Lee Loader

Fyodor wrote:I got the Thumlers Tumbler rebel 17, and most of the pockets are clean after 45 minutes. But some discoloring might still be present, which is not residue, but discolored brass. To remove that, you would need to polish down the surface of the case. I don't see any need to do that. But I'm not sure about what I see on the picture above... is that actual residue?

Yes, it is residue and can be removed with a pocket cleaner.

Fyodor wrote:What I found out is, that you need at least the same weight of pins as cases. More pins works better, less than 2/3 don't clean noticeably at all.

That would be easy to determine.

Fyodor wrote:Hot water is nice, but not necessary. Be careful with LemiShine, the acid can dissolve some of the zinc from the surface, giving the cases a redish color, destroying them. None of the residue components are water soluble, so the soap is a placebo, but I also use it. One drop is more than enough. As long as you still have foam on the water, the soap was not used up. I still found foam on dark black water that has been reused for three batches, with only one drop of soap.

I've tried a couple of "lemon" products we have around the house, but for suds or foam, nothing has beaten Turtle's Zip Wash & Wax or Dawn Ultra. With my typical load of brass, 1/2 ounce of soap works very well. A lot of the suds depends on the water, the water in my area is very hard. My house uses "conditioned" water, but not my garage and a drop of soap will not produce anything. I don't need to dry my hands after washing them! Overall my cases are very clean, bright, and shiny so I think it is just the ratio or quality of the pins.

I do think that the Zip works the best. There is no doubt after a normal pin cleaning the inside necks of the cases are dry and pull on sizing and expander plugs. That can be corrected several ways before the brass is worked, but I've found that Turtle's Zip eliminates the issue. After the wash, I rinse the cases with cold tap water and put them in the case dryer. No spotting, the norm here with the water quality, and all of my handgun cases need no additional lube for sizing and the same for most of my rifle cases. I say most as I haven't tried it will all of the cartridges I shoot.

I use Turtle's Zip on my farm equipment after use, stuff like plows, discs, and planters. The earth contact with the shares, discs, and other metal gets brightly polished and subject to heavy surface rust in short time during storage with our humidity. All this gets pressure washed when the work is done and then sprayed with Turtle's Zip. I rinse it after a few minutes and then dry it with a leaf blower. The equipment is beautiful shape six months later.

It probably will be mid-week before the pins arrive, but I will give them a try as soon as they do. I have 1K 450 Marlin cases that I need to clean.

I just started wet tumbling in December. I don't use pins at all and mine come out at least that good, likely better.....and I don't consider those in the picture dirty. My tolerances are generally wider.

To a gentleman with much experience in all aspects of firearm shooting, reloading, bullet design and all around gun stuff, may I ask you why you want pristine primer pockets?

I find it's very much related to the ratio of pins to the amount of brass. I use a Thumbler Model B and with the big cases like the 40-65 and 45-70 50 cases seems to be the limit if I want them done in anything less than 5 or 6 hours. With pistol brass about 100 or so 45 Colt and 125-150 357. Haven't really found the upper limit with 45 ACP or 9mm or 380.

Make smoke,

mikld wrote:To a gentleman with much experience in all aspects of firearm shooting, reloading, bullet design and all around gun stuff, may I ask you why you want pristine primer pockets?

I started getting concerned after I reading the post written by Humpy ( Ammunition Test Director-Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, now retired) found here in the first post in this thread:
https://www.shootersforum.com/gun-clean ... emy-2.html .
FYI this is a 2 page thread so be sure to go to the initial first post of that thread.

I know it's a long dissertation but it got me started seriously thinking about carbon build up in my primer pockets. That's why I do it.

Thanks, daboone. I remember that topic.

From the forum thread RD linked;
"This ammo had gone from the loading tray to CaseGard box to gun and back in box and back to loading tray and the cases didn’t even touch the bench. It didn’t take long to figure out it was the primer residue dropping through the flash hole when I cleaned cases and it stuck to the carbon on inside of case. On firing it got up into throat and was laying there waiting for the next round to embed it in bullet jacket and start engraving the barrel."
Sounds reasonable to me...

RD wrote "I use Turtle's Zip on my farm equipment after use, stuff like plows, discs, and planters. The earth contact with the shares, discs, and other metal gets brightly polished and subject to heavy surface rust in short time during storage with our humidity. All this gets pressure washed when the work is done and then sprayed with Turtle's Zip. I rinse it after a few minutes and then dry it with a leaf blower. The equipment is beautiful shape six months later."

Thanks for this tip. I will give it a try.

Dang, that reminds me I need to get a new pressure washer, I took mine to the Pet Adoptions Center. I start pulling stuff in the dirt this week.

I received the guntap pins Saturday. I'm going to get out the measuring tools and compare them to the Frankford Arsenal pins.

I was sure I replied to this complete with pictures. I must have stayed in preview mode again. Loosing it in my old age lol.

I have not used steel pins, in fact until I tried powder coating I didn't even own a tumbler/vibrator. I use a solution of 1 tsp citric acid plus several drops of Mean Green to 10-12 oz of really hot water in a sonic cleaner. Eight minutes more or less and then a hot water rinse. Dried on a cookie sheet in a warm oven. If I wanted shine I would chuck the cases in my cordless screw driver and use superfine steel wool. I now toss them in the tumbler for 30 minutes. Of course except for 9mm I am not processing hundreds of cases at a time.