Helpful! or Hurtful?

[williamwaco]

Good or bad? Any chemistry guys around here?

I just received a gift of almost 500 once fired .357 magnum cases.
These were mechanically perfect. No dents. None were stepped on or squashed. Perfect and obviously never resized.

But. They were the nastiest batch of brass I ever attempted to use. Rocks, dirt, sticks, leaves. That was easy to get rid of by "winnowing" them. Then they looked like low pressure .38s with beeswax. They were covered with a greasy, waxy, carbon, smokey, nasty coating. Four hours of tumbling got rid of most of it but they were still severely stained with a dark stain - probably wax and carbon. It would not wipe off with any solvent I had.

I hate any wet cleaning process but I thought, the only way I am going to get these clean is with citric acid.

I mixed up about a quart with 1/2 teaspoon of the crystals and dropped in a couple of cases to see it it would get rid of the remaining stain and crud. After about 10 minutes they were clean but now needed tumbling again.

I wonder? Why couldn't I do both at the same time? I poured one fourth cup of that dilute acid into the Lyman 1200 tumbler and turned it on. Way too much liquid. Instantly turned my media into a mud pie. I worked the clods out of it with my fingers and let it run about 10 minutes with the top off and no brass to be sure the media would not re-clump.

Next I dropped in the cases, sealed the top down and went away for three hours.

When I returned, I was greeted with the most beautiful batch of .357 magnum cases I have seen short of new and unprimed. They were completely dry and showed no signs of the acid crystals I was expecting to see. ( I rinsed them anyway )

So!
Is this a good way to clean cases?
Or a good way to ruin cases?




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[hiram1]

if it works and dont take away copper or zink out of the brass or pitt it

[MtGun44]

Shouldn't hurt. Citric acid is very mild, and will mostly reduce the copper/zinc oxide
back to copper and zinc. Probably way unnecessary for 99% of the brass I deal with, but
I occasionally dunk some of the really oxidized stuff in Lemishine, which has citric acid as
it's primary ingredient. It is rare that I need to do this.

Bill

[williamwaco]

Shouldn't hurt. Citric acid is very mild, and will mostly reduce the copper/zinc oxide
back to copper and zinc. Probably way unnecessary for 99% of the brass I deal with, but
I occasionally dunk some of the really oxidized stuff in Lemishine, which has citric acid as
it's primary ingredient. It is rare that I need to do this.

Bill



Rare indeed. I have been reloading since 1956 +/- and this is the first time I have ever used it other than just experimenting.



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[geargnasher]

I'd deprime the stuff in a universal depriming die, simmer it in a stainless-steel pot with a 2 tsp/quart concentration of citric acid in distilled water and four drops of Dawn for ten minutes or so, rinse it in a collander with hot water, shake it out and put it in a warm oven to dry. Tumble for 30 minutes in PLAIN corncob media (think pet betting) with a couple capfulls of Nu-finish liquid car wax. If any of the brass has pink spots or pitted pink spots after that, cull it and put in your recycling can.

Gear

[Gillie Dog]

A quart with 1/2 teaspoon of the crystals gives about 0.34% mixture by weight by my caculation so you for sure will not damage the brass. (Assuming the "crystals" is 100% citric).

GD

[williamwaco]

I'd deprime the stuff in a universal depriming die, simmer it in a stainless-steel pot with a 2 tsp/quart concentration of citric acid in distilled water and four drops of Dawn for ten minutes or so, rinse it in a collander with hot water, shake it out and put it in a warm oven to dry. Tumble for 30 minutes in PLAIN corncob media (think pet betting) with a couple capfulls of Nu-finish liquid car wax. If any of the brass has pink spots or pitted pink spots after that, cull it and put in your recycling can.

Gear



Gear, That is exactly what I should do but I am too d--n lazy.
I was looking for a shortcut.



Happy New Year to you and to your family.




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