Sticky 9 mm case

S

soryu

New member
I request some advice from the elders ( who knows more than me). Sometime around May I cleaned some 9 mm brass using stainless steel pin and Lemishine. I know that I tried to rinse it well and had sun dried it.
When the cases were dry, it seems that it had some spots of discoloration. The cases felt well, not sticky and maybe those spots stood out as I ran my fingers over them. After that, I stored them in steel cans.

Now a few days ago, I took out some of the brass. Looked clean and not sticky. When I started to load using Dillon 550 with carbide dies, it was difficult to size and deprime. After a few cases went through, one just got stuck and I had to hammer it out.

I have already set aside these cases, I just want to get some advice what to do with them.
- do I re-clean them using the thumbler without Lemishine?
- should I just rinse them and leave in water for a while?

I already got rid of my cob tumbler so I could not do that.

Thank you all


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Unless you got some unusual corrosion from the citric acid, perhaps your cases are TOO clean. Really bare brass has a substantial coefficient of friction. A light spritz of spray lube will get you going. At least it does for me.
 
It think, from the spots, you've got some mineral deposits, which could increase friction because they stick to the brass and alter its surface friction.

In the future, knock the primers out of your cases before you pin tumble them. Lee makes an inexpensive universal decapping die for this and they also make hand depriming tools that are even cheaper that can be used on a bench. That will eliminate water trapped in the primer pockets and the minerals in there with them that are primer reaction products that contribute to mineralizing the rinse. Those will tend to contaminate your rinse. Also, if your water is hard, that will contribute even more. Drain your cases cleaned well (I shake mine in an old rag towel), then give them a final rinse in distilled or deionized water. That will eliminate the mineral deposit water spots, assuming you decapped before cleaning. You can keep using the same gallon of distilled water until you start to see the spots again, but if you shook the loose water off pretty well, that will take awhile.

For this batch, use case lube. You can buy spray lube, but you don't need anything fancy or expensive. Even WD-40 would work for the level of lube you likely need. You probably just don't want the sticky residue it leaves when it dries. Dip each case in odorless mineral spirits before cycling it through the die and see if that isn't lubrication enough for this situation. Then you can just let it dry off before you finish the loading cycle. If that proves not to be good enough, buy a quart of cheap single weight motor oil. Dip each case in it on the way to the sizing and decapping die, then when the case comes out of the die, toss it into a bucket of the mineral spirits to get the oil off. Pull the cases from the bucket and let them dry before proceeding with the rest of the reloading cycle. Consider it a lesson learned.
 
I wet tumble and add a cap full of CLR, a few drops of dish soap and a pinch or two of LemiShine. Afterwards, once tumbling is complete; I pour off dirty water and re-fill the tumbler and cleaned brass (deprived) with clean water and swish around and pour-off. I pour-off off again. I dump the brass into separator and rotate. I open up the basket and take a hair dryer and dry brass using my hands to toss around brass as I blow dry. Once brass feels relatively dry; I spread brass out onto a towel and let air dry. I place a small amount of brass in an open container and spray with One Shot. Toss around with my hands, spraying here and there. I spray a very small shot into my re-sizing die and then start re-sizing. Have not had any problems with stuck cases. I periodically check my re-sizing die and clean as needed. BTW, the discoloration on the brass happens. I would be curious if you took new shiny brass and wet tumbled if the brass discolors afterwards? I will have to try.


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