Brass Coated with sticky dirty film after wet tumble

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TacticalCanuck

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Hi Reloaders!

Ok, new to the wet tumble thing. I will describe what I've done and I'm sure at some point one of you will have an 'a-ha' moment and have some good advice.

Steps I followed

deprimed a bunch of 5.56 brass.
ran in FrankFord Arsenal wet tumbler with half a tablespoon of lemi-shine and a few drops of Dawn Ultra
brass came out amazing
proceeded to resize and trim brass (using hornady case lube on a pad (no not that crap in the spray can) - best method for me so far never a stuck case)
Loaded some brass and had issues with lube catching up the powder during the drop, and thought, heck, just wet tumble again to wash it away
Used same recipe as the first tumble.
brass comes out with with a sludgy greyish or brackish 'film' on it that makes brass look dirty and old. It can be wiped off

resized brass didn't clean up well. So i hit it with some brake cleaner gave the batch a light roll in an old towel and tumbled again. Same result, this brackish dirty film is stuck on it.

What did I do wrong, and/or how do I correct this for future tumbles. Tumbling to clean up the cases after resize seems to be a good idea. Powder spills on a progressive stop everything cold, and getting 4 or 5 per 100 cases due to excessive lube or brass shaving stuck in the throat of the case because of lube becomes frustrating and counter productive. This disgusting film on the cases after a wet tumble is even more frustrating. Isn't this what wet tumbling is for? I'm sure that same sickly film is on the inside, and I don't want to load them I want them scrubbed out.

Thanks in advance for any tips or advice.
 
The hornady lube is oil based, so mixing it with dish soap will essentially create that sludge. Right now your brass, tumbler and pins are possibly full of it, you'll need to clean them. I would use green degreaser from home depot, should work ok.

In the future, to avoid this, I would use ganderite's lubing method with an ice cream pail and Lee lube (search this forum for it). It'll be about 5X faster than hornady lube with a pad, not anymore expensive, and since it's water based instead of oil based, you can either wet tumble to clean the brass (a little 15-20 minutes after resizing), or just wipe the outside of the case and let whatever is on the inside dry out.
 
Thanks Vinny,

So put the brass and pins in a pail and let them soak for a few in the green degreaser from home depot, rinse, and spin?

I will certainly look up a method that is as reliable and faster for lubing. Thanks for the suggestion.

For those interested in Ganderite's method, I found the link. Seems so simple, I'm heading over to my LGS now to find some, and home depot for some green degreaser.

https://youtu.be/WmiGQ7HScbk
 
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I used Dawn as well but found that Tide liquid laundry detergent works better and you don't need much of it.

Also go easy on the lemi-shine,in the past I used as much as you did and the brass came out discoulered,so now I just
add a pinch and they come out like brand new.
 
Sounds like either too much water and not enough soap. You only need just enough water to cover the volume of brass. You need to tumble bottle neck cases after resizing to remove the lube. I've never had a problem tumbling to remove lube off the cases.
 
The sludge is an oil/water emulsion from lube being mixed with water. More soap and/or more time in the cleaning solution will probably dissolve it. How much lube are you using?
 
jethunter said:
The sludge is an oil/water emulsion from lube being mixed with water. More soap and/or more time in the cleaning solution will probably dissolve it. How much lube are you using?
Click to expand...

I usually squirt a little 'z' pattern into the pad, let it soak for a couple then get to it. for 100 cases i usually only need to do this 2x. had the same little jar of lube for over a year!
 
M1-Garand said:
I used Dawn as well but found that Tide liquid laundry detergent works better and you don't need much of it.

Also go easy on the lemi-shine,in the past I used as much as you did and the brass came out discoulered,so now I just
add a pinch and they come out like brand new.
Click to expand...

I have also had better results with laundry detergent than with dish soap. One "pod" generally works well if you have that type of detergent on hand. The amount of detergent you need to avoid black brass will vary, depending on the hardness of your water.
 
Clean your dies, you probably have them dirty inside with whatever is on your cases and with the powder sticking to them its making itself worse.
 
tjhaile said:
I have also had better results with laundry detergent than with dish soap. One "pod" generally works well if you have that type of detergent on hand. The amount of detergent you need to avoid black brass will vary, depending on the hardness of your water.
Click to expand...

^^^ I use Tide it foams less than dish soap as well
 
I use less Lemi shine and more Dawn

2 x 9mm cases full of Lemi shine (about 1/4 tsp) and 2 good squirts of Dawn (about 1-1/2 tbsp).

Tumble in warm water for 2-3 hours.

This is with the 7L barrel full of cases - say 1000 x 9mm or 800+ x .223

100 cases would not be worth my while IMHO
 
^^^ thats what I do, but I found that after 1 1/2 to 2 hours of tumbling got them clean. I then leave them in the hot sun for a couple hours to dry.
 
Paul_T said:
I use less Lemi shine and more Dawn

2 x 9mm cases full of Lemi shine (about 1/4 tsp) and 2 good squirts of Dawn (about 1-1/2 tbsp).

Tumble in warm water for 2-3 hours.

This is with the 7L barrel full of cases - say 1000 x 9mm or 800+ x .223

100 cases would not be worth my while IMHO
Click to expand...

per 100 is just to get an idea of how much. Minimum I wet tumble is 500.
 
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