lemi- shine question

Cpo1944

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How much of the stuff are we supposed to use? I put a .45 ACP shell full in about 1 qt of water with some dish washing detergent and my shells looked good at first , but they are tarnishing just over night.
How do I prevent the tarnish?
Thanks,Jack
 
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You pretty much don't. Tarnish is a reaction to the air, or enviorment. You can seal them up in a plastic bag but that is not the final answer. The amount or degree, of what you call tarnish, is up for grabs. Uncoated brass will tarnish. POLISHED brass will stay so much longer than just clean brass. Just my experience, others may have their own answers. :) Also, brass that is not completely clean, or dry will tarnish faster as well. This is the reason I always clean and once polish all brass. JMHO :)
 
How much of the stuff are we supposed to use? I put a .45 ACP shell full in about 1 qt of water with some dish washing detergent and my shells looked good at first , but they are tarnishing just over night.
How do I prevent the tarnish?
Thanks,Jack

I clean my brass with SS pins and a tumbler, I use Lemishine and Turtle Wax wash and wax car cleaner. I haven't had any tarnishing since doing this. Before I started using the Turtle Wax stuff, they would be brown the next day after cleaning. I've been doing this for at least 6 months now. The last picture is a comparison of the old and new method brass cleaning.
 

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I also tumble with the stainless pins. I find that usually a teaspoon of Dawn and 1 hour get my pistol brass plenty clean. I just shake off the rinse water in a towel and polish in a 80/20 mix of corncob and walnut with some cabela's polish to keep the tarnish off.

If the brass is really nasty I often use the lemishine or vinegar concoction, but I do an extra tumble with just Dawn to scrub that acid residue off. Then rinse and polish. These got cleaned a few months ago and still look bright. This batch is all twice fired.

It makes sense that the zipwax works. I use that on polished aluminum dump truck rims as a final coat to protect from oxidation. It really helps.
 

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All of the above sound good.

I just use regular cob and walnut mix in the tumbler with the Iosso polish. It doesn't take a lot. My brass is sparkling in an hour or so.
 
I clean my brass with SS pins and a tumbler, I use Lemishine and Turtle Wax wash and wax car cleaner. I haven't had any tarnishing since doing this. Before I started using the Turtle Wax stuff, they would be brown the next day after cleaning. I've been doing this for at least 6 months now. The last picture is a comparison of the old and new method brass cleaning.

Bkreutz,

What is the brand of your tumbler? Harbor Freight? I assume that is a modified 5 gal bucket? I really like your idea of the Lemishine & the Turtle wax. Do you use the .042 or the bigger .047 pins?

My method is the LSD treatment, followed by vibratory bowl with cob & a little NuShine added. Probably a bit slower. How many do you typically do in a batch? I have several Lyman 1200's that I run. I am looking for some time savings. I would rather be out shooting!
 
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After cleaning in the Thumler's with SS pins, I polish the brass using a vibratory cleaner full of corncob treated with a bit of 50/50 mix of Nu Finish car polish and low odor mineral spirits. The Nu Finish seems to put a coating on that keeps the brass shiny.

In the Thumler's, I use 3 Tablespoons of non-concentrated Dawn dish soap and 1/4 Teaspoon of Lemi-Shine.

Mike
 
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My range brass is first decapped and then soaked in hot water with whatever dishwashing detergent my wife has along with a tablespoon of Lemi-Shine. After rinsing and drying, they go into the tumbler where I use lizard litter and ISSO. The shells then go into recycled coffee containers with lids. I don't have a tarnish problem.
 
Bkreutz,

What is the brand of your tumbler? Harbor Freight? I assume that is a modified 5 gal bucket? I really like your idea of the Lemishine & the Turtle wax. Do you use the .042 or the bigger .047 pins?

My method is the LSD treatment, followed by vibratory bowl with cob & a little NuShine added. Probably a bit slower. How many do you typically do in a batch? I have several Lyman 1200's that I run. I am looking for some time savings. I would rather be out shooting!

That is a small Harbor Freight cement mixer (1.25 cubic ft IIRC). I had to modify the mixer to allow the bucket to fit (yes, 5 gal). I "pie cut" the opening in the mixer and then bent the "slices" out to allow the bucket to slide in, the tension of the opening holds the bucket in place. I also glued 3 strips of pvc to the inside of the bucket to act as agitators. I use 1 gallon of water, as squirt of Zip clean and wax, a sprinkle of lemishine and let it run for about an hour. I separate the pins from the brass in a regular media separator filled with water (otherwise the pins stick in the cases) rinse and then let the brass dry on a towel, it's faster in the summer when I can set them in the sun, but even in the winter, they dry in a couple of days. I use the smaller pins and usually clean 2000 to 2500 cases per load (I could clean more but it gets really heavy to rinse and separate the pins). I started out using a vibratory tumbler, was too slow. Then I used ultrasonic, again, limited number of cases and the tarnishing problem appeared. I wanted to get away from the dry media tumbling because it was too much work. I saw an episode of "Shooting USA" where Jerry Michulek was cleaning his brass with a cement mixer (full size) and drying them in a commercial oven. I didn't need the volume of brass that he did, but I liked the idea. I saw the mini cement mixer one day and the rest is history. ;) Picture below is one load on my drying table, total time invested is less than 1/2 hour (I do something else while it is tumbling, so I don't include that time into the equation).
 

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Harbor freight?

In my opinion, Harbor Freight sells primarily to home owners and hobbyists. Yes, they are cheap but they also aren't commercial grade tools.

The Lyman case tumbler along with others known to reloaders, will last for years and represents then better value.
 
In my opinion, Harbor Freight sells primarily to home owners and hobbyists. Yes, they are cheap but they also aren't commercial grade tools.

The Lyman case tumbler along with others known to reloaders, will last for years and represents then better value.

I could agree with you if I was using my cement mixer as a cement mixer, but since it's only tumbling about 15 pounds of brass and 6 pounds of water, I think it will last (if not, it was still cheap)
 
That is a small Harbor Freight cement mixer (1.25 cubic ft IIRC). I had to modify the mixer to allow the bucket to fit (yes, 5 gal)...

Love it. Just curious, did you put the 5 gal bucket in to protect the brass? Is the steel barrel too aggressive?

I had a thumblers 9 lb but my girlfriend stole it for tumbling rocks. The nerve. I bought a frankford arsenal tumbler it has worked really well.
 
Love it. Just curious, did you put the 5 gal bucket in to protect the brass? Is the steel barrel too aggressive?

I had a thumblers 9 lb but my girlfriend stole it for tumbling rocks. The nerve. I bought a frankford arsenal tumbler it has worked really well.

The inside of the mixer is painted steel, I was thinking more of the brass wearing off the layer of paint and then the inside would rust and mix with my brass. (in addition to having flecks of paint in my brass)
 
I use a 9mm case full of lemmi shine and rinse the brass once tumbled clean to my satisfaction. I've never had a problem with brass darkening if I rinse it.

OG03
 
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The inside of the mixer is painted steel, I was thinking more of the brass wearing off the layer of paint and then the inside would rust and mix with my brass. (in addition to having flecks of paint in my brass)

Ahh that makes sense. I wonder if a plastic spray coating would work. I love improvisations that work out. I've wasted a lot of time on failed ones haha.
 
That is a small Harbor Freight cement mixer (1.25 cubic ft IIRC). I had to modify the mixer to allow the bucket to fit (yes, 5 gal). I "pie cut" the opening in the mixer and then bent the "slices" out to allow the bucket to slide in, the tension of the opening holds the bucket in place. I also glued 3 strips of pvc to the inside of the bucket to act as agitators. I use 1 gallon of water, as squirt of Zip clean and wax, a sprinkle of lemishine and let it run for about an hour. I separate the pins from the brass in a regular media separator filled with water (otherwise the pins stick in the cases) rinse and then let the brass dry on a towel, it's faster in the summer when I can set them in the sun, but even in the winter, they dry in a couple of days. I use the smaller pins and usually clean 2000 to 2500 cases per load (I could clean more but it gets really heavy to rinse and separate the pins). I started out using a vibratory tumbler, was too slow. Then I used ultrasonic, again, limited number of cases and the tarnishing problem appeared. I wanted to get away from the dry media tumbling because it was too much work. I saw an episode of "Shooting USA" where Jerry Michulek was cleaning his brass with a cement mixer (full size) and drying them in a commercial oven. I didn't need the volume of brass that he did, but I liked the idea. I saw the mini cement mixer one day and the rest is history. ;) Picture below is one load on my drying table, total time invested is less than 1/2 hour (I do something else while it is tumbling, so I don't include that time into the equation).

Thanks for the info. I built a drying rack like Jerry's. Just let them sitting outdoors. Seen the video. Guess I am going to Harbor Freight! Thanks...
 
Thanks for the info. I built a drying rack like Jerry's. Just let them sitting outdoors. Seen the video. Guess I am going to Harbor Freight! Thanks...

This thread got me to thinking about our ready-mix trucks where I work. I figure a 10 yard mixer would process roughly 2,916,000 .45 ACP cases in one batch. That's a lot of brass.
 
So how much Lemi Shine, Dawn, and SS pins would you have to use?

Well if you use a cartridge case full of lemishine for a 500 case batch it boggles the mind...

I use 5 lbs of pins with about 500 cases usually...

2916000/500=5832x5lbs=29000 lbs of pins lol. Not legal to haul down the road, but the PTO on those trucks are monsters. No problem turning the barrel.

Probably 500 gallons water.

Would need one heck of a magnet to separate all those pins:eek:
 
Just a couple of thoughts. 1) I have never heard haw the ammo factories polish their brass and 2) It used to be only military ammo and 458 Win Mag, were the only new rifle ammo that the annealing discoloration showed on , now most rifle ammo has discolored shoulders. So they clean the brass at least one less time. I sure don't remember the savings being passed on to us! Ivan
 
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