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Posted: 12/29/2008 6:25:49 PM EDT
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I've been lubing my cases with frankfort arsenal's spray-on case lube. I tumble them afterward in walnut media(the stuff that use to be called 'lizard litter') for about an hour to clean the lube off, but there is always some dust that sticks to the cases. The tumbling doesn't seem to get the lube off. Today I was priming some 30-06 cases and I noticed that a couple cases had some media stuck to the inside of the case. I had to stick something in the case to scrape the media off. When I did that I noticed that there was also dust sticking inside the case as well.
Am I using a bad lube or bad tumbling media? Am I not tumbling long enough to get the lube off? What am I doing wrong here? |
| That's what I don't like about walnut media, it's dusty and sticks to case lube in my case necks and seems no amount of time in the vibratory cleaner will take the gunky lube off. Corn cob is the best for removing case lube and I add a little walnut to my corn cob media at times for real dirty stained cases. |
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Quoted:
I've been lubing my cases with frankfort arsenal's spray-on case lube. I tumble them afterward in walnut media(the stuff that use to be called 'lizard litter') for about an hour to clean the lube off, but there is always some dust that sticks to the cases. The tumbling doesn't seem to get the lube off. Today I was priming some 30-06 cases and I noticed that a couple cases had some media stuck to the inside of the case. I had to stick something in the case to scrape the media off. When I did that I noticed that there was also dust sticking inside the case as well. Am I using a bad lube or bad tumbling media? Am I not tumbling long enough to get the lube off? What am I doing wrong here? Lizard litter is fine for cleaning dirty brass - I add a couple of teaspoons of mineral spirits to it and add a couple of used cut up dryer sheets (cuts down the dust) but for removing case lube I would suggest corn cob media - it you want it to really shine, you can add a little auto rubbing compound (Do Not add anything that contains ammonia) |
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I use the lizard litter walnut with little problem. A few get media stuck but not that many. Brands may differ in size, I use Kay-Tee brand it works well. I add Frankfort Arsenal polish and run it through for an hour to clean it and/or remove lube. Never had a situation where an hour wasn't enough to remove case lube completely. Really dull/dirty cases sometimes take 2 hours to clean up. I don't like really shiny cases so I do not and will probably never use corn cob. Plus corn cob takes far too long to work.
Used dryer sheets help keep the dust down but I also take an old towel and dump the brass on one half of the towel, fold it over and roll the the brass around between the two flaps and dust is gone. All of 5 seconds. |
| I haven't had an issue with corn cob or walnut media sticking inside of any cases all the way down to 5.7x28, but for a while I was adding some Mother's Mag and Aluminum paste polish to my media that worked in small amounts but would ball up into media balls if I had too much. Usually I turn on the vibrator and forget about it, sometimes for 2-3 days at a time. No problem with my media or dirty cases. |
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I use walnut with polish to clean brass before sizing.
I use plain corn cob for delube/polishing. No dust with corn cob, and I tumble overnight. No corn cob left inside case. Tried walnut for delube years ago, had the same problem as you. Dryer sheets will keep the dust down with walnut. I use FA and Dillon spray lube. |
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Add a little case polish (I use Iosso) to the walnut media. It cuts down on the dust. I use nothing but lizard litter and have zero complaints. I reload for about dozen calibers and tumble thousands upon thousands of cases a year.
Corn cob does a better job of polishing. Walnut does a better job of cleaning. Do NOT use corn cob for cleaning bottle necked cases like .223 or .30/06 because it will clog up the cases. Use the crushed walnut. |
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<snip> Do NOT use corn cob for cleaning bottle necked cases like .223 or .30/06 because it will clog up the cases. Use the crushed walnut. I've never used anything else and I've never had a case "clog up." Not once. Again, if you use the large-grain crap from the pet store you will get poor results. Properly sized cob works MUCH better than crushed walnut––and without any lead-contaminated dust to breath. Edit: Quoted:
I must be the only one who still uses alcohol and a rag to clean off the lube from my cases. If you load in batches of 1000, that is inefficient to the point of being unworkable. 
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Remember the Small corn cob. 1/8 th mini cob. 1/4 inch diameter corn cob will pack a 223 case. Causing you to go   I've found that it's VERY important to read the package, especially when you're buying corn cob litter. If it doesn't PROMINENTLY say "mini" on the package, and if you can't see that the particles are indeed pretty small, it'll be the regular big stuff. Which WILL be a PITA if you use it with .223. (I tried running some through the blender to grind it smaller, and I wound up with big particles and lots of dust. Now I need to try an old fashioned coffee grinder before I give up on this stuff.) |
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I take the case out of vibrator when it is running and hold case upside against running tumbler and all the media vibrates out of the brass. I do this also, but have occasionally found a small piece or two of the media still inside. After using the vibrate method, I also blow the inside of the cases out with "canned air". I get the six-packs of 12oz. cans of "3M Dust Remover" at Sam's for about $16, use the little plastic tube that comes with them, stick it in the case mouth, and give the inside a short blast of air. VOILA! Nothing left inside the cases. Takes just a little extra time, but I find it's worth it. Works for me. |
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