Another wet tumbling question.

[ebb]

Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc when too much Lemi shine or other acid is used it eats away some of the zinc and makes the brass look pink, generally if you don't go crazy with the acid there is not enough damage to worry about. But I have no idea how much Lemi shine was used so I can't be sure. I doubt it was harmed. I have run batches with only water, with only Dawn, and only Lemi shine. The only water didn't work as well as I would have hoped. They other methods worked just fine. There is a many page thread on Cast Bollits about using citric acid to clean brass that has been going on for years, I suspect that Lemi shine is mostly citric acid. They caution not to leave the brass in the citric acid more than 12 or 15 minutes, and no tumbler or pins are used.

 

[LVLAaron]

Brass Juice is way better than any alternatives. Try it, you will like it.

I'm looking for an MSDS... I bet it's the same stuff as citranox, and dang close.

 

[Daddymac]

First, thanks for the replies and the information.
Thought I would add a pic so everyone can see the difference.

This is representative of what I am talking about, all range pick up, all brown and dirty, and all done in one batch. About 1/3 nice and clean about 2/3 pinkish, I did a double check and found no steel cases. I have used this recipe with very good results in the past but, this is the first go with range brass that has been out for a while.


I did notice when checking head stamps the clean cases were easy to read, and the less than stellar cases were hard to read from what looked like exposure or pitting. So, I am back to thinking it has something to do with how long they were laying out there in the dirt.

 

[rwj]

There’s some serious pitting on the cases that appear on the right hand side of the image! Hard to tell how deep, but they would be placed in my scrap bin.

 

[SSchnd]

Dawn guy with just a sprinkle of Dry Lemishine crystals most of the time, pins and chips most of the time.
Very little lemishine or none at all. Dawn has worked wonders over many years and lots of brass.
Also Brass Juice works fantastic.

 

[Liven The Dream]

Dawn and Lemmi-shine warm water to start stainless steel pins 2 1/2 to 3 hrs.
De-Primed. Finish on wife old Cookie sheet oven 275 for 15minites .
Like new every time

Once in a blue moon one case off color !
I am only running Norma Dasher Brass theses days.

 

[drop_point]

I quit using pins, I also quit running my brass more than about an hour because case mouths can get peened by the pins. I wet-tumble my range brass, but match brass doesn't get dirty enough to need it.

When I wet tumble, I use citric acid and a splash of Turtle Wax Wash and Wax car wash. They come out great.

 

[Rick300]

citric acid and a splash of Turtle Wax Wash and Wax car wash. They come out great.

Yep, a splash of wash and wax works great!

 

[pilediver]

I use ArmorAll wash and wax, a bit of lemishine and just 45 minutes, just one short rinse and no pins.
Brass comes out dazzling.
I gave up using pins unless I want the insides cleaned.
Target rounds don't get wet tumbled to avoid the mouths getting peened.
Mostly just pistol and AR brass

 

[Webster]

I have a wet tumbler that I have used with very good results on pistol brass that I had shot and saved over the years, actually amazing.

So, now that I'm an expert brass cleaner, I decided to try the range brass test just to see, and what a failure.

This was just a test for cleaning so I picked up about 150 .223/5.56 cases around our hunting club shooting bench, no idea how long some of it had been exposed to the elements. After cleaning, about 2/3 of the cases were pink and about 1/3 looked really good.
After doing some internet digging, it seems the consensus is that too much Lemishine is the culprit, that it removes something from the brass (according to all of the metallurgist and chemical engineers). Not to worry some say, just toss them into the dry tumbler, they will come out good as new. Nope.
No, no, no, put them back in the wet tumbler with less Lemishine is the trick, and out of desperation to prove my brass cleaning skill I did this with no thought, like I could tumble something back into the brass. Nope, still pink, but...

Why are some cases really nice and shiny, like we like it, but others are pink? If it were a chemical reaction from the Lemishine it looks like they all would be pink and I have cleaned other batches of brass with the same amount of Lemishine with a good results. I ASS-U-ME the length of time that they were expose to the elements is a factor, they were all brown and yucky when I picked them up.

This is more a matter of curiosity at this point, has anyone else had this happen? Opinions, experiences, scientific data, and facetious comments are all welcome.

Probably too much LemiShine? I use a cheap Harbour Freight tumbler. I think it has about 1-1.5 qt. capacity. I now longer measure the LemiShine and Dawn dish detergent. I eyeball it. Probably about a table spoon of LemiShine not piled very high. Now I pour it right out of the container. Never had funny colors. Try about a level table spoon per qt. capacity.

I rinse in tap water then distilled water $.99 a gallon for steam irons, it's not drinking water. This gets rid of chemical and mineral stains. You can use the same water several times.

 

[Daddymac]

There’s some serious pitting on the cases that appear on the right hand side of the image! Hard to tell how deep, but they would be placed in my scrap bin.

The pitting is bad on the pink cases and it is hard to read the lettering, the clean cases have sharp clear lettering, that's why I think this is a long term exposure issue more so than a process issue.

Probably most all of it is going to scrap, simply because I was doing this for a test of cleaning. I will process some of the better cases, but overall I'm not a big fan of range brass unless I can tell it's pretty new and usually pistol cases.

 

[SSchnd]

The pitting is bad on the pink cases and it is hard to read the lettering, the clean cases have sharp clear lettering, that's why I think this is a long term exposure issue more so than a process issue.

Probably most all of it is going to scrap, simply because I was doing this for a test of cleaning. I will process some of the better cases, but overall I'm not a big fan of range brass unless I can tell it's pretty new and usually pistol cases.

That brass just has to have some kind of different makeup cause pitting it an extreme reaction. I'd agree I likely would not use it or at least not more than once. Very odd. Now if it is just the surface from pins or other media maybe that is not an issue, without a photo hard to say but I get your concern.