discovered that citric acid was used in canning tomatoes and was carried in the local supermarket, and obviously before I discovered Ajax.

Although I like the use of the RCBS Sidewinder and citric acid (in the form of Ajax Lemon dish liquid), and I think that gives better results with less hassle, there is one problem with that approach. The RCBS Sidewinder is quite expensive. If anyone knows a less expensive case tumbler that holds liquids, please post that information here for other reloaders that don't already have such a tumbler.

Jim M.

[kevin c]

Kewl.

Thank you for your suggestions, Jim M.!

Kevin C