How to polish brass on firearms

S

shafter

New member
Just a quick question: How do you guys polish the brass on your muzzleloading rifles and pistols? Will any cleaners weaken the brass?
 
I generally don't. I like it dull. Some makers put a clear coat on it that has to be removed before you try to polish it.
 
Personally, I prefer dull and wipe with wet dirty patches after swabbing the bore. Also, brass that is engraved will lose that engraving if polished too often.
However, if you MUST polish, I reccomend Simichrome. Most gun shops have it and most antique stores carry it. Very good product.
 
Brasso gives you a discoloration which is tough to get off.
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Maybe you tried it on a coated piece and the ammonia attacked the clear coat. I've used it on brass with good results. I even used it in my case tumbler after letting the ammonia evaporate.
 
Bowdog said:
I use Never -Dull on my CAS/SASS, SAA & 1866 Winchester.
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+1. Nevr Dull is the best stuff I've found. All the liquids and pastes are messy and require the use of rags or polishing cloths to apply it. Nevr Dull is impregnated cotton batting of some sort that is 1000% less messy than your run of the mill brass cleaners.
 
I'm in the Nevr Dull crowd, too. The Navy hooked me on it. If you've never seen what that stuff can do to a nasty, green fireplug, you'd be amazed.
 
Nevr Dull is great stuff. However, I got a most unexpected result from using it on the bumper of a car I was rebuilding years ago. It seems the fellow who was helping me rebuild the engine had extensive experience with it in the Navy, like Hardcase, but he didn't appreciate it as much.

When he saw what I was using he launched into an invective much like his legendary sailing predecessors are famous for. A summary of his 10 minute rant is that, as corrective action for some imagined (he claimed) transgression, he had been suggested to a flag officer as the perfect seaman to polish everything that shined, or was supposed to shine, on an aircraft carrier while it wandered about the seas of Southeast Asia for long periods of time. He had hoped to never see another fiber of Nevr Dull for the rest of his days.
 
I've never seen Nev'r dull. Is it the same thing as the "Dura Glit" we used to use to shine up our brass in the Marines? Came in a little tin can and was like raw cotton fibers impregnated with something that shined up the brass real well. Kinda smelled bad too, hence the tight fitting tin to keep it in. Is Nev'r dull the same thing as Dura Glit was?



.
 
Not exactly, but probably very close. Different manufacturers. Dura-Glit is made and distributed by Brasso, while Nevr Dull is made by George Basch Co.
 
Brasso

Guys,

I am going to do a little fooling around with Brasso and with Never-Dull so I can accurately describe the difference in results. When I finish it up I'll get back to you. I am certain that I get dis-similar results between the two and I like Never-Dull better. But I will be able to be specific after I mess with it a bit.
 
For really spectacular results, buy some MicroMesh 8000 grit abrasive cloth. We used it to polish the passenger windows on 727s.
 
Comparison

I was not able to find my half bottle of Brasso so I went out and bought a new bottle. Polished half of a frame with Brasso and the other half with Never-Dull.

The part that I polished with Brasso required a lot of elbow grease to get it to the same shine as Never-Dull. It was not as though the metal did not shine as nuch, it is just that there seems to be a very light cloudy film left on the surface that needs to be rubbed away. Obviously both Never-Dull and Brasso require polishing after the stuff does it's job. In my experience and now verified to me in this side by side comparison, Brasso requires a little more work. I will also say that when I used Never-Dull on the surface that had just been Brasso-d I got a better (very slightly better) shine. The cloudiness on the surface was immediately removed with the Never-Dull. Lot of variables that I am sure I am leaving out, and I admit that the difference is very very minor. I will use Brasso and Never-Dull interchangeably, but I like Never-Dull better.
 
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