I did a few tests for effectiveness with the factory wet cleaners vs Lemi-Shine.
I tried Hornady One Shot, RCBS case cleaner, and Lemi-Shine in my ultrasonic cleaner with once fired brass. It was clean and fired one time. They all do the same thing as far as I can tell. The RCBS case cleaner has the pre-measure capsul on the side of the bottle, that is nice I have to admit. Same thing Sta-Bil puts on their gasoline treatment bottles, or use to.
I checked these treatments in my 2500 ML ultrasonic cleaner with Litmus paper to see how they stacked up in the Ph department.
I started out with 2500 ML of tap water and the water's Ph checked out at 7.5. Citric acid is a 3.0 Ph by nature.
I found out that one rounded, not heaping, teaspoon of Lemi-Shine takes the Ph down to between 2.5 Ph and 3.0Ph in 2500 ML of 7.5 Ph water and one flattened teaspoon full gets it to a week 3.0 Ph but still 3.0 Ph.
Both Hornady and RCBS concentrates made my tap water a solid 3.0 Ph , like they are supposed to. That's were Citric acid works the best at.
I haven't tried Lymans yet but I suspect it is also a solid 3.0 since all these solutions are is Citric acid, something to make it smell decent, and a water treatment of some kind so you really don't need detergent.
Lemi-Shine is also Citric Acid with a water treatment added. You really don't need a detergent with it either.
All three of these solution produced the same results in my cleaning tests of 16 minutes per batch in my single transducer cleaner. Even the primer pockets were cleaned about the same amount. Most were completely clean and some were spotted with black.
I then tried adding a few drops of detergent (Dawn) and I didn't see any difference in dirt material laying on the bottom of my cleaner or clarity of water than I did without the detergent.
Then I added a lot of detergent ( a full squirt) in with my Lemi-Shine and the water got just as dirty as it did without it, so adding the detergent didn't precipitate any more dirt out of the water than then the cleaning solution did by itself.
I suspect these solutions already have a polymer added to them since if you agitate the solutions they all produce foam. Polymer doesn't have an effect on the PH in the solution. I know this from running a chemical separator for number of years on one of my previous jobs.
You can't see this with wet pin cleaning since you can't watch the process but my ultrasonic made it very clear that the Dawn I was putting in with my Lemi-Shine was a waste of good detergent.
I know some of us use Armor All and water mixed with some Lemi- Shine. Armor All wash and wax has a Ph of 7.5, but I discovered my tap water did also and the level teaspoon of Lemi-Shine still took the solution to a week 3 Ph in 2500 ML of 7.5 Ph water which is what's needed for the Citric acid to do it's job. The car wax in it is it's added benefit.
I don't know how wax does in a 3Ph environment, I have no way of testing it, but the members that use it get good results so it must still work effectively.
So I quit putting detergent in with any of the factory solutions I use.
If you are buying Citric acid from Duda Deisel or anyone else that sells it in bulk, you will need a detergent with it since it is pure citric acid with no additives.
The solutions you buy for cleaning brass, and Lemi-Shine, all work the same, do the same thing, and at least with the measured amounts recommended with the brand name cleaning solutions and a level teaspoon per 2500 ML, you know your solution is going to chellate the molecular lead that's mixed with the carbon in your dirty brass and you can dump it right down the sink or toilet, and this is the method of disposal recommended by the water treatment facilities.
You'll be ok with any of the solutions that are out there but I quit buying premium solutions when I tested Lemi-Shine and it worked just as well without the premium price.
