I seems i had heard of a way to clean black powder resedue out of the inside of cases using citric ?acid mixed with hot water, how do you do it ?
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I seems i had heard of a way to clean black powder resedue out of the inside of cases using citric ?acid mixed with hot water, how do you do it ?
Rotary tumbler with ceramic media, fill with water to just above the media, add a splash of Dawn dish soap and a 1/2 teaspoon of citric acid.
RRR
Warm water acts faster to clean than cold, also. I use stainless pin media but ceramic would do as well. I like either far more than the old vibratory media, no abrasives in my actions, and FAR cleaner cases. (I use smokeless, BPC some day maybe :) )
BINGO - the above is the way to go.Quote:
Originally Posted by Red River Rick
Almost any grease cutting detergent like dawn or in my case, I use low suds laundry powder, but I have tried them all. Most work well. The citric acid; it does not take much with the ceramic ( my favorite over SS pins) shinny clean cases! Very little contact time to do it.
I shoot 3 -4 times a week and clean the same number of times each week. I keep working the method out simpler and better over a few decades.
I have plastic dry vibrating tumblers with which i use corn cob and crushed walnut. I have been advised that steel pins and ceramic media will eat up my tumbler. I understood that some citric acid and hot water in a glass container would work, maybe not.
Greetings,
In the old NRA handbook on Reloading, a 5% solution of Citric Acid was not damaging to the brass cases.
Soaking may eventually remove the Black Powder fouling. Tumbling with no media does work, somewhat. The addition of pins or ceramic balls rapidly increases the cleaning action.
Warm water just increases the reaction time resulting in more rapid cleaning.
I would suggest removing the primers before soaking.
When done soaking, be sure to wash the cases to remove the residue acid.
Personally, I use a Lortone QT-12 rock tumbler with pins, dish soap, and Citric Acid to clean my 40-65 BPCR brass.
Some vibrating tumblers can use liquid. We had one where I used to work to deburr parts with ceramic stones.
Cheers,
Dave
On my bpcr brass I start at the range. A gallon jug ( Laundry soap with the insert pulled out works good) filled with water a half teaspoon of dawn and lemishine shake to mix. Cases go in after each string. When I get home I drain out side and rinse 2-3 times. An occasional shaking when adding cases. This seems to remove a lot of fouling and keeps it soft/, which makes it easier to remove.
Its surprising how much fouling comes out with the water and rinses
I start my case cleaning at the Range----- immediately after completing an event , I deprime the cases and drop them into a plastic container of water . I then shake the container periodically thru the day .We can shoot 6 or 7 events ,each 13 shots ,in the competition , plus whatever I might shoot before I leave the Range.When I get home I remove the cases from the container ,rinse them in tap water , then drop them into a plastic dish which has 1 litre each of white vinegar and water ( used to use warm/hot water , but now its'straight from the cold water tap ) swirl the cases around 3 or 4 times by hand every 10 minutes . After 30 minutes , I remove the cases ,rinse them thoroughly ,and then I clean the inside of the cases using a thin wooden dowel and wet cleaning patches . I then air-dry the cases , then put them into a vibratory tumbler with crushed walnut shells for approx 2 hours . I currently shoot : 32-20,38.55,44-40,577-450.
Unfortunately the citric acid solution did nothing on my 45-70 cases, but using a 6% of white vinegar and a squirt of dishwashing liquid in a quart of hot water was the right way for me. No tumblers or other washing machines.