Brasso in tumble media?

[alancac98]

I haven't tried this, but what do you think about the possibility of using this in your media to polish the brass? I took a cleaned case and polished it with a cloth and some brasso, and it sparkled better than new. I have some older brass that has been sitting around and it has heavy powder stains around the rim, and this stuff cleaned it up real good. Just looking at the brass, you'd think it was no good and should be pitched, but once hit with brasso, cleaned it up real good and is indeed a viable case. Anyone ever try it in their media?

[tangolima]

It is generally considered a no-no. Brasso contains something, probably ammonia, that would weaken brass.

I don't care how shinny my brass are, as long as they are clean, so I've never bother to look further.

-TL

[howlnmad]

I beleave the Brasso has ammonia in it which is bad for your brass. You'd be better off using some Nu-Finish car polish instead.

[Greg Mercurio]

Stay away from ammonia. If you want really shiny brass, tumble them overnight. Use corncob and Nu-Finish.

[Glen-Bob]

I know there are many opinions on this subject, tried the Brasso thing years ago and wound up throwing out the media. IMO it is hard to beat Nu Finish car polish and a dryer sheet to keep down dust. Not long ago I bought some "once fired brass" that was in sad shape upon arrival. Tossed it in with a ounce or so of Nu Finish and left it (forgot about it) went to a lodge meeting and heard the tumbler upon returning home, needless to say after about 4hrs it sure was bright.

[MarkDozier]

Brasso does contain ammonia which is bad for brass. Theree are many options for shiny brass.

[Monte]

Another wax option that has been working well for me is Mothers Brazilian Carnauba Cleaner Wax with walnut shells, and it was a couple dollars cheaper than Nu Finish. 2 to 4 hours tumbling and brass really shines.

[totalloser]

For my naaaaasty ugly range pick ups, I slosh in phosphoric acid "metal etch" solution. Takes zinc oxides right off leaving unoxidized amalgam copper on the surface. Pink. Not sure if this is completely bad mojo, but seems to work.

Welcome to the forums by the way. I bet the carnuba makes them size super smooth. I might just try that.

[Snyper]

Flitz has a product made to add to media:

http://www.flitz.com/tumbler-media-additive/

[Monte]

Thank you for the welcome Totalloser. It does make them size easy.

[Misssissippi Dave]

There are several things you can add to media to either speed up the cleaning or add to how shinny the brass is. Brasso just isn't one of them for the reason already noted. NuFinish helps with cleaning faster but the biggest benefit I see is takes longer for that brass to start turning dull.

Dillon and other companies have additives that work to speed up the cleaning process.

Brass doesn't need to be shinny to be clean enough to load brass without causing problems. Soap and water followed by complete drying works well. If you want shinny, just tumbling for longer times with un-treated media works. I find to get the next level higher in shine doubling the tumbling time normally works. It should be noted when adding any type of additives to the media you should do this prior to adding brass and let it run for a while. The additive is mixed in properly when there is no clumping of the media with the additive. Some mix as quickly as 20 minutes in warm temperatures while others may take an hour or longer in cold temps.

If I add NuFinish to my media, I prefer to be doing a lot of brass during that time. I run several batches and not add any more polish during this time.

[USMC 77-81]

Regarding the media dust issue, when weather allows tumble outside with cover off.

[howlnmad]

For clean brass in a vibratory cleaner, use crushed walnut. For clean shiny brass, tumble in corncob afterwards.

[Snyper]

Regarding the media dust issue,

I just use a piece of cloth with a hole in the middle for the screw post

[loademwell]

I tried the walnut/corncob but wasn't too happy with the results when it came to the brass you are talking about (the real bad ones). I asked a simular question last summer I think.
People said stainless steel media and a rock tumbler was the way to go...
I bought a rock tumbler and order the media off of ebay. Just 2 lbs I think.
I fill the canister with the brass put it under tap water, fill it up, then put a a few drops of disk jet (got it at the dollar tree. Its the stuff you put into a dish washer) and about 4 drops of liquid dish detergent (again dollar tree) let it run for about 3 hours and was shocked to see the end result.
Beautiful.
I used the brasso stuff once and ran into a bunch of prob. It was ether that, or my dies that not working right that jamed my gun up so bad, that I had pay a smith 200 to get it fixed.

Here is the link to my question:
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=531878

[rodfac]

Get rid of the dust and clean up the dirt in your media with a cpl of your wife's dryer sheets cut into 2" squares....I've yet to change media in over two years of tumbling with walnut shell lizard bedding from Pet Smart. Adding a half cap full of NuCar polish to each tumble session helps shorten tumbling sessions to an hour and I still get semi-shiny cases.

Best Regards, Rod