wet tumble chemicals?

S

Shadow9mm

New member
Been using the Frankford packets, but they are $1 each and 223 needs 2 washes

Not sure how I feel about a wash n wax. I know the wax should not interact with the powder or gum up the chamber. Has anyone used the wash'n wax stuff and stored long term?

Bought some stuff at the store today to try

finish booster 90-100% citric acid (no lemishine)
dawn (common, figured my wife can use it if I dont)
simple green (not seen much on people using it, seemed like a good idea)
mcguires utimate wash n wax (carnuba, no turtle zip)

Any thoughts? I know I should use the booster since I have hard water, and to help neutrilize any lead.

What have you guys tried other than dawn and lemi shine?
 
I just use Dawn and some Lemi shine, they come out looking like new. Word of caution, the lead can not be neutralized, only removed So keep that in mind when handing the water.
 
I've used wash n wax and left brass out for a few months. Still seemed to shoot fine after loading.

I buy simple green by the gallon, every once in a while I'll use it in the tumbler. Haven't really paid attention to how it does, I always forget I did something different till after I've dumped them in the bucket with the rest of the brass

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some kind of detergent - any dish detergent, car wash detergent (has wax), dish washer tabs (reduced rinsing)

some kind of citric acid. Lemishine, bulk citric from canning section of grocer, lemon juice, lime juice
 
Nodak1858 said:
Word of caution, the lead can not be neutralized, only removed
Click to expand...

Citric Acid is a chelator that binds the lead into an organic molecule that has very low reactivity and toxicity. Just as chelating blood is used to address heavy metal poisoning, this renders the lead safe to flush down a drain.


Shadow9mm said:
simple green
Click to expand...

Simple Green and Dawn both have a pH of about 9, so they work to neutralize citric acid in enough quantity, or the citric acid neutralizes their pH in enough quantity, reducing their cleaning properties. That's why I dropped the soap for the Hornady type cleaner (Citric Acid with about 1/60 part Diethanolamine). That said, the soaps do tend to suspend dirt. My next tumble I will be adding some non-ionic agricultural spray surfactant I have to see if that helps any, but I am not expecting much difference; it's just an experiment.

The FA Brass Polish you linked to is for a vibratory tumbler. I tried, unsuccessfully, to find one for their wet tumbling cleaner.
 
FA makes a blue fluid, labelled as Ultrasonic Cleaner, but is the product specified for FART-ing. It does take a lot of rinsing. Auto-wash wax is good too. I use it mixed in with RO rinse water, to leave a film of wax on the brass. I have found that auto-wash-wax plastic jugs cannot be stored outside as they are not UV stabilized. Wrecked two jugs that way and will not buy again. I use some NuFinish car polish and bees-wax chips in corn-cob dry tumble if I am after a longer lasting shiny wax finish.
https://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item/00122878787/ultrasonic-brass-cleaning-solution
 
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nhyrum good to know. I was reading last night about a guy using simple green with oxy-clean, said for some reason it stained his brass DO green. I might have to try that in the near future.

Finished a batch with the frankford packets last night
finished a batch with mcguiars ultimate wash n wax this morning
have a batch in with simple green now (light cleaning mix)

Will post comparison picks when I get done. All had 1 9mm casing of dish washer booster added except frankford packet

Simple green uses a LOT of product, even at light duty
light cleaning 1:30 (for 1gal 8oz, or $0.74)
general purpose 1:10 (for 1 gal 16oz, or $1.48)
heavy-duty 1:1 (for 1 gal 128oz, or $11.91)
 
Simplegreen is a product that is not produced for reloaders. You could wet tumble in tomatoe soup if you wanted to. There is no need or reason for such experimentation.
1. Blue Fart juice from FA (Ultrasonic cleaner).
2. Lemishine and Dawn.
3. Dishwashing detergent.
4. Auto-wash-wax.
These all work. Simplegreen, formula 409, etc., do not need experimenting and taste tests.
When all else fails,
Read the instructions!
If that does not work, you did somethig wrong.
 
Shadow9mm,

You don't need to complicate the process.
Dawn is cheap, is available everywhere, and works great with just a small amount so a bottle lasts a long time.
Lemishine Appliance Cleaner is a favorite of mine and also works better than the normal Lemishine.
I also add a splash of dishwasher rinse to get the soap scum off - lots of different choices and all seem to work.

I tumble for an hour and the primer pockets come out clean and the brass shines like new.
Then I rinse and resize.
If I use lube to full size, I tumble for another 15 min with just Dawn and some dishwasher rinse. The brass stays shiny and bright.

Cheap, relatively quick and easy. I've tumbled about 27,000 rounds of various calibers and wouldn't go back to vibrating with a dry medium.
I used dry medium vibration until the vibrator wore out after 25,000 rounds, so I have a pretty good basis for comparison.
Vibrating never cleaned the primer pockets as well as tumbling with steel pins.
 
Marco Califo said:
Simplegreen is a product that is not produced for reloaders. You could wet tumble in tomatoe soup if you wanted to. There is no need or reason for such experimentation.
1. Blue Fart juice from FA (Ultrasonic cleaner).
2. Lemishine and Dawn.
3. Dishwashing detergent.
4. Auto-wash-wax.
These all work. Simplegreen, formula 409, etc., do not need experimenting and taste tests.
When all else fails,
Read the instructions!
If that does not work, you did somethig wrong.
Click to expand...

None of the products you mentioned are produced for reloaders, except the blue fart juice...

The reason it, maybe something works as well or better, or some of these options might not be readily available and having options is always a good thing.
 
Ok, results are in.
1st, simple green
2nd, Mcguiars
3rd, FART packets

All were more than acceptably clean after 1hr with pins.

The inside of the casings was the only place I could tell a difference. The light reflected farther in a lot better with the simple green. mcguiars was a close second, and Fart packs were kinda lagging behind. clean but not shiny inside.
 
Report of the Automatic Dishwasher packets works gangbusters

They do a superior job on dishes and replace the two dose of powder or liquid.
 
I am not surprised that the Simple Green did a good job. I love it for getting the carbon out of barrels. Two dry followed by four or five wet and the carbon is gone. Does not do a damn thing for copper, but One Shot takes care of the copper easy enough once the carbon is history

I will stick with dish washer packs for case cleaning, cheap to buy and easy to rinse off
 
hounddawg said:
I am not surprised that the Simple Green did a good job. I love it for getting the carbon out of barrels. Two dry followed by four or five wet and the carbon is gone. Does not do a damn thing for copper, but One Shot takes care of the copper easy enough once the carbon is history

I will stick with dish washer packs for case cleaning, cheap to buy and easy to rinse off
Click to expand...
Had not thought of that, has not really been mentioned nearly as much as the dawn/lemi shine combo. Similar idea to the frankford packs, but way cheaper.
 
Citric acid at 5% (a much higher concentration than mentioned here) is an old Frankford Arsenal case cleaning formula from before the military started leaving cases uncleaned and unpolished in the 1920s. The reason it was favored is it is also a brass treatment used for long-term storage. It leaves the surface of the brass clean but relatively unreactive. The yellow brass darkens a bit over time, but doesn't seem to be relatively disinterested in oxidizing other than that.

The topic has been covered to the nth degree in the 45 page thread on the subject in the Gunloads Cast Boolits forum.
 
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