From a 600/1000 yard Benchrest perspective, I don't ever touch the inside of the case necks, let alone get them squeaky clean.

I'm with AWS, I keep it pretty simple, my favorite is steel wool. A fresh pad of 000 wool cleans up dirty cases quick.

My buddy had a vibrator we wore out and those shiny cases sure looked good but after cleaning, handling, loading and storage I could hardly ever tell a difference in the long run.

I've got some Lyman primer pocket uniformers that also clean the primer pockets with a twist if I'm being picky.

Anneal simple as well, I hold the case heads with a pliers and hand twist it in a propane flame then sometimes dip the neck in water quick to cool.

I once tried the ultra sonic route with very, very limited success.
Then went to Harbor Freight and got a rotary rock tumbler, then
ordered stainless pins. It cleaned the brass very well, but the lids
were an aggravation to get on and off. Finally broke down and got
the Frankford Arsenal rotary tumbler 7L. Reviews are BAD for the
smaller model. Pins were a pain to remove from bottle neck casings, so
I then got the RCBS Rotary Media separator. It gets the water out as
well as most of the pins, then open the separator sit while open,
allow the brass to completely dry, spin a few more times which allows
all the pins to drop (still check each case, though).

Our water is very hard and I use distilled water as well. The brass
comes out looking newer than new and MOST primer pockets are cleaned.
The pins do not get into small rifle pockets very well. I understand
there is a smaller stainless media out there which does clean them,
but I have yet to find it.

rock knocker you are the only one i have ever heard about doing the 000 wool i have done that for yrs

the difference i can tell... is the hand cramps lol

i can dump 5 lbs of brass into my tumbler and its done in one process.


if i have to handle and hand polish the same 5 lbs... i'd feel like hanson from scary movie by the time i was done lol

What is this "cleaning brass" you all speak of? My method is the easiest of them all. I just don't.

- DAA

I use a Dillon CV-500, have since 1992

But some years back I bought an US cleaner for cleaning scuba regulator parts so I could service my own regs. Since I had it, I experimented with it for brass, using some really tarnished 30-06

This cleaner uses a SS basket to hold parts. I found that this left discoloration on the brass where it touched the backet but otherwise it worked really well. I used a mix involving Dawn & Lemishine. Primer pockets were clean. Insides of cases were clean. Brass was clean & shiny.

I then tossed it all in my dry cleaner & the corn cob did remove the discoloration, brass looked great.

But old habit die hard & I still just toss it all in the Dillon & let it run for a while.

Good point Plant One, I would usually only get hand cramps individually trimming cases but I trim horse hooves for a living and have developed a grip.

Heck, why wouldnt steel wool in a rotary tumbler not work? It could be worth an expirament, the wool pads would probably have to be separated and tore up a bit but it might not need the water that SS pins need.

What Stu just said reminded me when I first started loading I picked up a jug of the liquid Iosso brass cleaner for extra dirty range cases I collected long before I started reloading. Iosso worked great but it didnt leave a polish at all.

My buddy had a bit of a scary time when he first started using a vibration tumbler and corn cob. He was polishing and loading 454 casull, poured a bag of brass into the vibrator with media then he poured a little hornady brass polish on top of the cases before turning it on. What happened was some of the polish got poured inside the case and it worked as glue for the corn cob and the stuff didnt tumble out. The cases came out looking great but there was bits of corn cob glued inside and they got loaded up that way with a few causing problems or acting weird... we looked everything over and found the gunk inside some unloaded cases.

unfortunatly my issue is nerve related to a upper back injury from getting rear ended. essentially *REAALLY* bad whiplash. several months of PT etc. during recovery, by the end of a working day i couldnt even hold onto a screwdriver and some nights would drive home with my hands stuck thru the steering wheel like stumps.

thankfully way past that stage, but repeated motions that involve lots of grip power on small stuff is still recipie for not fun. dang drunk drivers



ya.... i cemented up a bunch of cases like that too back when i was first getting started.... found out you need to add the nufinish to the media, let the tumbler run for ~20-30 mins and *then* add brass.

thankfully i caught mine in the post tumble inspection stage and was able to separate the oopsies out, and it was only about a dozen cases out of 5lbs worth of 300blk.

I decided to just keep using the media tumbler. I got mine repaired again and its doing fine. A lot slower than SS but it still makes clean shiny brass.

There is some chatter on using the SS pins, some say it works like shot peening the brass.
The wet tumble, I just see more time involved with drying?
Years ago when I was dropping cases in a pan of water, there would be water caught up in the inside for a number of days. More so the smaller the caliber. I would put them mouth down in front of a fan or heat register. Even then a tap on the bench on paper towel would show some moisture. I never did use an oven as heat source.

I have enough CC media along with some walnut to last me a long time. Besides I take the media when it’s dirty and mix it with old melted candles and form into bars for fire starters.

For years I've been using just a blow dryer and a metal strainer. Run the blower on high, dump the brass in the strainer, and flip, swirl, and shake the brass till they're too hot to handle, and they're dry in five minutes or less. Then on to full length sizing....

My US cleaner does a great job on the brass, but it's more work. I have to mix the solution (which is reusable), set it all up, run it, dry it out.

My Dillon, I just dump a lot of brass in it & that amount is a lot more than my US cleaner can hold, turn it on & leave it for a while. Dump it in the separator & give it a few spins, done.

Talking to a friend and we both are retired. He ask me what was the hurry? What do you have better to do? I guess I have to agree. I put my brass in the tumbler today and take it out the next. Probably a lot longer than it needs but doesn't matter. Not like I have to have it right now. I buy a really fine media and usually put some type of metal polish in it. It shines like a new penny when its done. Been using the same process for many years, guess no reason to change now.

I need a vibrating tumbler for HBN coating bullets, my system for that is a pain also. Right now I put BBs and bullets in an empty water jug with HBN and set them on my wood stove when it's cool enough to not melt plastic instantly, then I shake that up by hand here and there until it's too hot to handle then keep shaking, I go through that cycle once or twice.