******* SOLVED! SEE POST 56 FOR MY SURPRISINGLY SIMPLE RESOLUTION ******
Yesterday I resized about 2,500 .223 cases using my home-brewed mix of lanolin and red HEET. The resulting lubricant worked extraordinarily well in terms of smooth, effortless functioning of the resizing die.
The problem is getting this disgusting stuff off my brass. Normally, after using RCBS lube, I just run the cases in the Frankford Arsenal wet tumbler with Dawn and Lemishine for about an hour and they come out squeaky clean.
Today is a different story... The tumbler has been running for about five hours with three changes of water and more Dawn than I typically use all year. Now that the dirt from the freshly exposed primer pockets met the tacky lanolin film on the rest of the brass, the cases all have a revolting gray waxy layer of filth that comes off only when I scrape it with my fingernail.
In retrospect, I'm not surprised that lanolin is so resistant to my wet tumbler treatment. It is after all, what makes sheep waterproof. I just wish I had thought of that sooner.
My next experiment will be bathing the cases in some 91% Isopropyl alcohol in hopes that will dissolve the lanolin.
If anyone here has already had this adventure while using a WET TUMBLER, or knows enough chemistry to offer a suggestion, please let me know how to rid the brass and myself of this abominable waxy mess.
Yesterday I resized about 2,500 .223 cases using my home-brewed mix of lanolin and red HEET. The resulting lubricant worked extraordinarily well in terms of smooth, effortless functioning of the resizing die.
The problem is getting this disgusting stuff off my brass. Normally, after using RCBS lube, I just run the cases in the Frankford Arsenal wet tumbler with Dawn and Lemishine for about an hour and they come out squeaky clean.
Today is a different story... The tumbler has been running for about five hours with three changes of water and more Dawn than I typically use all year. Now that the dirt from the freshly exposed primer pockets met the tacky lanolin film on the rest of the brass, the cases all have a revolting gray waxy layer of filth that comes off only when I scrape it with my fingernail.
In retrospect, I'm not surprised that lanolin is so resistant to my wet tumbler treatment. It is after all, what makes sheep waterproof. I just wish I had thought of that sooner.
My next experiment will be bathing the cases in some 91% Isopropyl alcohol in hopes that will dissolve the lanolin.
If anyone here has already had this adventure while using a WET TUMBLER, or knows enough chemistry to offer a suggestion, please let me know how to rid the brass and myself of this abominable waxy mess.
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