Cleaning Nickel Cases

[Barmcd]

How do you do it? I stuck some in with my brass and brass cleaner and it came out looking like pewter, not the shiny finish it had when I shot. I assume something in the brass cleaner tarnished it. Cleaned brass on the left, new on the right.

 

[9mmepiphany]

You're more likely to get helpful answers if you tell us which kind of Brass Cleaner you're discussing

 

[Barmcd]

You're more likely to get helpful answers if you tell us which kind of Brass Cleaner you're discussing

Frankford Arsenal’s prepackaged cleaner. Looks like a laundry detergent you’d drop on a washing machine. It makes brass sparkle so I’m thinking it contains citrus which might be affecting the nickel.

 

[FROGO207]

I use a 45 Colt casing full of citric acid and a good squeeze of Dawn to clean my brass wether it's plated or not. I only leave it in for 2 hours max and its usually as clean as need be. I did once leave a bunch of brass marinating overnight and it was all funny looking and dull. An hour running it the next day in the same solution and it was clean again. Might be in for too long or your water composition is causing this. I am not a chemist however.

 

[LiveLife]

Cleaning Nickel Cases ... How do you do it?

Frankford Arsenal’s prepackaged cleaner. Looks like a laundry detergent you’d drop on a washing machine.

I use Frankford Arsenal Rotary Tumbler, hot water, squirt of dish soap (Dawn or Palmolive) and squeeze of lemon juice ... Hour later this.

 

[Barmcd]

I use a 45 Colt casing full of citric acid and a good squeeze of Dawn to clean my brass wether it's plated or not. I only leave it in for 2 hours max and its usually as clean as need be. I did once leave a bunch of brass marinating overnight and it was all funny looking and dull. An hour running it the next day in the same solution and it was clean again. Might be in for too long or your water composition is causing this. I am not a chemist however.

We've got very hard water and using it from the outside tap gives me dull brownish brass while using the soft water from the house gives me brass with a greenish tint. I've resigned myself to using distilled water which gives me bright, shiny brass, except for the nickel plated variety.

 

[CoalCrackerAl]

I dry tumble mine.

 

[Bartojc]

I throw them in the dry tumbler like I do everything else.

-Jeff

 

[lightman]

I dry tumble mine.

Me too! I try to keep them out of the wet tumbler for the reason you posted about.

 

[AJC1]

We've got very hard water and using it from the outside tap gives me dull brownish brass while using the soft water from the house gives me brass with a greenish tint. I've resigned myself to using distilled water which gives me bright, shiny brass, except for the nickel plated variety.

Get an everpure filter... it's what restaurants use to make soda taste right. 26gph I have one on the cold side of my sink. Lasts a decade before filter swap.

 

[Atavar]

Get an everpure filter... it's what restaurants use to make soda taste right. 26gph I have one on the cold side of my sink. Lasts a decade before filter swap.

Any filter that lasts a decade isn’t filtering anything.
If you want pure water get a still. I’ve been using mine for about 5 years now and am quite happy with it. It is much handier than lugging gallons of water from the store.

The white stuff around the edge in the second picture are solids from two gallons of water. Yes, it is past time for descaling.

 

[savagemann]

I just recently did a few loads of nickel 9mm in my FA wet tumbler. I usually dry tumble it.
I used one of the FA cleaner pods like mentioned above. I also added about a 45 case worth of lemishine. Worth noting, I'm using SS chips instead of pins.
It came out good.
Be sure you are using hot water to tumble.
I have seen some people getting weird issues like you when wet tumbling brass and nickel at the same time.

 

[CQB45ACP]

I've only come across a relatively few nickel plated over the past several years and wet tumble them along with brass using same formula each time. Some come out very shiny, others clean but less shiny. Some you can tell clearly the plating is fading away.

My takeaway is it's the condition/nature of the particular case's plating, not the cleaning method/formula that determines the result.

(And, why the hot water? It only stays hot a few minutes. Do you really think it contributes anything if you're tumbling for a few hours? Full disclosure: I begin with hot water too, but have very little confidence it makes any difference.)

 

[Cheesemaker]

I have a few nickel plated cases mixed in with my 44Mag brass. They have been reloaded (maybe 10 times) and cleaned (wet tumbled with pins using Frankford Arsenals pouch cleaner too).
It is hard to tell them apart from the brass cases now - I figured it was the pins taking off the nickel plating. But they still work, I am not hung up on the looks - as long as it does not compromise the case integrity.

 

[AJC1]

I've only come across a relatively few nickel plated over the past several years and wet tumble them along with brass using same formula each time. Some come out very shiny, others clean but less shiny. Some you can tell clearly the plating is fading away.

My takeaway is it's the condition/nature of the particular case's plating, not the cleaning method/formula that determines the result.

(And, why the hot water? It only stays hot a few minutes. Do you really think it contributes anything if you're tumbling for a few hours? Full disclosure: I begin with hot water too, but have very little confidence it makes any difference.)

View attachment 1190922

I have no idea why you Tumble that long. Never needed more than an hour even digging cases out of the mud..... I put hot water in and pour warm water out....

 

[CQB45ACP]

I have no idea why you Tumble that long. Never needed more than an hour even digging cases out of the mud..... I put hot water in and pour warm water out....

Two hours is my typical max, more likely 1 1/2. I like sparkling jewelry and it takes me that long to get it. I've tried shorter but the sirens on the rocks beckon me by calling "tumble, tumble, tumble"

Let's (meaning you) do a poll, I've read of many here tumbling that long.

 

[AJC1]

Two hours is my typical max, more likely 1 1/2. I like sparkling jewelry and it takes me that long to get it. I've tried shorter but the sirens on the rocks beckon me by calling "tumble, tumble, tumble"

Let's (meaning you) do a poll, I've read of many here tumbling that long.

I started dialing back time when people started discussing pienning rifle case necks. I never really observed that problem, but I was in a situation where I had several loads to do and 45 minutes to an hour got them squeaky clean. Once they are jewelery you can generally get them reclean in about 30 minutes. I will admit being in Georgia now I get a lot of sand in range pickups, that probably helps speed things up.

 

[CQB45ACP]

I started dialing back time when people started discussing pienning rifle case necks. I never really observed that problem, but I was in a situation where I had several loads to do and 45 minutes to an hour got them squeaky clean. Once they are jewelery you can generally get them reclean in about 30 minutes. I will admit being in Georgia now I get a lot of sand in range pickups, that probably helps speed things up.

Take 'em to the sub base they'll come back glowing.

 

[JohnMc]

We've got very hard water and using it from the outside tap gives me dull brownish brass while using the soft water from the house gives me brass with a greenish tint. I've resigned myself to using distilled water which gives me bright, shiny brass, except for the nickel plated variety.

Do you have a water softener in the house? They are ion exchange and exchange sodium and chloride ions for whatever's in the well water; in other words, they create dilute salt water - OK for dishwashers and clothes washers, not so great for metals.
Depending on dietary sodium problems, it's not a horrible idea to have an under the sink RO system in the kitchen for drinking and cooking water.

 

[WeekendReloader]

I wet tumble with SS pins for 30mins-1hr. Any longer is just a waste of electricity.
Hot water, dash of Lemishine and Armor All Wash-n-Wax for the detergent. Sparkly clean brass and nickel. I don't have any problems mixing brass and nickel cases.

After an hour, the water is still warm. I tried tumbling with cold water and the results are less impressive. I think the auto wash-n-wax works much better when the water is hot.

I have also used Zip wash-n-wax and others that were on sale at the store. They all seemed to work fine. I like the wash-n-wax better than Dawn because it leaves a protective wax coating on the brass that prevents tarnish. Dawn leaves the brass "squeaky clean" and vulnerable to tarnish because the raw brass is exposed to oxygen.

 

[CQB45ACP]

I wet tumble with SS pins for 30mins-1hr. Any longer is just a waste of electricity.
Hot water, dash of Lemishine and Armor All Wash-n-Wax for the detergent. Sparkly clean brass and nickel. I don't have any problems mixing brass and nickel cases.

After an hour, the water is still warm. I tried tumbling with cold water and the results are less impressive. I think the auto wash-n-wax works much better when the water is hot.

I have also used Zip wash-n-wax and others that were on sale at the store. They all seemed to work fine. I like the wash-n-wax better than Dawn because it leaves a protective wax coating on the brass that prevents tarnish. Dawn leaves the brass "squeaky clean" and vulnerable to tarnish because the raw brass is exposed to oxygen.

I dunno...some would argue it's all a waste of electricity since the whole process is unnecessary.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

I dunno...some would argue it's all a waste of electricity since the whole process is unnecessary.

Yup. Pretty easy to prove it to yourself. Just take revolver brass straight from the cylinder - or rifle brass straight from the bolt face - and resize/decap, prime, charge, seat, reload and fire. If it doesn’t go off, you did something wrong unrelated to how clean or dirty the case is.

 

[CQB45ACP]

Yup. Pretty easy to prove it to yourself. Just take revolver brass straight from the cylinder - or rifle brass straight from the bolt face - and resize/decap, prime, charge, seat, reload and fire. If it doesn’t go off, you did something wrong unrelated to how clean or dirty the case is.

And yet, just started my baby Arsenal wet tumbler with 106 45acp cases, dishwasher pod, pins and hot water for its 1 1/2 — 2 hour romp. 35 degrees warm enough I guess.

And oh yeah, the last hour is primarily to ensure pockets are clean. Gotta be a solid reason.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

And yet, just started my baby Arsenal wet tumbler with 106 45acp cases, dishwasher pod, pins and hot water for its 1 1/2 — 2 hour romp. 35 degrees warm enough I guess.

And oh yeah, the last hour is primarily to ensure pockets are clean. Gotta be a solid reason.

I wasn’t meaning to imply you had to justify your obsession. Far from it. None of us has to explain or justify anything to anyone. I was just making the point that this is about desire and convenience, not necessity. Dirty cases shoot just fine.

 

[CQB45ACP]

I wasn’t meaning to imply you had to justify your obsession. Far from it. None of us has to explain or justify anything to anyone. I was just making the point that this is about desire and convenience, not necessity. Dirty cases shoot just fine.

No I didn’t think you were cause if I did think that, Id still be writing my justification.