Other Method of Cleaning Brass?

konamtbiker

I am currently going to school in Colorado. Sadly all my reloading EQ is back home in Idaho. None of my friends have a tumbler. Is there another way to clean my brass. I have heard of guys cleaning with with hot water and dish soap, followed by a good drying. Is this a good method? Or is there another way? Thanks in advance!

HandgunHTR52

You can use a mixture of hot water and vinegar as well. Put the cases in, let them soak for 10 minutes, agitate them a little, let sit for another 5 minutes. Drain, rinse with hot water and then set next to a heat vent, in a warm oven, or outside in the sun to dry.
As to the mix ratio of water to vinegar, I am not sure. Someone please back me up.

5mmgunguy

There are liquid cleaners you can buy at your local gun store. I have seen commerical liquid brass cleaners too, but they come by the gallon.

Tailgunner1954

4 parts hot water to 1 part white vinegar. Some people like to add salt, but that leaves your brass a nice salmon pink color.

ljc2tall

Use a little Mothers metal polish and a rag. Will look better than factory loads. I use my drill and case trimmer. But by hand will work well.

CapnMidnight

I do that to my finished rounds, but I usually use Braso. Makes for a very nice looking round.
For what it's worth.
W.D.

FrancF

Cheap rock tumbler from the flea market, and instead of the drum use a small coffee can filled with rice(BTW tape the lid closed!). Did that a few years ago when my big tumbler died on me.

mbsams

after reloading the brass, I use " Brasso " works great and fast. Brasso is available at grocery stores for one.

jonk

Depends what you mean. Nothing works as well as a tumbler except maybe an ultrasonic cleaner- and that too costs money.

On the cheap-

I usually bring a pot of water with about 1/4 cup purple power or other biodegradable powerful soap/cleaner to a boil, dump the cases in, and let cook for 10 minutes or so. This will remove all the oil and dirt, case lube, etc; it may leave a little soot. In other words, things aren't shiny but they are clean.

Usually what I do (I do have a tumbler) is tumble after the range, then lube and size, then boil the sized cases to remove the case lube. Then in the summer, let sit out in the sun for a few hours in an old deep fryer basket (make sure to dump all the water out). In the winter, sit in front of a heat vent.

Oxyclean works pretty well too.

Vinegar is tops for black powder.

I'll point out that you probably don't strictly NEED to clean your cases- it is an appearance thing more than anything, so long as you wipe off the case lube somehow- otherwise it can (in theory) cause too much thrust against the breech. Not an issue in blowback autos though.