What's your preferred method to clean up your brass?

[tsm]

^^^THAT, my friend is a VERY Clean assembly+++ to you!!..Bill

Thank you, but in the interests of full disclosure, I did blow some of the dust off that had accumulated from the adjacent woodworking shop before taking the pictures!

 

[DadSmith]

Rotating container is 6" diameter and about 20" long. View looking inside shows the PVC stirring wings as well as the SS pins (stored inside when not using them).

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Wow that's a good job.
Love the ingenuity of my fellow INGO members.

 

[brian_a_mcmillen]

I start with the Lyman sonic cleaner which gets the insides of the casings really nice and clean. Then I size, recap and trim (if necessary) followed by a quick clean of the primer pockets. Then back in the sonic cleaner to remove the case lube and the rest of the debris in the primer pockets. After about 24 hours of dry time, then into the tumbler (I have a Franklin as well as a Dillon) for between 4 and 8 hours depending on how much polishing they require. Then I hand sort and make sure that all of the flash holes are free of polishing media and finally, I put them in a ziplock bag for storage until i decide to reload them. I know this may sound like a bit much but I think case prep is one of the most important steps to reloading.

 

[jtull01]

I switched from a reworked Harbor Freight vibratory tumbler to the Frankford rotary tumbler. Using stainless media 5lbs, 2 tbs of Dawn and 1/4 tsp of LemiShine booster. For really dirty range brass I tumbled 3 hours or a bit more. Decapped brass comes out 90% like new.
very happy.

 

[fullmetaljesus]

I prefer using my bidet.....

Oh, brass! I miss heard you.

 

[bullcrap]

I start with the Lyman sonic cleaner which gets the insides of the casings really nice and clean. Then I size, recap and trim (if necessary) followed by a quick clean of the primer pockets. Then back in the sonic cleaner to remove the case lube and the rest of the debris in the primer pockets. After about 24 hours of dry time, then into the tumbler (I have a Franklin as well as a Dillon) for between 4 and 8 hours depending on how much polishing they require. Then I hand sort and make sure that all of the flash holes are free of polishing media and finally, I put them in a ziplock bag for storage until i decide to reload them. I know this may sound like a bit much but I think case prep is one of the most important steps to reloading.

Thanks for the info.

 

[indyblue]

I switched from a reworked Harbor Freight vibratory tumbler to the Frankford rotary tumbler. Using stainless media 5lbs, 2 tbs of Dawn and 1/4 tsp of LemiShine booster. For really dirty range brass I tumbled 3 hours or a bit more. Decapped brass comes out 90% like new.
very happy.

Pretty much the same here.

I put fired range brass into the Frankrord for 45 minutes for a quick clean. Just enough liquid to cover combined media and brass. Then I Deprime/size and tumble it again for an hour to hour and a half to get the primer pockets shiny new.

I don’t use nearly that much dawn or lemi-shine, I use three or four drops of Dawn soap and A 9 mm case full of lemi-shine. Too much lemon shine for too long I have found actually tarnishes the cases.

Then, it’s into a salad spinner to separate media and cases. Then I dump the cases onto a cookie sheet lined with paper towel and then to 120° oven for 10 minutes then allowed to air dry overnight.

I must remember to sort my .223 and 5.56 nato before cleaning though since cleaning removes the annealing discoloration. Easier to quickly ID the nato cases from the annealing color rather than inspecting crimped primer pockets.

These were done a year ago so not as shiny now as when I cleaned them.

 

[jhart]

I use the frankford arsenal wet tumbler for last five years. Best choice I made to get away from dry tumble. Separating the media is a small pain in butt but it's so much nicer in the rest of the loading process.

 

[SS 396]

Tumbler purchased from Midway 26 years ago still going, corncob media and frankford arsenal polish they come out nice and shiny. As others have said though does not do much for the inside of the case but i am fine with that.

 

[Squid556]

Simple, range pickups will get sifted in either a T shirt or short tumble in a vibratory bowl with old corn cob.

After resize they get polished in the Frankford Arsenal vibratory bowl with clean walnut shell.

I've found the two tier system can keep your more expensive media cleaner much longer.

 

[armalitesheepdog]

I use the frankford arsenal wet tumbler for last five years. Best choice I made to get away from dry tumble. Separating the media is a small pain in butt but it's so much nicer in the rest of the loading process.

They make a magnet to separate the pins. Pull the lever up and the magnet deactivates releasing the pins in a container. Best 20 bucks ever

 

[jhart]

I thought about that. But that's not the issue, I have a separator that works great for the loose pins. The issue is the pins in the case there is no good way to make sure they all get removed. Short of what I do witch is to grab a handful of cases in one hand, and smack them on case head with other to insure they all fall out of case.

 

[BE Mike]

I’ve been using a Lortone QT 12 since the mid ‘80’s. It is a rotary drum rock polisher. I use ground walnut shells with a capful of liquid Flitz.

 

[bgcatty]

After 12 years I finally burnt out my old vibratory cleaner. Bought a new one from Cabelas made by Frankford Arsenal with the one click removable tub, walnut and or corncob or both mixed and Dillon case polish. They come out clean and stay clean. There must be something in that blue bottle?

 

[Goodcat]

I’ve tried the pins, then the chips, then all the soap and polish combos. When I got into precision, I learned squeaky clean brass gave me more neck tension and bullet seating issues by a significant margin. I switched back to a cheap Hornady vibratory tumbler around the time I quit loading for pistol and 223. Hasn’t failed me in the last 10 years and I’ve beat the crap out of it, tumbled FULL loads of live ammo for days on end, etc. I don’t even know where the top is anymore. I throw my precision rifle brass in there for about 15 minutes only to get the lube off any more.