how to clean up some really NASTY bullets

[wtr100]

brother out law got him a 'deal' on a big honking bucket of M118 175 gr bullets.  We're talking easily 50 lbs of these suckers.  BUT they look like dog squeeze corrosion and verdigris and have some kinda sticky 'stuff' on them.  I looked at a few hands full and they've got some scratches from being pulled I'd guess but they look fine other wise and weigh 175 gr on the button.

We're planning M1 Garand loads.  But question before the group. How to best clean them.  My initial thought is to slosh them in kerosene or maybe mineral spirits then tumble them in some nasty old walnut media that probably ought to be pitched anyway - maybe with some jewlers rouge.  I know for cases brasso is a no-no but what about for this application.  I've never run bullets through the vibrator do they have enough 'ummph' to move the bullets through the media? 

Option #2 involves 10 and 14 year old sons - rags, simple green and a tv set!

[Pecos Bill]

brother out law got him a 'deal' on a big honking bucket of M118 175 gr bullets.  We're talking easily 50 lbs of these suckers.  BUT they look like dog squeeze corrosion and verdigris and have some kinda sticky 'stuff' on them.  I looked at a few hands full and they've got some scratches from being pulled I'd guess but they look fine other wise and weigh 175 gr on the button.

We're planning M1 Garand loads.  But question before the group. How to best clean them.  My initial thought is to slosh them in kerosene or maybe mineral spirits then tumble them in some nasty old walnut media that probably ought to be pitched anyway - maybe with some jewlers rouge.  I know for cases brasso is a no-no but what about for this application.  I've never run bullets through the vibrator do they have enough 'ummph' to move the bullets through the media? 

Option #2 involves 10 and 14 year old sons - rags, simple green and a tv set!

Tumble the blasted things! Does your tumbler have enough power to tumble the 06 brass? Just don't put too many in it's room AND weight you have to worry about. Two boys and simple green and a tv? Sound like weeks of work (?) to me.

Pecos

[wtr100]

Tumble the blasted things! Does your tumbler have enough power to tumble the 06 brass? Just don't put too many in it's room AND weight you have to worry about. Two boys and simple green and a tv? Sound like weeks of work (?) to me.

Pecos

ya - but they work for Mt Dew!

 

[cookie62]

Maybe get the scout troop together, it could be for the cleaning merit badge

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

[m25operator]

If you have a strong vibratory tumbler, it should work, but I would dump several in there and watch before putting a lot with the lid on, this is one good reason to have an old rotary tumbler around, with those rubber or plastic drums, you can even use liquid.

I use to tumble my revolver rounds in a rotary tumbler with newspaper clippings, they came out clean and dry with very slick feel that helped in loading the cylinder, another shooter asked how I them like that and is told him, He came to the next match and showed some loaded rounds that looked like someone had melted the bullets with a torch, newspaper clippings do not work as a medium in vibratory tumbler.

[Sponsor]

[sledgemeister]

brother out law got him a 'deal' on a big honking bucket of M118 175 gr bullets.  We're talking easily 50 lbs of these suckers.  BUT they look like dog squeeze corrosion and verdigris and have some kinda sticky 'stuff' on them.  I looked at a few hands full and they've got some scratches from being pulled I'd guess but they look fine other wise and weigh 175 gr on the button.

We're planning M1 Garand loads.  But question before the group. How to best clean them.  My initial thought is to slosh them in kerosene or maybe mineral spirits then tumble them in some nasty old walnut media that probably ought to be pitched anyway - maybe with some jewlers rouge.  I know for cases brasso is a no-no but what about for this application.  I've never run bullets through the vibrator do they have enough 'ummph' to move the bullets through the media? 

Option #2 involves 10 and 14 year old sons - rags, simple green and a tv set!

Mate your in the US, ultrasonic cleaners fall off the trees over there, well shit loads cheaper than here.
Get one, you can use it to clean gun parts, the missus jewellery and best of all they will clean the crud off  brass !
Better stll find a gun mate that has one and get him to "test" how good it is!

or make your own vibratory cleaner!

Personally I never found ultrasonics to be good at polishing brass bit it should remove the dirt and crud of them to make them easier to polish with a tumbler.

[tombogan03884]

Last place I worked used an ultra sonic cleaner to clean coolant, oil, and debris off small parts before heat treat.
If it's clean enough for internal medical devices it should be clean enough for gun stuff.

[wtr100]

tumbler with walnut media that probably should have been thrown out a long time ago and some jewlers rouge cleaned them nicely

once we're done looks like we need to sort them a bit

[dipisc]

Hi;

     Why is Brasso  a  No-No  on brass?

[david86440]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvGYfmbBYyg&feature=related

This is a Hillbilly tumbler!