Cleaning & Polishing Tarnished and Spent Bullet Casings

Re-using spent ammunition is a great way to save money and explore the process of making your own rounds.  When a pistol, revolver or rifle has discharged a round, the casing is left behind.  Whether it is in the carousel or on the ground it will be tarnished, hot and in need of restoration.  

Most casings are made of brass, so we will focus on brass restoration in this article.  You will need:

1. TLV Series Vibratory Bowl & V-105 Complete Accessory System

2. Synthetic Tumbling Media 

3. Pre-Treated Polishing Corn Cob

4. ViChem VL-557

Step 1: Fill the vibratory bowl with synthetic media and fill the re-circulation system with 6 gallons of water & 10-15oz of ViChem VL-557 tumbling soap.  Set the timer on the stand for 3 hours and start the process.  The media and compound will scrub the surface of the casings and remove any tarnish and scale.  This process will also smooth the surface to an Ra that will allow a deep polish.

After the parts have tumbled for a few hours, remove the casings from the media and give them a good rinse in a bucket of clean fresh water. 

Step 2: The next (and final) step is the polish.  Empty all of the synthetic media out of the vibratory bowl and wipe the drain area down with some acetone or MEK (any good solvent).  Next, put a strip of gorilla tape over the drain, to keep any of the corn cob media from passing through.  Now, fill the bowl with pre-treated polishing corn cob.  Put the casings in the cob, set the timer for 24hrs and hit "Go".   This step takes a while, but the results will be astonishing. 

After the cycle has completed, you can separate the casings from the media.  They should have a bright (white) shine to them and will be ready for another round!

We hope this article helps.  Please contact us with any questions.