Armory Sponsor
Posted: 6/7/2026 8:17:38 PM EDT
| I had a pack of Guntap for use in bright, shiny brass but am out. What do you all use/suggest in a rotary wet tumbler with stainless steel pins? Thanks. |
Dare to tame me. Nothing can hold back my rage. Dare to tame me. You can't fool the faithless. Dare to tame me. Fear the man who lost it all.
Global Warming Hoax Skeptic before it was cool
Joined:
Jun 2007
Posts:
72726
EE: 100% (1)
WA, USA
|
I am the odd man out, I get excellent results with Frankford Arsenal brass cleaning solution and a squirt of dawn dish soap..The FA solution came with my FA tumbler....Most of the time I don't even bother using the SS pins, just solution/dawn and hot water.... Attached File Attached File |
|
Southern Shine Chips https://tbbullets.com/product/southern-shine-media/ Dawn & hot water A sprinkle of Lemishine if you have hard water Attached File |
Life is a blind stage on a hot range
| I use Dawn and stainless pins, the pins seem to help clean out the primer pockets. I like my brass to shine bright, so will get some Lemi. Amazon had Guntap that I had been using but a 10 pound bucket! |
Dare to tame me. Nothing can hold back my rage. Dare to tame me. You can't fool the faithless. Dare to tame me. Fear the man who lost it all.
|
I guess I will be odd man too, which isn't odd.... Turtle Wax (or any good brand) "car wash and wax" liquid. Lemishine if you have hard water. I am going to get some of those SS chips mentioned above, a buddy has them, MUCH easier than pins in bottle neck cases. Pins aren't horrible but just don't want any stragglers. |
Then President Biden added “The only garbage I see floating out there is [TRUMP] supporters.
Global Warming Hoax Skeptic before it was cool
Joined:
Jun 2007
Posts:
72728
EE: 100% (1)
WA, USA
|
Originally Posted By Hking: Never had good results with dawn and lemishine regardless of the ratio I have tried, must be something with my water. I really like the Frankford Arsenal pods, they are spendy but I got a half bag for cheap at a garage sale, brass comes out amazing. Keep increasing the amount a little at a time. Stop when cleaning is good. If brass turns pink = too much Lemishine. Short dry tumble will restore brass to correct color. |
Selling agent for Algores carbon credit scam.
Shooting and Reloading, one hobby feeds the other.
Shooting and Reloading, one hobby feeds the other.
Global Warming Hoax Skeptic before it was cool
Joined:
Jun 2007
Posts:
72730
EE: 100% (1)
WA, USA
|
Originally Posted By AKSnowRider: I am the odd man out, I get excellent results with Frankford Arsenal brass cleaning solution and a squirt of dawn dish soap..The FA solution came with my FA tumbler....Most of the time I don't even bother using the SS pins, just solution/dawn and hot water.... https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/404934/IMG_6358_jpeg-3775329.JPG https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/404934/IMG_6360_jpeg-3775332.JPG  But your pics don't show primer pockets. Are they getting clean? Or are you cleaning them later?  I use pins and my primer pockets are spotless. |
Selling agent for Algores carbon credit scam.
Shooting and Reloading, one hobby feeds the other.
Shooting and Reloading, one hobby feeds the other.
|
Like most people in this thread, Dawn and Lemishine. But I also add in Armor All Wash and Wax: Attached File Along with the stainless steel pins. I use a cap-ful of the Lemishine crystals. I think when I first started wet tumbling, I made the mistake of buying and using the liquid version of Lemishine. That didn’t work. So somebody here, most likely dryflash, set me straight on using the crystal form of Lemishine. Okay….and now for the $64,000 question… My F.A.R.T. has the built in timer. I set it for just 1 hour, maybe 1 hour and 15 minutes. How long are ya’ll wet tumbling for? |
Is this the version you all use? 
|
Dare to tame me. Nothing can hold back my rage. Dare to tame me. You can't fool the faithless. Dare to tame me. Fear the man who lost it all.
|
Yup, that's the stuff. I get it at the local grocery store, since the water here is pretty high in calcium chloride; our water comes from the Edwards Aquifer, which is made up of a network of underground limestone bubbles. Its primary active ingredient, as far as brass cleaning is concerned, is citric acid. As far as I can tell, the other stuff conditions the water so cleaners like dishwasher detergent (or Dawn) can work better. Somebody somewhere will groan about using an acid with "soap", because soaps are alkaline. Ain't nobody using "soap" in dishwashers, washing machines, or brass tumblers. Clothes detergent and Dawn are surfactants. In fact laundry and dishwasher cleaning agents are almost all surfactants nowadays. They chemistry allows these cleaners to lift dirt and grime off of surfaces very effectively. |
Global Warming Hoax Skeptic before it was cool
Joined:
Jun 2007
Posts:
72732
EE: 100% (1)
WA, USA
|
Originally Posted By WeimaranerDad: Like most people in this thread, Dawn and Lemishine. But I also add in Armor All Wash and Wax: https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/369122/IMG_7211_jpeg-3775557.JPG Along with the stainless steel pins. I use a cap-ful of the Lemishine crystals. I think when I first started wet tumbling, I made the mistake of buying and using the liquid version of Lemishine. That didn't work. So somebody here, most likely dryflash, set me straight on using the crystal form of Lemishine. Okay .and now for the $64,000 question My F.A.R.T. has the built in timer. I set it for just 1 hour, maybe 1 hour and 15 minutes. How long are ya'll wet tumbling for? I set my timer for 3 hours tumble, 4 hours off, 15 minutes on. 4 hours off, 15 minutes on, repeats till the 3 hour tumble. I normally come back to the tumbler before the second 3 hour tumble. |
Selling agent for Algores carbon credit scam.
Shooting and Reloading, one hobby feeds the other.
Shooting and Reloading, one hobby feeds the other.
|
Originally Posted By dryflash3: You certainly are getting the bling. But your pics don't show primer pockets. Are they getting clean? Or are you cleaning them later? https://i.imgur.com/omJI5Hjh.jpg I use pins and my primer pockets are spotless. Since I normally end up cycling them thru the FART twice per loading, pockets are normally spotless..If I find dirty pockets that won't clean up on the first cycle I will run them with pins the second time, but it is very rare I need to..... |
|
I'm getting great results with a single, 4-hour tumble. Except for horribly tarnished brass, everything comes out super clean and blingy. Not long ago I accidentally ran a load with half the amount of Lemishine I usually use. I have a Thumler's Model B which takes a gallon of water, 5 pounds of pins or chips, and about 3 pints (measured in a pitcher) of brass, and I typically use dryflash3's formula of "a .45 case full" of Lemishine. That's 1/4 teaspoon for those of us who haven't made his fancy cartridge case dippers. But I grabbed the wrong measuring spoon and got 1/8 teaspoon instead. It showed. I wound up rerunning that batch because it just wasn't shiny enough.  Anyway, I don't even rinse the brass, just separate the pins with a rotary media separator - I have one for dry tumbling and another for wet tumbling - then dump the damp brass on an old towel. From there, I load the cases in a food dehydrator and let it do its thing for about 20-25 minutes. |
Global Warming Hoax Skeptic before it was cool
Joined:
Jun 2007
Posts:
72745
EE: 100% (1)
WA, USA
|
Originally Posted By AKSnowRider: Since I normally end up cycling them thru the FART twice per loading, pockets are normally spotless..If I find dirty pockets that won't clean up on the first cycle I will run them with pins the second time, but it is very rare I need to..... Originally Posted By AKSnowRider: Originally Posted By dryflash3: You certainly are getting the bling. But your pics don't show primer pockets. Are they getting clean? Or are you cleaning them later? https://i.imgur.com/omJI5Hjh.jpg I use pins and my primer pockets are spotless. Since I normally end up cycling them thru the FART twice per loading, pockets are normally spotless..If I find dirty pockets that won't clean up on the first cycle I will run them with pins the second time, but it is very rare I need to.....
|
Selling agent for Algores carbon credit scam.
Shooting and Reloading, one hobby feeds the other.
Shooting and Reloading, one hobby feeds the other.
Global Warming Hoax Skeptic before it was cool
Joined:
Jun 2007
Posts:
72746
EE: 100% (1)
WA, USA
|
Originally Posted By GHPorter: I'm getting great results with a single, 4-hour tumble. Except for horribly tarnished brass, everything comes out super clean and blingy. Not long ago I accidentally ran a load with half the amount of Lemishine I usually use. I have a Thumler's Model B which takes a gallon of water, 5 pounds of pins or chips, and about 3 pints (measured in a pitcher) of brass, and I typically use dryflash3's formula of "a .45 case full" of Lemishine. That's 1/4 teaspoon for those of us who haven't made his fancy cartridge case dippers. But I grabbed the wrong measuring spoon and got 1/8 teaspoon instead. It showed. I wound up rerunning that batch because it just wasn't shiny enough. Anyway, I don't even rinse the brass, just separate the pins with a rotary media separator - I have one for dry tumbling and another for wet tumbling - then dump the damp brass on an old towel. From there, I load the cases in a food dehydrator and let it do its thing for about 20-25 minutes. @GHPorter IM me your address and we will fix that. I saw the other day I had an extra. |
Selling agent for Algores carbon credit scam.
Shooting and Reloading, one hobby feeds the other.
Shooting and Reloading, one hobby feeds the other.
|
Originally Posted By dryflash3: I set my timer for 3 hours tumble, 4 hours off, 15 minutes on. 4 hours off, 15 minutes on, repeats till the 3 hour tumble. I normally come back to the tumbler before the second 3 hour tumble. Thanks dryflash! My brass seems bling bling enough after just 1 hour or 1 hour and 15 minutes. I’m still kicking around the idea of buying RollSizer’s automated decapper. I’ll probably be taking the Dillon SL900 off my bench soon enough. Then taking my other 650 off the floor / out of the corner…putting that on the bench. Then making that my decapping machine. |
Global Warming Hoax Skeptic before it was cool
Joined:
Jun 2007
Posts:
72751
EE: 100% (1)
WA, USA
|
Originally Posted By WeimaranerDad: Thanks dryflash! My brass seems bling bling enough after just 1 hour or 1 hour and 15 minutes. I'm still kicking around the idea of buying RollSizer's automated decapper. I'll probably be taking the Dillon SL900 off my bench soon enough. Then taking my other 650 off the floor / out of the corner putting that on the bench. Then making that my decapping machine. Turning on tumbler is the last thing I do when I leave the shop at night. Around 5 PM. I get back to the shop around noon. I found if tumbler sits for hours after finishing cleaning, the gunk removed dulls the brass. Which is why I do the 15 minute tumbles and achieve the bling. |
Selling agent for Algores carbon credit scam.
Shooting and Reloading, one hobby feeds the other.
Shooting and Reloading, one hobby feeds the other.
|
Originally Posted By CPTmorgan: Southern Shine Chips https://tbbullets.com/product/southern-shine-media/ Dawn & hot water A sprinkle of Lemishine if you have hard water https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/68144/20250910_161052_jpg-3775359.JPG @CPTmorgan How many pounds of those chips do you need for the FART? I stopped tumbling wet because I hated the pins I originally bought for tumbling (DIY setup). I acquired the FA tumbler a while ago and think I want to give this another go. I have a ton of brass I'd like to clean and pack for long term storage. |
|
I'm using a little soap/detergent and a little citric acid (about a quarter teaspoon of the granules. I'm not using pins - they make the brass a little shinier, and clean the insides, but it makes no difference to me, and my brass is shiny. I tumble about 1 hour. This is for 9mm and 223 brass. |
|
@corruptor I use 5# of the Southern Shine chips in the big Franklin for 1 gallon of 9mm brass... hot water & dawn. However... if you quit using the SS pins because they were a PITA to separate, the chips are worse... you really have to spin & spin & spin again to get the chips off the brass. They are magnetic, which helps. The Hornady Media Sifter is pretty good, doesn't hold a lot but the lid fits well so you don't lose any chips when spinning the handle. https://www.hornady.com/reloading/case-care/tumblers-and-equipment/rotary-media-sifter They would probably separate much easier when dry, I separate them right out of the Franklin after rinsing because... well IDK, just because... maybe I will let them dry first and then spin them. I didn't like the brushed finish on the brass from the SS pins, the SS chips do an amazing job, even the primer pockets are clean. |
Life is a blind stage on a hot range
|
Originally Posted By dryflash3: One thing I didn't mention, I don't wait for the tumbler to finish running, then empty. Turning on tumbler is the last thing I do when I leave the shop at night. Around 5 PM. I get back to the shop around noon. I found if tumbler sits for hours after finishing cleaning, the gunk removed dulls the brass. Which is why I do the 15 minute tumbles and achieve the bling. I’m usually in the next room trying to crank on the 650’s handle, aerobically, to decap the next batch of brass while the FART is running in the adjacent bathroom on a plastic storage tub in the bath tub (just in case one of the end caps start leaking.). So as soon as I hear it stop running, I’m in there rinsing the brass and the pins. And then separating the pins from the brass. And rinsing the brass off again. And spinning it again in that enclosed media separator. I have one of those el cheapo plastic fold up tables . It has one layer of Dollar General bath towels on it. So I spread out the wet brass on that. Then turn on a box fan to blow across the brass. If I am really on the ball, I will turn on the dehumidifier when I first turn on the FART. I have been storing my dry, decapped brass in .50 cal cans now with desiccant packs. I got tired of the plastic 5 gallon buckets getting brittle and breaking all on their own and spilling brass everywhere: Attached File |
|
Originally Posted By CPTmorgan: @corruptor I use 5# of the Southern Shine chips in the big Franklin for 1 gallon of 9mm brass... hot water & dawn. However... if you quit using the SS pins because they were a PITA to separate, the chips are worse... you really have to spin & spin & spin again to get the chips off the brass. They are magnetic, which helps. The Hornady Media Sifter is pretty good, doesn't hold a lot but the lid fits well so you don't lose any chips when spinning the handle. https://www.hornady.com/reloading/case-care/tumblers-and-equipment/rotary-media-sifter They would probably separate much easier when dry, I separate them right out of the Franklin after rinsing because... well IDK, just because... maybe I will let them dry first and then spin them. I didn't like the brushed finish on the brass from the SS pins, the SS chips do an amazing job, even the primer pockets are clean. My biggest issue was pins sticking in the necks and flash holes. I've since learned that the pins I used are the wrong length and that I might have better success with a different pin. That said, if I'm going to try it again I'd rather try the chips and see how it goes. If I don't like it I also have the FA Dryer and can sell the whole shebang with multiple cleaning options 
|
|
Originally Posted By CPTmorgan: However... if you quit using the SS pins because they were a PITA to separate, the chips are worse... you really have to spin & spin & spin again to get the chips off the brass. DANGIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
Then President Biden added “The only garbage I see floating out there is [TRUMP] supporters.
|
Originally Posted By RWEIII: DANGIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Originally Posted By RWEIII: Originally Posted By CPTmorgan: However... if you quit using the SS pins because they were a PITA to separate, the chips are worse... you really have to spin & spin & spin again to get the chips off the brass. DANGIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm assuming this is while everything is still wet, and that it's easier when everything dries out. I have the FA dryer and am hoping my assumption is correct! |
|
Originally Posted By supercomp: I tried the Frankfort armory FARTs brass cleaner and thought they looked dishwasher pods. I now use 2 Kirkland brand dishwasher pod per load and a small amount of citric acid, the brass come out clean and shiny @supercomp Have you tried 1? I've been using a tiny amount of the FA brass cleaner and 1/4 teaspoon of citric acid, and my brass is shiny and clean after 1 hour in the FART. |
Armory Sponsor