Best way to clean cases in bulk

[brmfan]

I have about 1K .308 cases (mostly LC) that I plan to reload but I do not want to spend the time running them through my tumbler. Would a 5 gallon pail and IOSSO do the trick to get them sufficiently clean (a lot of them are pretty grungy) or should I stick with tumbling... or both??

[Incognito]

I don't know much about that IOSSO stuff, but I've been using Lemi-Shine (available at any grocery store) with really good results. Clean the cases with dishwashing liquid (degrease) initially, then rinse them off. Mix one teaspoon of LS per quart of water, and let the cases soak for 8+ hours, then rinse the cases off. You can re-use the LS if you want. Tumble for about 2 hrs. and they come out brilliant, even inside the primer pockets. Maybe not what you were asking about for it does involve some tumbling, but just an alternative.

[l98ster]

Me and a friend chipped in and bought a used cement mixer. It runs on a 110volt line and has a plastic barrel instead of metal one. New, these things run for about $225.

I removed the "blades" that are instide the barrel that are meant to aggitate the cement. We use crushed walnut (the bulk stuff from frankfurt aresenal)

We will routinely clean 5,000 pieces of brass at a time!!!

-George

PS- you know this hobby is getting a little out of hand when you need a cement mixer to clean your brass!!! I LOVE IT!!!!

[TATER]

For bulk once fired ammo, I have a universal decap die that I use first. Then,
“It is quick”....Hot water and CLR.. Agitate for a minute or two and rinse really well a couple of times,
I then use a squirt of dawn and rinse again just to make sure all the CLR is gone.
CLR in the silver label (not the black label, its slower) Brite-n-clean and you will be done in 15 min.
I have been doing this for about 11 years with all my bulk once fired ammo.
It works..

[briandg]

Re cement mixer, a person could easily come up with a compact dryer of the type generally used in an apartmet, or front loader washer, used, for a few bucks. Pull the agitator bars so that there is only a smooth drum, pull the electronics so all you have is a timer, and set it up so that the motor runs on the lowest speed. Pop rivet a few nobs of some sort into the drum to agitate a bit.

If you have the need to run a thousand rounds of brass at a time, this would be an option.

[Loader9]

For bulk brass, you can use 2 oz RCBS liquid case cleaner, 1 cup Iosso, and 1 cup of 9% vinegar available at Walmart and mix in 1 gallon of warm water. Put the brass in the solution, mix it around a few times over the next 20 minutes. Rinse several times to make sure it is clean. I put the brass in an oven for 30 minutes at 175 degrees but you can let it air dry for 24 hours too. It will come out like new. Liquid cleaners are far, far, faster than the media tumblers most use but it costs more to do so. The RCBS Sidewinder tumbler is really the best for those wanting clean brass fast and cost is no issue as that tumbler will handle liquid cleaners. But it's not a cheap date and neither is the cleaner versus walnut/corn media in a vibrating tumbler.

[brmfan]

Great suggestions! I don't have enough brass to justfy a cement mixer, but the various liquid concoctions are something worth trying.

[chris in va]

I used warm water, vinegar and salt to get the dirt off my brass. Still had to dry them in the oven for an hour afterward. They don't shine but they're clean enough to function.

I've since bought a vibratory cleaner, thankfully.

[F. Guffey]

I have a two 2 1/2 gallon jug with vinegar only in it, I soak the cases for no more than 15 minutes, then wash, after the cases are dried I tumble, on the worst of cases the vinegar does the job, tumbling is reduced by 2 days to one hour. I clean the cases in vinegar once in the life of the case.

F. Guffey

[Baryngyl]

If you have a lid that makes that bucket water tight, maybe you could toss it in the back of a pickup truck and then drive around for an hour or so.
I imagine that an hour or so sloshing around should clean them pretty good.

Michael Grace

[lmccrock]

For mud and similar dirt, I just use water in a can and allow to soak, then agitate. Rinse and dry, then run in a vibrating cleaner with normal media plus a capful of mineral spirits and a capful of NuFinish liquid polish.

Commercial reloading operations use the cement mixers, so it depends on what you mean by "in bulk". 1000 is not so many.

Lee

[SSgt Facebreaker]

@TATER; I tried your hot water and CLR method on about 1,000 .45 ACP brass casings I had hanging around...I was astounded at how quickly it worked. 1,000 dingy cases are now shiny and new looking.

Thank you, sir, for this information. I'll definitely be cleaning most of my casings with CLR in the future.

[Racingsnake]

I mix two spoons tartaric acid (a baking ingedient I am told) with two spoons dishwashing liquid and a jug of hot water. Stir the brass into the mixture and then soak them for 10 min. This first step alone cleans the brass very well and helps get rid of lead residue. I tumble the cases after they have dried if I want them really clean.

Racingsnake

[Elkins45]

I hear RAVES about citric acid in water as a brass cleaning agent. In addition to cleaning it seems to passivate the surface of the brass and give it additional protection against further oxidation.

There's quite a long thread about it on the cast boolits site.

[Incognito]

Yep, I thinks that's what is in Lemi Shine, citric acid as a cleaner and salt as a water softener.

[rtpzwms]

for the cement mixer go to the pet store and get kitty litter made of walnut shells. It's much cheaper then buying "media" from the gun shops.... its a little dusty but works great.

[briandg]

walnut shell kitty litter? never heard of it for cats, but I've heard of it for lizards and other small animals...

Let my 15 pound moose of a cat get hold of a box full of walnut shells, and she'd ruin the whole batch inside of two days. It wouldn't absorb anything, and the house would have to be burned to the ground before a week was out.

[briandg]

A technique that I have used for years for pre-cleaning is simple. I have a zip top canvas bag, actually a bank bag. Toss a few hundred rounds of brass at a time into it, close it up, and toss it in with laundry. Dry it out on newspaper under a fan. Tumble if necessary.