The Vinegar Connection To The Wet Tumbling Of Our Brass 

Acetic acid, rather. But yes, both are weak organic acids.

"Powdered vinegar" IS citric acid. Vinegar is 5% acetic acid which evaporates at room temperature. You can't powder acetic acid at room temperatre, therefore, you can't powder vinegar.

@@stl9111 I believe you, but can still remember the brown foil packages that said powdered vinegar. I use citric acid and the texture is more granular than what I remember the powdered vinegar. It was almost like talcum powder. Could they have added other ingredients to make it taste like vinegar?

@kenjohnson3412 - Just a squirt of Dawn ( probably a rounded teaspoonful) is all that is needed for the full FA tumbler and 1 oz of the vinegar. Good reloadin' to ya, Steve

Vinegar mixed with distilled water is a great glass cleaner. Just don’t use it on tinted windows, some films don’t like acidic cleaners. In that case, use straight distilled water

@@4570Govt Agreed, any films/tints would probably be destroyed to some degree.

Not that I want to dry tumble ,don't have a wet tumbler setup yet . On a budget

@@larryalexander4833 I understand the budget but when you see the results you'll be really happy, I use a double rock tumbler, each drum will do 40 rifle or 100 pistol. I have no need to upgrade, go for it, you'll be glad!

I can see my reflection in dry corncob tumbled pistol brass. Doesn't get any better than that.

@@HobbiesHobo I have used my dry vibratory tumbler to wet tumbler using stainless media to clean very corroded brass . Not perfect but worked pretty well

@@luvtahandload7692 Try wet tumbling and you'll never go back. Clean brass is nice but far from necessary! Stainless steel pins last many years which is nice too!

I understand he used dawn and vinager.

@Able-Man : Yes, I run rinse water through the FA Tumbler before using rotating media separator (with more water in the bucket) to finish the rinsing while separating the SS pins. Works well and the good rinsing is key to getting that shine to be stable lasting. Best Regards, Steve

@daniel-vm3qn - If you do, you surely will not be disappointed...It's been 1 1/2 weeks now, and that brass is lookin' good...!! And that vinegar is surely ready and handy in the kitchen...Best Regards, Steve

I use a large 25 - 30 oz coffee can to measure my brass for both my Frankfort Arsenal Platinum 7L wet/dry tumbler and my Dillon CV-2001. I still have some of the slightly larger vintage metal coffee cans and use them too. If it fits in that can it will stay under 30 pounds with the water, pins and brass. They say you shouldn't exceed 28 pounds on the Frankfort Arsenal in the instructions. The huge Dillon can do more but I don't and my equipment lasts not overloading it. Dawn gets a 3 second squirt 1-2-3 and Lemishine is about the size of a nickel but smaller than a quarter.

@rangervapes571 - Only a rounded teaspoon of the Dawn is needed, and I haven't had any water spots on the brass at all...The pods seem to contain a lot more detergent in there. Might try 1/3rd of a pod, but just a squirt of the Dawn is much easier, and I don't have a left over pod to store. I'll check under the sink to see if there is a box of Cascade in there somewhere... Best Regards, Steve

@dougmotter12258 - My procedure is anathema and contrary to current thinking. Word is that running uncleaned brass through our carbide full length resize dies is a no-no because grit can scratch the dies. However, when I first got into reloading, there weren't any vibratory tumblers in existence - we didn't clean our brass, wiped 'em off if they were really dirty - just ran 'em through the dies with our Dillons. The carbide is like artificial diamond - no common grit will scratch the carbide. The grit might scratch the brass though - but even that did not happen. Our carbonized brass made grundgy looking handgun reloads, but they shot just fine. We did wipe off our rifle brass though. Soon after I got my Dillons, they came out with the vibratory tumblers. I tumbled my brass for three hours without depriming. And then into the Dillons they went. Dirty primer pockets were never a problem. Reason - the primer pocket residues never built up as excess resdues were blown into the firings, plus the primer seat contact areas never fouled to prevent next primer from seating. This information is never mentioned. Answer your question - I run my brass through the FL carbide sizing dies without cleaning to size and deprime - then they go through the wet tumble to get the results you see. The polished cases are ready to neck expand, prime, powder charge and bullet seat to get exceptional looking final loads. The sizing procedure does nothing but degrade that great looking brass that comes out of our wet tumblers. Sizing and depriming before the wet tumbling solves that for me. Good reloadin' to ya, Steve

@andrewmunchkin7212 - I just compared the look of that brass with factory new brass - To me, it looks like the wet tumbled brass is a hair better than the factory, but at worse, it is as good. ...that eye of the beholder thing, dontcha know?? Best to ya, Steve

@@FortuneCookie45LC you have more reloading experience in your toenail than I do. I'm going to be using vinegar too. Thanks fc45lc

@roquri - Yes, heresy. I'm thinking, use the Lemi-Shine...but if none is handy, just raid the kitchen for that good vinegar.... Best Regards, Steve

@user-gu6nj8lf3w - You might have something there...only testing will tell... Best to ya, Steve