Citric Acid

[Kaboomstick]

Here is my lazy mans method of cleaning brass...it works for me. I buy the citric acid as a food grade powder costs $2.99 for a jar.

I deprime the fired brass with a .45-70 FL die that has the depriming stem screwed down as far as it will go, this works on many cartridges. All the brass goes into a bucket. Add hot tap water to just above the level of the brass. The hotter the better. Add about one teaspoon of citric acid per gallon of water. Add 1/2 teaspoon of Sunlight dish soap. Swish by twisting the handle back and forth. Wait all of five minutes. Rinse with cold water.

At this stage I anneal if necessary, dropping into water again. Then dry/lube/size.

They come out clean and shiny. There is no walnut grit getting into my dies or guns, no dust, no noise.

I get it that rotary tumbling in stainless media (with soap and acid) does the best possible job, however the results of this are about 90% of that, if not more. The time, machinery, and material saving is substantial. My tumbler has been parked since the first time I tried this.

 

[Robert Nicholson]

Sounds good to me, but I have never cleaned brass. Any worries with this method?

 

[maple leaf]

This is an awesome method especially in a home with nut allergies! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Chas59]

Some advantages to this method are time savings, reduced peening, doesn't need electricity, cheaper than buying a wet tumbler, and overall simplicity. Good idea but since I have my wet tumbler already and love the way it cleans primer pockets, I will stick with that.

 

[bsand]

This is an awesome method especially in a home with nut allergies! Thanks for sharing.

And that is why I went ss tumbling instead of dry tumbling.

 

[mars2618]

Nice! I will try that tonight! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Kaboomstick]

The only caution I'd have is don't leave it in there for a long time.

 

[bigedp51]

Lemishine contains citric acid and some time ago a poster here said lemon-lime Kool-aid is 97% citric acid. (he didn't show us his green fingers)

I started wet tumbling when my AR15 brass started scratching my brass and dies. Scrubbing the cases with SS media removes the embedded dirt and grit on the cases.

 

[RMStyler]

If you have any extra, eat it! Delicious stuff. Put it on watermellon or strawberries...or anything.

 

[jethunter]

When I started reloading and before I had a tumbler, I used to soak brass in a lemon juice / sunlight concoction similar to what you are using. I use Real Lemon concentrate, about 1 tbsp. in a gallon of hot water with a small squirt of Sunlight. Stirred with a wooden spoon a couple times and after 10 minutes drain and rinse with hot water to get rid of the soap and lemon juice. The brass wasn't super clean but it sure smelled nice.