Hassle free case cleaning ...........

scotsgun

Well-Known Member
I've long since moved on from tumblers to ultrasonic cleaners and dumped expensive cleaners in favour of cheap 'own brand' cola. Now the wife commented that some old biddy on a TV show had used the same cheap cola to clean her toilet and i wondered how effective the cola alone would be cleaning cases ; no ultrasonic cleaner, cloth, wiping or agitation in any way.

I dumped 50 old dirty 7.5x55 cases in a half empty 2 litre bottle of ASDA cola and left them for 24hrs. You'll have to forgive the quality of the pics, but the results are great. A quick sloosh round under the tap and left to dry afterwards and the results are pretty much as good as a couple of long cycles on the ultrasonic cleaner.

19p for effortless clean brass without any tumblers, ultrasonic cleaners or fuss. I can live with that.

Dirty case:
IMG00430-20110413-0143.jpg


Case cleaned:
IMG00429-20110413-0143.jpg


IMG00428-20110413-0142.jpg


Comparing one before and after:
IMG00427-20110413-0142.jpg
 
I did the same, Offroad Gary recommended it on another thread...I had some cases that were VERY dark and tarnished, so they went into Coke for 6hrs, and they came out shiny as anything, as well as the inside having been cleaned too. I did give them a real good wash and soak afterwards though..

In lack of a tumbler - a great solution IMHO:D
 
In my ultrasonic cleaner I use a couple of tablespoons of citric acid powder which is the ingredient in coke that is making the differance. You can buy it on ebay.


Ian
 
Coke is unbelievable stuff, no wonder it destroys teeth!! I have seen it used on board a ship to help remove a rust seized bolt, soaked for twenty four hours and the bolt unscrewed no problem!!
 
Afternoon all, Here I go again. IMHO The photographs show and etched surface rather than a polished one.

The Main ingredient of Coke is Phosphoric Acid. That and Citric Acid will (as will any acid) etch the brass, mainly attacking the grain boundaries between the Copper and Zinc. This will change the ductillity of the brass and could cause cracking of the case, particularly around the shoulder and neck.
 
Not overly concerned mate as i anneal after each firing.

Sorry, i didn't add but the inside of the case came out just as good as a cycle in the ultrasonic, so not bad at all.
 
perhaps not use coke EVERY time, but surely a couple of hrs can't do any harm to the cases chemical structure...I'd think... maybe just use for cases that have gone super-tarnished..

Controversially, I touch up my fired cases with brasso soaked cloth now and again. I am not planning on reloading them a thousand times though, probably just up to 5 times, and then decommission them to be replaced with some nice new shiny La Poo's.
 
Annealing will not return a changed chemical structure back to where it started, it will only alter ductility.


Yeah, i know that, but as my hunting brass is so little used in comparison to my target stuff.... all i'm saying is that it's stop them from splitting and allow a few more reloads which prob amounts to another 6 months at least.
 
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