Dillon/lanolin case lube users.

[Monty619]

Question for all the Dillon/lanolin case lube users. Has anyone ever SS wet tumbled their brass after sizing and the brass turns dark? I ss wet tumble my rifle brass and use Dillon case lube for sizing. When I ss tumble them afterwards, the brass turns dark and you can still feel a grease feel on the brass. I don't have a corncob tumbler and not really trying to buy more equipment. Should I change lube? I'd like to use my ss tumbler for lube removal. Thanks for the help.

[bazineta]

I personally haven't had much success in using SS tumbling to remove lanolin lube. However, it removes easily with a microfiber towel, so that's the route I take for rifle brass.

[Monty619]

I personally haven't had much success in using SS tumbling to remove lanolin lube. However, it removes easily with a microfiber towel, so that's the route I take for rifle brass.

Thanks for the reply. I tried that but arthritis kicks in when trying to do 1k cases at a time. Haha

[tokenr]

What is your mix for wet tumbling? It might be too acidic causing the brass to patina and turn dark. Hot water and dish detergent should get it off since Lanolin melts at 100 degrees.

[Monty619]

What is your mix for wet tumbling? It might be too acidic causing the brass to patina and turn dark. Hot water and dish detergent should get it off since Lanolin melts at 100 degrees.

I do 1lb-1lb on pins vs brass and 1/4 tsp of Lemishine/gallon of water.

[bazineta]

With respect to the darkening, for cleaning I use a very small amount of Lemishine and a small squirt of Dawn in the FA tumbler. The cases come out very shiny. I rinse with tap water, and the more I rinse, the more tarnished and dark the cases will become. Were I to let them run under tap water for about 10 minutes or so, they'd be pretty dark.

Once they're tarnished like that, I can put the smallest amount of Lemishine in water, and if I dip a tarnished case into it, it's instantly, and I do mean instantly, shiny again.

Guessing that perhaps you're seeing tarnish from impurities in the water after the post-sizing run that's darkening the cases. If so, you could try adding a hint of Lemishine (or any citric acid, for that matter) to the post-sizing water to see if that prevents the darkening.

[sofbak]

In a previous thread, the fix to the lanoline issues was to use woolite instead of dish detergent.

Here is that thread:

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?p=17678712&highlight=Woolite#post17678712

[Monty619]

With respect to the darkening, for cleaning I use a very small amount of Lemishine and a small squirt of Dawn in the FA tumbler. The cases come out very shiny. I rinse with tap water, and the more I rinse, the more tarnished and dark the cases will become. Were I to let them run under tap water for about 10 minutes or so, they'd be pretty dark.

Once they're tarnished like that, I can put the smallest amount of Lemishine in water, and if I dip a tarnished case into it, it's instantly, and I do mean instantly, shiny again.

Guessing that perhaps you're seeing tarnish from impurities in the water after the post-sizing run that's darkening the cases. If so, you could try adding a hint of Lemishine (or any citric acid, for that matter) to the post-sizing water to see if that prevents the darkening.

When I tumble post-sizing, I do use Lemishine and Dawn soap just as I do pre-sizing.

[sofbak]

"I rinse with tap water, and the more I rinse, the more tarnished and dark the cases will become. Were I to let them run under tap water for about 10 minutes or so, they'd be pretty dark."

Where are you-Flint MI?

Seems very odd that a tap water rinse would darken brass like that.

[bazineta]

San Jose. Drought and all, we've been on ground water sources only for a while now. Pretty hard stuff.

[liber]

I use the Dillon lube, but don't use SS pins to wet tumble, I just tumble with Lemishine and a little dish soap, no pins.

I wipe the cases off by hand after I load them, and inspect them at the same time.

[Devilmonkey89]

Not that long ago I saw a member recommend "woolite" detergent. I guess it was made to remove lanolin oil from wool in the past.

[robert101]

I use crushed walnut in dry tumbler. Here in S. Cal it seems we can't use water for anything any longer. I guess the pool is going to dry up.

[9mmepiphany]

I do 1lb-1lb on pins vs brass and 1/4 tsp of Lemishine/gallon of water.

Sounds like too much Lemi-shine. In the big FA wet tumbler (35lb capacity), I only put in a 9mm case of Lemi-shine for the whole load

When I tumble post-sizing, I do use Lemishine and Dawn soap just as I do pre-sizing.

Dawn won't remove the lanolin. Use Woolite and hot water...no Lemi-shine, no pins

[RIA1911er]

I experienced something similar to what you did. I tried adding a little woolite and it still left the cases smudge looking. After googling how to get rid of lanolin I stumbled across the recommendation of using stain remover. I added a small amount to a batch in my FA wet tumbler and the brass turned out shiny and lanolin free. I stopped adding the FA brass cleaner to the mix because the resolve stain remover did a better job by itself. A little will go a long way.