Wet tumbling, I have a question or two.

[Jim Watson]

I only wet tumble black powder brass. When I transitioned from ceramic to steel media, I got that dirty gray film on cases. I attributed it to new pins with whatever lube was left from drawing and clipping the wire. When I got the pins clean, I got clean brass.

 

[Demi-human]

I only wet tumble black powder brass. When I transitioned from ceramic to steel media, I got that dirty gray film on cases. I attributed it to new pins with whatever lube was left from drawing and clipping the wire. When I got the pins clean, I got clean brass.

How did the ceramic do? Was that wet tumble as well?

 

[Jim Watson]

Yes, ceramic media wet tumbling of BPCR brass was well established before steel pins got popular.
It does a good job, but the wrong size vs caliber relationship will leave you with little white pellets stuck in case mouths.

 

[Tilos]

Well I redid the 380acp's today. Deprimed, put them back in the tumbler with the pins, a dash of soap and 1/4 teaspoon of lemishine. ran them for 1 hr and rinsed them off good. Put them in the drier for 1 hr and all looks good. I have the 9mm cases running right now.

So I am chalking it up to leaving them sit overnight in the wash.

Thanks for the help
WB

Good to know, thanks for posting back

I thought your problem was with 9mm brass, not 380?
Interesting how posting continues on here, even though you have seemed to have identified your problem.
Tumbling threads seem to take on a life of their own with everyone posting, in detail, "their" method that usually is the exact same as the others.
Always a mystery to me,


Post back with the results from 9mm tumbling

 

[HDMontana]

Here are 500 or so of .223/5.56 range brass. Couple of hours in the FART with 1/2 tablespoon of lemishine and a couple of tablespoons of armor all wash and wax.

 

[Dudedog]

Your water hardness/PH will determine how much LimeShine/Citric Acid you add.

Good point.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

Your water hardness/PH will determine how much LimeShine/Citric Acid you add.

Good point.

So will the detergent. Most detergents will raise the ph in the water, so it can neutralize the citric acid you put in if you only put in a little bit like half a tea spoon.

I used to put detergent in my Ultra Sonic Cleaner with my Citric acid, I quit putting it in. Detergent didn't seem to drop the dirt out of the water no matter how much I put in and the more Dawn I put in the dirtier my case still were when I took them out. It's because the Dawn was neutralizing the citric acid.

I don't think Hornady One Shot has any detergent in it, just water treatments and citric acid and something to make it smell good. The water treatments they put in it gives it the slippery feel.

I just looked up the SDS sheet on Armor All Wash and Wax and it has a ph of 7.54 so it can and will neutralize the citric acid your putting in your solution. You really aren't gaining anything by putting half a teespoon of citric acid in your solution. It's not doing anything for you health wise either, due to the citric acid solution needing to be acidic at 6 ph or lower to chellate the lead in the primer mix residue to make that reaction happen and end up non toxic.

Armor all has some kind of acid in it but is still 7.54 ph.
My point is,
Your pins are doing the cleaning and the detergent may be helping but a low dose of citric acid is doing nothing for you. I expect the detergents you guys are using is causing your problems with dis-coloration of your brass, not the citric acid your putting in your solutions, because it was nuetralized the second you put it in.

Just my opinion.

http://www.armorall.com/sites/default/files/Armor All Premium Wash & Wax + Protect (2014-07) SDS English_0.pdf

 

[Wildbillz]

Good to know, thanks for posting back

I thought your problem was with 9mm brass, not 380?
Interesting how posting continues on here, even though you have seemed to have identified your problem.
Tumbling threads seem to take on a life of their own with everyone posting, in detail, "their" method that usually is the exact same as the others.
Always a mystery to me,


Post back with the results from 9mm tumbling

9mm's came out good to go. Originally just did the 9mm and 380's together as they were all in one bunch from the range and I wanted to have the head-stamps clean so I could read them.

Now I just have to wait on my bullets to show up and I can reload them.

WB

 

[2ndtimer]

Am I the only one who runs their Frankfort Arsenal liquid tumbler “pin free”? I do use the pins occasionally, and they do a better job of cleaning the inside of the cases and the primer pockets, but are more of a hassle. I get very good results with a squirt or two of Dawn Platinum and 2 small Lee dippers of Lemishine. I usually tumble for an hour and a half or two, and always rinse immediately. Word for me.

 

[Tilos]

Am I the only one who runs their Frankfort Arsenal liquid tumbler “pin free”? I do use the pins occasionally, and they do a better job of cleaning the inside of the cases and the primer pockets, but are more of a hassle. I get very good results with a squirt or two of Dawn Platinum and 2 small Lee dippers of Lemishine. I usually tumble for an hour and a half or two, and always rinse immediately. Word for me.

I always use pins to get the insides squeaky clean to see the powder level and find cases with steps, but I only load straight walled cases.
I use paint strainer bags to keep track of the pins, way better/less hassle than the FA spinner/separator thing.

 

[rskent]

Am I the only one who runs their Frankfort Arsenal liquid tumbler “pin free”?

Yes and no. Pins for preprocessing, no pins for post processing. I don’t have a FART. I use a Thumblers. I use the pins after depriming and annealing.
After sizing and trimming I clean the brass with wash n wax without pins for the final cleaning before priming and loading. I’m just cleaning off the lube.

 

[rskent]

Tumbling threads seem to take on a life of their own with everyone posting, in detail, "their" method that usually is the exact same as the others.
Always a mystery to me,

No mystery, when I read through these posts, I appreciate all the different ideas and methods people use. That’s likely the reason I keep coming back. I’m still refining my methodology. So, learning how other people do their processing is a great help in refining my own process.

 

[Tilos]

No mystery, when I read through these posts, I appreciate all the different ideas and methods people use. That’s likely the reason I keep coming back. I’m still refining my methodology. So, learning how other people do their processing is a great help in refining my own process.

yep, and there's many more older threads on tumbling that have the same posters posting the same thing (me included)...That's the mystery to me.
Why not just search for those threads if you are looking to "refine my methodology"?

My view may be somewhat jaded as I've been here awhile and have seen many subjects regurgitated/repeated many times, almost word for word, like the 9mm crimp threads.
I'm guessing from your thread count that you have noticed the repeats too.
I'll leave this thread now as the OP seems to have had his questions answered and has posted as such.
I don't want to be the one to continue the off topic drift,

 

[steveo77]

I tumble my bulk/match primer intact 9mm maybe 800 rds at a time in a squirt o' dish soap and maybe 1/2 a 9mm case of lemishine for 15 mins, I put the pins in if I want to the insides to be shiny and have extra time to deal with them ( I dont anymore ), I read once and tend to agree that anything over 15-20 mins is not getting it any cleaner, I have noticed that the brass tends to discolor when it runs longer. I got a sample pack of guntap brass cleaner with my pins that worked very well, looked very much like powdered laundry det and lemishine