Muddy Range Brass

[Iron Sights]

Any sugestions for cleaning brass picked up at an outdoor range? Sometimes its full of dirt, but its one time fired. I've been there when the gound was muddy and there where boxes of brass that were left in the mud. 9mm & .45 mostly. Other than a tumbler, any suggestions on cleaning them?
Thanks

[Jake Mc.]

I put them in the basket that goes in my media seperator then run that through the dishwasher.

Just don't tell my wife I do that. she flipped when I ran some of my SKS parts through there to get the cosmaline off. Almost as bad as the time I ran an old carburretor in there to get all the grease off of it before re-building it.

[Xringshooter]

Get a 5 gal bucket from Lowes, Home Depot, Wal-Mart, etc (it'll come in handy for other things too), dump the brass in there, fill with water, let soak (to loosen the dirt if dried) mix it around (hands or a paint stick, dump it out, let dry and toss into your cleaner (tumbler or vibratory) process as normal. You might have to do the bucket part several times to get all the dirt out. The cases might not come out looking like new brass but as long as they are cleared of all the dirt and grime, even if they are stained, they will be ok to use.

[mauser]

Depending on how much you want to clean at once. A colander (or "macaroni stop, water go", as I heard one called once) or a genuine media separator and some running water makes short work of that job. If it's caked on thick and dried hard, soak them first as suggested by Xringshooter.

Don't be taking the utensils from your wifes kitchen, those things are cheap enough to dedicate one to the cause.

[ungawa]

If I invented something that would make this a breeze could I sell it? Figure $50. Would I get few, some, half, or all of the reloading market? My idea would not replace the tumbler but I could tweak it to do that.

Thanks.

[andrewjs18]

If I invented something that would make this a breeze could I sell it? Figure $50. Would I get few, some, half, or all of the reloading market? My idea would not replace the tumbler but I could tweak it to do that.

Thanks.

probably would find most people that shoot outdoors would want 1. I picked up a bunch of 9mm brass at the range the other day that was full of muddddddd.

[idpasharpshooter]

i put it in a strainer and run hot water over it then lay it out to dry. you can also keep some old media and run it in that for a little while then transfer it into your good media to polish.

[reichebrown]

I spent 1.5 hours today cleaning up the brass from a sanctioned IDPA match and a regular local club match. I have been watching the snow melt like a hawk! I took the 5 gall bucket and filled it with water shook it and drained. Repeated several times and spent 3 hours sorting. It would be nice to have some type of wet tumbler/media separator that spins through a wet sump.

[andrewjs18]

I spent 1.5 hours today cleaning up the brass from a sanctioned IDPA match and a regular local club match. I have been watching the snow melt like a hawk! I took the 5 gall bucket and filled it with water shook it and drained. Repeated several times and spent 3 hours sorting. It would be nice to have some type of wet tumbler/media separator that spins through a wet sump.

this is what I do when I go out to the range. someone who left brass is my treasure....hehehehehe

I even pick up calibers I don't reload to give to friends.

[WVBob]

I use and old pasta pot that I got at Goodwill. The pot comes in two parts, the pot and a strainer that goes most of the way down. I put in Hot water and soap in the pot, the brass in the strainer and mix well. The heavy dirt falls to the bottom of the pot and you can lift out the strainer and rinse the brass. Spread it out on newspaper on a table and let dry. Note remember to keep the cats off the table or the brass will be on the floor.