Cleaning Brass

Benjamin David | December 2, 2020

Wondering what the best method for cleaning brass is? You’ve probably looked at wet tumblers, dry tumblers, and ultrasonic cleaners. There is actually a fairly simple truth. Use whatever method you are most comfortable with.

I only dry tumble. I use walnut media in a Frankford Arsenal Quick-N-EZ 110V Vibratory Case Tumbler. I decided on dry tumbling, and using polishing agents, because it works great for me.

My brass gets clean, shiny, and free of grit and debris. It’s important that brass gets cleaned before resizing, but more important than being shiny, is lubrication.

Whatever tumbling method you choose, so long as your brass gets cleaned and properly lubed, you should be good to run it through the resizing and de-priming dies.

Brass Processing Steps

Dry Tumble with walnut and One Shot Case Polish
Lubricate with Unique Case Lube
De-prime/Resize
Clean the primer pocket with a brass wire brush on the end of a drill.
Dry tumble with walnut and One Shot Case Polish
Trim Case Length with case length trimmer and gauge
Deburr inside and outside with case conditioning tool
Prime
Powder Charge
Seat bullet

Some people don’t let their brass touch the ground, and/or just don’t clean their brass. To each their own, I always tumble and polish, and I get consistent, accurate results for bolt actions, and semi-automatics.

Written By Benjamin David

Benjamin is an avid outdoorsman with a wide range of experience hunting, fishing, climbing, and backacking. He brings his knowledge and experience, to Sportsman's Magazine, and is a major content contributor. Leave Ben a comment or question.