Best Way to Clean Brass Cases for Reloading: The No Shit Guide!
I have been a smart money saver throughout my life. And when it comes to cutting costs in ammo, I’ve been reloading for well over a decade. Back when I was 12, I used to help my father in cleaning the brass casings. I remember how I used to rinse them in hot water and detergent till my fingers got wrinkled and pruney!
Luckily, I discovered vibratory (dry) cleaning and things became better, but not much.
And now here I am in 2022, still reloading every other possible piece out there but first cleaning it in the best possible way!
Don’t let the snowflakes fool you though, for telling a staunch fan of dry tumbling that wet tumbling with SS media is better is just like telling a Hillary voter that she didn’t win.
If you still want to know more ways to clean brass cases before reloading, keep reading.
Why Clean Brass Before Reloading?
Alright, first things first. You should know that cleaning brass isn’t just for cosmetic purposes. A well-cleaned brass is important for your safety too.
You can discard the potentially dangerous cases as with a clean brass case you can easily detect those splits and bulges.
Top 4 Ways To Clean Brass Casings:
Dry cleaning (Vibratory Tumbling):
One of the oldest and most used brass cleaning methods out there.
A vibratory tumbler setup consists of a tub and an electric motor.
The electric motor makes the tub vibrate and move in small circular motion.
The media, brass casings in the tub swirl, vibrate and collide against each other hence cleaning the dirt on the brass casings.
The result is clean and shiny brass.
Best Vibratory Tumbler:
If you’d ask a 100 reloaders how they clean the brass, my guess is 80% of them will tell you that they use a vibratory tumbler from manufacturers like Frankford Arsenal.
Media Type:
Reloaders out there use various types of media. The commonly used ones are:
Walnut Shell and Ground Corn Cobs.
The dry media turns into dust over multiple uses since it vibrates and hits against the brass.
Moreover, cleaning the dust and dry media from the brass is a pain for me since it sticks everywhere.
One way to solve this problem is to pour some teaspoons of plain paint thinner, this helps to keep the dust down and polishes the brass as well.
Note: There is a reason I don’t use dry media anymore. The dust is hazardous since it contains a noticeable amount of lead.
Never use a polishing agent containing ammonia. Ammonia makes firearm brass brittle, hence making it crack.
Capacity:
Vibratory tumblers are available in different sizes and capacity.
You will notice that the capacities are described as “600 9mm” or “350 .223 cases”.
These references help a lot since it provides a more practical approach to know how much it can clean.
More the cases in the tumbler, the longer they take to clean.
Don’t expect dry tumbling to cure the corroded portion or clean the primer pockets. Vibratory tumblers work well to get a smooth finish and a bit of shine which will do good for most of the reloaders out there.
This is what I currently do to clean my brass casings. Honestly, this is the best way to clean brass casings as of today.
Though wet tumbling isn’t something new, but the use of stainless steel media along with wet tumbling has seen a sharp increase in popularity in the last decade.
Major manufacturers like Frankford have manufactured some good quality and affordable tumblers recently.
With the popularity of online shopping, wet tumblers have been easily available to the masses.
Working:
In simple English, a wet tumbler is a sealed watertight drum made of plastic or metal that spins on top of a motorized base.
The dirty brass is loaded in the drum along with cleaning fluid and SS media (some polish or wax occasionally).
The spinning action of the drum causes the mixture to both chemically and mechanically clean the casings.
Unlike vibratory cleaning, the wet tumbling works at a molecular level and thus removes tough stains, tarnish and corrosion.
Pros:
Amazingly effective.
No lead exposure.
Can be used indoors.
Long term savings.
Cons:
High initial cost.
Need to dry the cases.
Media separation.
Capacity:
A 7 litre capacity tumbler from Frankford can clean up to 1,000 .223 brass cases at a time.
Verdict:
5 lbs of SS media can virtually last forever!
The combo of chemical reaction and hard abrasive SS media taking place inside the tumbler ensures that even the filthiest and most corroded brass cases come out looking factory new.
Though it’s a bit expensive than vibratory tumbler but the savings from not having to replenish the media surely helps in substantial long-term savings.
Hi, i am a Uk resident and i currently only reload 44 magnum. I have a Lyman 2500 ultrasonic cleaner. I cannot say that i get brilliant results as shown in most photos. However i wondered if ti would make a difference using a new product. Current using Lymans sonic cleaner. The cases do not seem as bright as the advertising shows. Mind you it could be me. Do you clean after very firing?
Yes, I clean brass after every firing. Maybe it’s because of the solution? Personally, I use Hornady Case Cleaner with no more than 50-55 .308s at a time, and it works well for me.
I would also suggest you to look into Wet Tumbling + SS Media, as that’s what i have been using. I mainly use Ultrasonic Cleaner for cleaning gun parts and wife’s jewelry.
I’ve heard about the SS Wet Tumbler, and while it sounds like a good idea, the SS media is harder than the brass. My concern was always that the SS media was slowly removing the brass, therefore making the brass thinner. My friend uses the SS Wet Tumbler, and it is obnoxiously loud when in use. That said, my favorite method is to de-prime the brass first, throw the brass in the Hornady Ultrasonic cleaner, rinse, dry, and get to reloading. If the brass doesn’t come out clean and shiny, I’ll throw it in the dry-media tumbler for a while just to polish it up. Yeah, I’ll have to pick out crushed walnut from each primer pocket first, but I think its better than the wire brush method, which again, removes brass, and make the primer pocket larger in diameter…over time. Thanks for sharing your techniques and opinions.
Thanks for your comment and for sharing your method. I will surely try this as well.
I haven’t noticed such wear while tumbling with SS media. The pins are lighter and do not have enough mass to damage the brass cases. If you’re still skeptical, just tumble the pins without cases and with some lemishine, just to ‘smoothen’ the sharp edges off the pins. Also, to avoid such damage, its always recommended to check your batch every two hours rather than tumbling overnight. To get those squeaky clean and shiny cases, I always add Lemishine while tumbling. I generally do not use a ultrasonic cleaner, except when I’m cleaning gun parts.
Hi, I just was given a Ultra Vibe 10 made by Thumbler. I have tons of .556 that I want to reload. Is this machine only for dry media? Or can I use stainless steel and a liquid? I am concerned about the lead dust issue also. Thanks
Thanks for your message. Most ammunition contains lead within the bullet
and the primer. The inside of the case contains lead compounds that are removed by the cleaning media and can become airborne when sifting during brass separation. Moreover, the yellow dust found in the priming station is a toxic lead compound.
I read a recipe for a man that I tried and it worked better than any other I’ve used. I’ve loading for nearly 50 years now and this works the best in my Lyman 1200 hundred tumbler. 7 cups of long grain rice with 1 tablespoon each of liquid car polish and paint thinner. If your tumbler holds more than 7 cups add what you need and increase the polish and paint thinner accordingly. Put the rice in the tumbler and drizzle the liquid in and let it tumble for several hrs to mix it well.
You want a comment? OK, here it is, here’s my comment…..thank you very much for posting this! I am new to reloading, and currently use a vibratory cleaner. I’ve noticed a reduction in cleanliness of my brass to the point of looking for a way to regenerate the corn cob media that I currently use, I hadn’t thought about the mechanical degeneration of the media itself as the culprit. Now I believe that it is time to decide on sonic or wet tumbling. Again, thanks for such a clearly stated, and complete review.
My father practices shooting as a hobby, and he enjoys trying out different guns. It’s good that you mentioned how one can use vibratory tumbling to clean brass cases for reloading, which even result in shiny brass. This article made me consider looking into 9mm Brass for my dad, so I should do that for him soon.
Try Brass Juice in the tumbler. Takes 2 capfuls per load and is inexpensive. A Texas product, I use it with SS media pins and it comes out looking like new.
Hi, i am a Uk resident and i currently only reload 44 magnum. I have a Lyman 2500 ultrasonic cleaner. I cannot say that i get brilliant results as shown in most photos. However i wondered if ti would make a difference using a new product. Current using Lymans sonic cleaner. The cases do not seem as bright as the advertising shows. Mind you it could be me. Do you clean after very firing?
Hey David,
Yes, I clean brass after every firing. Maybe it’s because of the solution? Personally, I use Hornady Case Cleaner with no more than 50-55 .308s at a time, and it works well for me.
I would also suggest you to look into Wet Tumbling + SS Media, as that’s what i have been using. I mainly use Ultrasonic Cleaner for cleaning gun parts and wife’s jewelry.
I’ve heard about the SS Wet Tumbler, and while it sounds like a good idea, the SS media is harder than the brass. My concern was always that the SS media was slowly removing the brass, therefore making the brass thinner. My friend uses the SS Wet Tumbler, and it is obnoxiously loud when in use. That said, my favorite method is to de-prime the brass first, throw the brass in the Hornady Ultrasonic cleaner, rinse, dry, and get to reloading. If the brass doesn’t come out clean and shiny, I’ll throw it in the dry-media tumbler for a while just to polish it up. Yeah, I’ll have to pick out crushed walnut from each primer pocket first, but I think its better than the wire brush method, which again, removes brass, and make the primer pocket larger in diameter…over time. Thanks for sharing your techniques and opinions.
Hey Aaron,
Thanks for your comment and for sharing your method. I will surely try this as well.
I haven’t noticed such wear while tumbling with SS media. The pins are lighter and do not have enough mass to damage the brass cases. If you’re still skeptical, just tumble the pins without cases and with some lemishine, just to ‘smoothen’ the sharp edges off the pins. Also, to avoid such damage, its always recommended to check your batch every two hours rather than tumbling overnight. To get those squeaky clean and shiny cases, I always add Lemishine while tumbling. I generally do not use a ultrasonic cleaner, except when I’m cleaning gun parts.
Hi, I just was given a Ultra Vibe 10 made by Thumbler. I have tons of .556 that I want to reload. Is this machine only for dry media? Or can I use stainless steel and a liquid? I am concerned about the lead dust issue also. Thanks
Lead dust? Has anyone verified this? There’s no lead in brass or powder. if bullets are jacketed, lead doesn’t touch anything.
Hey Don,
Thanks for your message. Most ammunition contains lead within the bullet
and the primer. The inside of the case contains lead compounds that are removed by the cleaning media and can become airborne when sifting during brass separation. Moreover, the yellow dust found in the priming station is a toxic lead compound.
I read a recipe for a man that I tried and it worked better than any other I’ve used. I’ve loading for nearly 50 years now and this works the best in my Lyman 1200 hundred tumbler. 7 cups of long grain rice with 1 tablespoon each of liquid car polish and paint thinner. If your tumbler holds more than 7 cups add what you need and increase the polish and paint thinner accordingly. Put the rice in the tumbler and drizzle the liquid in and let it tumble for several hrs to mix it well.
Works great.
Hey Michael,
Thanks for sharing!
You want a comment? OK, here it is, here’s my comment…..thank you very much for posting this! I am new to reloading, and currently use a vibratory cleaner. I’ve noticed a reduction in cleanliness of my brass to the point of looking for a way to regenerate the corn cob media that I currently use, I hadn’t thought about the mechanical degeneration of the media itself as the culprit. Now I believe that it is time to decide on sonic or wet tumbling. Again, thanks for such a clearly stated, and complete review.
Hey, thanks for your comment! Glad the info helped you!
My father practices shooting as a hobby, and he enjoys trying out different guns. It’s good that you mentioned how one can use vibratory tumbling to clean brass cases for reloading, which even result in shiny brass. This article made me consider looking into 9mm Brass for my dad, so I should do that for him soon.
Try Brass Juice in the tumbler. Takes 2 capfuls per load and is inexpensive. A Texas product, I use it with SS media pins and it comes out looking like new.