I was having a discussion on another forum and it got me to thinking. I've got some 38 special brass in the tumbler right now and figured I'd share the history of how I clean brass, and my current process.
Growing up we didn't "waste money" cleaning brass. Range brass from our weekly after church family activity which was going to the shooting range and picking brass might go through one of the vibratory tumblers but that was about it.
Once I started reloading on my own I kept the same principle. I didn't even have a tumbler for a long time. Brass wasnt too bad just got reloaded, and the stuff that did need it got put in a sock, with the end tied shut and chucked in the washer with the laundry. This method actually worked really well and the wife didn't mind it until a sock broke open one time. After that I got a good ol blue frankford arsenal vibratory tumber and would tumble with walnut just long enough to get it clean enough to load.
I didn't really worry about shiny brass until I started getting into writing, and doing videos and competitive shooting. I started to get a lot of comments along the lines of "your ammo looks like sh*t". So I started running the brass through walnut and then a final corn cob tumble post loading. This worked ok, but very time consuming. I tried some ceramic tiles from harbor freight mixed in with the walnut that that helped, but left the brass looking like it has been wire wheeled.
I finally broke down this summer and bought the bigger frankford arsenal wet tumbler and never looked back. It took a few tried to get my solution formula right, but I finally came up with a cleaning solution that works really really well and leaves the brass like brand new inside and out and doesn't have to run for long periods of time.
Just thought it might be interesting to discuss our various methods of brass prep.
![[Image: temp-Imageb4pg-BL.avif]](https://i.postimg.cc/4nLrqRp9/temp-Imageb4pg-BL.avif)
Growing up we didn't "waste money" cleaning brass. Range brass from our weekly after church family activity which was going to the shooting range and picking brass might go through one of the vibratory tumblers but that was about it.
Once I started reloading on my own I kept the same principle. I didn't even have a tumbler for a long time. Brass wasnt too bad just got reloaded, and the stuff that did need it got put in a sock, with the end tied shut and chucked in the washer with the laundry. This method actually worked really well and the wife didn't mind it until a sock broke open one time. After that I got a good ol blue frankford arsenal vibratory tumber and would tumble with walnut just long enough to get it clean enough to load.
I didn't really worry about shiny brass until I started getting into writing, and doing videos and competitive shooting. I started to get a lot of comments along the lines of "your ammo looks like sh*t". So I started running the brass through walnut and then a final corn cob tumble post loading. This worked ok, but very time consuming. I tried some ceramic tiles from harbor freight mixed in with the walnut that that helped, but left the brass looking like it has been wire wheeled.
I finally broke down this summer and bought the bigger frankford arsenal wet tumbler and never looked back. It took a few tried to get my solution formula right, but I finally came up with a cleaning solution that works really really well and leaves the brass like brand new inside and out and doesn't have to run for long periods of time.
Just thought it might be interesting to discuss our various methods of brass prep.
