How to Polish Gun Brass

Ever since the advent of the full metal jacket cartridge, many guns have utilized a brass cartridge to contain the load and projectile of a shot. Gun owners who reload their own cartridges and shells regularly can save money and improve the performance of brass cartridges with better quality powders and precisely measured loads. Cartridges must be properly cleaned after each use and before reloading to insure proper firing at a later date. With each use, it is important to remove all discharge material that has adhered to the brass surfaces of a cartridge inside and out. Gun owners who reload their own shots will need to properly clean brass cartridges in order to produce the best shooting environments.

Things You'll Need

• Plastic or glass container
• Hot water
• Dish soap
• Phosphoric acid
• Baking soda
• Used brass gun cartridges

Instructions

1. Wash the used brass cartridges in a very hot soapy solution. Agitate the containers for a few minutes to ensure the solution has an opportunity to clean residues that can affect the next step in the cleaning process. Rinse the cartridges in clean, hot water and drain.

2. Add more clean, hot water to the same container with the brass cartridges. According to the amount of water you are using, add ½ teaspoon of Phosphoric Acid per gallon of water to the container. The addition of the phosphoric acid will generate a chemical reaction which will eliminate any remaining residual buildup of discharge contaminants that may be left after the initial soapy solution. This solution will clean the cartridge inside and out including primer pockets.

3. Pour baking soda into the phosphoric acid solution to stop the cleaning activity. Drain the cartridges from the solution and rinse with more hot water. The cleaning process is complete.

4. Examine each cartridge after cleaning. The phosphoric acid solution will have cleaned any residual powders and material left over from the previous shot. The solution will also highlight any corrosion that may be present in the cartridges. The corrosion will show up as a highlighted copper look to the brass. If after wiping the cartridge down the corrosion is still noticeable, you should scrap the cartridge as unusable in the future.

Tips & Warnings

• The phosphoric bath has no time limit. As the chemical reaction acts only on the residues left behind and not the brass, you will find that the brass will become clean almost instantly.

• Because of a chemical reaction called “passivation,” the brass is actually made stronger after the acid bath.

• You can save the solution by not adding the baking soda when finished. The solution will last a long time, and can be used for multiple cleanings.

• The phosphoric solution is environmentally safe.