lemishine ?

[Abenaki]

I have been wet tumbling for a few years now using water and Dawn dish soap.
I think that it is time to kick it up a notch.

I have never used lemishine before.
So, how much should I use? I am using a small Fankford Arsenal tumbler.

Thanks for the help
Abenaki

[OLD-skool454#3]

Just what you can pinch between your thumb and index finger...too much lemishine and it will tarnish/change your brass to an ugly yellowish gold. It won't make a difference for reloading, but aesthetically...it just looks ugly. Cleaned brass may also change in color as it sits for a long time without the lemishine, but not as bad. I use the larger Frankford Tumbler and two pinches of lemishine is all it needs...in my case

[Strafer]

Just a pinch and the brass will look great. I use the FA tumbler, a drop or two of Dawn, and a pinch of lemishine. Shiny brass! I agree w old-skool - don't use too much.

[kendog4570]

Citric acid from the canning dept at your grocery or Amazon. Same stuff sold as descale powder for Keurig machines. Only MUCH cheaper!! Teaspoon or two in the tumbler with ss pins. I have found that less dawn makes for better results. 1/2 tsp or less in a 12 pound Lortone.
Lemishine IS crystalized citric acid.

[NapalmCheese]

In my Thumler's, I use about a 9mm case full of citric acids, a couple of drops of Dawn, and a half full tub of water and get shiny brass. I've tried car wash with wax in it, not using Dawn, not using citric acid, and not using pins. Of them, my prettiest brass comes from the above recipe.

If I'm being particular I'll take my filthy brass and tumble it without pins for a few minutes, then dry, deprime/resize, and then tumble with pins to get the primer pockets clean. I shoot a lot of black powder and primer pockets get pretty funky and make it hard to get the primer seated well.

[anyracoon]

In my Rebel tumbler; 4.5#s brass, 3 squirts of Dawn and 1/4 teaspoon Lemonshine/citric acid. Fill tumbler with hot water to a inch below top and run for 4 hours.
300 BlackOut Brass (1).jpg

[jsanch03]

You also have to take into account how soft or hard your water is. I used to use dawn and semi shine but I noticed depending on what lube I was using during the resize process I needed to adjust my measurements. Water based lubes were no issue but the classic lanolin stuff required more because it was stubborn to remove. Make sure to clean your tumbler with just the pins so you can maintain their effectiveness when tumbling.



this year i tried something else called brass juice. No pins needed and so far I’ve been able to reuse the same gallon mix for 4-5 full cycles in my FART.

[Abenaki]

Thanks for the info. You guys are great!

Take care
Abenaki

[anyracoon]

Just a FYI, when my pins get dirty, I run just pins and hot water, with a once of Simple Green for 2 hours, than rinse well.

[AdamVIP]

I use a now discontinued big dawg tumbler. Here's my ratio

1 gallon water
2 tablespoons dawn
1/4 teaspoon lemishine

[jimmykan]

Lemishine is basically citric acid. Leaving brass in too high citric acid concentration for too long can cause the brass to become brittle.

I wet tumbled some 6.5 Creedmoor brass in a very acidic solution and then left it for 2 weeks before draining and rinsing the brass. When I finally starting resizing the brass, about 15% of the case necks would split when passed through an expander mandrel.
I annealed the remaining pieces from that batch and the problem pretty much went away, but I can't fully trust those pieces anymore. I'm not a metallurgist but maybe the acid permanently leached out some component of the brass alloy.

Not trying to scare anyone away from using citric acid when wet tumbling, it works great. Just follow the generally accepted guidelines and stay on top of the process. (I have ADHD)

[ar15robert]

I been using it for a while with dawn and also use the small FA tunbler.Normally i give it two shots of lemishine(2 quick squeezes)

[newbie1234]

When you buy a Lee die sets, it came with the yellow powder measurement cup, I used 1/2 to 3/4 Limeshine of that cup for about 3/4 full of brass on Frankfort Arsenal wet tumble.