I hope you realize how much we appreciate what you do, no matter how annoying it is to you and monotonous. Thank you.

I love your comments..."sorry folks, I'm not using distilled frickin water to clean brass". You always read my mind.

started with Dawn and lemi-shine and probably won't ever change

Best reloading channel on KZfaq

Dish soap and lemishine for the win.

Dawn, Lemishine and Southern Shine Media. Cleans every nook and cranny spotless and makes my brass shiney clean!

Great video! Definitely glad you made this. I’ve only been reloading for a year now and absolutely appreciate your channel, you sharing your knowledge and experience with us. If I come across an idea, product or thought about reloading I definitely scan your channel to see if you covered it, just for your input haha. Thank you.

Every time I get on here I find a video that you've made whether its 7 years ago or yesterday and I'm addicted. Keep up the great content.

Don’t forget: Lemi Shine is just overpriced citric acid. Get plain Jane citric acid (about $3 per pound on Amazon) and save even more. This is a great article covering where you DON’T need to spend money. Such a breath of fresh air compared to other sponsored KZfaq performers. (Are you listening Gavin?)

I am grateful for the effort you make to test things like this

I love your comparison reviews. You are definitely the project farm of reloading.

I don’t know why I chose to comment on this video because they are all great. Straight to the point with no fluff. I admit to holding my breath during the test firing hoping for good groups. Thank you for doing this.

This video wasn't lame at all, great information, thank you. Have a great new year!

Not lame at all.... It’s the little bits of “what if” information that helps out so much. Thanks

Very good demonstration. Thank you for your work.

Excellent video, Johnny!

It must be the soothing timbre of your voice that kept me glued to every second of this video. You have reaffirmed my confidence in dish soap and lemi shine after an hour in the tumbler with pins I don't believe you can get it any cleaner. My fondness of the cost of that operation makes me want to do a little dance. You could probably do a video on finger nail trimming for proper press handle operation and I would watch. Thanks brother!

You're our reloading KINGGGGGG

Perfect!!! I just sat down at the bench to size my 1st 6.5 grendel reloads for the new build. Finally I can use the info from all your grendel vids. It's a 16" b.a. fluted.

Great job!! Better than any commercial on the boob tube. Thanks for all the work you put into this. I hand load about four just thousand rounds a year for the last 23 years and after much trial and error I've come down to using the Frankford arsenal pellets just to make it easy on myself. I already load 22 different metallic cartridges and have too much inventory as is. When using my large Frankford Rotary tumbler my brass comes out better than new and I've put some crap in that machine that I've found at the club. Rinsed well and dried it's perfect. No one has any complaints. Rotary tumblers are definitely the way to go. Wish they were around in the 80's. This is a lot of work you've done to save a lot of hand loaders from having to do themselves.

Great as always. I love how you tell the truth, rather than some of these KZfaq Reloading Celebrities who love whatever is sent to them for free.

Welcome to the world of advertising, a.k.a. manufacturing consent.. There’s a sucker born every minute.

Fitting you post this video now since my family bought me a wet tumbler for Christmas this year! How consentient. No more old worn out rag wiping for this guy!

After years of vibratory tumbling, I just got the F.A.R.T.. All of my questions answered in one video by a thorough guy I trust. Unfortunately, I’ve already bought all of the products in the video. At least I know what to expect. I’ve been spinning 15 min with soap and without pins, then doing my case prep. Final step is pins and FART pods. At least I know what I’m buying when I run out of all of this stuff.

I’d like to see all three run with stainless media. I bet even just 30min with media would be al you need and there would be no difference between the three.

Looking forward to seeing the ultrasonic cleaner results. Thanks for the good work!

Watched your twitch stream last night fell asleep while watching your 22-250 video again wake up to a new video tell's ya how much we like your content. Keep talking I'll be listening.

Enjoyed the video. My poor family knows who I am talking about when I bring up Johnny. I love your channel.

You are the goat … This was such a good video … Thanks

Dawn and citric acid. Citric acid is the active ingredient in Lemi Shine. You can buy straight citric acid off Amazon for about half what Lemi Shine costs.

Just got hooked on your videos. I am liking what I am seeing.

Thanks for all the videos as I look forward to them. I have tried several concoctions over the years. I settled on Brass Juice for the most consistent results. Depending on how tarnished the brass is I use 1/2oz-1oz per load with a squirt of Dawn, tap water and SS media. Not only does it shine the best but I find that over time my stored brass does not tarnish. Perfectly cleaned primer pockets every time too. Lemishine is just inconsistent for me. My go to is 1/2oz of Brass Juice for 90% of my brass so I end up with close to 50 batches per liter with single use. I don't like using the solution multiple times but I did try it and load number 5 was just as clean as load number 1. Just not worth it to me to use me than once. I load up my tumbler, turn it on for three hours and call it a night. Rinse the next day. I also use an RCBS media separator to rinse. This is key and the best way is to fill up the separator pan with water and you are actually washing the SS pins/chips out of the cases. Rotating it under water breaks the tension and the SS media just falls out and does not stick to the brass.

Soap and lemashine....used ur recipe years ago, never stopped

One thing I like about your videos, it is pursued as a non-bias or supported with "I believe" when comparing different products. not too many people in the firearms community making videos produce a blindfold comparison as you do. I just want to say thanks. as you know personal preference will always get in the way and it is hard to take that out of it. you do a great job. I look at it this way, (Cost) as you brought to the table. as Paul Harrell says, "You be the Judge" or "does it make such a difference to make a difference"? as we have seen here, No it does not, just cost-per-use. Keep up the great work. peace bro. -Dave

I compared wet tumbling both rifle and handgun brass using stainless pins to not using the pins (have not tried the chips yet) and found a significant difference in the the primer pocket and the interior of the case cleanliness. In my comparison experiments the SS pins did a much better job in those areas. This video touches the work process for everyone in our hobby, regardless of experience or caliber, and really helps with making decisions on what process to use. Almost every reload includes cleaning the brass. Nicely done, very informative....thank you.

SOAP!!!!!!!! I'm hitting pause and busting out the popcorn. I'll be right back...overall thanks for the video Johnny.

Thank you. Just ordered my first wet tumbler. Grabbed the frankford packets with the order until I can track some dawn and lemi shine and get it figured out.

Another great video Thanks for posting this I’ve been wanting an honest review of brass juice and finally got to see it.

Thank you very much for doing these videos. I'm sure at times it doesn't seem worth it but we appreciate all your hard work and time you put into these videos. As far as this topic, I do the dish soap and lemi-shine. I use the sunshine media pins as well. I think my "issue" for needing to take 3-4 hrs is I fill my FART all the way up with brass. *well, all the way with rifle. About 2/3s if pistol* but I will actually boil a gallon of water when I start it.

Johnny been watching you for years. Always great stuff from you! I use as you do scalding hot tap water then 2 quick squirts of Dawn and 1/8th teaspoon of lemme shine no media. 60-90 minutes. Come out great! Going to try it in my sonic cleaner and see what happens.

When you shown that Frankfort Arsenal ‘rock’ first thing that came up was that really looks like dishwasher block. If you are going to use a ultrasonic then demi-water sounds like a plan, if you Re use it. Thanks for the video. and have a great new year

My grandfather has passed and never taught me how to reload. Thankfully for you, I’ve learned a lot.

Been using wash and wax car wash for couple years now. Really happy with the results. Doesn’t leave water spots or dulling like I have encountered with dish soaps.

YES, please do an ultrasonic cleaner test as well. thanks for the great vids !!

I enjoyed this. Appreciate the time you take. Really helps! I agree screw distilled water that's ridiculous!

Thank you for all of your content . Started reloading last year because of you. Can you do a video about ultrasonic cleaners and solution? Happy new year.

I've had excellent luck with a few drops of Armor-All Ultra-Shine Car Wash (gold) and it keeps my brass from tarnishing for years. I still have shiny brass on some bulk 9mm I loaded years ago.

Thanks for all that you have shared over the years. One 45ACP of lemishine... one 9mm of dawn.. using pins.... typically 3 hour tumble to clean pocket..rinse/dry. saltbath anneal... then tumble in carnauba wax for ultimate shine....The chips sound like a good idea... cutting the tumble time down would be awesome. Would love to see part 2 showing these test results compared to pins compared to chips.

The only reason I started wet tumbling my brass was to get the brass spotless inside and out along with the primmer pocket. I am going to stick to dish soap and using the stainless pins. You can spend a lot of money reloading ammo today, use to everyone tried to get it done the least expensive way possible. Hell, used to people didn't even tumble the brass they would just reload it dirty and they worked fine. Save your money for bullets, powder, and primers when you can find them.

Oooo, the Exciting World of Soap as narrated by Johnny! Dish soap and Lemishine for me, I've even tried the dishwasher pods from the grocery store. They were ok but still expensive compared to liquid.

I've been using dawn and a little lemi shine for years, works awesome

Great video. I would enjoy seeing this with steel pins included.

Wife got me the Frankford lite tumbler for Christmas. First thing I did was order the stainless chips because of your old media vid. Can't wait for the media to show up so I can clean some suppressor baffles and range brass.

I have tried about everything under the sun as far as cleaning brass. Brass Juice does make them shiny but still needs pins to get those pockets clean as you have shown. Awesome comparison.

Thanks for another great video. I would love to see how they compare to using stainless pins with and without soap.

No, this wasn’t lame! You answered some good questions. I’ve been using Dawn dish soap and Lemishine but I just give a small squirt of dawn and a little bit of Lemishine, I have heard that 9 mm case full of Lemishine before. The last batch I ran,, I used too much Lemishine and the cases did come out discolored, and they continue to get darker with time!

I've found that limiting the amount of brass to under 300 pieces (decapped) makes a big difference. Another thing you can try is doubling the stainless media to 10 lbs. I've been able to drop tumble time to 1 hour with really good results (I use 1 Tablespoon Dawn Pro, 1/4 teaspoon Lemishine, hot (municipal) water). Don't forget to clean your media every 5 or so loads, especially if you use lanolin based lube. It (and the drum) holds a lot of grime while still looking pretty clean.

Awesome video though I may be overboard with my cleaning. TO ME the best is 1 1/2 cap full of Armor All Wax and Shine, Dawn soap and Lemi Shine. This takes very little and I have been pulling from the same bottles for two years now. The AA has a side benefit to me the cases are slick requires less lube on sizing rifle brass and doesn't hurt accuracy, and prevents those horrendous water spots you can get if not completely dried or if you have hard water negating the need for DI water. Johnny so glad to see you back at the bench sir.

Two years late viewing the video, however, wished I had watched it about two weeks earlier. I spent the money and purchased a quart of the Brass Juice based on some other review's. Very good objective review.

I’m starting to learn about this and your videos are great so much knowledge I’m soaking it up like a sponge lol

This video is approved by the CDC. The soap solution shines and kills the ‘beer irus’ at the same time. Wohooo. Keep up the great content!

I use the FA packs and tumble pistol brass for 4-5 hrs. I fill the tumbler to the top with brass, add water, use all the pins included with the tumbler. Rinse 2x in the tumbler, wet separate with the FA seperator, then dry separate. Finally dry for 2-3 hrs with the FA dryer. Brass comes out looking mighty fine. No real need for me to speed up the process as I value the best looking brass possible over any other consideration. I will look into the stainless chips you mentioned. As always, Johnny makes me think. Thanks for sharing your experiences!

I tried the chips after watching your video. Def a game changer. I use dawn dish soap cuz... that was the cheapest on Amazon. Works well. I don’t get crazy measuring the soap or Lemi shine. A good glug of soap and a wiggle of Lemi. Works very well. I go for 2 hours, but maybe I need to try a shorter run one of these days

Great videos! Subscribed. I use about a tablespoon of dish detergent and a 1/4 tsp of LemiShine in a Harbor Freight rock tumbler with stainless steel pins for CLEAN brass inside, outside and primer pockets. An hour for relatively clean brass or two for grungy range brass does the trick... I tried the chips, and they cleaned well but are a real PITA to clean up afterwards... went back to using SS pins. Would be interesting to see what the addition of SS media would do to overall cleaning. Looks like Franklin and Brass Juice confirm that the snake oil business isn't dead...

Currently using a Lyman wet tumbler, stainless steel pins, armor all wash and wax and lemishine. Amazing results. Might try the chips as suggested.

Great video

I use the liquid FA solution it's just a cap full in a batch with water and steel pins in their tumbler. That said once I'm out I'm probably going to start using lemon shine and dish soap. Thanks for all you do brother!!!

Frankford Arsenal Media Separator: amzn.to/3pCRsPI The cool kids hang out with me on Discord discord.com/invite/SjAtsfS9kU

Dish soap, hot tap water and white vinegar in a mop bucket. Yes, extreme budget. I have learned, from this channel, that fairly tight control of charge weight gets me to reliable 1" groups or less out of my bolt rifle. I still have a lot of work to do with my msr. However, as previously stated, reloading has dropped my group size from 2-3 inches to 1.5 with my entry-level msr. Thanks JRB and the group here!!!

I a. New to your channel I enjoy your work and information thank you this video has probably saved me a lot of money and time

Am I the only one still using the old Lyman turbo with corn cob media? Wet tumbling just seems like a pain to me. Appreciate the content as always. :D

I have cleaned brass spray nozzles in ultrasound unit for my steel plant. Finally chose citric acid as the least harmful, and used tap water because it had low hardness. Check it and get a simple filter to make it softer if needed.

I use dawn and lemishine. I also use the dishwasher packets and don’t see much difference between the two

Brass cleaning made interesting! LOL! Great video.

I been using bulk citric acid powder (its in the canning section) and a bit of dawn dishsoap with good results. I use a big ultra sonic tank,it's branded LPS and probably holds 4 gals, filled with water. But i put the brass in big Mason jars with the acid/soap/water to keep tank cleaner and makes draining/handeling/drying easier. Run it for a 30min cycle

I use citric acid powder and automotive wash & wax soap, in the same ratio that you showed. Citric acid brightens and passivates the brass. Lemishine contains citric acid. I've found citric acid powder on-line for as low as $.16/oz. in a 5# bag. I now have a lifetime supply of citric acid powder. Citric acid powder is used as a coffee pot cleaner also.

Harbor Freight rock tumbler, plain dish soap, lemi-shine, and some stainless steel pins is a great budget friendly setup. I still clean the primer pockets just for peace of mind, but results are good.

To give an idea of tumbler size (about a gallon and a half), I use 10 # stainless pins, about 500 pieces of .223, 1 teaspoon citric acid, and 1 teaspoon Armorall wash and wax premium. I tumble for two hours. There is NO residue inside the cases and a small amount inside the primer pockets. Citric acid can be purchased for about $10 for 2 pounds. I've been working on the first pound for a LONG time. I just finished my first bottle of Armorall after two years. Armorall runs about $10 a bottle. I started using this method because I HATE cleaning primer pockets. The wax in the Armorall keeps the brass from tarnishing later.

I've been using dish soap (usually plain old Dawn), splash of Lemishine, SS media (most of the time), & warm-hot water for 45 minutes (average) on the first tumble, dump, fresh water (no soap) and another splash of Lemishine for 15-30 minutes rinse tumble. Frankly I've always been pleased with how well my brass comes out. I found not over loading the tumbler with brass helps and more soap than usual when cleaning 308 (or larger cases) helps. For pistol rounds, usually 300pcs or so 9mm, 250pcs or so of 45acp, etc. turns out really nice (even range pick ups). I also use the FA dryer, usually no less than an hour to 1-1/2 hours and spread them out. I could see in some cases not using the media once in awhile but I'll stick with my tried & true economical method. Not only are they available everywhere in my area, but I honestly don't see enough improvement to warrant the more expensive options...especially when you factor any freight costs that might be acquired & added hassles.

OH BOY! I was gonna go to bed, BUT I AINT GOING NOW!

For the Ultrasonic I use a 9mm casing of Lemmishine and a half a teaspoon of Dawn. I run one 30 minute cycle, Rince in clean water then 1 more cycle in the Lemmishine/dawn mixture and a final rinse off. It seems to do a good job. Hope this helps!

Thank you for putting out all of these vids I know it is a chore any chance you know when you will be putting out shot shell vids?

I agree about the distilled water...I have a filtration system for my drinking water...that works pretty well.

Johnny, I have learned some things watching your videos. I have bought several new tools like you have. I recently purchased a Frankford Arsenal wet tumbler, the pin magnet, a set of digital scales, swagger dies. I went on and ordered a set of beam type Ohaus scales. I trust them better.

Love the video.

As a car wash owner I know soft water (0 grains of hardness) is a must for getting "soap" to clean especially without friction. (brushes) I tried the Frankford Arsenal product and pins that came with the tumbler and the results were decent. When I tried the Brass Juice, hot water and Southern Shine Media it was incredible. The brass looked pretty much like new but I am not reusing the Brass Juice for the next batch. It looks black in color. The only issue is that even with using hot soft water after drying left some spotting. What I tried (again thinking like a car wash owner) was rinsing it after tumbling with water from our home reverse osmosis system. (that is what spot free rinse is at a well run car wash) It left no spots at all after it dried. Then I tumbled it in a vibratory tumbler with corn cob media and about a capful or so of Nu Finish car wax for tarnish protection just in case I don't reload them right away. (that is something I read about and have no experience with) 5,000 decapped cases so far. I am going to try the Dawn and Lemi Shine next with pretty good confidence that it will be as good as the Brass Juice.

I've been cleaning my brass in wet tumbler and dawn soap for 30min for a few years now, no pins or anything else. If I want shiney brass I will run it thru a second time with wax and pins. I've also been using Brass Sorter and bucket for draining as I often don't presort dirty brass.

I've dry tumbled for years. I saw how the cases that you wet tumbled looked so clean , I found my wallet and got the whole set. My first batch was 1000 9mil cases , I ran it for 3 hrs. with the pins and the supplied cleaner. You never made any comments about those pins. They go all over the place, the magnet and the separator, help a lot but they still have strays. Drying the brass and the pins, still more strays to round up. The whole process took about 5 hrs. but the brass looks fantastic if I didn't know better I would say it's brand new. The next step in this brass cleaning was a sonic cleaner. I did a large load of range brass ,9mil 800cases for 6 minutes.. They came out pretty clean , most as clean as the brass with pins and others better then dry tumbling. Rinse and dry 800 9mi, done in a little over a hour. No brainer for me.

Thank You!

ok, for a quick reference. I have tried the dawn and lemi shine. as well as the frankford packets. I have found that, when cleaning the brass the frankford packets get the brass a lot cleaner a lot faster when using hot water. Also when cleaning my lanolin lube off rifle brass, the dawn has a hard time breaking the grease down and the cases come out dingy. the frankford strips the grease and leaves the brass looking new. I will still use dawn and lemi shine for first wash, but frankford after sizing

The heating elements in ultrasonics are pretty low power - they will keep the water warm, but that's all. The waves the machine makes heats the water up too! In my little cheapo unit of 600ml I mix 3/4 of boiling water, 1/4 vinegar, a squirt of dish soap and a coffee spoon of citric acid. 2x8min cycles and then a good rinse under normal fresh tapwater. Primer pockets of my mildly loaded 6.5x55 with WLR are "80%" cleanish. Thx for all the content on your channel, great work!

I use the FA tumbler with ss pins, scalding hot water as full as possible, two cap fulls of green detergent, two cap fulls of Armor All wash & wax, a sprinkle of lemi-shine (depending on your local water hardness), and let it run for two hours. When the time is up I rinse immediately. I decap first and 100% of the surface area of the brass is perfectly clean and stays that way.

I think the key to getting the primer pockets clean is to get the water ph correct, I use a ph 3-4. This usually can be done with lemi-shine and vinegar. My recipe is to use dish soap, tide pod, lemi-shine, and vinegar. Maybe a little too much but brass is beautiful inside and out.

Good stuff man! You explained the directions for using distilled water with the Brass Juice when you described how your really hard water skews your soap/shine recipe. They can’t guarantee your water quality but they can guarantee their product when used with distilled. Meaning, if you were to call them up and say “your product sucks” they are going to ask if you used distilled water and when you tell them “no”, well, you didn’t use the product as suggested… Super dumb stuff but using distilled water ensures that you start with a clean slate. Coming from a guy that grows his own “tomatoes”, you’d be surprised what differing water quality can do when it comes to the chemistry of everything involved. It would be curious to see a video using tap vs distilled with the Brass Juice to see if there is a difference in your results considering you said your water was very hard. Too much calcium (hard water) can lock out and even chelate certain other compounds. Keep it up!

For wet tumbling my favorite is Dishwasher soap pods and lemi shine. Works great, ultrasonic I prefer Master Stages 2020

First, thanks for doing this video, I have been wondering if one was much better than another. I have been using the FA packs and have been very happy with the results, and they are easy, no measuring just go, but I think the price is ridiculous for soap packets too. The price of Brass Juice is ridiculous. Btw, I also refuse to use distilled water. I will probably buy some Lemi-Shine and compare results to the FA packets. One thing I will definitely change is how long I tumble, which I think I will cut to an hour. Since I don’t usually open the tumbler and peak prior to finish I didn’t know how long it was taking to clean. Keep up the great work.

I use Simple Green in my ultrasonic cleaner. But I mostly do the BCG and the parts of my black powder revolvers in it. I have the lemi-shine and Dawn Ultra in my tumbler. I am still using pins right, but I have been looking at the chips as I can't use the pins on my .17 cal brass.

I use Dawn with a sprinkling of citric acid in my ultrasonic cleaner that heats the water. After the cases are dry, I put them in a vibrating tumbler with fine reptile bedding from the pet store. I like clean brass going through my dies.

As for cleaning brass I use 1gallon DI water, one 5oz. scoop limme shine and a squirt of Dawn dish soap.And this I use in my Hornady ultra sonic cleaner with the heat on.

I have the smaller Frankford Arsenal tumbler with 1 lb of stainless media, hot tap water, and 2 capfulls of Simple Green. 2 hours tumbler time, brass is then dried in the Lyman air dryer. For whatever the reason, 9mm and .38 Special brass is like new and I do not have to clean the primer pockets. In the case of 5.56 LC, 6.5 CM Lapua, 6mm Peterson, and other rifle cases where I did not use a magnum primer, the brass is very good, some pockets need cleaning, but some do not. With hotter factory loads, I tend to see mixed results, and usually clean all the pockets.