Citric acid brass cleaner

[runfiverun]

when pin tumbling I use a hand measured half tsp of the lemi-shine and a glop of car wash.
any more is a waste.
when just agitation washing them [mainly to get all the dirt and junk out of the cases from ground found brass] I use a tsp to a gallon but still keep the soap down to a minimum.

rinsing is optional but I do sling the cases around to get all the excess water out of them and either set them near a fan or leave them sit on an old tee shirt to dry.

[JWFilips]

I heat a quart of water with a heaping teaspoon Citric acid & a squirt of Dawn in it : when it gets close to a boil I pour it over the brass in a 5 gallon plastic bucket and agitate the cra-p out of it with a wooden spoon 3 minutes. Fish them out and rise in some baking soda water (Teaspoon) rinse again & dry..... Re-bottle the Citric acid solution to be used about 3 more times!
When dry I vibrate tumble in Walnut for 3 to 4 hours
Just What I do Works Great!

[62chevy]

I heat a quart of water with a heaping teaspoon Citric acid & a squirt of Dawn in it : when it gets close to a boil I pour it over the brass in a 5 gallon plastic bucket and agitate the cra-p out of it with a wooden spoon 3 minutes. Fish them out and rise in some baking soda water (Teaspoon) rinse again & dry..... Re-bottle the Citric acid solution to be used about 3 more times!
When dry I vibrate tumble in Walnut for 3 to 4 hours
Just What I do Works Great!

I do the same in much smaller batches but if I had the space for a rotary tumbler It would be mine.

[RogerDat]

I rinse the brass in a bucket of water then dump the brass in about a double handful into a pocket made in the center of a large towel then roll the towel around it and spin the towel. Sort of like your spinning the towel into a bar to snap someone with the towel. That spins out the water from inside and most of the water off the brass, then they dry in front of a fan very quickly.

I don't get those bluish white streaks shown in the picture, I use part of a teaspoon in a few gallons of water to clean a few batches of range pickups that look very dark to almost black with that fairly diluted solution. I do mix warm, but will use cold the next day. Don't store solution for more than a few days but then I do stuff in batches. Don't need to waste the space to save less than a spoonful of CA.

Do add another part spoonful if I do more than a couple of batches in the same bucket. I add any "refresher" CA along with a tea kettle of boiling water. Helps the added CA dissolve and I would rather deal with warm than freezing cold water, dries faster too. It is cold out in the garage this time of year.

I follow by an hour in vibrator with crushed walnut shells that are occasionally dampened with a smidge of mineral spirits and some nu-shine. I find the walnut shells from the pet store are a bit more aggressive than corn cob at cleaning old range brass or dirty brass. The corn cob tends to do a bit more shine to the polish.

[Wheeljack]

I didn't read all the reply's, so if it wasn't mentioned, I get Citric Acid in the canning section of a food market. I get the Ball brand.

[62chevy]

I didn't read all the reply's, so if it wasn't mentioned, I get Citric Acid in the canning section of a food market. I get the Ball brand.

Yes it has been mentioned but bears repeating as that is where I get mine too.

[dudel]

I didn't read all the reply's, so if it wasn't mentioned, I get Citric Acid in the canning section of a food market. I get the Ball brand.

Same here. $3/bottle at Walmart.

[farmerjim]

If you use very much of it, you can get it in bulk for around $2 per pound. Amazon has it.

[umwminer]

I've used phosporic acid just as you describe for many years with equal results . Thanks !

[Kevinkd]

I used to use Lyman tumbler. Tons of dust. Went to wet method, used vinegar, salt, dawn for 10 mins. Seemed ok, but tried the ca method and wow.. what a quick easy way to go. In Ontario, canada so ordered 3kg (about 6.6 pounds) for $30 shipped to my house. Lots for many many years.

I have a few of those large plastic protein containers laying around so I took 2 the same size. Put in 2 tablespoons (not heaping) in one container, put container in bathtub and turned on HOT water.. filled it 1/4 the way up. Dumped in ALOT of 38 spcl brass , filled with more water until about 3/4 full. Put on lid, rolled around for about 5 mins. I have a second container LID that I drilled a bunch of small holes in. I put it on the water filled one, and just rolled it in tub to let out dirty water. Unscrew lid, fill with water (start to rinse), repeat a few times. In 10 mins 20-25 lbs of brass cleaned. WOW. Poured them onto large towel to dry. Repeated with lots more 38 and 45 brass.

My new favorite fast method to clean brass. Thanks a million!!

[Ole Joe Clarke]

I cleaned about 500 .44 mag cases last Friday with citric acid, dawn, and cold water. Cleaned about half of them at a time. Let them set in the solution for about 10-15 min then rinsed and put on cookie sheet in front of the heat vent to dry. It worked great as usual, some of the cases were very dirty.

[stag15]

50lb sacks of industrial citric acid can be had from Jungbunzlauer Inc. Food grade non the less, should be good for a lot of brass!

[toallmy]

As long as everyone is working on a cheap fast way of cleaning your brass , has anyone discovered a quick way of waxing a large batch of brass faster , and cleaner than the tumbler . Say like a mist of spray lube or something like that over your brass wile spread out on a towel then rolling it around . I believe I read about someone giving them a shot of Pledge possibly . I have a pound of lanolin I may pick up some Iso heet to try a spray case lube . Or thin out some Johnson's one step . Maybe I'm just sloppy but me and the brass tumbler make a mess every time I use it . I know faster and easier is not better But it is easier haaaaa

[35Whelen]

Get some Isopropanol 99 % alcohol. Nothing less as percentage or you will get too much water in the mix. Mix it with some anhydrous ( no water ) lanolin......mix it up, spray the cases in a big 1 gallon freezer bag and youre done. Heres a link to describe the mix

http://www.predatormastersforums.com...Number=2485629

[toallmy]

I picked up some iso heet from Wal-Mart and mixed a huge teaspoon of Randy rat's lanolin in a spray bottle . I was looking for a way to add a little wax after a citrus bath without running through the vibrating tumbler just makes resizing smother . Not really a case lube on straight walled handgun brass just a little slippery , ill find out this week , thanks 35 Whelen I picked up the heet before reading your post ,

[Possum Lickaa]

Somehow overlooked the rinsing part of this process...Typical of me. I just dried them, tumbled them, and put them away. That was a couple of weeks ago. Haven't loaded any yet.
-Did I screw this up?

[toallmy]

You tumbled them , that polishing cleaned them up .

[Bullwolf]

As long as everyone is working on a cheap fast way of cleaning your brass , has anyone discovered a quick way of waxing a large batch of brass faster , and cleaner than the tumbler . Say like a mist of spray lube or something like that over your brass wile spread out on a towel then rolling it around . I believe I read about someone giving them a shot of Pledge possibly . I have a pound of lanolin I may pick up some Iso heet to try a spray case lube . Or thin out some Johnson's one step . Maybe I'm just sloppy but me and the brass tumbler make a mess every time I use it . I know faster and easier is not better But it is easier haaaaa

Use a product like Zip auto wash and wax, with a citric acid bath instead of dish soap. It doesn't have to be a brand name, just whatever is on sale and economical to use



Your brass will stay shiny longer, feel slicker and be somewhat protected. While not a total substitute for case lube with steel dies, it does seem to reduce the felt effort when sizing brass with carbide dies.

I had a bad experience with Pledge and nickel cases galling in a carbide die.

Pledge is mostly Silicone now, and doesn't really contain any wax anymore. I wouldn't recommend trying to use Pledge as a case lube.


- Bullwolf

[Possum Lickaa]

You tumbled them , that polishing cleaned them up .

Thanks

[Bama]

I have used SS pins, dawn and a dash of citric acid for about two years and am very pleased with how well it cleans. I have noticed a new type of case failure not seen previously and wondered if anyone else has seen a similar type failure. I presently load for four long guns, in three calibers and cases are dedicated to each gun so it does not seem to be dependent on caliber or loading. I normally neck size only but when full length is used dies are set so shoulder is no more than .001 set back from fired case dimensions as measured with RCBS precision mike. I am getting circumferential cracks mid way between the base and shoulder after as little as three firings on some batches. They have developed in both commercial and military brass. The cracks are so small that a bent piano wire has to be sharpened to detect by feel. The cracks are mid way up the case walls and not even close to the head where I would normally expect them to be. Because the inside is so clean most are initially detected by looking through mouth of case. Pin cleaned brass is not as slick as dry tumbled brass and wondering if this could be a factor.