Wet tumbler formulas

[Weaponologist]

I've used several different drums but the Drum I'm using now. Takes 8# of .62 SS Media 5# Brass little over 1gal. of water...I add 2 Table spoons of Dawn and 1/8 Tease Spoon of Lem Shine...If I add to much Lem Shine I get a Blue/Purple streaks as they dry...I Dry my Brass with a Fan with all the Brass laying flat on a Towel..

I think I'll give that non Spotting Dish Washer cleaner a try that ABUNAITOO was talking about...Sound like a good idea...

[Bonz]

I use cold water, 1 tablespoon of Dawn dish soap per gallon of water, 1/4 teaspoon of Lemishine per gallon of water

[monmouth]

I built some really big tumblers for a business and they don't use any media. It obviously doesn't clean the inside of the case or primer pocket as well as with pins but you can't tell the difference before or after you fire the ammunition (unless you pull the bullet, dump the powder and deprime the case).

+1

water temp doesn't make a difference, I never use waxes or auto care products to stop tarnish, and i don't tumble for hours. Water, soap, and a little lemishine will be plenty. If you want brass that will be jeweler quality after cleaning, whole different process. Won't make better ammo, but it's what customers expect when they purchase processed brass from me.

[TheGameMaster]

I got a brand new Lee Breech Lock Hand Press and loaded it with my Lee Universal Decapping Die. I then sat down and watched a couple of hours of Marvels Agents of Shield and NCIS while mindlessly decapping 9mm brass. Then I got my bad of pins from Bullseye, so I had to put all of this collective internet wisdom to the test. I loaded them into my HF duel drum tumbler with 1.5# of brass, 1# of pins, a sprinkle of Lemishine, and a few drops of dawn in each drum. One I covered with 209 degree water out of my in sink Erator (yes, I'm a tea drinker...) and the other with just cold tap water. I filled the drums almost full, leaving a little air space. I then tumbled them while watching NCIS:LA. Dumped out the water using a kitchen strainer I got for just such projects. The pins were big enough to stay in the strainer. Then I rinsed them in the strainer with cold water stirring them up with my hand. Then I sprayed Armour All on them and stirred them up to spread it around. Then I used one of trays from my wife's dehydrator with duct tape over the center hold to sift the pins out into a bucket. I then laid them out on some paper towels and rolled them around to get any extra pins out and dry them off. Then I let them sit on the paper towels overnight. Next morning: Perfect. Nice shinny clean brass. I've ran two batches now, and they all come out perfect. About 600 rounds thus far. I still have half a coffee can (ok, yes, I drink coffee on occasion, but my wife drinks almost a whole pot every day) of 9mm to decap and "wash". I also have a coffee can of 40 and 45 to deal with. Now I have to cast some boolits for all of the brass. I ran out of Lee 356-95-2R's and Lee 358-105-SWCs on the last round of reloading.

This has been very educational. I'll try the wax in the mix idea next time. It's a lot cheaper than Armour All. I have some cheap liquid turtle wax, so I'll try a small squirt of that with the dawn and see how that dries.

Rodney

[dikman]

I'm in the process of building a (small) tumbler, now that I've become involved in reloading cartridges (I never thought that would happen!) and I've been reading these cartridge cleaning threads with interest. Most mention Lemishine, which got me curious, so I looked up the MSDS - two ingredients, both secret, although one is obviously what gives it the lemon smell. More searching, and I found a thread by a guy who used it and also wondered what was in it. Being a chemist, he figured he should use his skills and knowledge to find out. He posted as he went, and invited others to offer advice. End result, he believes it's simply citric acid. All of his tests point to it, and the slight discrepancies he found while testing were not significant enough to change his view.

Of interest, the Lemishine people apparently run a facebook page and became aware of his efforts. When he said citric acid they said "close, but no first prize" - which, of course, they would do, wouldn't they?. The fact that they don't list the ingredients means that it has to be something commonly available, and his testing (what little I could understand of it!) was pretty conclusive, in my opinion.

For anyone who might be interested......

[zomby woof]

Which is, decapped cases and one hour with Dawn and LemiShine, followed by a change of water (room temperature, not hot) and two hours replacing the Dawn with a glug of Armorall Wash & Wax liquid. The Armorall seems to leave a micro coat of hard wax (undetectable by feel or appearance) that retards tarnishing. Cases emerge brilliantly clean and shiny, inside and out.

I tried this yesterday. I ran 900 9mm de-capped cases in Dawn and pins for one hour and the left overnight. I dumped the dirty water out and replaced along with Wash and Wax and Lemi-shine for two additional hours. Worked great.

[Nueces]

I tried this yesterday. I ran 900 9mm de-capped cases in Dawn and pins for one hour and the left overnight. I dumped the dirty water out and replaced along with Wash and Wax and Lemi-shine for two additional hours. Worked great.

Hooaah!

[dikman]

Anyone use anything else beside the pins? They are horribly expensive here!

[beroen]

Anyone use anything else beside the pins? They are horribly expensive here!

Check EBAY

[dikman]

Thanks, but I was wondering what other options there are that others are using. I tried small steel ball bearings, but I don't think they're overly effective.

[Bayou52]

Anyone use anything else beside the pins? They are horribly expensive here!

Check out this vendor:

http://www.bullseye-reloading.com/

Reasonably pticed, fast shipping.

Bayou52

[dikman]

Thanks Bayou, prices certainly seem reasonable, but he only mentions local shipping. I suspect O/S shipping would be high, due to the weight.

[Bayou52]

Thanks Bayou, prices certainly seem reasonable, but he only mentions local shipping. I suspect O/S shipping would be high, due to the weight.

Yes, I see now that you are located down-under. Sorry about that, dikman.....

Bayou52

[TheGameMaster]

Okay, I've been experimenting. I've tried several different combinations of soap, additives, waxes, time, soaking, etc. And what I have found works the best FOR ME in the HF dual drum is:
In each drum, put one pound of .047 Stainless Steel Pins, a generous dash of Lemmie Shine, a good squirt of Dawn, and a couple of handfuls of brass, so the drum is about 3/4 full. Cover with water. Tumble for 30 minutes. Rinse with water and then separate the pins out. I use a large kitchen strainer from Walmart to rise the brass over a bucket. Then I use a tray out of a dehydrator with duct tape over the center hole to separate out the pins over a bucket and pour them back in the drum. Spray down the brass with regular Armor All and tumble it with your hand. Tumble Nickle Plated brass by itself, not with regular brass as it will dull badly. Brass comes out nice and bright. Once in a blue moon, you may find some brass that needs to be cycled again. Some really nasty +P stuff or really old range recovery stuff usually. Watch the +P stuff, as they can get hairline case splits that you won't notice until after you've cleaned and inspected them. It looks like a watermark from drying, but upon closer inspection it's a nasty crack in the case. Word of advice, don't put wax in your tumble mix. I know some of the guys do that and it works for them. But it turned out nasty for me. I use a squirt of Turtle Wax once, and it made a mess of the shells. Black residue all over everything they touched. Armor All after the rinse works really well.

Hope that's helpful,

Rodney

[USMC87]

I use one teaspoon of lemishine and a big squirt of any dish detergent I have on hand, I run the tumbler for about 1.5 hrs and rinse well. After the rinse I use a media seperater and spin off what water I can, I place my brass on a screen off the floor and run a fan over them until dry. I have always had very good results with this, I am interested in the auto wax rinse process and will be trying it on the next round of brass.

[Bayou52]

After the rinse I use a media seperater and spin off what water I can, I place my brass on a screen off the floor and run a fan over them until dry.

I use the media separator to "spin dry" the brass as well, but I throw a dry towel/rag in the squirrel cage and agitate back and forth. The rag absorbs the moisture. I repeat a second time, at which point the brasses are just about completely dry. No need to use any fans, dryers, etc.
Works real well and real simple.....

Bayou52

[beroen]

Man you guys are using a ton of lemon shine the one time I used a heavy dash the brass got darker. Now I am using a .3cc lee dipper the smallest one they have in the measure kit and after a hour in the HF tumbler they come out nice and white brass looking. With a dime size glob of dawn

[USMC87]

Hey Bayou52, That rag in the seperater is going to be a hit with me now. I never thought of doing that.

[jimbull34]

Great info here, thanks to all, now my .02$! I use a mix of arm and hammer with oxy-clean, citric acid and a dash of vinager and let soak in my cement mixer. When I start tumbling, I add several pieces of 000 steel wool that I get from home depot for 2-3$. It works really great and its cheap. I did one batch using wd-40 on the dry cases and it stained a bunch of them really bad, so I don't use that any more. I do stray them with hornady one shot lube and of course, that works really good, but its expensive. I am going to try the wash and wax and see how that works. Bright and shiny sells!!!!

[Bayou52]

Hey Bayou52, That rag in the seperater is going to be a hit with me now. I never thought of doing that.

Hi, USMC87 -

Glad you like the "spin dry" technique using the rag/towel in the squirrel cage. It's works great for me, too, and it's so simple of an idea..........

Happy Tumbling!

Bayou52