Lemon juice 5% concentrate, water, Dawn, water, dry. What polish?

[Land Owner]

I have a few hundred 45 ACP cases, sized and deprimed, sitting in lemon juice concentrate. They have been in the drawer for two years "corroding". When "clean", I'll rinse, wash in Dawn, rinse, and dry.

What polish is recommended? I have tumblers with dry media and polish, but I resisted that route in the first place as I don't want the hassle of punching media out of the primer holes.

[DHDeal]

Walnut. Crushed walnut shells.

[Nueces]

Many of us who do wet tumbling have cleaned with Dawn and LemiShine, then done a follow on with Lemishine and something like ArmorAll Wash'n'Wax, which leaves a micro coating of hard wax on the brass. You can't see or feel it, but it preserves the shine.

You are soaking, not tumbling, but you might try that finish step, with some manual agitation to see what you get.

[onelight]

I have a few hundred 45 ACP cases, sized and deprimed, sitting in lemon juice concentrate. They have been in the drawer for two years "corroding". When "clean", I'll rinse, wash in Dawn, rinse, and dry.

What polish is recommended? I have tumblers with dry media and polish, but I resisted that route in the first place as I don't want the hassle of punching media out of the primer holes.

I used to manually pick or poke the media from the flash hole . Now I look inside to make sure there is no media caked in the case and just go ahead and re-size with the de-capping pin in place and the pin will push any media out during resizing.

[fredj338]

First don't deprime before dry tumbling, then not an issue with media. I put a cap of Nufinish in my dry media every 2-3 cycles.

[Dapaki]

I dumped my polishing media and only use Dawn and stainless steel pins now. Tarnishing is never an issue for me.

[M.A.D]

I only wet tumble handgun brass.... works wonders... 2mm stainless steel balls, no primer pocket issues. cleans inside and out.... Lemon fresh dishwashing liquid and white vinegar in boiling water .... tumble 30 minutes... Rinse in cold water..... oven dry....

[Wayne Smith]

Lizard bedding (litter) at your pet store. It is Walnut fine enough ground that it flows through the flash holes. A dab of car wax and you have a polished and protected case.

[dragon813gt]

Fine crushed walnut blasting media from Harbor Freight and NuFinish car polish. The media is small enough to not get caught in flash holes. Just run the tumbler for twenty minutes after adding the polish before adding brass.

I bought a setup for cleaning w/ stainless media. Takes a lot longer and the results, while a lot shinier, don’t make the brass any cleaner or shoot better.

[TNsailorman]

I use lizard litter and a mixture of 1/3 NuFinish and 2/3 odorless mineral spirits. I make it up about a quart at a time and it works great for me. james

[dragon813gt]

Forgot the part about the mineral spirits. Makes a big difference when adding it.

[mdi]

If you are concerned with media in flash holes, it's no big deal. For me, 95% of the time a tap on the bench top will dislodge the kernel. For mote stubborn ones two-3 tap helps and blowing in the case. On rarer occasions, a prick or small wire (straightened paper clip) will certainly remove any stuck particle. Plus, if one is missed, the primer will surely blow the piece out of the flash hole. (Primers are pretty strong and I have had an OOPS! where a standard large pistol primer has blown a 250 gr, ,432" bullet 3 1/2" into a .429" barrel). I handle my brass several times when reloading (inspection is essential for me) so just looking at a flash hole is no "extra" task...

I'd just go ahead and tumble in your dry media with added auto polish and just look at them...

[armexman]

Not true Dragon!!!
Shiny cases have been scientifically proven to be more accurate by a factor of 1”!!

[mdi]

Yep armexman. I can get 3/4"-1" groups at 100 yds from my extra shiny brass 45 ACP handloads (stock RIA 1911), but no better than 8"-10" @ 25 with just so-so clean brass, no shine. And it's a fact brothers, I ain't never been known to stretch the truth, sometimes...

Happy Easter!

[fcvan]

Yep armexman. I can get 3/4"-1" groups at 100 yds from my extra shiny brass 45 ACP handloads (stock RIA 1911), but no better than 8"-10" @ 25 with just so-so clean brass, no shine. And it's a fact brothers, I ain't never been known to stretch the truth, sometimes...

Happy Easter!

I look forward to hearing your SO OR fishing stories as well. Me, I fish closer to Crescent City, CA, outright monsters just off the point and they never take my gear into the rocks and cut the leader.