Armory Sponsor
Posted: 4/29/2009 4:57:01 AM EDT
|
Well, I have officially entered into the reloading world I guess. Got my FA tumbler from Midway day before yesterday and picked up a bag of corn cob bedding at walmart last night. Loaded some 9mm cases into the media and added a 50:50 mix of 1oz odorless mineral spirits and NuFinish car polish (seen this tip on another forum). I tumbled a couple hundred cases for prob 1.5 hr and they look pretty good. My question is, how clean do they need to look on the INSIDE?
.......... |
|
The powder doesn't care how clean the insides are. You want to get gunk from a previous firing out, but the insides can be dark without any impact on the function or consistency of the round.
By the way, I use a two step process to tumble my brass. First I use walnut shell media to scrub it - walnut is harder and has sharp edges, perfect for scraping crap off of brass. After sizing, I tumble in corn cob media, often with a polishing agent, to get lube off - corn cob is soft and while it won't scrape anything off the brass, it will shine it up really nice. You'll find that dirty brass gets "clean" faster with walnut, but clean brass gets "shinier" with corn cob. |
|
Quoted:
Who cares what the inside looks like. You're going to put a primer on one end and stuff a bullet on the other. No one is going to see the inside and its not like the powder will give it a second thought. Well, not that I care what the inside looks like from a visual standpoint, just wondering how clean it should look to be good to load new powder in is all. This is my first batch in the tumbler, so I don't know what good enough looks like. I think I understand now - thanks guys. ........... |
|
Cleaner is better, period. The inside of the neck is extremely important to consistency in group sizes. Carbon and brass grip the bullet differently. I use an ultrasonic cleaner as it removes
all the crap in the primer pocket as well as in the case. Primer pockets have to be clean for proper seating. After prepping the brass they get run through the tumbler to polish a bit and remove lube. For plinking it doesn't matter much and for 2 moa hunting ammo maybe not so important but if you are interested in sub moa with no flyers brass prep is where it starts. |
|
Quoted:
+1 on what everyone said, but... 
Here's what I do: Washing machine (in boot socks with towels). Deprime/Resize Washing machine Corncob with Nufinish...x3 Load Profit  Do you know about the residue of lead compound left in the cases from the priming? I wouldn't use a clothes or dish washer unless it was dedicated to the task. Same with the socks and towels. Quoted:
Well, I have officially entered into the reloading world I guess. Got my FA tumbler from Midway day before yesterday and picked up a bag of corn cob bedding at walmart last night. Loaded some 9mm cases into the media and added a 50:50 mix of 1oz odorless mineral spirits and NuFinish car polish (seen this tip on another forum). I tumbled a couple hundred cases for prob 1.5 hr and they look pretty good. My question is, how clean do they need to look on the INSIDE? .......... I almost never tumble for more than an hour. You'll never get the carbon out in a vibratory tumbler with walnut or corn cob. However, walnut does help slow the build up of carbon deposited in the primer pocket and this is why I deprime brass before tumbling to clean. |
|
I make sure that the places that matter are clean –– case (so my die is not scatched) primer pocket (so I can inspect flash hole and seat primer correctly) case neck is wire brushed ( brass bore brush in drill ) in the area where bullet is in contact with case (more consistant neck tension) ( also deburs case mouth) |
|
Guys I have noticed that with crushed waonut meida from PetSmart - Kaylee brand - that my 9mm cases seem to have a walnut dust inside the cases after tumble, even though I have included strips of dryer sheet to keep dust down. Does this media give everyone dust inside the cases? The corncob media I have used does not do this.
........... |
|
Quoted:
Guys I have noticed that with crushed waonut meida from PetSmart - Kaylee brand - that my 9mm cases seem to have a walnut dust inside the cases after tumble, even though I have included strips of dryer sheet to keep dust down. Does this media give everyone dust inside the cases? The corncob media I have used does not do this. ........... The secret is brass polish and dryer sheets, you are half way there. 
What I use. Get it from Midway. Dillon and Lyman also make brass polish. 
|
|
Actually I think the secret is to use walnut to scrub gunk off the cases and corn cob (with polish) to shine 'em up and remove lube.
The dust comes from the walnut media breaking down-typically from tumbling against itself-while you tumble the brass. It isn't nearly as good at polishing as corn cob, so you usually run it for a lot longer, allowing the particles to break each other down. Walnut is absolutely great for cleaning crap off of and out of cases because it's hard and sharp. But it's lousy at polishing for the same reasons. Corn cob, on the other hand, is soft and conforms to stuff it rubs against, making it lousy for cleaning but great for polishing, especially with a polishing agent. |
|
Yes, the dust needs to come off.
The Dillon rotary separator does a good job of knocking small amounts of dust off, but my media stays dust free. I used compressed air for several years before I bought the separator. (Air from a motorized compressor not cans. However, I keep a can of air on my reloading bench.) |
|
Quoted:
Actually I think the secret is to use walnut to scrub gunk off the cases and corn cob (with polish) to shine 'em up and remove lube. The dust comes from the walnut media breaking down-typically from tumbling against itself-while you tumble the brass. It isn't nearly as good at polishing as corn cob, so you usually run it for a lot longer, allowing the particles to break each other down. Walnut is absolutely great for cleaning crap off of and out of cases because it's hard and sharp. But it's lousy at polishing for the same reasons. Corn cob, on the other hand, is soft and conforms to stuff it rubs against, making it lousy for cleaning but great for polishing, especially with a polishing agent. Yep, walnut for cleaning. Then lube and size. I then tumble in plain corn cob to remove the lube and polish. |
|
Quoted:
The powder doesn't care how clean the insides are. You want to get gunk from a previous firing out, but the insides can be dark without any impact on the function or consistency of the round. By the way, I use a two step process to tumble my brass. First I use walnut shell media to scrub it - walnut is harder and has sharp edges, perfect for scraping crap off of brass. After sizing, I tumble in corn cob media, often with a polishing agent, to get lube off - corn cob is soft and while it won't scrape anything off the brass, it will shine it up really nice. You'll find that dirty brass gets "clean" faster with walnut, but clean brass gets "shinier" with corn cob. do you camfer and debur then tumble again? |
|
Quoted:
Who cares what the inside looks like. You're going to put a primer on one end and stuff a bullet on the other. No one is going to see the inside and its not like the powder will give it a second thought. The load cares. Clean brass with metal-on-metal contact with the bullet results in low ES. |
|
Quoted:
Guys I have noticed that with crushed waonut meida from PetSmart - Kaylee brand - that my 9mm cases seem to have a walnut dust inside the cases after tumble, even though I have included strips of dryer sheet to keep dust down. Does this media give everyone dust inside the cases? The corncob media I have used does not do this. ........... Leaves a little dust as I use the exact same thing. for the burner ammo like 55grain stuff or .45 ball I just tumble in walnut and load'em. For the stuff that matters... sub moa ammo...I always toss'em for about an hour or so in corn cob once they are done from the walnut. Dryer sheets didnt stop the dust either. What helped greatly was washing the walnut new out of the bag (before it's full of lead) in a bucket or through a homemade large strainer made from window screen. This gets rid of most of the dust. Then bake the walnut in a large flat pan in the oven at about 250 for 45 minutes. Otherwise this stuff takes for ever to dry. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Guys I have noticed that with crushed waonut meida from PetSmart - Kaylee brand - that my 9mm cases seem to have a walnut dust inside the cases after tumble, even though I have included strips of dryer sheet to keep dust down. Does this media give everyone dust inside the cases? The corncob media I have used does not do this. ........... The secret is brass polish and dryer sheets, you are half way there. http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg272/dryflash3/P4070037.jpg What I use. Get it from Midway. Dillon and Lyman also make brass polish. http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg272/dryflash3/P2030037.jpg That corn cob is HUGE! I had some too and it never worked. I'm thinking of trying it again but this time dumping about 3 ounce of Mother's carnuba Cali. wax with it. Hopefully that will get it going. So far the best corn cob I found is Lyman's treated corn cob (green stuff) in the ez pour container. That's what I use for my .308 and nothing else goes in it. If i were rich I would buy 100 pounds of this stuff. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
The powder doesn't care how clean the insides are. You want to get gunk from a previous firing out, but the insides can be dark without any impact on the function or consistency of the round. By the way, I use a two step process to tumble my brass. First I use walnut shell media to scrub it - walnut is harder and has sharp edges, perfect for scraping crap off of brass. After sizing, I tumble in corn cob media, often with a polishing agent, to get lube off - corn cob is soft and while it won't scrape anything off the brass, it will shine it up really nice. You'll find that dirty brass gets "clean" faster with walnut, but clean brass gets "shinier" with corn cob. do you camfer and debur then tumble again? I only need to chamfer and/or debur if I've had to trim the cases. If I did trim, then I DO have to chamfer and debur, but I do not re-tumble; that tool has cut away some metal, leaving the cleanest, shiniest brass you'll ever see. Of course I do try to keep the shavings out of the case, but if you're doing it right, chamfering or deburing doesn't leave much in the way of shavings anyway. |
|
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
The powder doesn't care how clean the insides are. You want to get gunk from a previous firing out, but the insides can be dark without any impact on the function or consistency of the round. By the way, I use a two step process to tumble my brass. First I use walnut shell media to scrub it - walnut is harder and has sharp edges, perfect for scraping crap off of brass. After sizing, I tumble in corn cob media, often with a polishing agent, to get lube off - corn cob is soft and while it won't scrape anything off the brass, it will shine it up really nice. You'll find that dirty brass gets "clean" faster with walnut, but clean brass gets "shinier" with corn cob. do you camfer and debur then tumble again? I only need to chamfer and/or debur if I've had to trim the cases. If I did trim, then I DO have to chamfer and debur, but I do not re-tumble; that tool has cut away some metal, leaving the cleanest, shiniest brass you'll ever see. Of course I do try to keep the shavings out of the case, but if you're doing it right, chamfering or deburing doesn't leave much in the way of shavings anyway. I found this to be a good read and I'm going to make one of these tools and never again tumble after chamfer and deburring. Varmint Al's |
|
Quoted:
Very cool! I'll have to take a look at that myself.
I found this to be a good read and I'm going to make one of these tools and never again tumble after chemfer and deburring. Varmint Al's |
Armory Sponsor