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I soak my used range brass in vinegar & water for a day before tumbling. When I drained a batch there were a couple of my un-fired handloads in the mix. So I thought why not fire them next time. A week later they fired just fine. May try it again for the heck of it.
Good to know that the old advice "to keep your powder dry" does not necessarily apply anymore.
If it were me, I would have caught the unfired handloads before soaking them in the cleaning solution because I decap all of my brass before soaking. Soaking decapped brass tends to soften the primer residue in the primer pockets making it easier to clean..
nice experiment....:)
by the way why soak? and why vinegar? thx
I assume most hand loaders like shiny brass, at lest I do although it's not important for function. Anyway, some wise man on this forum mentioned soaking their brass in a 1-4 solution of vinegar and water befor tumbling. So gave it a try and it shines up the brass nicely, better than just tumbling.
. . . it shines up the brass nicely, better than just tumbling.
and cleaning up brass with just vinegar and water doesn't show up on your monthly electricity bill either.
If you want shiny brass take a look at http://www.stainlesstumblingmedia.com/
watch the video that they have.
I have been using these for decades. still on my first 5lb bag.
this cleans out the primer pockets AND the flash holes! Wish I found this before thousands of rounds checking for and removing walnut shell from flash holes.
2 drops of dawn and half a 9mm case of Lemishine half full drum of brass and water added last to just cover brass.
brass gets slightly better than new. It also helps you find cracked cases the crack turns into a BLACK line vivid against the GOLD brass.
Any remaining stain (rare) go back into the next batch. use same size cases in each batch, telescoping foils cleaning.
Googling stainless steel media turns up other places so you can shop price.