Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Cleaning Brass (again)

I'm not one who thinks cases must be clean before loading, but I do like shiny ammo better than dirty cruddy ammo, so I polish cases when I feel like it. Sometimes I load without cleaning cases though, and don't worry about the dies or the barrel.

For those who really like shiny cases, I've found a couple tricks that help.

Quick and easy - rinse really dirty cases in mineral spirits before tumbling. Drain, then put them in treated corn cob media while wet. This cleans them pretty well, and the solvent keeps the media working better too. This helps a lot if you shoot a semi-auto with a suppressor; cases can get nasty with soot from that.

More work for really nasty cases (like range pickup brass) - soak cases in a mixture of warm water with a little white vinegar and lemon juice. Drain well, dry, then tumble in treated corn cob media. This leaves brass looking as good or better than new.

I use Dillon case polish in my corn cob media. At about $7 a bottle, which lasts several years, I don't see the point of trying to substitute various household products as some like to do.