Who doesn’t want clean brass? The shooting industry is ready to help you get spotless brass. $180 dollar Frankford Arsenal rotary tumbler, holds 30 pounds! Hornady Ultrasonic amphibious assault cleaner, $200! You can’t afford not to have them! One-Shot magic cleaner, $20! What’s funny about it is I’ve gotten the cleanest brass I’ve ever seen using a screw-top quart jar from Dollar Tree and a few household chemicals. The video claims you can find bulk amounts of corncob media in the pet department and ground walnut as blasting media for polishing at automotive stores, I haven’t found that to be the case yet.

I do know that a pint of near boiling distilled water, a cup of vinegar, a half cup of lemon juice, five drops of Dawn dish soap and a tablespoon of salt will get you the cleanest brass you’ve ever seen in 5 minutes. The rotary tumbler and ultrasonic cleaner want you to do it for an hour or two! I did 200 rounds of 9mm in that $1 plastic jar from Dollar Tree, shaking it for 5 minutes. Then I rinsed. Neutralized the acids with a baking soda rinse. Finished up with another cup of distilled water that had about a teaspoon of Flitz gun wax (liquid car wax works too) mixed in it for 30 seconds. Let room dry overnight. You want the wax on there to prevent the brass from tarnishing if it sits for any length of time, plus the coating helps the brass slide in and out of the reloading dies.

You only need to use distilled water first and last. If you want you can finish it off with a 2 hour spin in a vibratory tumbler using Hornady corncob media for a final polish. This stuff is a joy to use compared to what I had 20 years ago. That stuff was about a quarter inch in diameter and all it did was get stuck in the case and in the primer pocket. You spent about as much time picking the stuff out of the brass with a paper clip as it spent in the tumbler. This new stuff by Hornady is smaller than the head of a pin and goes right in and out of the inside of the case and the primer pocket. It is a joy to use. The vibratory tumbler is completely a luxury, I had it so I used it.

I really don’t recommend corncob or walnut media for cleaning though, just as a polisher. Wet washing the cases confines any possible dangerous elements from the primers or spent powder to the wash and it goes harmlessly down the drain. Then if you do tumble, your media stays clean as the cases have already been washed, and all it has to do is polish! The media lasts forever, and any dust that is there is from the essentially harmless corncob or walnut. So there you have it, the ultimate brass washing guide. The key steps are a vigorous wash, neutralizing the acids, a final rinse (with distilled water) with a few drops of liquid wax to prevent tarnishing, and air dry overnight. Total cost: $9 (somewhat better than $300).