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feets · March 18, 2013, 01:05 PM

I've been reloading for many years but never ran across this before.
When tumbling my 30 carbine brass I found a black waxy substance on the cases. These were factory Aguila rounds fired from my Blackhawk revolver.

I had previously tumbled these cases in Lyman green treated cob. The residue looked like a light green corrosion on the surface of the brass. When I ran them a second time in long grain rice (test media, works great!) the green dust was removed leaving the waxy black stuff. I have since tumbled them in a batch of new untreated walnut shell and the black stuff remains.

So, three multi-hour tumblings in three different medias and I still have stuff on the cases. The strange thing is that I can scrape it off with a fingernail. Tumbling media doesn't impact cases with any force so it won't push this stuff off.
I just opened another box of the ammo as I was writing this and there does not seem to be any wax, sealant, or lube on the unfired ammo.

This batch of cases was mixed with 45 Colt, 38 spl, and 7tcu as a test for tumbling with long grain rice. All the other cases came out nice and clean so I can only assume the problem is with the gun.

All I can think of is to clean the revolver better than it's ever been cleaned before and run more ammo through it.

Have you guys ever run across anything like this? I'd expect it with the 45 Colt with all the wax and lead it sees but I have no problems there.

For the record, there was ZERO DUST with the rice. The same batch of rice has now tumbled several hundred cases with great results. The walnut, corn cob, and Lyman stuff is all going in the trash. Rice is here to stay.

March 18, 2013, 01:05 PM	#1
feets Senior Member Join Date: April 28, 2008 Posts: 560	black waxy residue on my cases I've been reloading for many years but never ran across this before. When tumbling my 30 carbine brass I found a black waxy substance on the cases. These were factory Aguila rounds fired from my Blackhawk revolver. I had previously tumbled these cases in Lyman green treated cob. The residue looked like a light green corrosion on the surface of the brass. When I ran them a second time in long grain rice (test media, works great!) the green dust was removed leaving the waxy black stuff. I have since tumbled them in a batch of new untreated walnut shell and the black stuff remains. So, three multi-hour tumblings in three different medias and I still have stuff on the cases. The strange thing is that I can scrape it off with a fingernail. Tumbling media doesn't impact cases with any force so it won't push this stuff off. I just opened another box of the ammo as I was writing this and there does not seem to be any wax, sealant, or lube on the unfired ammo. This batch of cases was mixed with 45 Colt, 38 spl, and 7tcu as a test for tumbling with long grain rice. All the other cases came out nice and clean so I can only assume the problem is with the gun. All I can think of is to clean the revolver better than it's ever been cleaned before and run more ammo through it. Have you guys ever run across anything like this? I'd expect it with the 45 Colt with all the wax and lead it sees but I have no problems there. For the record, there was ZERO DUST with the rice. The same batch of rice has now tumbled several hundred cases with great results. The walnut, corn cob, and Lyman stuff is all going in the trash. Rice is here to stay.