Case cleaning

[OldShooter32]

I don't want to do a poll, but would like to hear the opinions, success and/or failure of various brass-cleaning methods and systems.

Walnut, corn cob, stainless or chemical/ultrasonic? Tumbler, vibrating or tanks?

Most of my reloading is bottle-neck rifle, which has its own issues, but general information for any brass cleaning would be welcome.

Thanks for your time.

[Bill Steele]

I have used corn cob and crushed walnut in a vibratory tumbler and I have tried ultra sonic. I didn't like ultra sonic, it just seemed like a lot of work compared to the tumbler/media approach for average results. I do use the ultra sonic cleaner to clean my small pistol parts when detail stripping, seems to work great with a hot solvent bath.

For tumblers, walnut shell will clean quicker (more abrasive), corn cob polishes better but may take a little longer for tough grime. The size corn cob I use does get lodged occasionally in my rifle brass (decapped before cleaning). I clean my primer pockets on all my rifle brass, so this is no big deal to me. I don't decap my handgun brass before cleaning, so the only problem I have is an occasional corn cob bit getting stuck on my primer ram, making a light dent in the cup, again, no big deal.

The two biggest upgrades I have made tumbling wise was I bought a Dillon vibratory tumbler, it is very aggressive action wise and I now use both corn cob and walnut in the same tub (along with some liquid polish). I use my tumbler for cleaning brass before loading, cleaning lube off after sizing rifle cases and cleaning lube off finished handgun rounds.

Some day I will probably upgrade to one of those stainless wet tumblers, I think that may be the ultimate in case prep toys, but I will hang onto my tumbler as I will always need one to clean lube off my finished rounds.

[Divernhunter]

I use walnut in a Vib type machine. Works fine for me on rifle and pistol brass. I will add some Dillon additive at times. I deprime after cleaning. I resize then dump a bunch of the rifle brass onto a large towel. Fold the towel over itself and rub the brass back and forth. This does a good job of removing the case lube. I use the RCBS spray as I found it much better than the Hornady stuff and I do not like the pad. I put the brass into a baking pan and spray then shake them and spray again. Works great.

[Revoman]

Still have the vibratory walnut/cob media cleaner....but I have completely moved to the stainless steel method of cleaning. It's not so bad as you might think and the brass is exceptionally clean inside and out. Pretty impressive so far. I have been cleaning with stainless for about three months now and while it's not quite as simple as the walnut/cob the outcome is well worth the effort.

Yes it's wet, and yes there is a little more to sort and make sure that all of the media is out of the cases, a little more time to dry, but overall I'm sticking with this method.

I have noticed in recent reloading sessions, that the primers go in much easier than before as the pockets are virtually spotless.

It takes about 2.5 to 3 hours in the hopper, I usually put in 200 .38's with .75 gallons of water, a little soap and Lemi-shine. Since I don't live near the coast, the dry time is very fast, but I like to leave them overnight just in case. Very little planning ahead helps. Saturday shoot, Sunday deprime, Sunday evening tumble, rinse, lay out to dry. Monday night reload. Easy.

[JSolie]

I use corn cob media in an old Midway vibratory tumbler. I'll use Dillon's rapid polish and toss in a used dryer sheet, and let the thing buzz for an hour or so. The end result is nice shiny brass that I run through a media separator.

I used to use walnut media as well, but stopped because the walnut is just too dusty and it gets my allergies going. The corn cob seems to do pretty well just by itself. I still have a tub of walnut that has a bunch of rice in it as well. The rice seems to help with the cleaning, and can be used to gauge how dirty the walnut is.

I'm considering going to wet tumbling with stainless steel when the budget allows.

Also, I currently only load straight walled pistol rounds. I will be gearing up for .223 at some point in the near future.

[Anti-Hero]

Stainless steel tumbling media is the cats meow.

[HKMadness]

Stainless media is the shiznit when it comes to case cleaning. Some day I'd like to go that route. Until then, 2 hrs walnut followed by 2 hrs cob with dryer sheets and some nu finish yield good enough results that I'd rather spend the money it would cost on more components

See the brass in my sig for what this process does to dirty outdoor range brass.

[damndave]

If you want super clean brass the only way to go is with stainless steel. I still use my vibrating tumbler with cob for cleaning off case lube.

[Sunwolf]

3 tumblers...Dillon with walnut then lyman with corn cob with nufinish added.Rotary tumbler with old rags to remove case lube.

[Fishslayer]

From what I've seen you can't really beat the wet steel media, especially if you're cleaning the primer pockets.

I use Lemi Shine rinse, dry, tumble in walnut & Nu Finish. Good enough for my pistol ammo. The initial rinse is to reduce the amount of lead dust generated in the tumbling.

If I was going for match grade rifle ammo I would probably invest in a SS system.

[JamesY]

I have a vibratory cleaner loaded with crushed walnut and some mineral spirits. If i want my cases nice and shiny, I'll leave them over night. Otherwise, 2 hours is enough.

I'm thinking about going the SS media route.

[gesundheit]

What would you more experienced guys recommend for a reasonably priced SS cleaning? My cursory search on the Internet turned up real expensive products.

[twoforme2]

I do things backwards from others it appears. I tumble in a vibratory tumbler to remove whatever grime is there, just to keep the gunk out of my dies. Then Size and deprime and run it through the thumbler's tumbler with SS media.

[EWILKE]

I used corncob for years then I saw pics of stainless steel tumbling.
I will never go back to corncob.
I size and decap all my brass then tumble it is so nice not having all the media all over the place while reloading.and the ammo looks like factory new when you are finished.

[slo5oh]

Completely unexperienced here, but I bought the dual rock tumbler from harbor freight and 2 lbs of jewelers cut SS rods from Amazon. But I did see a better deal linked on this site a couple days ago, haven't been able to find it since thought. If I do I'll post it here.