Wet Cleaning Cases

[Hawkeye2]

I have almost 4 gallons of .38 special cases that vary from clean once fired to nasty range pickups that I would like to clean. First I must say that they don't have to come out looking new but I would like them to look a little better than they do now. I deprimed and ran all of them in a vibrator case cleaner for 20 minutes to an hour using corn cob media of which I have plenty but I regard that as a preliminary cleaning. I have never tried wet cleaning brass in a vibratory or any other type cleaner and I was thinking I would ad a solution of Dawn to the corn cob media and run them that way. Would that work? Would the corn cob turn into something with the consistency of oatmeal? I also have some white vinegar, Pinesol and 409 on hand would any of these work? It's a 44 mile round trip to town and the old mule needs a day of rest so I would like to use what I have avaliable. I expect to load a lot of these with black powder and I have so many that I could throw them away after one use but I'm far too frugal to do that.

[Tactical Lever]

All I do is wet clean them. Just pour in some warm to hot water with a little dish soap and splash of water soluble degreaser and let them soak for a while. Then sift through them for a couple minutes and rinse well. Then I put them in the oven for a little while to dry.

[harry]

I would set a little bowl of corn cob and soap to the side and see how that turns out before I would mix my cases in, I'm thinking it will turn into a real mess.

[Pete44ru]

All I do is wet clean them. Just pour in some warm to hot water with a little dish soap and splash of water soluble degreaser and let them soak for a while. Then sift through them for a couple minutes and rinse well. Then I put them in the oven for a little while to dry.

A variation of that is how I've long cleaned de-primed brass empties:

I load a hundred (or so) into a pillowcase, then toss the bundle into my household (clothes) washing machine with a load of towels.

When the washer's done cycling, I just spread the cleaned brass out, in a handy place, to air dry.

.

[Griff]

Guys that have invested in it, swear by the ceramic pins and rotary tumblers.

[Sixgun]

Just curious....4 gallons of 38's???...gotta be about 8 thousand........ As we all know that 38 specials can be loaded 30-100 times, it seems to me that about a thousand would last even the most diligent reloader a lifetime.

I say clean up a thou and sell the rest and let them clean it.----6

[M. M. Wright]

What I do: Deprime, (you've already done it) then I just soak them for a couple of hours in HOT water, Dawn and a splash of vinegar. I use an old colander to get the soapy water off them, tossing them in the colander will help get the water out of the cases. Rinse in hot water, usually 3 times using the colander between times. Then I tumble in walnut hull media for 4 hours or so. They come out looking almost new.

The walnut hulls I use are called well plug that I get from roustabouts in the oil patch. They are cheap and work better than anything I've ever used.

I sometimes load for a friend who has a police school so I end up cleaning a thousand at a time.

[mikld]

Vibrators/wobblers ain't designed for wet use. They leak. BTDT. For a clean, but matte finish, Harbor Freight has some small (3/8") hard plastic pyramid tumbling media. I add some to my cob media and tumble in my rotary for aggressive cleaning and can be used wet. The rage now is Stainless Steel pins (little buggers) with a soap, water, citric acid solution in a rotary tumbler. Brass comes out highly polished inside and out. If you wanna use your wobbler, try more aggressive media or add some light abrasive to your cob media like the HF plastic media, rouge, or aluminum oxide...

[hondo1892]

Don't use any cleaners with ammonia in them. Ammonia will weaken brass and shorten the life of the cases.

[Tactical Lever]

All I do is wet clean them. Just pour in some warm to hot water with a little dish soap and splash of water soluble degreaser and let them soak for a while. Then sift through them for a couple minutes and rinse well. Then I put them in the oven for a little while to dry.

A variation of that is how I've long cleaned de-primed brass empties:

I load a hundred (or so) into a pillowcase, then toss the bundle into my household (clothes) washing machine with a load of towels.

When the washer's done cycling, I just spread the cleaned brass out, in a handy place, to air dry.

.

That's neat. I have a pretty large quantity that I may try like that.