For those with doubts about tumbling with Stainless Steel pins.

thump_rrr

thump_rrr

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I bought a couple of boxes of 9mm projectiles last year.
One of the boxes opened up in my F-250 and spilled all over the cab.
I was short nearly 250 rounds and couldn't figure out where they could have gone.
This weekend I stripped out the interior for its annual spring cleaning and this is what I found.
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67FD4DF6-BC43-4772-A1C2-9B55BDA6024C-102-000000012F38B7E2_zps6dd27495.jpg


As you can see there are many bullets which are blue/green with corrosion.
I tried cleaning one by hand but it was next to impossible so in the wet tumbler they went with SS pins some dish soap and some Lemishine.
This is what they came out looking like 4 hours later.
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jamesharrison said:
So where did you get the ss pins for tumbling [or the Lemishine, for that matter](said the old fart who has tried using the rouge coated walnut hulls for cleaning bullets which didn't work worth a darn?
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Lemishine is from Canadian Tire, Home Hardware, etc. The SS pins are for wet tumbling in a rotating, sealed drum tumbler, not vibrating tumbler.


I recall reading many people have bought pins from a person on the EE. I got mine in the US, shipped to a US address because of exorbitant shipping costs to Canada.

http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/foru...ainless-pins-arrived-now-I-need-a-little-help
 
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jamesharrison said:
(said the old fart who has tried using the rouge coated walnut hulls for cleaning bullets which didn't work worth a darn?
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My understanding was the rouge tumbling media was for polishing, not cleaning. I've used the green walnut stuff from Lyman on cases, bullets, and loaded ammo and it works great on all of them. Results aren't as shiny as the pic above but good enough for any non-match use.
 
Lemshine's active ingredient is Citric Acid. You can buy citric acid at your local grocery store in the canning section. It is a white powder that you can use to stop cut apples from going brown, or cleaning your brass :)
Very inexpensive, and environmentally safe, pour it down your drain and it will clean the scale out of them.
A spoonful in a couple liters of hot water will clean your brass very quickly, but it will not give it that polished look. For that you need some mechanical method, steel wool, walnut/corncob tumbling, or stainless pin tumbling.
 
No doubt in my mind that the SS pins make the brass bright and shiny, inside and out.
But I will never bother with it, since I am more about practicality than about cosmetics. :)
Regards, Eagleye.
 
Rory McCanuck said:
Lemshine's active ingredient is Citric Acid. You can buy citric acid at your local grocery store in the canning section. It is a white powder that you can use to stop cut apples from going brown, or cleaning your brass :)
Very inexpensive, and environmentally safe, pour it down your drain and it will clean the scale out of them.
A spoonful in a couple liters of hot water will clean your brass very quickly, but it will not give it that polished look. For that you need some mechanical method, steel wool, walnut/corncob tumbling, or stainless pin tumbling.
Click to expand...

Just a note that Lemishine isn't citric acid, but a close cousin to it.

A group of people did analyse it in a lab and came up with something close but couldn't exactly identify it, possibly citric acid hemihydrate. http://www.chemistry-blog.com/2012/05/18/whats-in-lemi-shine/

Citric acid will work similarly well. However citric acid in smaller quantities isn't much cheaper than Lemishine.
 
Eagleye said:
No doubt in my mind that the SS pins make the brass bright and shiny, inside and out.
But I will never bother with it, since I am more about practicality than about cosmetics. :)
Regards, Eagleye.
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Me neither, for the same reasons. They look nice but too much hassle. Maybe if I start storing my bullets under the floor mat in the truck.....:D
 
Having a hard time imagining a game animal reasoning: "Nope, I won't die! That ammo is not shiny enough!" :D

But, to each his own. If bright, shiny ammo is your passion, who am I to complain?
As long as no one tries to convince me that it shoots better, All will be great.

FWIW, During the time others spend cleaning and drying that shiny brass, I will be busy loading my ammo.

Regards, Eagleye.
 
Eagleye said:
Having a hard time imagining a game animal reasoning: "Nope, I won't die! That ammo is not shiny enough!" :D

But, to each his own. If bright, shiny ammo is your passion, who am I to complain?
As long as no one tries to convince me that it shoots better, All will be great.

FWIW, During the time others spend cleaning and drying that shiny brass, I will be busy loading my ammo.

Regards, Eagleye.
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I guess you have less time on your hands than I do or shoot an awful lot more than I do.
I have enough handgun ammo loaded to shoot through till next fall.
I have 6,000 more 9mm and 4,000 more .45 bullets coming this week.
They will be loaded next fall for the following year.
I unfortunately lack enough projectiles to load more AR ammo.
The only ammo I load during summer is my precision .308 ammo since I don't have 1,500 Lapua cases kicking around.

Cleaning with SS media is not time consuming at all besides the time it takes to deprime the cases.
It gives me something to do when I'm bored.
 
With super clean brass it is easier to spot defects. Case head or neck separation are things that will take your rifle out of action when you can least afford it. Say in a match, or when you need a follow up shot on game.
It is also very easy on dies.

Eagleye said:
Having a hard time imagining a game animal reasoning: "Nope, I won't die! That ammo is not shiny enough!" :D

But, to each his own. If bright, shiny ammo is your passion, who am I to complain?
As long as no one tries to convince me that it shoots better, All will be great.

FWIW, During the time others spend cleaning and drying that shiny brass, I will be busy loading my ammo.

Regards, Eagleye.
Click to expand...
 
Gunnerlove said:
With super clean brass it is easier to spot defects. Case head or neck separation are things that will take your rifle out of action when you can least afford it. Say in a match, or when you need a follow up shot on game.
It is also very easy on dies.
Click to expand...

Not to mention the fact you are not putting any abrasives into your reloading dies!

A few reasons why I switched:
1) Clean fingers when I'm loading mags!
2) So easy to spot defects in the brass
3) No dust!
4) hell of a lot quieter then a vibratory tumbler!
5) Easy on the reloading dies
6) Clean primer pockets - makes seating primers a breeze!
7) Constant neck tension - no carbon buildup to mess with things. When I seat my bullets they stay where I put them!
 
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