Inexpensive tumbler...

[impalacustom]

Shoney, you are the Davinci of the TFL with ideas like that. I gotta say though if you could put some sort of "flusher sieve" on it to seperate the brass from the media, your idea would sell and it would help "green" up the world by putting our "illegal" items back in service and away from the junk piles by recycling. I mean it might be possible to get a federal grant for ideas like yours.

[highrolls]

Originally Posted by Mike Irwin

and a very protracted fizzle as the powder SLOWLY burned

1. That part rings a bell, reminds me of some 38 specials I loaded with trail boss on a very humid day. None of them shot right, but none stuck in the barrel. A couple of them hissed, or fizzled after the bullet left the barrel. I remember that the loading area was cool enough that day (basement) to leave some condensate on the cases I was loading. I wiped the outside, but my conclusion was that trail boss really don't like water condensate, which must have been inside the cases as well. I avoid those humidity conditions now, and no repeat occurrence.

2. I enjoy reloading and take a professional pride in it. Professionalism is outwardly shown through appearance. That includes the cases. I want my ammo to look as good as it shoots. Cleaning my cases is like wearing your best suit and tie to a job interview. Over the years, I have evolved the following process:

Rough clean in walnut and vibratory tumbler. Size and decap cases. Final clean in rotary tumbler with corn cob media spiked with Dillon Rapid Polish 290. Removing corn from flash holes is a good opportunity to closely inspect the clean cases. That's it for straight walls. I save the old media and I define old to be after a thousand or so cases. For bottle necks which need to be lubed, the old media saved will do the job (clean and lube removal) in the rotary tumbler in place of newer media used for straight walls. After a thousand or so bottle necks, I discard the old media in a compost heap.

3. Some have already suggested dryer sheets. I use the Bounce Scented Fabric Softener sheets, cut into four pieces. Two pieces in the vibratory cleaner and two in the rotary tumbler. They really do collect the loose dust. Remove and replace them for each cleaning session.

4. Vibratory cleaners all have a bit of a design flaw in that the power wires tend to be directly mounted to the vibrating mechanics with little or no isolation from the vibration. My Frankford Arsenal is going on three years of use but when it fails (about every 6 months), I take it apart and re-solder the power wires, which is it's usual failure mode.

5. Rotary tumblers have other uses besides case cleaning (lapidary stone work). Mine has seen lots of use outside of reloading. It is an RCBS Sidewinder I picked up new for $25 back in 1985. The only flaw I have seen is that the rotary tub plastic edges wear where they contact the metal drive rollers, and the tub tries to stop rolling properly. This is easily fixed with adhesive-backed foam weather seal, which lasts about 3 months before it wears off. It is cheap and I still haven't consumed the $5 roll I bought back in 1985. The only downside to the Sidewinder is what happened to the price over the years. Even at Midway, it is now over $400. I guess RCBS discovered that their design will last indefinately.

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct...tNumber=102969

[Mike Irwin]

Condensation wasn't a problem. The dehumidifier was working well.

I wore jeans to my last interview. I got the job, too.

[QBall45]

Shoney,
Do you have any pics of your brass polishing toilet washing machine gizmo?

This I got to see.

[Dikran Yacoubian]

I'm using frankford arsenals (about $50 at midway) and have never had a problem with them - and I don't use anything except walnut media. I used to use polish, but got tired of messing with it. Probably haven't bought any in 10 years, and it hasn't mattered at all.

As someone mentioned, the only thing you have to do is make sure the flash hole isn't obstructed. I've also been told not to tumble sized cases, but if it caused a problem, I think I'd have noticed by now.

I've never experienced the problem you had, but it seems fundamentally wrong to me to leave any lube in the case. I always tumble after using lube.

Dikran Yacoubian
Columbia, SC

[tmd47762]

Red Green would have you duct tape a 5gal bucket to your car wheel and then drive into town on an errand <grin>.

I'm working on a system that isn't far from this. I still haven't started the test process fully, but it derives from me having a cylinder full of 9mm brass in the back seat (don't we all have that problem from time to time), and it made all sorts of noise rolling around when I drive around town. All I need now is some tumbling media and I'm going to see if this passive tumbling method works.

[Shoney]

QBall45

Sorry! I don't have a digital camera. I believe that the picture painted with words is much more effective.

[Unclenick]

Mike,

Interesting tale. I've also wondered whether the gradual build-up of carbon in cases doesn't assist them to acquire and retain lube, moisture, and any other liquid contaminate there might be?

If you are going to get a vibratory tumbler, the Lyman that's on sale would be my recommendation. Mine's almost 25 years old and has never had a failure. I upgraded it with the sifter bowl at one point. That works OK, but run it outside to keep from breathing primer residue dust. The dryer sheets will help keep that down if you use them. The advantage of the vibrating sifter is to remove all lose grit.

If you want to get a rotary tumbler, I have a Thumbler B that is great for cases as it gives you the option of using wet media and stainless steel wire media which really gets all the carbon and flash hole debris out. But it's a bigger expense. Rotary tumblers take two or three times longer to do the job, but they are so much quieter that they are preferable in apartments and the like. Just let them run all night. I also went to Lowe's and got one of those 12 hour house fan timers that I put in an outlet box and use with any of my tumblers. It lets me go away and not worry about remembering to shut them off. But that is icing on the cake.

I agree with your surmise that corncob is the better choice for your purposes. It is porous and therefore is more absorbent and has higher absorbed liquid capacity than the more dense walnut.

Flash hole clogging by the most commonly available ground corncob and nutshell media is a factor. If you use it, you end up having to run the case through a universal decapping die or else working with a paperclip to be sure the flash holes are clear. I doubt the presence of a bit of either in a flash hole would matter to pistol accuracy whether you left them in or not, but once it picks up enough moisture or lube, it probably won't help the powder adjacent to the flash hole. If you are shooting a rifle you don't want the irregularity of the particle in the flash hole anyway.

Fortunately, case cleaning and animal evacuua are not the only purposes for ground corn cob. It is also used in abrasive blasting of soft surfaces, like wood, for repainting. The abrasive blasting industry uses four grades, including one that's finer than that normally sold for case cleaning. It may not polish as well as the coarser stuff, but I seem to recall something about you not having that as your highest priority? Anyway, $20-$25 would get you a 50 lb. lifetime supply, last time I looked.

If the carbon turns out to be an issue, You can clean it periodically with the same rig. You can dip the cases in something to soften the carbon, then run it through the tumbler to rub the carbon off. There are degrees of doing this. The best carbon softener I currently use is the vegetable-Gunzilla gun cleaner. Something wet with it will have its hardest carbon softened overnight. Next best on the list is Ed's Red. Least, but easiest, is to spend overnight submerged in some odorless mineral spirits. A good deal of fouling is softened by this. The hardest carbon won't normally be all that much affected. It will, however, remove all but traces of your case lube for the corncob to chase down.

Since we are on the topic of cleaning and why, I'll mention there may be rather more reason to chase after carbon that just looks. Read Post #25 in this thread on another forum by a former Aberdeen Proving Grounds employee.

[Mike Irwin]

Well, I know that carbon build up isn't an issue in these cases.

I know that for an absolute fact.

I reloaded them straight from the sealed box that I got from Midway last year.

I am, however, having issues with carbon build up in the gas tube of my AR-15, so I'll look at the Gunzilla.

[jimkim]

They have Smart Reloader tumblers at Midsouth. They are $34.99. http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.co...sku=00047SR100

[Mike Irwin]

I think I've decided that I'm going to put the cases and cleaning media in a sack, tie it to Mason's back, and take him for a jog.

[Dave R]

I found an old rock tumbler at the thrift store for $5.00. Works great.

Once you have one, you'll love it. IME corncob media removes lube better. It's more absorbent.

[snuffy]

I'm going to do a little test this afternoon, in some ways just to satisfy my own curiosity, but also to help answer this question; can an ultrasonic cleaner get both carbon AND lube off a bass case?

Back when I got the cleaner, I tried some brass in it with various cleaners. The Birchwood Casey cleaner worked best, but they were dry, no lube on them. It got the carbon out of the primer pockets AND the inside of the cases.



http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct...tNumber=311703

Anyway, I'm working on a long range load for a buddies target AR-15. I'm using Lapua brass, I have some that's once fired that I will size using the stuff that Mike is using, the FA spray case lube. Then give it a couple of 8 minute cycles in the Harbor freight ultrasonic cleaner. BRB with the results.

[snuffy]

Okay, this afternoon became this evening. Covered by "the best laid plans of mice & men".

Anyway, I sized them using the frankfort arsenal spray case lube, sized in a Hornady FL sizer, then they went for 2-8 minute runs, with heat, then a rinse in hot water.

Every bit of lube AND carbon inside the case was gone. The primer residues is all but gone, a few specks here and there. I think another 8 minutes would have gotten all of it. Also, the cases are nice and shiny, but not as shiny as they would be with corn cob & polish. Here's a few picks;







Difficult to see, but there's literally no carbon inside the cases. You can see the flash reflecting back a shine from the bottom of the primer pockets.

If you really HAVE to have the carbon out and the lube off WITHOUT a tumbler, this is the way to go.

http://www.ask.com/bar?q=harbor+frei...freight.com%2F