Wet tumble to remove case lube?

[GymB]

working on .223 brass. Using Hornady Unique Case Lube, and just a little. Figured I’d wet tumble it off.

A shot of wash n wax and some lemishine, an hour later the water pours out pretty clear, and the brass is dirty. Rub the brass with a rag, it looks great. So, the sizing wax is staying on the cases and capturing the dirt.

Reran the load for another hour, same result.

Switched to Dawn and Lemi shine and am going to bed so it’ll run for about 6 hours. Will let you know if that works.

Any thoughts?

 

[ncav8tor]

working on .223 brass. Using Hornady Unique Case Lube, and just a little. Figured I’d wet tumble it off.

A shot of wash n wax and some lemishine, an hour later the water pours out pretty clear, and the brass is dirty. Rub the brass with a rag, it looks great. So, the sizing wax is staying on the cases and capturing the dirt.

Reran the load for another hour, same result.

Switched to Dawn and Lemi shine and am going to bed so it’ll run for about 6 hours. Will let you know if that works.

Any thoughts?

I use a standard vibratory tumbler to remove the lube. I run it in corn-cob media for 30 minutes or so and then do my re-sizing. This method is extremely work intensive, especially if you de-cap (de-prime) prior to wet tumbling. But, I can’t think of a better way to do it particularly if you are as crazy as I am. [emoji23]


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[GymB]

I use a standard vibratory tumbler to remove the lube. I run it in corn-cob media for 30 minutes or so and then do my re-sizing. This method is extremely work intensive, especially if you de-cap (de-prime) prior to wet tumbling. But, I can’t think of a better way to do it particularly if you are as crazy as I am. [emoji23]


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I’m doing a short wet tumble w/o pins, drying, lubing, sizing/depriming, swaging, and then wet tumble with pins, drying and trimming. Doing the sizing and depriming saves me one trip through the press.

 

[Charlie R]

I use a standard vibratory tumbler to remove the lube. I run it in corn-cob media for 30 minutes or so and then do my re-sizing. This method is extremely work intensive, especially if you de-cap (de-prime) prior to wet tumbling. But, I can’t think of a better way to do it particularly if you are as crazy as I am.

X 2. I do the same as ncav8tor, except using walnut media. I have tried 10 min. in ultrasonic and that worked great, but then you are back to drying again and that tends to break up my work flow a little too much.

I am crazy also, but not that crazy.

...yet.

 

[Toprudder]

working on .223 brass. Using Hornady Unique Case Lube, and just a little. Figured I’d wet tumble it off.

A shot of wash n wax and some lemishine, an hour later the water pours out pretty clear, and the brass is dirty. Rub the brass with a rag, it looks great. So, the sizing wax is staying on the cases and capturing the dirt.

Reran the load for another hour, same result.

Switched to Dawn and Lemi shine and am going to bed so it’ll run for about 6 hours. Will let you know if that works.

Any thoughts?

Not sure what you mean by "a shot". I tend to use more Wash-n-Wax than most people. I've heard reports of people having this problem (dirty after tumbling) and it went away when they started increasing the soap they use. If suds don't come pouring out when I take the lid off, I figure I did not use enough. I've never had a problem with getting the lube off. I don't use Unique, though, I use the Sharp Shooter Royal Case Lube, the spray kind.

 

[GymB]

I am waiting for a shipment of Royal case lube. Have not had problems getting Hornady One Shot spray lube off. It could well be too little soap, I use about 1-2 oz in 2 gal of water and didn’t adjust that when I switched from the McGuire brand to the Armor All brand.

Opened it up this morning, again tinted water, waxy cases and no suds. Put it back together with a cup of wash n wax to 2 gal of water and will run it for an hour just to see if I get suds.

 

[Charlie R]

I wonder if you are getting some reaction between the Unique Case Lube and the Wash N Wax, so that the detergent in the Wash N Wax is ineffective at putting the Case Lube into solution. The Unique Case Lube is almost entirely animal products, mink oil, refined tallow, and parafin along with some glycerol to keep it in solution. The Wash N Wax is between 5 and 10% Ethoxylated Nonylphenol, which is a film forming polyamine. I spent way too much time looking at MSDS sheets.

I love it when I get play polymer chemist before breakfast. It so hacks off the real ones that I work with.

And I will point out, that just like them, I spent a lot of time looking up this stuff, and still have not idea what happened to JimB's brass!!!!!!!

But I will enjoy this at work today. Thanks JimB

 

[GymB]

I wonder if you are getting some reaction between the Unique Case Lube and the Wash N Wax, so that the detergent in the Wash N Wax is ineffective at putting the Case Lube into solution. The Unique Case Lube is almost entirely animal products, mink oil, refined tallow, and parafin along with some glycerol to keep it in solution. The Wash N Wax is between 5 and 10% Ethoxylated Nonylphenol, which is a film forming polyamine. I spent way too much time looking at MSDS sheets.

I love it when I get play polymer chemist before breakfast. It so hacks off the real ones that I work with.

And I will point out, that just like them, I spent a lot of time looking up this stuff, and still have not idea what happened to JimB's brass!!!!!!!

But I will enjoy this at work today. Thanks JimB

I was reading through your post thinking “alright now we’re getting somewhere” but then no. Added fact, in 120 degree water the mess will almost rinse off and will wipe off.

If the extra wash n wax doesn’t work this morning I’m going to try a large dose of dawn tonight. If that doesn’t work I’m going to try laundry detergent or maybe lacquer thinner.

 

[Charlie R]

Added fact, in 120 degree water the mess will almost rinse off and will wipe off.

Joking aside, the fact that it rinses off at 120 degrees would indicate that that one of the waxes or polymers is interfering with the detergent. The added heat is increasing the solubility of the wax or the polymer that is holding the dirt and grime in place by reducing the cross linking between the polymer chains. I too like Wash N Wax having been recently turned onto it in this forum.

Like I say, I vibrate to remove the lube, but I will try wet tumbling and see if I have the same problem. I use lanolin and IPA for case lube, so it will be interesting to see what happens.

The lemishine should address this, but is there any chance that you have hard water?

 

[Tim]

Am I the only one that doesn't bother removing the case lube?

- tumble with corn media and a squirt of Nu Finish
- wipe with a paper towel
- light squirt of one shot
- size, trim, prime, load
- shoot

 

[Charlie R]

Am I the only one that doesn't bother removing the case lube?

I would not presume that most shooters are as nuts as I am. There are some to be sure, but should I ever find myself in the majority I would not know how to act.

 

[GymB]

Turns out that more soap was the right answer. Makes sense I suppose, getting range grunge off is mostly mechanical while getting lube off is mostly chemical. Does look like I’ll only get 5 or 6 loads out of a bottle of wash n wax at this rate. May try dry tumbling in walnut.

Thanks guys.

@Tim I would wipe precision loads, but I’m playing with .223 just to learn about the process for it, and I’m not inclined to wipe however many cases make up 150lbs.

 

[Catfish]

I use Redding Imperial Sizing Die Wax. It doesn't foul powder so I just wipe it off with a rag and move along. If I'm doing a bunch of them I put ~25 at a time in an old sock and roll them around a bit.

 

[Toprudder]

Turns out that more soap was the right answer. Makes sense I suppose, getting range grunge off is mostly mechanical while getting lube off is mostly chemical. Does look like I’ll only get 5 or 6 loads out of a bottle of wash n wax at this rate. May try dry tumbling in walnut.

I was reading through your post thinking “alright now we’re getting somewhere” but then no. Added fact, in 120 degree water the mess will almost rinse off and will wipe off.

Ahhh, I forgot to mention that, for the wash, I use the hottest water that will come out of the tap. I only add about 1-2 oz of Wash-n-Wax per gallon of water, but I always get suds when I take the lid off, unless it is extremely dirty and grungy range pickup brass.

 

[REELDOC]

Try RCBS water soluble.

 

[Sasquatch]

For small batches, I use the corn media, but I guess I must be using enough soap that when I want to de-lube a big batch, my wet tumbler does the job.

re: Tim- most lubes say they won't impact the powder, I just get rid of the lube because I figure it'll go in my chamber or magazines or elsewhere and mean more cleaning at some point.