What The Hell Happened

[jlow]

That's the problem with US cleaners, they don't clean as well as SS media with some of the stuff we put on the necks in terms of removing them. I have seen funny oxidation color with brass that I anneal with some lube on them...

 

[5spd]

Load em, shoot em, don't worry about looks. Ive seen that on lots of my brass over 40+ years. Just a reaction to cleaning.

 

[243winxb]

A tbsp of Dawn may be to much and hot water thats to hot doesnt help.
Dawn dish detergent contains as much as 5% Ethanol. Ethanol may cause stress crossion cracking.http://s338.photobucket.com/user/jo...eloading102/ethanolampcartridgebrass.jpg.html

 

[TJMayer]

Well, normally I run SS for the big, primary cleanings, but do use the US when I am doing something like just getting the lube off of my cases. I believe it is much quicker than the SS, though, nothing beats SS.

Believe it or not, I use cold water all of the time, regardless of what I am doing with regards to my brass. I found hot water to leave weird tarnishes and that it does nothing better than what the cold water does.

As far as the inner portion of the necks, there is no discoloration. This has to do with the exposed brass from the neck turnings. I used no different amounts of Dawn or Lemi Shine than I ever do, but have never had this result before.

243 - interesting results with the Ethanol. Might have to re-consider my cocktail!

As an update, 0000 steel wool took it right off.

Thanks all for the help.

 

[riflewoman]

If steel wool took it off it was what metal finishers call " smut". It means something is in your bath that is reacting. Most likely with the unoxidized copper. Try it with deionized water. Baby water will do.

 

[wedgy]

Mine turn out dark like that if I turn on the heat(I can do with or without heat). It gets pretty hot and they turn dark so I don't do that anymore.

 

[Paddyd]

Alright guys, never fired Remington brass. I FL sized it and turned the outer necks down. I popped them in the US cleaner for 30 minutes with a tbsp of Dawn and a pinch of Lemishine. I have never seen this before. Has to have something to do with the newly exposed brass on the necks? Can I run these through my dies? Can I shoot them?

They are a dark bluish, to almost black, color...

I don't have the luxury of just tossing cases away...I obviously will if I have to, but that would suck.

Any help or info would be appreciated.

Almost certain it is chelation caused by the acidic Lemishine. The turned necks are unpolished and more susceptible to the chemical reaction, but then I'm no chemist.

 

[TJMayer]

Yeah, I believe the Lemi Shine and exposed brass reacted in some manner, but not sure. Next batch I run, I'll take away the Lemi shine.

Thanks again all.

 

[Paddyd]

Or try running them through the polishing media to knock down the tool marks and make the necks less porous before cleaning in the ultra sonic. I also think 30 minutes for brass in Lemishine is too long. The longer it stays in the acidic solution the more zinc is removed from the alloy. I find that with two cups of hot water a small pinch of Lemishine and a short squirt of dish soap all I really need is 10 minutes. If you start getting orange cases you are hurting the brass. I also rinse mine in a solution of water and baking soda to neutralize the acid and stop the reaction after cleaning..

 

[TJMayer]

Or try running them through the polishing media to knock down the tool marks and make the necks less porous before cleaning in the ultra sonic. I also think 30 minutes for brass in Lemishine is too long. The longer it stays in the acidic solution the more zinc is removed from the alloy. I find that with two cups of hot water a small pinch of Lemishine and a short squirt of dish soap all I really need is 10 minutes. If you start getting orange cases you are hurting the brass. I also rinse mine in a solution of water and baking soda to neutralize the acid and stop the reaction after cleaning..

Thanks for the info, Paddyd. I have never used any baking soda to neutralize the acid of the lemi shine. I believed a good rinse with cold water was all I needed. To be quite honest, I end up smoking the pockets on these cases before anything else could ever happen, but I digress...this RP brass is crap!

 

[fguffey]

When it comes to cleaning cases I do not have a ritual; I use tumblers with cleaning media and nothing. For the worst of cases with years and years of patina I use vinegar; nothing fancy. I use the straight 5% +/- e few and that is it. I do not add salt etc... When cleaning cases with vinegar I use a time factor; I clean the cases for 15 minutes maximum for the life of the case. And then; I rinse in hot water. I am not sure how water can be too hot for the case because, the boiling is 212 degree. After the rinse I tumble. Cleaning in vinegar can reduce tumbling by 5 days.


Then there is spinning. For those that want to show off a shine it could be they way to go though slow.


F. Guffey

 

[Paddyd]

When it comes to cleaning cases I do not have a ritual; I use tumblers with cleaning media and nothing. For the worst of cases with years and years of patina I use vinegar; nothing fancy. I use the straight 5% +/- e few and that is it. I do not add salt etc... When cleaning cases with vinegar I use a time factor; I clean the cases for 15 minutes maximum for the life of the case. And then; I rinse in hot water. I am not sure how water can be too hot for the case because, the boiling is 212 degree. After the rinse I tumble. Cleaning in vinegar can reduce tumbling by 5 days.


Then there is spinning. For those that want to show off a shine it could be they way to go though slow.


F. Guffey

I gotta say, if your tumbling can take up to 5 days your media is worn out. If it wasn't when you started it surely is by then. While it doesn't do much inside small necked cases like 223 or 204 I find my corn cob with a squirt of turtle wax all metal polish cleans them up good in 30 minutes or so. I use the dish soap lemishine after depriming to clean the inside of my rifle cases I'm loading for accuracy. Then I dump them in a water/soda solution to kill the acid reaction. Anyone using vinegar should do this too. I don't bother with the plinkers like the .223's I run through the M4 or the 9mm pistol cases. I just dry tumble them every 3 or 4 loadings unless they are being picked up out of the mud. Then I give them a quick wash to get rid of the grit.

 

[Just Dave]

I think the Lemishine recipes are a little too generous, I don't even use it until after I have rinsed my tumbler twice..
I, like a lot of these crazy kids these days, got caught up in the SS pin tumbling craze,, Lizard littler worked fine for me for 2 decades, why change right ?
When I first started reading about people spinning cases for 4 hours or more , I thought that seemed awfully long..
I use one of them cheap Amazon "Extreme 17" or whatever brand label it happened to be at the time,, it's cheap, motor is terribly underpowered, and it uses an O-ring for a drive belt.
Either way, it still works, .. I start by using a deprime die only, all the cases get dumped in with 5# of pins (twice the recommended amount) and just a squirt of dawn, luke warm water.
After about 20 minutes, you'll notice the water is pitch black,, I stop , dump off water off the top, being careful not to add more pins to my plumbing pipes, fill with clean water, and dump again.
Back to fill up with warm water, another pinch of dawn, and another 40 minutes of tumbling... Water is pretty dirty again, so rinse out real quick, and FINAL clean gets no more dawn, just a 1/2tsp pinch of lemishine and clean water for another 20 minutes.. That's it, 1.5 hours, and I have perfectly clean brass,, now it may not have the luster of brass stuck in pins for 4 hours,, but the primer pockets are clear of any debris, and inside of case is soot-free and easily inspected.
I have yet to have the issue with the blackening,, kinda makes me think the lubricant for neck turning, reacted to the detergent ??
Either way a quick spin in some scotchbrite should make them look new again,, I already make that a part of my "process" ..

 

[Titan700]

I think the Lemishine recipes are a little too generous, I don't even use it until after I have rinsed my tumbler twice..
I, like a lot of these crazy kids these days, got caught up in the SS pin tumbling craze,, Lizard littler worked fine for me for 2 decades, why change right ?
When I first started reading about people spinning cases for 4 hours or more , I thought that seemed awfully long..
I use one of them cheap Amazon "Extreme 17" or whatever brand label it happened to be at the time,, it's cheap, motor is terribly underpowered, and it uses an O-ring for a drive belt.
Either way, it still works, .. I start by using a deprime die only, all the cases get dumped in with 5# of pins (twice the recommended amount) and just a squirt of dawn, luke warm water.
After about 20 minutes, you'll notice the water is pitch black,, I stop , dump off water off the top, being careful not to add more pins to my plumbing pipes, fill with clean water, and dump again.
Back to fill up with warm water, another pinch of dawn, and another 40 minutes of tumbling... Water is pretty dirty again, so rinse out real quick, and FINAL clean gets no more dawn, just a 1/2tsp pinch of lemishine and clean water for another 20 minutes.. That's it, 1.5 hours, and I have perfectly clean brass,, now it may not have the luster of brass stuck in pins for 4 hours,, but the primer pockets are clear of any debris, and inside of case is soot-free and easily inspected.
I have yet to have the issue with the blackening,, kinda makes me think the lubricant for neck turning, reacted to the detergent ??
Either way a quick spin in some scotchbrite should make them look new again,, I already make that a part of my "process" ..

.


Just Dave ,
Get ya a separator like RCBS has its what I have I use it upside down put water in it spin the Handel then your pins are in it I'll strain thru a rag easy and gtg again.

 

[Just Dave]

.


Just Dave ,
Get ya a separator like RCBS has its what I have I use it upside down put water in it spin the Handel then your pins are in it I'll strain thru a rag easy and gtg again.

.
Yep< I have one for my walnut/cob media,, (For when I DO want a "shiny" bullet)
The one I use for the pins , fits in the top of a bucket, in the sink, but I find it isin't necessary to dump all the pins, just strain the top dirty water off, and rinse again before closing it back up.
.
Every time I dump those pins, it seems 2 or 17 of them , jump beyond the barriers of the bucket and end up in the sink, or on the floor