"Brown brass"

[Taylor3006]

Anyone have a way to get old brown colored brass, brite and shiney again? I have a handfull of assorted calibers of range brass that just won't shine up at all with cob, walnut, nufinish, or Lemishine. Some of it I keep throwing back into the tumbler, probably has spent a week being tumbled and still nadda, just brown. I have reloaded brown brass before for my own use, never had any issues but this stuff is brass I want to trade for calibers I need. Any ideas?

[ricky]

Need to try a wet tumbler with stainless steal media.

[DukeInFlorida]

Or, even without the fancy wet tumbler, you could try soaking your brown brass in a hot solution of: Lemishine (about a capful in a gallon of water. Add more if you need it.) and liquid dish washing solution (the type that you would use to wash dishes by hand).

Swish the brass around in the hot solution. You should just about watch the brown melt off of the brass. Try that in a simple dish pan, and let us know how it goes.

[Taylor3006]

That is the way I clean brass Duke, use almost boiling water, Dawn, and a bit more Lemishine than that and still nadda. I experimented leaving a couple of pieces in the solution overnite and in the morning it was still brown but had a patina of what I can only describe as rust on the cases. I tumbled them and that came right off leaving just a beautiful brown case. S/S wet tumbling is not in the cards. My little RCBS vibratory is still going strong and although I have buttloads of brass, once I get it tumbled and traded, I won't need the tumbler much so investing in a new one is out of the question. I suppose I will just scrap the most common calibers that I don't reload myself and keep the harder to find calibers and just put it in the description. Thanks for the input!

[jsmitfl]

Taylor, try toilet bowl cleaner on a couple pieces. We use to use it on old fire ext. and it would bust the hard stuff off.

[gandog56]

This is what my Thumler wet rotry tumbler does. What calibers you got? I'll consider trades.

Before:
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After:
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Or an alternative, you could send the brass to me, and I could do them for you.You would of course also have to pay me return postage.

[DukeInFlorida]

DO NOT use anything with an alkaline in it. That would eat into the brass, making it weak and dangerous to shoot. An old fire extinguisher is fine, when you are only looking for pretty. But for shooting brass where strength is the key factor, please don't try toilet bowl cleaner.

Taylor, try toilet bowl cleaner on a couple pieces. We use to use it on old fire ext. and it would bust the hard stuff off.

[gandog56]

I know people that put Brasso in their tumbling media.....a BAD thing to do. Brasso also weakens the brass because it has ammonia in it, and ammonia attacks the molecular structure of the brass.

[DaveL]

I use extra fine scotch brite to break through the patena, then tumble to finish. Never had a problem using this method. Cases end up nice and clean.

After reading the post below, I would add to use the gray extra fine Scotch Brite (buffing pad), not the maroon ones. It's much finer and works just as good but with less scratching.
JMHO

[MJ1]

Get a maroon 3M buffing pad. The kind they use in auto-body shops . Chuck up a bore brush in a drill motor or drill press then slip a case over the slightly larger bore brush and hold a 3"X3" section of pad to the case as it spins. Wear gloves. This will break the oxidation on the surface exposing the softer brass under the hardened surface. Don't worry about the micro scratches they will now polish out next loading.

[jebsca]

I finally get set up with the ss media. That is hands down the best cleaning I have been able to do. Should have done that sooner.

[gandog56]

I finally get set up with the ss media. That is hands down the best cleaning I have been able to do. Should have done that sooner.

I'm certainly a believer. Plus I got the Thumler's wet rotary tumbler at a STEAL price!

[WarEagleEd]

I'm certainly a believer. Plus I got the Thumler's wet rotary tumbler at a STEAL price!

Man, gandog56, you are a deal magnet!

I'm thinking about picking up a Harbor Freight rotary tumbler and trying the stainless steel/wet media tumbling. All the results I have seen are amazing compared to my dry tumbler. Mine clean up well enough to reload and shoot, but if I can get them as shiney as others have with ss media, then it will make them easier to pick up at the range. Besides, I often put dull cases in a citric acid bath. After they are dry I dry tumble them; it can get sort of tedious. The ss way would eliminate the need for the citric acid bath altogether and reduce time spent cleaning cases.

Ed

[gandog56]

Man, gandog56, you are a deal magnet!

I'm thinking about picking up a Harbor Freight rotary tumbler and trying the stainless steel/wet media tumbling. All the results I have seen are amazing compared to my dry tumbler. Mine clean up well enough to reload and shoot, but if I can get them as shiney as others have with ss media, then it will make them easier to pick up at the range. Besides, I often put dull cases in a citric acid bath. After they are dry I dry tumble them; it can get sort of tedious. The ss way would eliminate the need for the citric acid bath altogether and reduce time spent cleaning cases.

Ed

Jeeze, I just got some Harbor Freight coupons in an email for like 10-20% off depending on what you spend. PM me your email address I'll forward it to you.

[jebsca]

I got the harbor freight two drum setup, and it is working good for me. I did a batch tonight of 223. I ended up having 124 cases in it and they look real good after an hour. I think I could have put more in, but that was what was in the pile that still needed cleaned.

[WarEagleEd]

Thanks, gandog56. I've actually got a 25% coupon, so I might be a deal magnet this time.

jebsca, I'm going to try to get one after work today, order ss media this weekend, and hopefully be in business in a week or two.

Ed

[gandog56]

The media was almost a third of my start up costs.

But dang, that brass sure do look pretty after I use it.

[WarEagleEd]

Picked up the Harbor Freight tumbler today!

Ed

[gandog56]

Picked up the Harbor Freight tumbler today!

Ed

Make sure you put some Lemi-shine in the water! I have seen it sold at Wal-Mart.

[jebsca]

Picked up the Harbor Freight tumbler today!

Ed

Based on what I have read, I try to put a pound each of ss media, brass, and water in each drum. I add a bit of dish soap and lemi-shine. I have played with the run time, and two hours looks about as good as it gets, even with some very dirty range brass. Then I set it out to dry over night. This is afer a quick run in the walnut and then decap and resize. The run in the walnut is more to protect my dies than anything else. BTW, I go my media at midway, but at only using two pounds, I think I would have been better off to use the link that gandog had for a two pound pack.