Poor Results after Tumbling

[Andy9161]

Hi All,

I just wanted to see if anyone has run across this issue.

I am SS tumbling my brass and have had great results until the last batch.

I normally use distilled water, 9mm cap of LS and small squirt of dawn and 1-1.5 hours of tumbling.

The last batch came out really poor. It is like there is a thin film of dirt/grime on the brass. So i cleaned everything, the pins, tumbler, etc.

I ran the brass again and same results. So I ran the brass with some Meguairs and let them tumble for 3 hours. Same thing.

Has anyone seen this?


1. The shiny brass was tumbled a few weeks ago. The darker brass is fresh out of 3 hours of tumbling:


2. After wiping down the brass:



3. Water post 3 hour tumble:


Any suggestions a greatly appreciated!

[baranski]

Cut the LS in half, use warm water.

Personally I like a bit of Woolite in that mix, brass comes out very nice and stays that way.


My water has never looked that clean after a tumble.

[bazineta]

Try more soap, and use hot water; looks like you're not getting much surfactant action on that batch. Also, TBH, distilled water seems like a strange choice to me, I mean, consider what you're cleaning off there, it's like what Satan's Kleenex looks like. I think the amount of dissolved solids in regular tap water isn't going to make much difference.

[AlienHobo]

That happened to me on my last few batches. I use a little Turtle Wax, Dawn, and some Citric Acid in warm water. It has always worked just fine. About a month ago, I ran 4 batches and each time, the first run-through came out like your pictures. I ran them through a second time using the exact same recipe and they came out shiny like normal.

I have no explanation as to why that happened.

[sef]

Yea, clean water but that was his 3rd tumble.
I normally tumble twice. (~750 45apc or 1000 9mm)
Soap = Armorall Ultrashine - (~1.5 - 2.0 Tablespoons)
LS = (1/4 Teaspoon or Less)
Tumbler Speed - 45rpm
First - Soap & Pins for 2 hours.
Second - Soap & Pins & LS for 2 hours.
Comes out bright and shinny for me and stays that way after drying.
My experience with to much LS is a "Red or Tarnish" color. Not Shinny.
-sef

[JackEllis]

I just had the same thing happen with a bunch of .223 cases that I "tumbled" in the bed of my pickup while driving an hour and a half round-trip to the range. I suspect the trick might be warm or hot water. May be able to answer later today after I do another batch of cases.

I don't use SS media or a purpose-built tumbler but I have had good luck cleaning up pistol cases with water, soap, LS, and then a good shake followed by a good soak.

[bubbala]

did you use dillon lube when you sized them?
that stuff is tenacious, i think woolite or alcohol will remove it.

[Michael in California]

That water seems to tell me the rubber liner in the tumbler is eroding or breaking down. Use more soap. You need to have some bubbles left after tumbling. If not, the soap is used up before finishing.

Also, I use a .380 case of lemishine. You don't need much. Err on the side of too little with the lemishine always.

Follow-up: Run the tumbler without brass. Just soap and pins and look at the color of the water after tumbling. I'll bet it is the same color.

Now, if you are not using a tumbler with a rubber liner, I got no clue.

[Andy9161]

I am using a tumbler with a rubber liner that is less than 3 months old.

FYI, the load pictured was the 3rd tumble as mentioned above as to why the water is not dirtier.

This load was run with hot water, the prior load room temp.

There was no case lube on these as that was cleaned on tumble 2. I am using a lanolin based oil.

Also on tumble 2 I used straight tap water to see if It made a difference. It didn't, cases were still dirty.

[TexasJackKin]

I've had the same problem off and on, trying to use the same recipe, sometimes looking like gold, other times looking like what you've got there.

I hope someone that gets good results 100% of the time will let us in on their secret.

[Michael in California]

I had similar results once, but not as bad. Adding more soap was the fix, thus my recommendation.

[ar15barrels]

Dry tumbling has no such chemistry problems.

[Cheep]

Try a degreasing soap. I think you have a film that is staying on the surface instead of washing out. I've had this problem and used a degreaser in place of the soap for a few batches.

[Mayor McRifle]

Use use cold hose water and this: https://www.amazon.com/Frankford-Ars.../dp/B007WQJC90, and try tumbling the brass a little longer. You'll never have that problem again.

[Calguns77]

Try a degreasing soap. I think you have a film that is staying on the surface instead of washing out. I've had this problem and used a degreaser in place of the soap for a few batches.

That would be my guess. Maybe you contaminated your pins in whatever container you sift them into? Try running the tumbler with just dawn and pins and see what the water looks like.