Cleaning brass with vinegar

Mevo2230 · Post by **Mevo2230** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 11:27 am

As I am just starting to get into this shooting, hunting and reloading game I don't have a tumbler.

Any way I have been cleaning my brass with a bit of vinegar on a rag. Today I tried something a little different and I soaked about 50 brass cases in some vinegar for about an hour and a half, then all I had to do was give the cases a rub down with a rag to get the carbon off the necks which came off very easily.

I am using cheapo no name coles white vinegar.

Any way I was wondering about what effect the vinegar would have on the brass (if any) as the vinegar is slightly acidic.

I have not noticed any problems with the necks of the cases from when I used the vinegar on the rag from before.

Should I bother giving the cases a quick wipe down with a rag and some water?

I also remember someone posted something about using vinegar in ultrasonic cleaning of brass but I cant find the post about it.

Cheers

Rick1970 · Post by **Rick1970** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 12:30 pm

I soak my cases in vinegar for about half hour then rinse well in warm water and allow to dry. Didn't know if it would affect the brass, hence i rinse off well. Havn't had a prob yet, but the cases havn't been cleaned/reloaded that many times either.

Model70 · Post by **Model70** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 1:00 pm

As long as you wash the cases well in clean water after soaking, we dont want the vinegar to start chewing the zinc out of the brass and eating away the copper. Take it from a plumber!

Mevo2230 · Post by **Mevo2230** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 2:00 pm

Pfft.... plumbers. Why would I want to listen to a bloke who sticks his hands down dunnies every day.

Nah mate that was just the information I was looking for. I just went out and threw the cases in the water and then dryed them off and I am now letting them drain.

Good on ya Rick and Lee.

Archfile · Post by **Archfile** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 2:46 pm

I rinse in metho or as we label it in the lab 'special meths' to stop people drinking it

Brad Y · Post by **Brad Y** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 2:58 pm

I found a recipie on the net one day for cleaning brass. Cant remember it exactly, but it was something like 1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar and 50ml of dishwashing liquid. Mix it up into like 300ml of water maybe even 500ml and srop the cases in and slosh them around for 5-10min. They came up good and Iu washed them out a fair bit after in fresh water. Air dry and rub them over with a dry rag.

Worked great when I was reloading the hornet brass

bushchook · Post by **bushchook** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 3:01 pm

Tried a couple of those brews and found that after a few weeks the cases tarnished to the point that they were worse than before cleaning . Bought a tumbler .

Rick1970 · Post by **Rick1970** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 3:02 pm

Archfile wrote:I rinse in metho or as we label it in the lab 'special meths' to stop people drinking it

hehe.........a guy i used to work with lives out west (NSW) for a while, the local store had two prices for its metho, an of the shelf price and a cold from the fridge price

paz · Post by **paz** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 10:17 pm

Rick1970 wrote:hehe.........a guy i used to work with lives out west (NSW) for a while, the local store had two prices for its metho, an of the shelf price and a cold from the fridge price

Seen that myself with my own eyes

, me being a little green had to ask why at the time

.

Paz

Plasmaboy_AU · Post by **Plasmaboy_AU** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 7:14 am

I use an ultrasonic cleaner to clean all my brass . I mix up about 2 tablespoons of cream of tarter ( have also used tartaric acid, don't know if its the same thing but they looked different) with 2.5 litres of tap water .Both do a great job. I use tap water in the ultrasonic cleaner and put the brass into a small beaker with the cleaning mix . Clean for 10 minutes .. then rinse well and dry out. The only problem is that you can get the inside necks TOO clean with an ultrasonic cleaner ( used cleaner fluid looks looks black / grey after 10 minutes) but I use tungsten disulphide on all my projectiles ( like Moly ) so they don't have a problem with dragging / scoring on the necks when seating. I only ever tumble with corn cob and a little bit of metal polish ( no ammonia content ) when I want brightly polished brass. I have tried the commercial brass cleaning liquids but the cream of tarter / tartaric acid does just as good a job for a fraction of the price . I bought a packet of citric acid powder from the supermarket so Ill see how that goes next time I need to mix up a batch of cleaner

paz · Post by **paz** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 10:36 am

Anyone know how to build an ultra sonic cleaner? Know one guy who was cleaning car parts once with a battery charger hooked up to two copper plates (i think) in some sort of solution in a plastic bin, is this the same thing?

Paz

Plasmaboy_AU · Post by **Plasmaboy_AU** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 10:41 am

Hi Paz , I got mine from Ebay .. no idea how to make one sorry

Model70 · Post by **Model70** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 1:49 pm

Once you have a tumbler, you will throw all the other shit out. They are a god-send!

Though my step-dad still steel wools all his cases, got rocks in his head that man.

alpal · Post by **alpal** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 5:45 pm

good advice on the wash thoroughly with water from mod.70, otherwise you will be sorry!
Otherwise vinegar works well.
Regards Alpal

roscoe · Post by **roscoe** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 8:20 am

G'day All,

Wash the cases in vinegar with a bit of detergent, I leave mine in overnight. Then you can either shine them up a bit with a cream of tartar solution or tumble them, each to his own. Some suggest using a teaspoon of salt with the vinegar, it also appears to help if the vinegar solution is very hot.

Certainly rinse several times in clean water and air dry.

Regards

Roscoe

AusVarmint

Cleaning brass with vinegar

Cleaning brass with vinegar

recipie