[FieroCDSP]

Just got a Lyman 2500 turbo tumbler last night. I picked up some of the Lyman walnut:red media at the same time. Obviously I get a lot of dust on the casings during the cycle, and while the outsides of the casings are easy to wipe down, the insides are another matter. Will it hurt to load the casings without cleaning that fine dust from the inside? I check for actual debris, but that dust really is a pain. The only thing I have to use are q-tips and 30cal swabs.

[Steve in PA]

No, won't hurt a thing. You might want to add some liquid cleaner/polisher to your media, cuts down on the dust.

[mc223]

Throw a couple used dryer sheets in with your brass. They pick up the finer particles of the rouge dust. Do this every time you tumble and the condition will get better.
I dont think the dust in the case would be detrimental to accuracy or overall performance since its all going to be burnt upon firing. I quit using walnut media a long time ago. I use untreated corn cob with a capful of NU-FINISH car polsh. Brass comes out lookin like new.

[FieroCDSP]

I was already going to try the dryer sheet idea. any idea how many sheets it takes in a half-full magnum tumbler? Also, I've heard Nu-finish car polish helps. Anything else that might work as well?

[Ohen Cepel]

If the media gets too dusty, set the tumbler outside and run it with the lid off for a while.

The dust will get blown away.

The dryer sheets are great. I'm running one (used) with each batch. Also, I found the Reptile Bedding material at the pet store (walnut shells) to be great for little/no dust since the critters apparently can't handle dust or the owners pay to have it kept down.

For the dust in the case, no worries.

[Walkalong]

I use Frankford Arsenal case polish additive. Works great and keeps the dust way away.

[Brillo]

I tumble with corncob medium also. I add about a teaspoon of paint thinner to it to keep the dust down and it helps erase any markings I placed on some cases with magic marker. When done tumbling I usually take the tumbler, large mesh strainer, and bucket outside. Slowly pouring the tumbler out into the strainer some height above the bucket allows the breeze to take the dust away. Pour the medium back into the tumbler and I’m ready to go again.

[Cloudpeak]

I just cleaned a bunch of 45 ACP cases for the first time using "Lizard Litter" purchased at PetSmart. I'm impressed. I used a couple of dryer sheets cut into pieces and used no polish. Lest dust, so far, than with "tumbler media".

On my first batch of media, I used the Lyman media that came with the tumbler. I used dryer sheets and a dab of "Nu Finish". The cases were shinier but the polish left a bit of residue. The inside of the bowl became black. I think I'm going to like the Lizzard Litter and it's more reasonably priced.

Cloudpeak

[gandog56]

I find using a rotating media separator gets rid of most of the dust and particles from the cases. But I find lots less dust using corncob instead of walnut. And corncob shines the cases up a lot brighter. I only use walnut for deeply tarnished cases, and then run them through corncob again to get the nice shine.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Dollar for dollar, the Nu Finish car polish, which can be picked up at the local Dollar General store for 4 bucks a bottle, is the most economical case polish to use in a tumbler you can find. Other stuff, like the Midway/Frankford Arsenal stuff works well, but isn't much different chemically and the cases come out slicker and run smoother with the Nu Finish car polish.

Regards,

Dave

[The Bushmaster]

Could someone please tell me why we wax up the cases that are supposed to expand upon firing and stick to the chamber. So we slick them up so they can't do what they are supposed to do. Just how shinny do you need them cases anyway. I use plain media and I can comb my hair in the reflection without all that wax...:confused:

[mc223]

NU-FINISH is not a wax, contains no wax or wax products.
Scroll down to the chart with green in it. It is about chamber polishing which is the inverse of brass polishing.
http://www.varmintal.com/a243z.htm

I like shiny!

[The Bushmaster]

I didn't say I didn't like "shinny" I said I saw no reason to "polish (wax)" the cases...:D

And whether you like it or not. It's a car wax or polish. And I know what it does to my cars and it makes them slickery...And I don't use it "no more" on my car or pickup either...;)

[SlamFire1]

I do not know why, but shooting cases that have that red rogue inside them does not seem to affect anything. I would have thought that being an abrasive I would see wear, but nothing bad has happened in the handguns or the rifles.

Mr. Bushmaster probably read articles in the 70’s and the 80’s written by those shill liberal arts majors called “Gunwriters”. :mad: These creatures promoted the idea that cases should stick to the walls of a chamber. Well what is really wanted is a frictionless gas seal. Breech friction is the headache of all semiautomatic mechanisms. You want the case to peel off the chamber walls without any resistance. When you have breech friction, i.e. the case sticking to the chamber walls, it takes extra energy and time to get the thing off. Which means you have to bleed off extra gas which pushes things faster, which means you have to add weight to things like operating rods, extractors, recoil springs, buffers, etc. Also the case will get stretched in the process and that can be a headache in itself.

If you research old designs you will see oilers on Nambu’s and wax on Pederson cartridges, all unsatisfactory solutions to the problem of breech friction. I truly believe that most factory cartridges are covered in an invisible wax coating to keep them shiny and bright on the shelf. People like shiny cartridges. Blowback cartridges are covered in wax, those mechanisms absolutely jam if the case is sticking to the chamber walls. :cuss:

The Germans came up with the roller block bolt mechanism, truly a tribute to human ingenuity, but that action opens up so early in the pressure curve that the cases were being pulled apart on extraction. The solution, which came from the Russians, was gas lubrication. The chamber on the G3 rifle is fluted for the first 2/3 rds of the case. That part of the case is actually floated off the chamber walls. The thick part provides the gas seal and is not floated. The gun works fine.

The only time a lubricated case is bad in the case of overloads. When cartridges are overpressure, all of that force gets transmitted to the mechanism as thrust. But I think it is better not to load overpressure cartridges in the first place.