brass polishing..??

[4FishLimit]

I wet tumble in a Frankfort Arsenal tumbler.

Hot water and a healthy splash of Meguiar’s Wash and Wax car wash that I picked up on sale at Costco a little while back. It was $10 for a gallon, so it will last me a bit.

Gets the cases new looking after a couple hours in the tumbler. Just dump the old water and rinse a couple times. Usually minimal primer pocket clean up as well.

Once the wash and wax is all used up I’ll probably switch to Dawn dish detergent and a capful of Lemi Shine.

 

[youngolddude]

I didn't use to clean brass as I shot a revolver at the range and never let the empties hit the ground. At cowboy matches, it's helpful to have shiny brass which makes them easier to pick up after each shooter. The bays where we shoot are sand and gravel so it only makes sense to clean them in some way. I would not use treated media since it could abrade my dies. Using ammonia (Brasso & others) is controversial, some say no problem and others say it weakens brass.

 

[Jim Diamantoni]

I've got a Frankfort Arsenal wet tumbler with the SS pins. Brass looks new both inside and out.

 

[PoliDoc]

just thought i'd ask, what do you use for polishing your brass

i have a media set up, 1 for cleaning, 1 for polishing. (both are fine walnut, i got at Harbor Freight)

for polishing i was using Nu Finish, car polish, 16 oz bottle, at like $12.00 (in my area)

today, i just tried "Brasso" a home polish for metals, which, well, includes brass.

8 oz bottle for $3.15 at walmart here, in the home section, next to the Pledge.

does a really good job as my eyes can see at a much reduced price. i put in like 6 "globs" into fresh media, let that mix for about 10 minutes, then threw in 100 45 ACP casings, for 1 hour, the usual time i let brass clean or polish.

no sense in posting pics, you all seen polished brass, besides i cannot find the USB camera cable right now.

so what (if any) polish are some of you using..????

Some polishes will weaken the brass. Use sparingly.

 

[SimonRL]

For general brass cleaning I use Flitz. Does a nice job on my Henry Big Boy’s brass reciever.

 

[Old_Me]

Some polishes will weaken the brass. Use sparingly.

it's been a year since i posted that, i have since been using Lyman Brass polish

 

[Jim Diamantoni]

I have a Frankfort Arsenal wet tumbler with the stainless steel pins. Brass looks like new, inside and out.

 

[youngolddude]

Pssst. If you wet tumble, most guys do not use the pins anymore.
My latest concoction with dry tumbling is paint thinner and Nu Finish. Works great and no drying or decapping rquired.

 

[RATPACKER]

Some polishes will weaken the brass. Use sparingly.

Wright’s for hand polishing (no ammonia)
Lemi-shine & Dawn detergent … slosh the brass in a bucket with a tad of water.
Lemi- shine added to the media in a vibratory Case cleaner. All work better than Brasso
& a rag.

 

[McGee]

I started reloading in the mid 1970s... yes, I'm old. The only tumblers available then that I was aware of was the hexagon drum rotary style with a rubber drum liner. The preferred polishing media then was walnut shell that was coated with iron oxide, which gave it a red color. It worked well.

As the media became less effective and required longer times to produce the same results, there was a liquid additive, which contained iron oxide. It was mixed into the media to recoat the walnut shells with the iron oxide. The product smelled strongly of mineral spirits, which would attack the rubber drum liner. If mixing was done externally of the tumbler, and the media was spread out and allowed to dry, the media performed as new without damage to the drum liner.

Some years later, I found corncob media, which was coated with a polishing compound. I found that small pieces lodged into flash holes, and the life of the corncob media seemed less than walnut shell media.

An acquaintance I ran into at a local gun shop told me about using rice in his tumbler. Back then, case lube was very sticky and difficult to clean off. After tumbling in polishing media, he lubed and sized the cases and then tumbled in plain rice to remove the lube. We discussed trying to find a very fine abrasive to add to the rice for polishing.

Some of my female family members got into decoupage, a hobby where paper from magazines or photos were glued to objects--they glued paper to various wood items. After the glue dried, multiple coats of clear sealer was applied over the paper and to the entire object. As multiple layers built up, the edges of the paper were no longer higher than the surface it was glued to. To remove the gloss appearance from the surface, the sealer was hand rubbed with a soft cloth coated with oil and a light dusting of powdered pumice. It was fine enough to not produce scratches on the surface.

I told my friend about the powdered pumice, and he tried it with the plain rice. He claimed that it worked well, but the only disadvantage was that it was dusty and required care when separating cases from the rice to prevent a cloud of dust in his face. At the time, powdered pumice was available at hobby stores. I don't know if it still is.

I initially started reloading to save money. I may have stated this in another post... when I started reloading, smokeless powder was $3.40 per pound and primers were under $6.00 per thousand. I cast bullets from free wheel weights and purchased scrap lead and 50-50 bar solder. I shot 357 Magnum for $0.85 per box of 50. However, reloading is a hobby in itself, and it's not all about saving money for me. I care about how well my reloads shoot... and how good they look.

I purchased untreated ground walnut shells from Walmart in the pet department. It was sold for gerbil bedding. I add Hornady One Shot Metal Polish, and I'm still using the rotary hexagon drum tumbler.

I de-prime cases with a hand punch and pre-clean with Lemi Shine and Dawn Dishwashing Liquid in water. In a quart glass jar, I fill it about 3/4 full of water and add 2 teaspoons of Lemi Shine and 2 small drops of Dawn. I heat the mixture in a microwave until almost boiling before adding the cartridge cases. After 10-minutes, I fish out the cases with a plastic slotted spoon and rinse. After drying, I tumble in walnut shell polishing media with the Hornady One Shot Metal Polish for 1-hour. I lube the cases with Hornady Unique Case Lube and resize. The lube wipes off easily with a towel, and I don't clean again before loading.

One note on Brasso... in years past, police officers purchased U.S. Military surplus 38 Special cartridges. The cartridges were brass cased with full metal jacket copper bullets. They typically polished the cartridges with Brasso along with their buckles and buttons, and the cartridges looked good carried in belt loops. However, Brasso causes brass to become brittle, and the cartridges would develop case neck cracks from bullet tension. I saw something similar happen to a friend's 22-250 case necks after he polished cartridges with Brasso after reloading.

For those who have never seen U.S. Military surplus 38 Special cartridges, I attached a couple of photos. I don't know if the headstamp is readable, but it's FC 63, indicating a 1963 manufacturing date.