Brasso brass polish to clean casings?

[ClemBert]

Seems like I see plenty of folks who use mineral spirits and Nu-finish or polish specifically branded for use in vibratory tumblers. Does any one here use just plain ol' liquid brass polish like Brasso?

[Incognito]

You don't want to use any ammonia products on brass:
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=326030

[ClemBert]

Yeah, lazy me asked the question then did a search on Brasso and found the answer. I wonder who had the problem...the ones who chucked their brass in a drill then slathered Brasso on the brass or those who put a couple of cap fulls in their corn cob media?

[wogpotter]

I do know one thing.
The brass polish designed for use in a tumbler makes great brass polishing cloths for all sorts of other brass as well. I put a little on a 3" patch, mush it semi-consistently, let it dry for 5 minutes then use it as a brass polishing rag for things like brass trigger guards & buttplates.

[Cascade1911]

read the linked thread (too bad it devolved into a flame war).

So, if not Brasso what? Its what I always used (not knowing any better) and it cleans and polishes great. I saw references to Nu-Finish and Flitz. Nu-Finish I think is more a coating then a cleaner afaik and some seemed to indicate that Flitz did not work as well as Brasso.

What do you all use?

[Cascade1911]

Another question comes to mind as well, prompted by the quote: "I wonder who had the problem...the ones who chucked their brass in a drill then slathered Brasso on the brass or those who put a couple of cap fulls in their corn cob media? "

How would you know if Brasso was the problem. The only way I know to test this would to take something like twenty new cases, clean half with brasso and half without and then repeatedly reload, fire, clean and reload with the same charge, primer, bullet and fire from the same gun until the cases start to fail. Has anyone done this?

[throttleup]

I'll pass on my experience with Brasso and I don't mean my 3 years in the Army using it to clean buckles, insignias, copper pipes in the latrine, etc. I ran out of Dillon polish so I poured some Brasso into my corn cob media and ran 200 .45 cases for a couple of hours. Unfortunately I had to go out of town and didn't empty my cleaner for 4 days. When I started reloading them I had a major problem. About every third case had the the top of the primer peal off leaving the sides of the primer firmly stuck in the case. Of course the new primer wouldn't seat or sometimes stuck part ways in stopping the whole operation. I suspect the ammonia in Brasso weakened the thin area of the primer where the sides bend to form the top causing the top to tear away under the push of the decapping pin. In 25 years of reloading I have never had that happen before or since this incident. Bill

[Kevin Rohrer]

Lots of guys use Nu Finish. I use Dillon's polish, but plan to move to NuFinish when the Dillon is gone.

[wogpotter]

I suspect the ammonia in Brasso weakened the thin area of the primer where the sides bend to form the top

Or the ammonia bearing liquid pooled in the crevice round the edge of the primer between the pocket & the cap itself.

I used the Midway brass polish, it worked fine.

[dlb435]

It comes down to the chemistry of brass. Ammonia is not the only problem. Many sulfides can also be harmful. Using any chemical on your brass, aside from mild cleaning agents, can have an unexpected result.
There is even the problem of brass hardening with use. Any brass item has a useful working life. After brass has been worked for awhile it becomes hardend. To reverse this we can aneal the brass to lengthen its useful life.
Without becoming an expert on metallurgy the best thing to do is to use tried and true commercial products.

[ClemBert]

Just a guess but I'd think that those who squirted some Brasso into their corn cob or walnut media would probably find that the minute amount of ammonia in the product was mostly absorbed my the media or evaporated fairly quickly.

Now, those that slathered it on their brass directly with a cloth just might have to heed the warning that others have posted.

Its kind of funny to see folks recommend the use of Nu-finish or Meguires but then you have others that warn about the coating it puts on the brass. Others claim that the clean and "slippery" brass will not properly "grab" the sides of the chamber when it expands under pressure.

[GP100man]

For yrs. before I surfed the forums I used Brasso to clean with in the tumbler ,but here`s what I did , I would treat the media & leave the top off to let the media & Brasso mix really well (30 min.) or so .Then add the brass & put the lid on .

Probably the ammonia evaperated during the 30 min mix cycle because I never smelt any ammonia , but then again I did`nt try either !

I noticed no shortened case life or catastrophic failures , after who knows how many loadings they split , just as they do now !!

But back to today , as prices & demands of brass keeps going up we need to care for our brass as much as possible !!

1 . Now I use no additives to my media, but a used dryer sheet for dust.
2. When I trimm i deburr with 000wool instead of chamfer the mouths.
3. Use absolutely no more flair or crimp than neccasary.
4. Clean & prep brass as soon as possible as not to leave it "dirty".
5. More consideration when storing prepped brass.NO styrofoam on yellow brass!!


As of lately I`ve turned to annealing some older brass I have ,giving them a new lease on servicability !

[dmazur]

Well, it's a dead horse to be sure.

What I've learned from reading many posts on this topic is that it doesn't appear to be well understood that Brasso (and other ammonia-based polishes) chemically attack the brass.

You may not be able to stop the chemical process just by wiping it off.

On the other hand, chucking each case up in a drill press and polishing 0.002" off with emery paper isn't a good idea either, and no chemicals are involved.

IMO, it's important to understand that you need to preserve the composition of the brass as well as the thickness. Moderation in polishing.

[ClemBert]

Well, I definitely regret creating this thread. That was pretty stooopid of me to ask the question then immediately do a search on the topic. Had I not been sooo lazy that poor dead horse wouldn't have had to take more of a beating. Hopefully this thread will die a quick death.

[Shane Tuttle]

Well at least there wasn't foaming at the mouth and general chest thumping.

Since your question was answered, I'll go ahead and close 'er up...