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I want shiny brass. Stainless steel tumbler

What is the best cleaning agent to put into a stainless steel tumbler to get really shiny brass.

LEMI SHINE and Dawn dish detergent. Tumble a couple hours. I rinse with distilled water (about $1 a gallon) to eliminate mineral stains. The distilled water can be reused. The water doesn't have to be super clean to remove mineral stains.

It's just cosmetic, they have to look real cruddy before I tumble. Look in every case with a flash light for pins. A pin going down the barrel would probably ruin it. Are you using enough pins. I leave about an inch air space in the tank to make sure the cases can roll around and not just rotate with the tank.
 
I had terrible results with lemishine. Now use frank ford arsenal brass cleaning solution which works awesome. However I only wet tumble range brass never competition brass.
 
I switched to wet tumbling with SS Pins after 25+ years using corn and walnut , gave it all to a friend , I followed the instructions Dawn detergent an LemiShine . I asked my wife why she didn't use Dawn and she said Sun liquid detergent worked much better . And She was right , the brass comes out so shinny and stays that way no need for LemiShine . I use warm water and let it run for 3 hours , Dump out the blackened water , flush out until clean . Brass is squeaky clean inside and out . Give Sun a try .
 
Too much Lemishine and they will turn a bronze color. Ask me how I know. I run Hot water to clean and cold water to rinse..
 
Lone Hunter
Happened to me also when I first started wet tumbling , only guy at the range with pinkish brass .That went well . I don't use the stuff any more , Give the Sun liquid detergent a try brass really shines. I add the water half way add the Sun mix then cases and fill the rest of the water warm .

Chris
 
Ok. I tumble with hard water at home so probly use too much lemishine and rinse at work. I thought the fancy colors were from chlorine in the rinse water at work
I will try Sun next time.
 
1 tsp Armor All car wash, 1/4 tsp Lemishine. Cases are washed 1 hr then rinsed and drained. They then go into a $1 plastic colander placed into a $1 plastic bowl and shaken to get rid of 99.9 % of the pins and then individually inspected for any remaining pin as the are placed into the home made case dryer.
 
Rustytigwire
Hard water is why LemiShine is used , just use very little . The Sun detergent my have some type of sofener and LemiShine is not needed. Let me know how you like Sun if you try it . Be Well.

Chris
 
JimSC
I use the plastic bullet holders that come with store bought ammo . I like wet cleaning my brass much better the corn & walnut . Thanks for chiming in.

Chris
 
About 15 min before I want to dry my brass I put a large cookie pan in the oven on as low as it will heat (mine goes down to 170). I rinse my brass in the hottest FILTERED water I can, inspect them one at a time for stuck pins, etc. and lay them on a clean towel. Then I roll them around on the towel to get rid of the excess water on the outside of the brass. I place several sheets of newspaper on the cookie sheet followed by the brass and another couple of sheets of newspaper. I put it all back in the oven for 10 minutes, then turn the heat off and let it continue drying while cooling down for 30+ min. This works for me and gets all dry, especially the primer pockets.
 
Follow the vendors instructions for the most part.
Not that fussy about it.
After the separator and rinse.
I have found an airline to be my best friend.
Then benchsource.
All done....

dave
 
Too much Lemishine and they will turn a bronze color. Ask me how I know. I run Hot water to clean and cold water to rinse..

I know this is going to sound counterintuitive, but it does work. I know, because I screwed up and got the "pink" pistol brass right after I began wet tumbling a few years ago.

If you run into the "pink" brass from too much Lemishine, do the following.

Rinse thoroughly (cold or hot water doesn't matter) and separate cases from pins.

Fill a bucket with the hottest tap water you can get (mine is set @ 125°F) and while filling bucket add a very small amount of Lemishine. You only need enough water to just cover all the brass. I usually fill to about 2" more than I'll need. Stir well to assure Lemishine is dissolved.

Dump brass into water. It will instantly return to it's normal brass color. I then pour out the water and rinse in plain cold water, then dry cases.
 
1. Fill my tumbler with luke warm softened H2O (about a gallon) - doesn't need to be hot.
2. 1 tsp of Lemishine
3. 1 tsp Dawn
4. Tumble for 2 hours.
5. Separate with Frankford media separator
6. Rinse in H2O
7. Rinse in Car wash/wax solution to prevent tarnishing
8. Roll around in towel
9. Place in Frankford Arsenal brass dryer for an hour
10. Finished.

Brass is SUPER shiny !!
 
Sorry to resurrect an old thread. Has anyone tried Lemishine in an ultrasonic cleaner?
Yes. I use the same combo of Lemishine and car wash in my ultrasonic as I do in my larger rotary loads. I use about 1/4 teaspoon in my Harbor Freight ultasonic cleaner. I prefer the ultrasonic for my rifle brass because it does not bang the case necks around.
 
I wouldn't advise any kind of car wash/wax product. My experience with those products is that the wax seals a layer of dirt on the case (ask your wife about Mop and Glow) and then the heat from the brass transfers the dirt and wax to the barrel chamber. Not a good thing.

In my opinion, just plain dish soap and lemi shine are best. Just the basics.

Joe


Dish soap, Lemi Shine and hot water in a plastic coffee can is all I use any more. De-prime first and a quick twist with a Q-Tip in the primer pockets after they have soaked a while.
 
Rustytigwire
Hard water is why LemiShine is used , just use very little . The Sun detergent my have some type of sofener and LemiShine is not needed. Let me know how you like Sun if you try it . Be Well.

Chris

Don't know about hard water. LemiShine contains citric acid it's known as a copper cleaner. Don't know why some people have trouble with LemiShine & Dawn, works perfect for me. I don't even measure it anymore, just dump in a small amount.
 

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