I tried your mix in my Hornady Sonic cleaner on both brass casings and some extremely dirty copper fittings that had been sitting in my bilge for a number of decades; it worked fantastic. I did try a small sample batch of both copper and brass in the solution at the same time and the two metals started to react almost within a minute! Nothing beats your solution for getting the insides of the cases and the primer pockets clean.

I just finished 500 223 range brass using you vinegar formula' I've never had such clean brass especially the primer pockets. I have used most of the cleaning products on market and they can't hold a candle to you formula. Thanks fo posting it. Used a Sonic machine

I know this is an old video, but it was excellent. I wish I’d come across it years ago.

I was going to say the same thing navion said...1 part water to 4 parts solution is 20%. But since he already said it, I'll get my video proofing credit by pointing out at 1:01 you have 24:1 or 4% concentration....should be 1:24...as in "one to 24" or 1/24 or about 4%. Now that I'm done being "that guy", thanks for the tip on the vinegar solution! I'm just getting set up reloading and already bought "real solution" but I'll use yours when that's done. Also, thanks for a very well produced video. Quick, concise, good audio and video quality. I wish more YTers would take a lesson in that!

love the application of the scientific method. beats the hell out of all the anecdotal evidence people throw around online

What a great test. Thanks for showing the difference. I am new to reloading and have been hesitant to starting because I am so particular about making sure the brass is "perfect" before I get started. I have heard leave primer in, take it out, so many different ways and ideas, I am confuse as how I should start. I loved what you showed and the differences in types of cleaning solutions and how they work. That will help me get started. I would thing I was doing something wrong if I used a cleaner and it showed all the debris like you showed in the examples. Better to start with something that works. Thanks again for taking the time to show this. Peace, Reese

It's already been mentioned in the comments but instead of vinegar and salt (which I tried a long time ago) I have been using Lemi-Shine dishwasher booster. It is citric acid crystals. This acid, unlike the acetic acid in vinegar, will not have a negative effect on the brass, in fact it actually passivates the brass and it will resist tarnishing. I use the Lemi-Shine, a bit of Dawn, and HOT water. Primer pockets are clean, brass is relatively shiny, and it wont discolor.

Subscribed for the great info. Im just getting into hand loading and I'm trying to squeeze every penny without compromising any safety. Thank you.

Thank you for the info!! I dis not have soap like that and had heard that liquid laundry detergent worked well too. I used Cascade concentrate in hot water in my cleaner for .308, then the last 2 minutes, i added salt and vinegar. Excellent outcome! Might be something others want to try.

Fantastic Video. I am doing research to help me figure out how to start reloading and your video has helped me immensely for the cleaning portion of Reloading. Thank you again.

Thank you for a complete test. It is really nice when the test is explained and then the results are shown...again Thank you.

Sounds like you have a good system going there. Keep us posted!

Thank you, I can't wait to see the results with the Vinegar recipe

Very good receipt, I've just tested it now, cases looks fine. I've an ultrasonic cleaner, the cases was in a glass bowl with the solution inside the cleaner. 2x 20 mins @ 50°C. There is yet some scrap deep in the cases but negligible. Thank you !

5% Citric Acid and water a little less than one ounce per quart ratio. Use hot, not boiling, remove after about 3 hours stirring occasionally (about every 45 minutes), turn of the heat and allow to stand overnight, inspect under warm running water and brush primer pockets and case interiors if necessary, it usually isn't, but you need to inspect the cases at some point anyway and doing so with a brush in hand while rinsing is easy, most all cases do not need the brush. Dry on a tray in the oven on it's lowest setting. Do not throw out the dirty solution, it is still good for at least two additional uses even if it looks nasty. You will get a long lasting shine that looks exactly like new commercial brass. If you need your cases to shine like jewels you will need to use a tumbler with corn cob media and a Red Rouge additive. Vinegar and water or vinegar, salt and water work very well, but the cases will re tarnish very quickly, as soon as overnight. Citric Acid is sold in grocery stores as Fruit Fresh and is used in keeping fruit and vegetables from turning brown while waiting for processing, and for raising the PH for canned goods to safe levels, it is quite expensive bought in this form. I buy mine in bulk, food grade from Duda Diesel/Duda Energy in Georgia, they have good prices and quick service with good shipping costs. I recently bought 5 lbs of Citric Acid powder and 5 lbs of Potassium Nitrate (Saltpeter) for $30 including shipping delivered to my door here in CA. I learned this method from an article in the American Rifleman in the '50's who reported that the method was the one used by the old Frankford Arsenal (a government arsenal) to prepare their brass for loading, it is cheap, easy and efficacious, try it you'll never use anything else unless you want a jewel like finish

I'm glad you enjoyed it!

That was a very well narrated and concise review. Thank you.

Thanks ALLThingsEastCoast. Glad you enjoyed it

I put my brass in a bucket with hot soapy water and a spoonful of powdered citric acid mix them up for 10 minutes rinse them and they are already almost perfectly shiny then I tumble them for 30 minutes in walnut media to dry them and remove any haze they come out better than New! Highly polished!

Thanks for sharing brother. I knew there was a inexpensive way to do this. I would never use Simple Green on cases! When I was in the Air Force, Simple Green was banned from being used on the air-frame or landing gear of aircraft because it compromised the integrity of the metal. Metal fatigue was increased significantly when it was exposed to Simple Green. I saw this first hand using a Non Destructive Inspection with ultraviolet light and ultrasonic testing. Just FYI and thanks again!

Before I had an ultrasonic cleaner, I used the vinegar solution just like I did with the other video (Agitated the brass by hand a few times in a 30 min period) I've since bought an ultrasonic cleaner and use the same solution for it. If you're not familiar, an ultrasonic cleaner uses ultrasonic sound waves that propagate through a cleaning solution, in this case it's the Vinegar solution. I did that for 8 minutes. It's a set it and forget it kind of thing. It's nice.

very good video....just tried the vinegar formula and it worked perfectly

Thanks Ducky, that's an excellent point.

Vinegar really works wonders, HOWEVER: If you don't rinse and run the brass in a baking soda solution immediately afterwards you'll end up with red brass from the vinegar reacting with the brass and oxidizing it.

It is one thing to state but another to show the comparison. Great job, I will have to try it.

Also, for those experiencing the "pink brass issue" just rinse in a baking soda/water solution, then rinse in warm water. Works great for me.

Glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks for the info Martin!

Thanks for this great video. well made and straight to the point.

Thanks your video was very informative for me and helped me a bit.

Im glad it worked great!

Glad you enjoyed it! Blue Skies!

A&P with a gun here. Great video, thanks. I was curious how the results with the ultrasonic cleaner compare to using the vinegar solution "hand agitated" like you did in the previous video.

I haven't had any problems thus yet. But thanks for the tip, ill keep that in mind.

Great, great video! Very usefully! Thank you!!!

I started using this mix from your other video.. Now I use just vinegar and water in my ultrasonic cleaner. I deprime first. After I run it through the ultrasonic I run it through the tumbler using walnut media and a few drops of liquid car wax and the brass looks brand new. With clean primer pockets. And they run through my carbide sizing die beautifully with no lube

As mentioned powdered automatic dish washing detergent works wonders. Rinses clean no damage or discoloration. Even tried liquid bar keepers friend. Did OK but not as good as the dish washer soap.

Love your KZfaq name...I need to change mine to SurgeonWithAGun

Thank you for this. I bought a cheap $29 sonic cleaner at the harbor freight store, used your solution and it works great! My cleaner holds 10 cases at a time. It gets pretty clean inside but not as clean as yours. Do you think that if I were to put less in there it would make a difference?

Good video. Thanks for posting!

Both the lemi shine and Lyman products use citric acid as the active ingredient. Citric acid (basically dried lemon juice) is readily available on the web as a powder It comes in food grade and usp grade ( cheaper). If there is any interest, I will calculate and post here approximately how much powder to use in a gallon of water to be equivelant to Lyman end user concentration. If desired it is ok to add dish soap to this mixture.

The best results for me were this solution plus 2 hours in the tumbler, I see this to be the best for the following reason, 1 hr in the Ultrasonic cleaner removes all the crud from inside and out of the case if the temperature is above 60 degrees, and then two hours in the tumbler not only drys the cases, but polishes them too, so i'm glad I bought both ultra sonic cleaner and tumbler, for the amount of time my brass is stood waiting to be shot and crapped up again, I hardly ever clean my brass, I certainly wouldn't waste my time then washing them off in Baking soda.... I bought some Carb solution for the ultrasonic cleaner, utter garbage, this solution is the best I have tried to date. Nice one PilotWithAGun

Good catch navion! You are right, 1:3 is the correct ratio for 25%

Thanks for a great video. I currently use a vibratory tumbler with crushed walnut shells, I have been impressed and am considering buying a rock tumbling machine and using stainless steel pins with a soap solution, Ive seen some good results on youtube, have you ever tried this method?

Hi, I cant find you recipe for the ultrasonic cleaning solution you used.

Excellent video👍

I still use this method. Works well.

Thanks! Great information ! Vinegar it is!

Ill have to try that out.

keep us posted on your results!

dr scholls foot spa vibrates like a sonic cleaner LOL

Excellent!

Checked out your videos really great info. Im getting into reloading for my 44 mag would removing the old primer before cleaning help thanks. O by the way I dont have much space so im getting the lee classic hand loader. When I move im getting a setup like yours pretty cool.

Thank you.

yup just used this recipe in my sonic cleaner and I now have pink brass

Very well composed video; direct and to the point. I vibe-tumble in coarse corn cob, then size and deprime, then ultrasonic with the same recipe. then back into the vibe-tumble with fine corn cob media. The Andersons (google it) sells 50 lbs. of corn cob for $20. brass looks brand new. 1/3rd white vinegar, 2/3rds water, 1 tablespoon dish soap, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1/4 of the HF secret sauce. (If you use balsamic vinegar with a little goat cheese, you really get a tangy treat, :)), then rinse with water and a little baking soda to neutralize the vinegar. I like short and fast videos like ours. Not that we have short attention spans, its just better to be succinct. Great job! Steve Reloading 223/556 easy

@john Johnson I know but it makes the press run alot better and smoother with lube especially 9mm

deleted that other comment. I missed the part where you used the Ultrasonic with all three. Great test vid THANKS!

What happened to the vinegar solution recipe video? Your link says its unavailable.

I have that Harbor Freight U-S cleaner, and it works very well. I clean maybe 200 .223Rem cases in it at a time; about 85 .30-06 cases fit nicely, too. My solution is water, lemon juice, a squirt of dishwashing liquid, a bit of Lemi-shine (buy it at Waltermart in the detergent section) and a pinch of the mystery powder that HF sells with the cleaner. I think the powder is some sort of surfactant that makes the water "more wet," which allows the U-S process to better work. The cleaner can only be run for eight minutes at a time, else the transducer overheats. So I set the cleaner for 480 seconds and a kitchen timer for 16 minutes. Start both at the same time. 16 minutes later, the timer goes off and the transducer is cool enough for another eight-minute run. Stir once or twice during the 480-second run. I usually let my cases run through ten or twelve 16-minute cycles so as to get the entire insides and primer pockets clean-clean. I don't stand there and wait for it; I'm doing other things like washing dishes, washing clothes or prepping brass to be reloaded. Lots of other things to do while your U-S cleaner works happily away gettin' that grungy carbon out. Once clean, rinse profusely and dry in a low oven (200 degrees) for 20-30 minutes. I resize before cleaning, so the cleaned cases are ready to go. No primer in the pocket allows for fast draining and drying. The lack of shininess doesn't bother me. They're clean, they'll function through the rifle as is, and that's all that matters...

1/4 of preparation for 3/4 water, nice but wich proportion of soap Ang vinegar and how much gram of salt?

That's great! Make sure to check out my other video on this channel "Reloading for beginners on a budget"

Yes it helps quite a bit. I usually do that every other load.

so the vinegar solution was used as described in the other video or is this in conjunction with the ultrasonic cleaner. If used with the ultrasonic cleaner could you show us how that works? Thank you

Lemi shine is basically citric Acid so needs to be neutralise, also dish wash/washing up liquid (dawn) contains caustic soda all of which corrode brass and copper, that’s why they work so well on cleaning brass. It must be neutralise straight away after Cleaning. Put clean brass into a solution of bi-carbonate (baking powder) 5% with clean water to neutralise the effects of citric acid, which all affect the brass. Then rinse in clean water and allow to dry. If you use vinegar that also needs to be neutralise with bi-carb

Anyone have thoughts on depriving before tumbling or sonic cleaning? I like seeing a clean primer pocket... very satisfying. :)

I don’t understand whet the salt does to help clean the cases. Have you tried the Vinegar/dish soap without the salt ?

Great Job!!! So from reading below I guess hand agitated is virtually just as good as the ultrasonic machine. Personally for handloading I want to avoid anything that requires electricity, since it probably won't be available in a doomsday scenario. But then I use an electric drill to trim my brass. ;-) Oh well...

Thanks!

Anytime!

Just reading other peoples comments. where some people live, the water is "Hard" - lots of calcium. Hence the green dis-coloriation. Using distilled water will solve this. We are lucky here in Vancouver BC where the water is softer and doesn't leave any residue. Calgary for example has hard water. Some homes have a water softener plumbed in. And the other thing is: put the wet brass into a vented case holder to drip dry in the sun, or assist with a hair dryer too. Leaving them on a towel or bucket to dry takes forever.

thank you for doing god's work

Thank you for watching!

I've tried this solution today, water, vinegar, soap and a touch of salt. After 6 or 7 period of 480 seconds, my brass are clean ! They are not shiny, but clean. There is a lot of carbon particules on the bottom of my bin, it's all black ! So right now, i have a bunch in the thumbler, been processed. I'll see if they will come out "like new" !

It appears that you left the primers in the cases, when cleaning with any liquid you should remove the primers first, not only do they dry easier, if they aren't removed soon after cleaning you take the chance of the bottom punching out of the primer cup leaving the sides in place, which can be a huge problem.

Good info!!!

I initially used to agitate it by hand for 30 seconds every 5 minutes for 3 minutes. I've since started using the ultrasonic cleaner.

Can you use the vinegar solution for gun parts too?

thank you.

Just tried the home made mix with sunlight dish soap in my rotary tumbler and it barely did anything at all. Suggestions?

I am not sure. I haven't tried and I'd really research it's effect on other metals like steel/aluminum before I tried it...

using my whife's old foorbath - works like a charm!! -- you would be able to pici it up second hand for cheap..

you're welcome!

It may take longer but - 1. clean with primers in, 2. resize and deprime. 3. clean again thereby cleaning primer pockets. 4. If you have tumbler, use it to get a real shine. 5. check primer pockets for corn cob particles stuck inside. Result, you will have cases looking unused.

The heat, definitely speeds up the process and cleans the brass better.

Do you clean brass with primer in or out?

Not bad I use to use ultrasonic cleaning but then I switched the to the stainless steel tumbling media, I still use the lyman solution with it though and get an outstanding result

So, did you put them in the Ultrasonic Cleaner? or was that just soaking them in the liquids?

Hello Fellows, can this solution be used in automotive parts? Say fuel injectors sensors and such?

For better effect put brass in vertical position.

Nice video. Thanks Note: There are a lot of warnings on the internet about using vinegar for brass. Does anyone have input on the chemical reaction that could harm the brass? Here is something I found online: " Both metals used in brass cases (copper and zinc) are soluble in acetic acid (vinegar). The salts, copper acetate and zinc acetate, are also soluble. Zinc is more soluble than copper so it dissolves faster. In addition a galvanic action occurs that cause copper to be dissolved and then redeposited on the surface at the expense of the zinc. When you clean brass cases in a vinegar solution you change both the chemical and physical properties of the surface of the case. There have been comments about cases being too clean, primers hard to seat, deposits on mandrels, etc. When you change the surface by dissolving some of it and etching it these things will happen. Whether they happen to the point of being a problem becomes the issue."

Dude awesome.. just awesome.. I'm in pilot training right now! Soon I'll be a pilot with a gun too! What ultra sonic cleaner did you use? Can you recommend one? Is it loud?

I ended up buying a wet tumbler. Way better than teh sonic cleaner. The cases almost come out looking like gold. Primer pockets and the inside are perfect.

the 30 minute hand agitated batch came out almost or just as clean as an 8 minute cycle on the ultrasonic. In the end, I give it to the ultrasonic cleaner.

Cool thanks!

Thanks for the idea...which type of vinegar did you use?

I found a fix man. his vinegar solution cleans the brass well however like yours it turned mine pink. So a cheap fix that doesnt require a tumbler is to get a drill, got mine from harbor freight for 16 bucks. get a lee shell holder that attaches to a drill for trimming, then get the finest steal wool at walmart. wrap the steel wool around a piece of brass thats in the shell holder in the drill, squeeze the trigger for 3-5 seconds and it will leave your brass looking very shinny no pink.

Was the water hot/warm?

It is better to clean with the primer out so you can clean the brass completely, however for me, since it adds another step to the process, I only deprime before cleaning after every other load or two. It hasn't made a difference for regular target shooting. For precision, I would deprime before cleaning every time.

Excellent video. What wattage is your ultrasonic cleaner?