Looking for opinions on what to do to fix this discoloration on my tumbled brass or if I should even worry about it.
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Discolored Brass
- Thread starter Wilfully_Armed
- Start date
Won't hurt anything but i wet tumble with steel pins,dawn and llemi shine,comes out shinny new everytime.
same same.
Are you using crushed walnut shell media?
I do have a wet tumbler with SS Pins, but dont currently have any Lemishine etc for it.
I tumbled these in new walnut shell and then noticed the discoloration wouldnt go away do I add some case polisher additive to the walnut shell and still no improvement.
I quit buying lemi shine years ago. I use citric acid from the canning area of you grocery store or wal mart. It is about 1/4th the price and lasts a lot longer. Guess what the active ingredient in Lemi shine is. Citric acid.
Mrs. Wages Citric Acid for Home Canning, 12-oz Jar, Dairy-free - Walmart.com
Today Buy Mrs. Wages Citric Acid for Home Canning, 12-oz Jar, Dairy-free at Walmart.com
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I've noticed a similar phenomenon when I've tumbled brass too long or it's had several steel cases in the lot mixed in.
You can wet tumble with pins and dish liquid (add a little acid, I use Lemi-shine or household strength white vinegar in a pinch). I've saved large batches of rifle brass using this "fix." Most of the time I do large batches of brass at once in a Big Dog tumbler. I think they are out of business now but his tumbler holds 18lbs of media and about 1,200 .308 cases or about 3,000 9mm cases.
Yeah, I've used the Dawn and vinegar approach, but always found the results arent as brightly polished as I get from the waltnut shell, more of a even-dull look. Is that normal?
Not normal at all. My brass looks new, brand new....too new really. It's so clean that when I anneal (rifle brass) it you can't even see the annealing line/color at the neck. I have to allow it to oxidize for a few months if I want that annealing to show.
Cheap dish liquid (6 second squirt) and Lemi-Shine (about two .45 ACP cases full) and 2.5 gallons of water in my tumbler is what I use. Hot water seems to work better than cold. I'll take video and show it.
