Tarnished Brass & Tumbleing

[Highland Lofts]

I got 30 pounds of tarnished range brass today
It has been sitying out side for some time to get as tarnished as it is.
I seperated it this afternoon, i took the 223/5.56 brass and tumbled it in corn cob, crushed walnut hulls, Frankford Wet Tumbler with out pins, Frankford wet tumbler with pins.
All were tumbled for exactly one hourand fifteen minutes.

The Frankford has ten more minutes with the pins to go.
After it gets done i will put it on my drying racks and post a picture of how they turned out in the different tumblers.
The dry tumbler with corn cob media and walnut hull media didn't look like they did anything.

The wet tumbler with no pins did a better job of getting some tarnish off, but not good enough for my likes.
They are all good enough to resize & reload but I like nice clean/shinny brass.

The wet tumbler just stopped will be back in a few minutes.

Pictures will be posted.

 

[reloaded_in_pa]

Looking forward to seeing the results.

 

[AJC1]

Tumbler with pins makes jewelry, not even close with anything else.

 

[FROGO207]

Agreed the media will provide the best cleaning. That is all I do anymore. Then I tumble finished ammo in corn cob and NuFinish for 15 minutes if I am going to store it. Just don't tumble hollow point ammo u less you want to clean media out of hollow points.

 

[AgPilot]

I’m fixing to get a tumbler and clean up My brass. My Buddy said fresh cut rice out of the combine (hull still on) is a great media to use. Said it will clean everything up!!

 

[Jonesy814]

I always wash my brass before tumbling. I include vinegar or lemon juice in the wash. I recently picked up over 50 pieces of 223 that had laid out for maybe a month. The wash with vinegar removed a good bit of the tarnish

 

[FROGO207]

Rice may work but the fine crushed walnut you get at pet stores as lizzard bedding will work faster and last longer before it looses its sharp edges. If you want shine use crushed corn cob media.

 

[AgPilot]

Rice may work but the fine crushed walnut you get at pet stores as lizzard bedding will work faster and last longer before it looses its sharp edges. If you want shine use crushed corn cob media.

Agreed. But We have free Rice available here in the Delta

 

[Highland Lofts]

I had a to run to the store, just got back.

As tarnished as this brass is I don't think any form of dry tumbling media would touch the tarnish.

 

[AJC1]

I had a to run to the store, just got back.

As tarnished as this brass is I don't think any form of dry tumbling media would touch the tarnish.


View attachment 992587 View attachment 992588

Lemishine and dish soap will clean what's left of a case half rotten away. Something is not right.

 

[Highland Lofts]

Here is individual pictures of the tumbled brass.

Fresh tarnished range brass.

One hour & fifteen minutes with dry walnut hull media.


One hour & fifteen minutes with dry corn cob media.


One hour & fifyeen minutes with my Frankford wet tumbler, hot tap water, cap full of ArmorAll Wash & Wax, 1/2 Teaspoon Lemi-Shine, small squirt of Dawn dish soap, no pins.


One hour & fifteen minutes in my Frankford wet tumbler. Hot tap water, cap full of ArmorAll Wash & Wax, 1/2 a teaspoon of LemiShine, small squirt of Dawn dish soap.


All are clean enough to resize & reload, but I consider these all garbage, I want better then new looking brass.
I will keep these samples baged up with the labels to show new reloading guys that come over to see how to go about reloading.

I took and put the other 223/5.56 brass in the wet tumbler and will let it go for three hours while I start my fire pit and have a few Budweisers.
⁹
I have the thread " Closet to Shed".
Making renovations to my shed for a full time reloading Man Cave.
I cleaned up some cedar fence boards yesterday & today, cut the bad ends off of the boards and burn them in my fire pit.

I will post a picture tomorrow of my three hour tumble and another it they need more tumble time.

 

[Highland Lofts]

Dry tumbler


Wet tumbler


Scrap wood to burn


Scrap wood burning



Now the important stuff for a Friday night.

Enjoy the thread and
"Don't Worry, Be Happy"

Please hop in and tell us what you like and expect out of tumbeling.
PLEASE NO PI$$ING MATCHES!

 

[Blue68f100]

The FART is sensitive to how much you fill it with brass. To low and it does not clean as well. Also depending on your water hardness you may need to increase the LimeShine (citric acid). I normally run mine at least 1/2-3/4 full of brass, water to the neck, 2 hr as an average.

 

[Highland Lofts]

Lemishine and dish soap will clean what's left of a case half rotten away. Something is not right.

For most range brass I only add a 1/2 teaspoon of LemiSine.
This brass is really tarnished, it needed more LemiShine to bust up the tarnish.
I put the bulk of the 223/5.56 back in the wet tumble with the usual additives for wet tumbeling and set the timer for three hours.
I enjoy the manure out of reloading and get a lot of satisfication playing around with stuff like this. .

 

[film495]

use walnut, and put 1/8 cup of mineral spirits in the media. will still take hours, but - less hours.

 

[bullseye308]

I picked up some 223 & 9mm brass last week at a place I shoot out in the woods, and there is one big flat rock about 125 yards long and maybe 40 yards wide and I believe it is limestone mainly. The brass that sat on the rocky part comes out of the FART after 2 1/2-3 hours using a 40 case full of lemishine, dawn, and either hot or cold water and is brownish, the cases from the grass look brand new after the same treatment. I have run the brown ones twice and had no better results.

 

[MacAR]

I wash mine in hot water and barkeepers friend. Just shake it around in a bucket for 5 or 10 minutes. That takes a lot of tarnish off. Then tumble in el cheapo harbor frieght tumbler with walnut media for a couple hours. Comes out looking nice. I don't have a picture of any right now, but I may run a batch of '06 cases tomorrow and if so, will try to take a few photos.

Mac

 

[bluejay75]

Go heavy on the lemishine or automatic dishwasher soap and hot water in your wet tumbler for 15 minutes. Pour that solution off and fill tumbler with hot water and just add dawn. A strong citric acid solution up front will remove most of the tarnish. But you can’t run it that strong for the whole cycle. Then a spin in the soap with a little of the acid that you didn’t rinse off gets them super clean. I only do this for heavily tarnished brass.

 

[eb in oregon]

Agreed the media will provide the best cleaning. That is all I do anymore. Then I tumble finished ammo in corn cob and NuFinish for 15 minutes if I am going to store it. Just don't tumble hollow point ammo u less you want to clean media out of hollow points.

So, you like to tumble the powder in your loaded cases for 15 or so minutes. I wonder what that does to the powder in those cases?

 

[jonas66]

Old black brass been sitting in acidic soil under the hot sun for ten years...

Throw it in a bucket, dump in a bunch of H2O2 - Hydrogen Peroxide- and a good big whack of baking soda.
It forms some acid or other, I forget what the name is.

Stir it up good, let it sit a while stir some more. That stuff will eat the black right off.

(Might work better in a wet tumbler for a few minutes? I use a wooden spoon in a bucket.)

Only thing is it will leave your brass with the oddest alien looking flat yellow I've ever seen.

Dry it, let it cure for a day or two, then run whatever your normal process is-- mine is the NRA hot water, dish soap, vinegar and salt-- just for a few minutes, that will remove the ugly flat yellow look and get it back to normal. Neutralize the acid wash with baking soda solution-- but not too long- baking soda too long can darken it again.

Then walnut tumble 2 or 3 hours, then cob w/ Nu-Finish for another 3 hours or so.

When you care enough to really show that ol' brass who's boss...

 

[AJC1]

Tarnish is more of a chemical issue than a mechanical one. Weak acids attack the tarnish and the soap helps hold it in suspension. Every area has different water and how much acid added to help the soap varies. My problem was trying to overload my tumbler. Lighter loads came out like super clean and nice, while heavy loads were not as clean. Very dirty brass does not seem to benefit from car wash and wax like brass that has been through your system before.

 

[Ranger99]

Of course, it's not necessary to clean
brass that is just darkened with tarnish.
Any crusty corrosion is a different story.
Most tumble for aesthetic reasons, and
that's ok if that's what you want to do.
I don't tumble every time myself.
Usually after FL resizing to get the
lube and junk off

 

[jonas66]

I save out my chocolate tarnished pistol brass to load with lead cast, then tumble polish the ammo.
I love that look, it's almost steampunk.

 

[kalielkslayer]

Did you put anything in besides water and pins?

On dirty brass I add Dawn and tumble for 2 hours. Drain the water and rinse. Then tumble with a Franklin Arsenal brass cleaner.

 

[jonas66]

Re: h2o2 and baking soda: ok, I went and looked that up-- apparently that mix creates a weak sodium hydroxide solution- lye. No wonder it eats tarnish.
Not something I would do regularly- just tried once or twice with really nasty brass.

The acid I was thinking of is peracetic acid, which is created with a mix of h2o2 and vinegar.
Seems that is fairly toxic and a bad idea.