JWFilips
Well-Known Member
I seldom use citric acid wash for my rifle brass: I shoot it a lot and keep it tidy with a stint in the old Franklin vibrator with walnut hulls when it looks dingy ( sorry I like shiny brass). Citric acid wash is only used when I pick range brass or if someone gives me some old brass.
Of course range pick pistol brass is more plentyful...so I usually clean it in the wash first then dry and walnut hull it. ( I'm not a SS pin guy)
Recently I came into 300 pieces of range pick 32 acp ( I would like to start shooting my WWI and WW2 vintage 32 autos again & did not want to worry about loosing too much brass
Anyway; I deprimed these cases in a Lee universal de-prime die ( they were old and dark with some grit so I did not want to use my size die)
I threw them in the vibrator for 2 hours then Into my normal hot Citric acid bath ( 3 tablespoons pure Citric acid powder and a squirt of Dawn Dish wash liquid to 1 quart boiling water....the all were bright and shinny in about a minute but I stirred them around for 4 min poured off the bath and rinsed in cold water ( I normally rinse off in hot water but I did this outside this time.) Once I Poured off the rinse water and they hit the air they took on a darker color. OK I have seen this before.
So I dried them completely and put them back in the Franklin & walnut hulls for 8 hours...... However they came out not shiny like my rifle brass!
Is this because They have so much less mass? Maybe 24 hours may have been better?
When I think about it I never Cleaned and Vibrated this small of a size brass....... Could this possibly be the reason?
Any thoughts?
Of course range pick pistol brass is more plentyful...so I usually clean it in the wash first then dry and walnut hull it. ( I'm not a SS pin guy)
Recently I came into 300 pieces of range pick 32 acp ( I would like to start shooting my WWI and WW2 vintage 32 autos again & did not want to worry about loosing too much brass
Anyway; I deprimed these cases in a Lee universal de-prime die ( they were old and dark with some grit so I did not want to use my size die)
I threw them in the vibrator for 2 hours then Into my normal hot Citric acid bath ( 3 tablespoons pure Citric acid powder and a squirt of Dawn Dish wash liquid to 1 quart boiling water....the all were bright and shinny in about a minute but I stirred them around for 4 min poured off the bath and rinsed in cold water ( I normally rinse off in hot water but I did this outside this time.) Once I Poured off the rinse water and they hit the air they took on a darker color. OK I have seen this before.
So I dried them completely and put them back in the Franklin & walnut hulls for 8 hours...... However they came out not shiny like my rifle brass!
Is this because They have so much less mass? Maybe 24 hours may have been better?
When I think about it I never Cleaned and Vibrated this small of a size brass....... Could this possibly be the reason?
Any thoughts?