On the back of a Lee product, it mentioned cleaning your brass with steel wool, has anyone tried this, and will it harm the brass in any way?

A watch pocket is a small pocket in the front of your pants for a pocket watch.
I have one on my wool hunting trousers.(they are quite old)
I never considered using steel wool for cleaning brass cases.It's a little erosive and a lot more work then a vibrator-cleaner.
Frank

I have cleaned a lot of Remington .25-20 cases with steel wool while turning them with my electric drill in the Lee case holder. My .25-20 shell holder is bright and shinney. I have not had a any case problems due to this. .25-20's shot in the Savage M-23 or the Marlin 1894CL tend to work harden their necks for some reason. You can feel them chatter as the Lee cutter trims them. Any that chatter I lay aside and anneal. After trimming I inside and out side deburr them and give them a quik turn with steel wool.
I have a vibratory case cleaner but do not use it too much over fears of lead poisening when I empty it.

Up til a couple of years ago all my brass was cleaned with the Lee trimmer base spun in a drill press. Been doing it that way for ever. When your done with the 0000 steel wool you can use a little brass polish on a rag and have brass that just plain shines like our military belt buckles. It works great.

thanks for responding.

I made a spinner to put in a drill that was tapered and "bit" into the mouth of the case and you could hold 000 or 0000 wool against the brass. I've since gotten a tumbler.

William, I hadn't heard there was a danger of lead exposure from tumbing media. Could you elaborate please?

RJ

Several years ago a member of the Cast Bullet Association discovered he had high levels of lead in his blood. He was a dedicated bullet caster and a study of his casting area was undertaken. After an involved study it was determined he was not exposed by his bullet casting activities. The surprise came when they emptied his vibratory case cleaner and the plume of lead dust rang the gong on the dosimeter.
I use a vibratory case cleaner but when I empty it I am very careful to take it outside my garage and empty it in the wind to carry the dust away. I wash my hands carefully after working with my cleaner and wiping any residue off my cases.

If you want a surprise put one quarter of a sheet of paper towel in your case cleaner while tumbling your cases. The paper towel will emerge looking like carbon paper (shows how old I am) and will be very brittle. If your media is getting old by some rejuvinator and tumble your cases with paper towl, then add rejuvinatorto the cleaned walnut shells.

Slim
I use the discarded anti static sheets from the Wife's dryer,instead of plain paaper.
Just where does the high concentration of lead come from,in the polishing media?
I shoot a lot of cast bullets,but my sheets are not black;they are dark brown.
Frank

I'm just wondering if it helps to deprime the cases before tumbling, that may get rid of a bunch of the lead still held in the primer.

I usually deprime and clean the primer pockets before tumbling. Your media is too dry if you're getting dust, according to Mic McPherson. Try 1 oz. of water or rubbing alcohol per quart of media for a start. You may need more water if it's really dry. Run the tumbler for 15 minutes after adding water and before adding cases, or you'll get a wet gob stuck in a case.

Bye
Jack

To dry a media is something I never thought about, thanks for the tip Jack.

I've lost count of the tips I've got from you, Bob.

Bye
Jack

Just where does the high concentration of lead come from,in the polishing media?

From the priming compound residue inside the case?

There is another thread about the decreasing quality of .22 rimfire ammunition with a thought that the quality started to go down when the priming compound was changed -- probably to remove the lead.

Just a guess, though. . .

The Old Guy

I'm just wondering if it helps to deprime the cases before tumbling, that may get rid of a bunch of the lead still held in the primer.
Decapping and cleaning primer pockets is SOP with me. I take the decapped cases outdoors to clean the primer pockets. Saves me an extra cleanup then the cases go in the tumbler.

I generally tumble my cases with the spent primers in. I too believe the lead comes from the primer residue.
It can get pretty dry out here, I have never tried adding a bit of water to my tumbler but I’ll try it out.<O:p</O:p

Smitty, I have too used the steel wool method and it works fine. Lately I have been using vinegar, warm water, and a little Dawn dishwashing liquid. Someone posted this tip on here a while back and I thought I would give it a try. It works to my liking. It will cut the tarnish off cases but you will not get that super "polished" look like you will with a tumbler.

What I do is fill a 2 quart container with brass up about 3/4 of the way. Then I pour white vinegar over them until they are just almost completely covered, add a few drops of Dawn and fill the rest of the way with hot tap water. I then agitate them, let them set for 15-30 minutes, agitate again, rinse and dry. I throw mine out on a large towel pat them dry and then place on a large cookie sheet in the oven at about 150 degrees for about 30-45 minutes. You could just let them air dry I suppose or place them outside in the sun for a few hours. I just do this when the brass starts getting nasty not everytime I reload a case. I have no interest in a tumbler as everyone knows pretty brass shoots no better then dirty brass. Give it a try, vinegar is cheap and it won't harm the brass like ammonia will. It's an easy and fast way to cut the tarnish and dirt off nasty looking cases.

Several years ago a member of the Cast Bullet Association discovered he had high levels of lead in his blood. He was a dedicated bullet caster and a study of his casting area was undertaken. After an involved study it was determined he was not exposed by his bullet casting activities. The surprise came when they emptied his vibratory case cleaner and the plume of lead dust rang the gong on the dosimeter.
I use a vibratory case cleaner but when I empty it I am very careful to take it outside my garage and empty it in the wind to carry the dust away. I wash my hands carefully after working with my cleaner and wiping any residue off my cases.

If you want a surprise put one quarter of a sheet of paper towel in your case cleaner while tumbling your cases. The paper towel will emerge looking like carbon paper (shows how old I am) and will be very brittle. If your media is getting old by some rejuvinator and tumble your cases with paper towl, then add rejuvinatorto the cleaned walnut shells.

Wow, I'll give that a try. And thanks for the warning, I must've tumbled about a ton of brass, much of it loaded with cast bullets over the years, but I never thought of that.

Hey,it works fine....I do it all the time,,use 4 ought---0000

I don't use steel wool but I do use a Scotch Brite Pad. They are not as aggressive and do a fine job of cleaning the case. When I have it chucked up I also use a bore brush inside the case neck.