Do you have to use chemicals when using tumbler with stainless pins?

Required nope. Any soap will help dishwashing car or otherwise

I have been wet tumnleing for close to two years now.
A cap of ArmorAll Wash & Wax
A 1/2 teaspoon LemiShine Booster
A small Squirt Dawn Dish Soap.
Hot tap water & tumble
Run for one.
Drain.
Fill back up with warm water & tumnle 10 to 15 minutes. Drain & dry.

I just use stainless pins,Dawn dish soap and some citric acid. Either in lemi shine or I'll squeeze a bit of lemon juice into it. Just a pinch of lemi shine is all it takes.

That's it.. That's all you need.

It does work without but works faster with the citric acid to remove tarnish and a soap to keep the carbon in suspention. Some even tumble without the pins. I like the pins as they clean the primer pockets and rim area of the brass better. If you use the wash and wax it puts a coating on the brass that resists tarnishing and makes them easier to size.

DBEAM said:

Looks like I'm going to have to start reloading again, got plenty of supplies from when I stopped reloading several years ago (I reloaded to attempt to save money and so I would have an option when ammo was hard to get, don't know about saving any money but glad I have the supplies now) and I'm getting ready to clean some brass. I never cared for all the dust and having to keep changing the corncob media so the stainless pins tumbling method looks good to me.

Is it necessary to use anything but water with the pins? I'm not looking for shiny brass just want it clean enough to reload. I don't mind chemicals just would be one less thing to keep up with.
Thanks

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Frogo207, covered it pretty good.

No, not required but you will be dealing with a coating of crud all over your brass and pins. The soap, of some kind is needed to suspend the dirt in the water so your brass and pins are clean. If you don't add enough every thing will have a black coating on it. Then you have to clean the pins and drum. The addition of citric acid helps clean the brass and shortens the required run time. The wax used in the W&W keeps the clean brass from tarnishing quite as fast. I have some brtass cleaned 5 yrs ago that's still shiny, though not as bright as it was.

To much lemi shine will dull the finish of the cases.

I started wet tumbling using Dawn and LemiShine and swapped the Dawn for an automotive wash and wax. I use ArmorAll but I think and brand will work. Those are the only chemicals that I use.

My Wife made me a pillow case type bag from an old towel that I dump my freshly tumbled cases in. I roll them around and shake them pretty good. This speeds the drying time up and keeps the water spots away.

Nope, plain water works. I experimented a few years ago with wet tumbling and started with citric acid, Dawn and water. Tried a few "formulas" with auto wax/polish differing amounts of soap, wax, Lemi-shine, etc. and all worked well. I even tried just pins, brass and water. Cases came out just as clean/shiny as with the most complex formula, but without any "wax" the cases (bare, nekkid brass) soon tarnished...

You don't NEED to, but it will certainly help to do so. I use dawn dish soap, a bit of citric acid, and slightly warm tap water. The dish soap you can pick up at any grocery store(if you don't already have it sitting under your sink). For the citric acid, I used to use lemon shine, but I ended up just buying a huge bag of it off Amazon for like 15 bucks and it should be enough to last my lifetime, the lifetime of the children I will never have, and the lifetime of the non-existent children's children.

I’ve never tried it with naked water. For 1k of 9mm brass, one 9mm case of Dawn 3x, one case of citric acid, 5# ss pins, water to fill, but leave a little air gap, 2-3 hours will be fine. Good luck.

OH Boy, another weekly tumbling thread.
OP why not do a search and read the resulting 100+ threads on this same subject
...or wait for all the scenters/bloviators to repost their special tumbling "methods" that are all the same: dawn or wash/wax car wash, lemishine, bla, bla, bla.
wait, who urinated in my cereal

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Highland Lofts said:

To much lemi shine will dull the finish of the cases.

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It will also leach out the zinc and leave the brass a more copper color.

While I was composing this reply this popped in.

Another weekly tumbling thread.
THR would be a pretty dull forum with out these weekly rehash of the several thousands subjects on guns, gun maintenance, Ammo, components ........ well you get the picture. If already read don’t read

DBEAM said:

Is it necessary to use anything but water with the pins?

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"necessary? no, but why bother if you're not really trying?

Here's what I have used with GREAT success in my full size tumbler.

It will work with any tumbler.

Take a 1 gallon jug and add 1 Table Spoon of Soap (like Dawn, etc.)
and a max of **1/8 teaspoon of Lemi Shine.
Fill your tumbler container with media, shells & juice.

Regardless of container size, you will have a correct mixture of cleaner.
Be aware more is NOT better, especially when it comes to the Lemi Shine.

***Original said ¼ tsp

DBEAM said:

Is it necessary to use anything but water with the pins? I'm not looking for shiny brass just want it clean enough to reload. I don't mind chemicals just would be one less thing to keep up with.
Thanks

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My understanding is that the chemicals serve to neutralize any remaining lead components, mainly from the primers, capturing them in the solution for easy disposal down the drain. This could be purely nonsense as I read it on a forum, but I have the chemicals, so no reason to not use them. I don't follow-up with any waxes or polishes to prevent tarnishing.

You can take a bath without soap, but why would you?

I use car wash and wax (whatever flavor is on sale, for me usually Turtle) and citric acid.
Soap gets dirt wax helps prevent tarnish, citric acid helps clean and helps with the lead.
You can get citric acid in the canning section at the grocery store (takes about 2 9mm cases full, depends on your water PH)
or you can buy it from Amazon and get enough to last for a long time
1 lb $7.99
5 lb $14.99

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=citric+acid&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

A small jar at the grocery store is about $6
Some people use Lemi Shine, they are actually after the citric acid in the lemi shine, cheaper to just buy 5 lbs of the citric acid from Amazon.
(my Amazon Smile charity if the California Rifle and Pistol Association, might check to see there is a group you would like Smile donations to go to)

Tilos said:

OH Boy, another weekly tumbling thread.

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Yup, it does get old to those of us who have been here for some time (give 'em a break)..... but here goes.................

`I have an old rock tumbler with a rubber liner.
Here is what I do.

4 pounds on S/S pins put in tumbler barrel..
Add brass.
Add hot water till about 3/4 full.
Dissolve one tablespoon of Lemi-shine in a separate cup of hot water. The reason I do this as in the past if one would just add it to the tumbler, some would settle on the brass and etch it.
Add Lemi-shine solution, give a bit of a stir.
I then add 1/3 cup of Turtle Wax Zip Wax car wash and wax.
Adding the soap at the end aids one in seeing the volume of water with no suds blocking your view.
I also have added a 12 X 12 inch micro fiber towel cut into quarters. Not sure if that helps or not.
Fill tumbler with water until about an inch from the top.
Seal the lid, I usually run it for 3 & 1/2 hours.

How you separate the pins from the brass is up to you. There are different methods you can research.

This is what I do:
A blue media separator, (Frankford?) sits in the top of a five gallon pail.
Pail in laundry sink with strainer set in it.
Gently pour brass, water and pins into strainer. Gently because the pins like to bounce and end up everywhere.
I'll use lukewarm water to fill the 5 gallon bucket, then let it trickle in as I pull the brass out, mouth down, allows the pin to fall through the water and strainer to the bottom of the pail.

Okay, brass and pins are separated.
Gently pour the water off the pins that are in the bottom of the 5 gallon pail.
Add water to pins, a gallon or so is ok. Stir and pour off water leaving pins in pail Rinse and repeat 3 times total. This will clean the pins and wash the dirt down the drain
I have a screen that the pins are poured on. Set aside to allow the pins to dry.

Using the pail, rinse your brass 3 times, straining through the blue plastic strainer. don't use hot water in this step as it will darken the brass prematurely.
I dry the brass 3 different ways depending on the time of year or urgency.
On a towel in the hot summer sun.(Cheapest!)
In an old food dehydrator for an hour,
or on top of my garage furnace in a steel pan.

I have found that there are no ill effects from using the Turtle wash and wax, if that is a concern, plus it seems to help slow down the tarnishing of brass, plus the straight walled brass seem to go through the carbide re-sizing die easier.

Try tumbling without the pins. You will get good results with a small amount of citric acid (lemishine being one) and a drop of two of dawn. Rinse after one hour and repeat for two hours. You will be pleased without SS pins all over the place.

I just use about a quarter cup of lemon juice and a tablespoon of Dawn, and a couple hours tops tumbling.

One OZ of Lemon juice and a dribble or two of Dawn in my FART makes in/out look like new. I also de-prime before cleaning.

Bill

They will both tarnish equally. Best to add some type of car wax (Wash & Wax) for the wet and car polish (Nu Finish) to the dry tumbler. Does 2 things. The wax will keep it from tarnishing, and make the brass slicker. With out the wax the brass is squeaky clean and you will need to use some lube. It helps even on carbide dies, the reason some just give a light shot of One Shot.

Is it necessary to use anything but water with the pins? I'm not looking for shiny brass just want it clean enough to reload.

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You don’t even need the pins if all you want is clean enough to reload.

Do you use chemicals when using tumbler with stainless pins?

No. I never drink or take drugs while cleaning brass.


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