Cleaning Questions?

[A.M.]

Hey everyone...

I am in a bit of a confused state right now...

When I use SS media + citric acid + dawn to tumble, my casings end up looking like a deep, darkish gold (not DARK, but just darker). When I used a tumbler, the brass ended up looking a bright yellow.

Am I doing something wrong?

[wtkaiser]

Sounds like you are complicating the heck out of what should be a simple operation. Brass is bright yellow in color, so if it's not bright, it's not right. (Sorry, made that one up on the spur of the moment). I guess I can see the reason behind the dawn, but citric acid???

I just use a tumbler and dry media. But I admit my needs are simple compared to others

[Sub95]

I use ss with citric acid and super orange and they are clean and shiny yellow, with dry media they come out like they are matte yellow. I will post a pic tomorrow.

[Sub95]

here is the pic.

[Na-vah-duh]

How long are you tumbling them for? Seems like the longer you leave them in the darker they will become.

[Revoman]

I use ss with citric acid and super orange and they are clean and shiny yellow, with dry media they come out like they are matte yellow. I will post a pic tomorrow.

Would you mind sharing your exact formula?

[Sub95]

I don't measure anything out. So my best guess with citric acid maybe half a teaspoon and for the super orange 1oz? and with this I can use this same water mix a few times before I have to change it. Depending on what cases I do, I run 500 to 1k pistol and for rifle just depends, 308 I run 300 or so. With pistol cases I only run them for a hour and I would say 99.9 come out 100% clean even the primer pockets. Rifle cases I run 2+ hours.

I used to use dawn soap, but I find the super orange to clean them a lot better.

[A.M.]

How much water?

[Sub95]

Just enough to cover the cases. But you should know I upgraded the motor on my tumbler to be able to turn the drum with that many cases/weight.

[A.M.]

What motor

[paulo57509]

OP, I think you're using too much Lemi-Shine (citric acid) for the amount of water you're using. Are you following the instructions that came with your media?

IIRC, you only need a 1/4 teaspoon of Lemi-Shine per load (given a 15lb. capacity tumbler).

[Revoman]

Thanks Sub!

[stilly]

I only know of two motors, a low speed and a high speed thumler motor. The latter of which I am using but anyone that wants to polish their brass should use that.

I believe that Lemishine is not citric acid. IF it were Citric acid they are charging an arm and a leg for it. Food Grade Citric Acid can be had for a very cheap price, I paid $12 for 4 lbs versus Staters selling lemishine for 3.99 per 12 or 14 oz bottle. My next batch of Citric Acid will be a 10lb or bigger cause then you save even more.

As for ratio. You only need about a teaspoon of citric acid per gallon of water. I ran 2 lbs of pins + 5cc of Citric Acid + about 70oz of water (on accident, I meant to only use 2.5cc of citric acid) and after about 30 minutes the primer pockets were about 2/3rd clean. Personally though, for EASE of use I am gonna play with the 1 hour tumble with .7cc citric acid and about 44 oz of water tonight WITH decapped shells. That should clean them rather well. Pins and other small bits DO help though but there is a tradeoff between help and pita. If I could get everything sparkly clean in a 5 minute load per 500+ shells with pins and citric acid I might seriously consider that. But I do not really see it happening. Maybe time to change to the other acid...

[Sub95]

You are correct they have a low speed and a high speed motor that are direct fit. I found a 3/8hp motor I got to fit with some work, I use a speed controller with it.

Whatever you do, do not leave the cases in the tumbler to long after you have shut it off, the cases will get nasty stains on them.

[A.M.]

How do you get rid of the stains?