Formula for wet brass cleaning

[JDIllon]

I am currently using brass juice! I would like to know the solution others maybe using? Thanks JD 

Edited August 20, 2021 by JDIllon

[TONY BARONE]

Frankford Arsenal Brass Cleaning Solution.

[Intheshaw1]

I'm just using the standard wash and wax along with some citric acid (lemishine).

[outerlimits]

21 minutes ago, TONY BARONE said:

Frankford Arsenal Brass Cleaning Solution.

can't go wrong-why mess with anything else/

[SGT_Schultz]

Dish soap and hot water.  Nothing else.

 

I stopped using lemishine when I realized it was doing something to the cases that made resizing without lube (I use Hornady Ti-N coated dies) way too hard.

[rishii]

I’m using Kirkland dishwasher pods

 

i bought a pack of the Frankfort Arsenal wet tumbling pod and when I got them they look familiar, then it hit me that they looked awfully like the Kirkland dishwasher pods that I bought before 

[JDIllon]

Thanks for the in put! I think I will try dishwasher pods on my net batch. JD 

[m700]

Dawn /lemishine with pins or without worked for me for a long time. I just switched to brass juice for years.

 

2squirts of dawn and a 45 shell of lemishine in a  roughly 3-4 gallon tumbler

[mcflury]

Frankfort Arsenal it works plus I can pick it up at the LGS

[Intheshaw1]

12 hours ago, SGT_Schultz said:

Dish soap and hot water.  Nothing else.

 

I stopped using lemishine when I realized it was doing something to the cases that made resizing without lube (I use Hornady Ti-N coated dies) way too hard.

Hmm, I may have to skip it on my next batch although I do use oneshot as it tends to make everything run a little smoother.

[GringoBandito]

I use Ball Brand citric acid ( a 9mm case full) and about a half tablespoon of dawn and is works perfectly. Plus it's cheap.

[KC45]

14 hours ago, SGT_Schultz said:

Dish soap and hot water.  Nothing else.

 

I stopped using lemishine when I realized it was doing something to the cases that made resizing without lube (I use Hornady Ti-N coated dies) way too hard.

Now I'm curious. I've use liquid Dawn plus Lemishine for several years with my FART with stainless steel pins. I may try omitting the Lemishine next time. Does the brass still come out looking "new" without it?

[SGT_Schultz]

4 hours ago, KC45 said:

Now I'm curious. I've use liquid Dawn plus Lemishine for several years with my FART with stainless steel pins. I may try omitting the Lemishine next time. Does the brass still come out looking "new" without it?

 

I don't use pins.  I never have and never will.  I want the brass to be clean on the outside, period. 

 

I don't care about the inside of the case or the primer pocket (I clean before sizing/depriming anyway) and I don't care if it doesn't shine like a new penny.

 

My reloading strategy is to do as little as possible to make ammunition fit for its purpose.

Edited August 20, 2021 by SGT_Schultz

[Intheshaw1]

I'm in the same boat as doing as little as possible. Used pins once, never again.

 

If lemishine isn't worth it, I'll stop using it. I just want my brass good enough and not to tarnish.

[Sigarmsp226]

Guys - Another recipe to consider that I received from a guy who processes and cleans thousands of rounds of brass monthly. 
 

Because I clean my brass in a Harbor Freight concrete mixer here is my recipe

 

3 gallons of water (temp. does not matter)

1/4 cup Armor All Wash and Wax (orange/gold color) car wash concentrate 

1/3 cup of Simple Green

5 to 8 lbs Stainless Steel 

 

60-90 minutes depending on how dirty the brass is - while mixer is still running I will tilt the tub and rinse using fresh water from the water hose until the water coming out is clean and soap free.  Then I dump into 5 gallon bucket that has a bunch of 1/4” holes drilled into the bottom to allow remaining water to drain and then rinse again while in the bucket.  
 

Important - The five gallon bucket has a 5 gallon paint strainer liner in it that I can buy a three pack from Lowes for $5.00. I reuse these until they get real dirty or form a hole (guessing I get 15-20 uses out of each liner)…

 

Transfer lean wet brass and media to a large container where I scoop out about a 1/2 gallon of brass and pins at a time and dump into a Dillon media separator…30-45 seconds later the brass and pins are separated. Dump wet brass into a large wooden box where they dry in the sun for 4 hrs if it is summertime. If winter time they go onto a large shop towel and then into brownie pans (2) and then into my $5.00 George Forman garage sale find easy bake over for 30 minutes on 160F…

 

After whichever drying process is used is complete they go onto a large (house retired) clean white towel where they are hand tossed to remove any pins that remained attached due to the brass being wet and then into the “ready to be loaded” buckets…..

 

Two handy dandy tools consist of a small pen like expandable magnet tool for retrieving dropped items like nuts and bolts and also the Frankfort Arsenal engage-a-magnet made for use when using SS pins….

Video does not work - only a screen shot from the video

This is the correct wash and wax - leaves a “slick” coating on the dry brass - almost (not exactly the same) as corn cob media

 

 

Edited August 21, 2021 by Sigarmsp226

[NETim]

I'm happy with Brass Juice.  No pins.  

[obsessiveshooter]

Dawn and hot water, no pins---  if I'm just making ammo to shoot in a hurry.  Brass comes out perfect for shooting, but not perfect for instagram.

Dawn, hot water, pins----   if primers are scarce and I'm shooting way less, I'll take extra steps like adding the pins to make new looking brass.  

[N7VY]

Dawn dishsoap, citric acid and here’s the difference: 4-5 drops of finish rinse aid. 

[mcflury]

On 8/19/2021 at 10:25 PM, outerlimits said:

can't go wrong-why mess with anything else/

This is the truth I tried something else I think it was Dillion but it was more expensive and I could not see the difference 

Edited August 21, 2021 by mcflury

[AKJD]

19 hours ago, SGT_Schultz said:

 

I don't use pins.  I never have and never will.  I want the brass to be clean on the outside, period. 

 

I don't care about the inside of the case or the primer pocket (I clean before sizing/depriming anyway) and I don't care if it doesn't shine like a new penny.

 

My reloading strategy is to do as little as possible to make ammunition fit for its purpose.

My strategy also. If brass is dirty clean first with Dawn. Most of the brass I get is from an indoor range so I skip the Dawn and just go straight to the Armor All wash and wax. Then into a food dehydrator. Ready to load with a minimum of time. 

[JDIllon]

Thanks.a guys. I think I have some good ideas to try. JD 

[jejb]

I'm kind of new to wet tumbling. Done 6 batches of 500 shells since buying the tumbler a couple of months ago. But I have a question for the guys that don't use pins. Why not? To me, I only go through the added hassles of wet cleaning to get the inside of the cases clean. If all I wanted was to clean the outside, I'd have kept using a vibratory cleaner with dry media. 

[AHI]

Have tried wet cleaning. For ME the work involved is not worth it. I just use a mix of corn cob and walnut with a little automotive wax.

 

Now a few things I noticed while wet cleaning. The pins work harden the brass. To much limishine hardens the brass.  Had a large increse

in split /cracked cases. Other issues related to hard brass. The brass lost all its flex.   Went back to dry cleaning . All issues went away.

Someone will say something about lead levels. Have levels checked yearly. It is basically zero.  

 

If you do wet clean use disposable gloves. 

 

Edited August 22, 2021 by AHI

[hlsccsfa]

On 8/19/2021 at 10:21 PM, Intheshaw1 said:

I'm just using the standard wash and wax along with some citric acid (lemishine).

+1 

[SGT_Schultz]

On 8/22/2021 at 7:36 AM, jejb said:

But I have a question for the guys that don't use pins. Why not? To me, I only go through the added hassles of wet cleaning to get the inside of the cases clean. If all I wanted was to clean the outside, I'd have kept using a vibratory cleaner with dry media. 

Wet tumbling without pins cleans the outside of the cases a million times better than any dry media ever could, regardless of what you add to the dry media.

 

All I need to do is look at my fingertips after processing couple hundred cases.  They'll be black with dry tumbled brass no matter how or how much they were tumbled.

 

Wet tumbling without pins adds one step over dry tumbling: case drying.  It takes 30 min at 240 degrees in a small toaster oven to dry 300-500 cases.  30 min while I do something else productive.

 

I couldn't care less about the inside of the cases.

Edited August 31, 2021 by SGT_Schultz