what do you think about cleaning cases using this method

[NikA]

If you're asking how I found the MSDS's above, I used Google (with the country name when necessary). The various MSDS sheets I found for Flitz (paste and brass/copper tarnish remover) listed ammonia and urea (basically ammonia salt), except for the liquid metal polish, which appears to just be a suspension of fine polishing media. I would want to smell it to be sure that it didn't contain an ammonia compound before using it on my brass.

 

[Tom W]

Yes, there were so many products I didn't know which one to look for. While Google is your friend, Google can lead to confusion.

 

[volshooter]

Get my Flitz from "THE RUST STORE" online. Safe for even plexiglass. Only takes a smidgen to work, let's say the size of 1/5 of a cigarette butt end to clean any case, including 45/70. No wait time to dry. Our LEO's use it, for their brass badges and I cannot detect any ammonia smell. Gets cases cleaner and brighter than BRASSO in one 10th of the time. A half capful added to your tumbler or case cleaner will produce the best looking brass you have ever seen in a matter of hours.
Do the research, but do yourself a favor and try a small bottle.

I buy the large bottle, $13.99 plus shipping. Each bottle will do thousands of cases.

After trimming rifle cases I put the smallest dab of Flitz on a rag and in under 10 seconds I have bright slick cases.

 

[Ka6otm]

I use a tablespoon of fine ground Jeweler's Rouge plus a capful of NuFinish in my tumbler and it works great.

Oh, and I absolutely love the people who are doing wet cleaning as I got a NIB Dillon large tumbler from one of them for $100.00 and a few days ago I got the large sifter/bin from another one NIB for $50.00.

I'm happy and I don't have to put very much time into the whole process. Put it in the tumbler, turn on the timer, walk away. Come back later that day or a week later or whatever, run it through the sifter and I'm done.

 

[volshooter]

I had not thought of Nu finish in my corn cob, might look into that.
Got a friend that uses a plastic barreled cement mixer to clean cases. He gets to shoot more than I do.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

I just found out there are a number of Flitz products for gun and knife care including polish, both paste and liquid, and tumbler/media additive. The tumbler additive says no ammonia. The Flitz paste metal polish lists ammonia solution at less than 5%.

http://www.flitz.com/gun-knife-clean-polish-wax/

 

[dougader]

Guys have been using NuFinish for years. Some add a splash of mineral spirits along with the NF, but I never saw any improvement over straight NuFinish with corn cobb or crushed walnut shells. Berry's and Dillon seems very similar in quality to me.

 

[protoolman]

I have found the 1/2 vinegar with 1/2 water with a teaspoon of salt to be effective. It was written up by PO Ackley and Earl Narimore in early reloading books. It gets used in a plastic jug and agitated by hand. I let it soak with agitating frquently for a total of 1/2 hour or so. Then I rinse well in hot tap water. This cleans the filthiest range brass to the point that 1 hour in my media tumbler shines the brass better than if I just let it tumble all day without the soak. The vinegar cleaning was used in the earliest days of reloading and seems well proven. I dont know why it wouldnt work in your ultrasonic cleaner just as well.

 

[PiratePast40]

Not sure that there's actually a wrong way, but many ways to effectively clean brass. I'm wet tumbling mine and use Armoral wash & wax with a little Lemi-Shine. That keeps them from tarnishing and don't need to use lube. And no worries about the effects of this or that chemical.

When I was in Uncle Sams canoe club, we would add powdered vinegar to a bucket of water to clean brass pipes in the engine room.

 

[Iron Mike Golf]

Ammonia around brass causes a form of corrosion called season cracking. British troop in India stored ammo in horse stables during monsoon season and discovered cracked and split cases when the weather dried up and they broke out the stored ammo. It took many weeks of exposure to cause it. Brasso formulation varies around the world. US Brasso has 5-10% ammonia. I think that the amount added to tumbling media and the amount of contact tine, along with the ammonia evaporating and dissipating into the room air makes the risk trivial. The main benefit is the silica abrasive left behind.