Removing “black” for case necks

[Killertraylor]

A tablespoon or so of Dawn dish soap - and a real small pinch of lemi-shine. You can find it in the dish detergent section at the grocery store. A bottle of each will clean thousands of pieces of brass. There are a bunch of YouTube videos on it. Just buy the cheap rotary rock polisher at harbor freight - $50 or less and the media pins are on amazon. Easy peasy - and the best part is it cleans the primer pocket too!

 

[CAV2108]

Is there a way to remove the black from a case neck after tumbling your brass? If this is a repeat could you please share the link?

I use an old Franklin wet tumbler with stainless steel pins. I certainly don't see any carbon anywhere on the case inside or out after one hour in that tumbler. Even the primer pockets are like new. I've been reloading since 1970, and wet tumbling with pins is the best that I have seen for cleaning cases bright and shiny. I even wet tumble 5.7x28mm brass with just water and SimpleGreen (no pins) and the cases are squeaky clean every time. If you don't like tumbling then the 0000 steel wool with clean the outside like new, but (frankly) I'm really more concerned with the inside of the case than the outside, and what I prefer is the brass cleaned like it's brand new and never fired before.

 

[epoletna]

The Lee Case length trimmers come with arbors that fit nicely in an electric drill and hold cases by the rim. You could easily chuck one up, up a case it it, and spin it to clean. Use steel wool or any of various cleaning cloths (they come with some kind polishing compound on them) to clean the case neck.

 

[crashlanding]

My brass prep goes as follows, 1 hour in the tumbler using walnut media to get reasonably clean, lube ( home brew, 1:12 mix lanolin and iso-heat), re size, into the tumbler again to re move lube for 1 hour, now here is the trick for me to get really clean looking brass, citric acid bath, 4 teaspoons of citric acid powder to 1/2 gallon really hot water, submerge cases (100 cases will fit) for 4 hours then drain and back to the tumbler for 1 more hour, you can use a q-tip to remove any black in the primer pocket before going into the tumbler, wipes right out if need be, sounds labor intensive but the only work your doing other than re sizing is transferring cases in and out of the tumbler

 

[Glen8338]

Dito for Killertraylor and CAV2108. I have tried many forms of cleaning brass and the best is water, lemi-shine, liquid Dawns dish soap and stainless steel pins. In two hours or less, the cases come out perfect, inside and out. All other methods I have used never get the primer pockets clean. I made my own tumbler with PVC 4" sewer pipe and glued fins in the tube to roll the pins and cases. Check you-tube and follow their method. I use and old 1/4 horse electric motor as my power source. What takes abit of time is selecting roller diameter and pulley diameter to get the containers to have about 40 revolutions/ minute.

 

[Prairie]

I have a friend that has a stainless pin tumbler that cleans my brass for me and I have yet to see anything work as well. The cases look better than brand new! Primer pockets and even the interior of the cases look new. That setup is just a little pricey to start with but if you want really clean, shiny and new looking cases, in my opinion, it's totally worth the little extra effort.

 

[hangfire]

The method I use might be a bit of a pain but gives great results. I first de-cap with a universal then give the cases 3 10 min cycles in an ultra sonic with a small amount of washing up liquid and white vinegar. The first two cycles are base down the last with the cases on the side. I then resize and trim, give them a further 15 mins in the ultra sonic to remove the lube. When dry they go in a vibe tumbler with corn cob and brass polish

 

[RidgeTop]

I tumble with SS rods, Dawn, lemonshine and hot water. There is no black left and primer pocket is clean.

 

[milboltnut]

3 pages for a really simple task ? 000 steel wool, scotch bright pad.... etc

 

[Kansaswoodguy]

Three year old thread

 

[257 STW]

What do you use for the wet media? Soap, water or a brass cleaner? Curious...

I use car wash and wax, lemi shine, and warm water. NO pins. It cleans better than any dry media vibratory tumbler I have owned. my .02

 

[257 STW]

Three year old thread

I think it`s good to resurrect some of the these old threads once in awhile. (spelling)

 

[Terry Scott]

Try CLR it eats carbon