Winchester 296 users

[Big Yac]

I use this powder for my .454 Casull reloads. Does anyone else who uses this notice that it seems to stain your brass? I tumble it for 8 hours in my rotary tumbler or 4 hours in a vibratory tumbler (both with treated corn cob in them) and they come out shiny but with some stains still on. I am trying something new today, I tumbled the brass overnight in my rotary tumbler filled with untreated walnut shell media (the first time I've ever tried walnut shells) and they came out pretty clean, just a while ago I put them in my vibratory tumbler with the corncob..kinda like a one two punch. Am I just being way too obsessive about this?

[WIL TERRY]

I'd say.
Think about it this way: does it really matter ???

[Big Yac]

yeah I guess I am alittle too obsessive about this, however after I tumbled both in the walnut and then treated corncob media my brass sure is pretty. Theres just something about dropping a big shiny round into a big shiny gun

[Unclenick]

You can reload dirty revolver brass just fine, provided you didn't drop on the ground during a speed loader exercise. The main technical merit to cleaning brass is to remove grit that scratches and wears the dies down, and to remove residue you otherwise handle unnecessarily. If they don't fall on the ground, there shouldn't be anything hard enough in them to bother a carbide sizing die, so you are mainly down to the residue consideration.

As to the stains, you should treat yourself to cleaning a batch of cases with the old NRA vinegar and detergent brass cleaning formula sometime. Talk about your tarnished brass. Free of dirt and water soluble residue, though. That's all that matters technically.

Some people feel it is easier to spot clean cases in the grass if you are shooting semi-auto. I bought 500 nickel plated .308 cases once so I could have both shiny cases and cases that looked different from the rest of the competitor's brass to make it easier to segregate. Bad plan. The white metal just reflected the grass back at me and made the darn things nearly invisible. Plus you get more bolt thrust from nickel cases, supposedly (funny things happen to friction at high pressure, so I should measure this). Anyway, most of them are sitting in a box unused now.

I think shiny brass is easier to spot than tarnished brass, which is camouflaged by dirt. But you don't need every millimeter of the thing shiny for that. I don’t know what the staining is about? I can’t imagine any stain the polishing media wouldn’t cut through, unless the polish is too fine. If your polish uses rouge (brick red), then it probably is a little inadequate for cutting speed. If you are not using your rotary tumbler for wet media cleaning, try flipping your process around. Use the vibratory cleaner first with the green Lyman corncob media. It cuts fast and may be done in just a couple of hours when it is new. Then use the finer polish in the rotary tumbler, maybe with your walnut? I have an old Vibratek cleaner that came with walnut and rouge and found it took quite awhile with that media, but whatever was clean got a really mirror polish.

Finally, if the stains are too deep for these processes, but you still want the cases looking new, then get Iosso’s brass cleaning kit or mix the old NRA formula. Either will etch off the stain, but activate the surface so it tarnishes as it dries. Once it’s dry, though, your tumbling media should be able to shine it up.

WARNING: Don’t fail to let the brass dry thoroughly after any wet cleaning process before you go to a dry media. Moisture can cause dry media to pack up in the cases. If you don’t spot it and remove it, a small amount can cause load pressure to increase dramatically by reducing case volume.

Nick

[WESHOOT2]

Corn-cob case-cleaning media, and Dillon Rapid Polish.
No stains.