BPCR Brass Cleaning Solutions for a Tumbler

There are numerous commercial and home developed concoctions used by black powder cartridge rifle (BPCR) shooters for cleaning dirty brass. I’ve experimented a good bit with various brass cleaning methods and tried several concentrations of four cleaning solutions when cleaning with ceramic media or stainless-steel pins in a tumbler. The methods are discussed in my article titled, Case Cleaning – Ultrasonic vs Tumbler with Ceramic Media & Stainless-Steel Pins. I use a Thumler’s tumbler with ceramic media when cleaning BPCR cases. The stainless-steel pins are used when cleaning smokeless rifle or handgun cases. The tested cleaning solutions are listed below as are a few I have not tried but are reported to work well.

Those I’ve tested:

Lemi Shine automatic dishwasher detergent powder - Found at grocery stores, Wal-Mart, Amazon.com, etc. Different concentrations were tried in water with and without a squirt of Dawn dishwashing detergent. When comparing the results with other solutions it did not work as well with or without the Dawn, but adding a squirt of Dawn helped.

Cascade brand automatic dishwasher detergent. Widely available at grocery stores, Amazon, etc., it works great but no better than the following two (Strat-O-Sheen, Shooter 2). It contains several wetting and cleaning chemicals including sodium hypochlorite which is the main ingredient found in chlorine bleach which is not recommended for cleaning brass even in low concentrations.

Strat-O-Sheen powder burnishing solution – 5lbs available from https://www.riogrande.com/Product/Strat-O-Sheen-Powder-Burnishing-Compound-5-lbs/3390175. Using 1 oz, I tried it with and without Dawn detergent. It worked OK without the Dawn, but with a squirt of Dawn it works better. The cases were cleaned quickly and came out very clean and shiny inside and out but tends to leave some residue around the inside edges of the primer pocket which is not a major issue. It’s not acidic and will not harm nickel-plated cases.

Shooter 2 concentrated liquid cleaning and polishing compound (my preferred solution) It’s available from Shiloh Sharps (https://www.shilohrifle.com/cleaning-supplies/ceramic-media/) or directly from the supplier Greg Vest (989-330-5179), gvest67@yahoo.com. Greg’s address is 5864 North Bollinger Rd, Vestaburg, MI 48891. Shooter 2 works great using 2 teaspoons of the concentrated solution and a squirt of Dawn. Based on my extensive testing it’s more effective than Strat-O-Sheen with Dawn and a little easier to use. As a cautionary note, due to the ingredients, it’s not a good idea to use the solution on nickel-plated cases. It’s slightly acidic and will remove the plating over time.

Note – For those of you that previously purchased the solution and ceramic media from Dave Maurer, the original owner of Shooter 2, Dave sold the business to Greg in August 2018.

Dawn dishwashing detergent is an effective brass cleaner in a tumbler without using other additives. See more about using Dawn below. Other brands of dishwashing detergent may work as well.

Some I have not tried but reported to work well:

Buffalo Arms sells a concentrated brass cleaning/burnishing solution for tumblers. https://www.buffaloarms.com/1-quart-of-tumbling-compound-cmcomp.html. I understand it’s an excellent cleaner and burnishing solution for brass. By the way, it’s not Shooter 2 compound and is not acidic and should not harm nickel-plated brass.

Scrubbing Bubbles liquid bathroom cleaner – Found at grocery stores, Walmart, Amazon.com, etc. It’s reported to do an excellent job when using 1oz or so in a tumbler.

Simple Green & vinegar - Using 1oz of Simple Green all-purpose cleaner and 1oz of white vinegar is reported to work very well. Simple Green is readily available at grocery stores, home improvement stores, Walmart, Amazon.com, etc.

Recently, based on a recommendation for a fellow shooter, I tried only Dawn dishwashing detergent and water. The cases had been deprimed and tossed into a soaking solution at the range during the match. Next day the brass was cleaned for 1.5hrs with only a squirt of Dawn in the tumbler with ceramic media. I was pleasantly surprised how well it cleaned. The cases did not come out quite as shinny on the outside as with the other solutions I’ve used, and some residue remained around the inside edges of the primer pocket, but the inside case walls were clean. Although I prefer to see the outside of the brass nice and shiny with minimal stains, my main concern is to get the inside as clean as possible. Powder fouling on the inside can result in erratic chamber pressure due to bullet, wad and powder column friction on the case walls affecting velocity and standard deviation. For the same reason dirty inside case walls can also result in case stretching and even splitting. This is especially important in long cases such as .45-90, .45-110 or .45-120. By the way, other brands of dishwashing detergents may work just as well.

Some shooters can’t stand to shoot brass with a lot of surface stains. I tend to fall in that group. Although Dawn detergent does a good job of removing the fouling it’s not very effective at removing stains. So, I’ll continue to tumble clean with Shooter 2 and a squirt of Dawn detergent.

The following will minimize the cleaning time in the tumbler:

Deprime at the range and allow the brass to soak for a few hours in a soap solution such as Dawn and water to soften the fouling?
Use hot water in the tumbler.

By the way, my tumbler is located in my office/loading room so minimizing the tumbler noise is important. Therefore, soft rubber automotive door gasket material was installed around the bottom of the tumbler and the tumble is filled close to the top with water when cleaning. The soft rubber also keeps the tumbler from moving around on the table. The rubber padding and full container of water are effective at significantly reducing the noise but the cleaning time may have to be extended since the cases are being subjected to less agitation due to the buffering effect of the additional water. I typically run the tumbler for 3hrs.

Wishing you great shooting,

Wayne